Jamie Thomason

Nobody directs voices like Jamie Thomason. As arguably the most prolific, diverse, acclaimed casting and dialogue director in the animation industry, Thomason has guided an extensive array of literally thousands of actors - well over 100 Academy Award and/or Emmy Award and Tony Award winners (even a couple EGOT's) - through over 100 films and 3,000 episodes of television in his illustrious career spanning three decades. Actors of all walks of performance regularly praise Thomason as one of the finest directors - of voice or otherwise - in the business today. "He's the only director in Hollywood I listen to!" James Woods proclaims. "Does anybody else know you're funnier than me?" Robin Williams once asked Thomason. Anne Bancroft gave him perhaps his greatest compliment when she compared Thomason to the great Elia Kazan, while praising the "artistry" of Thomason's direction, "I've only ever said that to one other director, and that was Kazan!" Tracy Ullman says simply, "He's an absolute genius!" His productions have garnered an impressive world wide gross revenue of over five billion dollars. And he's just getting started. You would be hard pressed to sit in a theatre or turn on the television and not see an actor with whom Thomason has worked. The list is as long as it is illustrious - Sir Ian McKellen, Sylvester Stallone, Robin Williams, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Uma Thurman, Robert Downey Jr., Sir Kenneth Branagh, Lauren Bacall, Danny DeVito, Sir Ben Kingsley, Anjelica Huston, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline, James Woods, Edward Norton, Pierce Brosnan, Christian Bale, Bette Midler, James Earl Jones, Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Matthew Broderick, William Hurt, Nathan Lane, Kathleen Turner, George Carlin, John Cleese, Will Ferrell, Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Sally Field, Glenn Close, Alec Baldwin, Lawrence Fishburne, Demi Moore, Jay Leno, Anne Bancroft... and the list goes on and on... and on. Thomason created and built the casting department for Disney animation in 1991, setting a new gold standard for casting and dialogue direction in the industry. As one of four key senior executives, he played an integral role in elevating the direct home entertainment business to the pinnacle of profitability at Disney while helming all casting and dialogue direction for over 60 animated theatrical features and feature length direct home entertainment films, as well as thousands of episodes for Walt Disney Television Animation. Some of Thomason's many career highlights include Miyazaki's "Spirited Away," winning the 2003 Oscar for Best Animated Feature (and was named the second "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far" in 2017 by the New York Times), and the Academy Award nominated "Redux Riding Hood," as well as one Emmy Award won for Disney's Teacher's Pet, in addition to his being nominated seven other times by the Academy. Among his many milestones for Disney are "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride," the top-grossing video premiere of all-time, with a world-wide gross over $465 million; "The Return of Jafar," universally recognized as the monumental first successful step in the rise of the video premiere business with a gross revenue well over $300 million, returning over 100 times its production budget; "Disney's Mickey MouseWorks," the first-ever television series of original animation featuring Mickey Mouse and Disney's famed quintet of characters, and the first Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts in 50 years; the star-studded "Disney's Hercules," noted as the largest single- season voice cast in the history of television animation, with over 150 celebrity guest-stars; and the list goes on. More recently, Thomason was, also, a producer and co-director of the animated feature Animal Crackers (Stallone, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Sir Ian McKellen, DeVito, Raven, Patrick Warburton, Gilbert Gottfried, Harvey Fierstein, Wallace Shawn) which debuted July 2020 on Netflix at #2 in the U.S. and in the top 10 of 42 countries spanning the globe and was the #1 animated movie in the world, summer of 2020. Thomason's remarkable career began at Rollins-Joffe-Morra & Brezner, where he worked with the likes of Woody Allen, David Letterman, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Martin Short. Thomason's pre-Disney experience also includes directing for both theatre and independent films, and work as an integral part of the casting department at Hanna Barbara. Thomason has, also, taught at USC, UCLA, the SAG Conservatory and AFI. A graduate of the USC Drama School with duel bachelor's degrees in both Theatre and Philosophy. Jamie lives in Topanga Canyon with his two most prized productions, his two beautiful daughters.