Yvett Merino is a film producer who served as a main producer for the film Disney's ''

Encanto ''Encanto'' is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared Bus ...

''. As producer, she won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, with

Jared Bush Jared Bush (born June 12, 1974) is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He is best known for co-directing and co-writing the Walt Disney Animation Studios film ''Zootopia'' (2016), writing the film '' Moana'' (2016) and directing and ...

Byron Howard Byron P. Howard (born December 26, 1968) is an American animator, character designer, story artist, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of the Walt Disney Animation Studios films '' Bolt'' (2008), ' ...

, and

Clark Spencer Clark Spencer (born April 6, 1963) is an American film producer, businessman and studio executive best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios, and for winning the Oscars for Best Animated Feature for his work on ''Zootopia'' and '' ...

Personal life

Merino's grandparents are from Mexico. Her father was a machinist, and her mother was an office manager. She grew up in

Norwalk, California Norwalk is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 105,549 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated 103,949 in 2019. It is the 58th most densely-populated ...

, and studied sociology at

University of California Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...

. Working as a social worker for a year, she began taking temp placements outside of that role, including at Disney.

Career

Merino began with Disney Animation in the 1990s, expecting to stay for five years. Merino was a software engineer and technology administration manager for ''

Chicken Little "Henny Penny", more commonly known in the United States as "Chicken Little" and sometimes as "Chicken Licken", is a European folk tale with a moral in the form of a cumulative tale about a chicken who believes that the world is coming to an end ...

'' (2005), and promotional support for ''

Meet the Robinsons ''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, 47th animated film produc ...

'' (2007). Having worked up through the technology department to the role of administrative manager, ''

Tangled ''Tangled'' is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the Grimms' Fairy Tales, German fairy tale ''Rapunzel'' ...

'' (2010) producer

Roy Conli Roy Conli is an American film producer and voice actor. He won the Academy Awards, Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Feature for the 2014 Walt Disney Animation Studios film ''Big Hero 6 (film), Big Hero 6'' ...

asked her to manage the editing department, which made her a production manager. She re-enrolled in school, receiving an MBA. She was a production assistant for ''

Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...

'' (2012). Merino was a production manager and departmental leadership for '' Big Hero 6'' (2014), departmental leadership for ''

Zootopia ''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...

'' (2016), production manager for '' Moana'' (2016), and studio and creative leadership for ''

Raya and the Last Dragon ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' ( ) is a 2021 American computer-animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 59th film produced by the studio, it wa ...

'' (2021). Merino joined

two years into development, as it started to transition to production. It is her first film where she is listed as the main producer. Merino created an employee resource group at Disney called ''Voces'' (Voices). Separately, ''Encanto'' had a Familia Group, which would meet monthly for lunch to discuss the concept of family.

Filmography

* ''

'' (2021) (producer)

Awards

* ''

'' (2022)
NHMC Impact Awards Gala
(Producer Impact Award) * ''

'' (2022) (Academy Award) (Best Animated Feature Film)

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American animated film producers American film producers Walt Disney Animation Studios people University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Producers who won the Best Animated Feature Academy Award {{US-film-producer-stub