Donovan Ryan Cook III (born January 30, 1968) is an American film director, cartoon creator and producer, best known for creating, directing and producing the animated series ''

2 Stupid Dogs ''2 Stupid Dogs'' is an American animated television series created and designed by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It originally ran from September 5, 1993, to May 15, 1995, on TBS as a part of their ''Sunday Morning in Fr ...

'' and directing the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animated feature These lists of animated feature films compiles animated feature films from around the world and is organized alphabetically under the year of release (the year the completed film was first released to the public). Theatrical releases as well as ...

s ''

Return to Never Land ''Return to Never Land'' (also known as ''Peter Pan in: Return to Never Land'' and later retitled ''Peter Pan II: Return to Never Land'' on current home video release) is a 2002 American animated adventure fantasy film produced by Disney MovieToo ...

'' and '' Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers''. Cook was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, in 1968, and moved to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

when he was 14. He graduated from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

in 1990 and has worked on several different Disney

animated movies Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

, such as ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

'' and the

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

adaptation of ''

The Prince and the Pauper ''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, ...

''. In 1993, he created the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-nominated TV series ''

'' for

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

. The style he revived in ''2 Stupid Dogs'' has been emulated and copied numerous times since. He gained the idea from two stray dogs roaming in his apartment and tried to sell it when Hanna-Barbera bought it. ''

Secret Squirrel ''Secret Squirrel'' is a cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera and also the name of his segment in ''The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show'', which debuted in 1965. He was given his own show in 1966, titled ''The Secret Squirrel Show'', but was ...

'' was one of his favorite Hanna-Barbera cartoons that he watched in the 1970s, which influenced him to revive the series as ''Super Secret Secret Squirrel'', as the third backup segment in ''2 Stupid Dogs''. Cook then returned to Disney in 1997, where he developed and produced the series ''

Nightmare Ned ''Nightmare Ned'' is an American animated television series which ran from April 19 to July 5, 1997, on ABC. The show was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and Creative Capers Entertainment, and created by Terry Shakespeare, G. Sue Sh ...

''. In 1998, he returned to feature animation when he co-directed ''

'' for Disney. In 2001, he took on the challenge of directing the first feature-length film of ''Mickey Mouse'' series characters

and

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

(

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

had previously appeared in ''

A Goofy Movie ''A Goofy Movie'' is a 1995 American animated musical comedy-adventure film produced by Disney MovieToons and Walt Disney Television Animation. Directed by Kevin Lima, the film is based on The Disney Afternoon television series '' Goof Tro ...

'' and its sequel). The film, '' Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers'', premiered worldwide on DVD in 2004. He also served as a director for ''

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ''Mickey Mouse Clubhouse'' is an American interactive computer-animated children's television series which aired from May 5, 2006, to November 6, 2016 on the Disney Channel. Produced by Disney Television Animation, it is the first computer-a ...

'' and ''

The Adventures of Kid Danger ''The Adventures of Kid Danger'' is an American Animated series, animated Television comedy, comedy television series created by Dan Schneider (TV producer), Dan Schneider that aired on Nickelodeon from January 15 to June 14, 2018. The series is ...

'', and was an assistant director for ''

The Ren & Stimpy Show ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Decemb ...

''. He even does sheet timing for some episodes of the ''

Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise created by Man of Action Studios, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series centers on a boy named Ben Tennyson who acquires the Omnitrix, an alien device rese ...

'' reboot. Cook was originally scheduled to co-direct the film ''

Space Chimps ''Space Chimps'' is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Kirk DeMicco in his directional debut, and written by DeMicco and Rob Moreland. It features the voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick W ...

'', but he would be subsequently scrapped from the project. His latest project was the low-budget

indie film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

''Rideshare: The Movie'', the first film ever to be shot on the

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S. Following a number of notable leaks, the iPhone 4 was first unvei ...

. It was released on April 12, 2011, on the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, being subsequently shown on the

Honolulu Film Awards The Honolulu Film Awards (HFA) are international film awards granted to independent films in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, United States. Winners 2012 *Grand Jury Award: '' Irvine Welsh's Ecstasy'' (Director: Rob Heydon) *Special Jury Award: '' Me ...

. It has won positive reviews.

References

External links

* *
Official website of Cook's indie film ''Rideshare: The Movie''
1968 births Living people American television directors American animated film directors American animated film producers Animators from California People from Berkeley, California American film producers Television producers from California American storyboard artists California Institute of the Arts alumni Film directors from California Hanna-Barbera people American voice directors Walt Disney Animation Studios people {{US-animator-stub