Joel Crawford (director)

Joel Crawford is an American film director and storyboard artist. He is best known for directing the DreamWorks Animation films The Croods: A New Age (2020) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), with the latter nominated him for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Career

In 2006, Joel Crawford joined DreamWorks Animation, where he served as a story artist on Shrek Forever After, Rise of the Guardians, the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, and Bee Movie.^[1] In October 2017, Crawford signed on to direct The Croods: A New Age, replacing both Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders as director.^[2] In November 2017, Crawford directed Trolls Holiday, a half-hour Christmas-themed spinoff of the 2016 film Trolls.^[3] In March 2021, Crawford replaced Bob Persichetti as director of the 2022 film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.^[4]^[5]

On June 3, 2023, Crawford received an honorary degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design for his contributions to animation.^[6]

Year	Title	Credited as			Notes
Year	Title	Director	Story artist	Actor	Notes
2007	Bee Movie	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Additional Story Artist
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2010	Shrek Forever After	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2012	Rise of the Guardians	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2015	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2016	Kung Fu Panda 3	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2016	Trolls	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No	Head of story^[7]
2017	Trolls Holiday	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:No	TV special^[3]
2019	The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part	Template:No	Template:Yes	Template:No
2020	The Croods: A New Age	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Role: Guy's Dad^[2]
2022	Puss in Boots: The Last Wish	Template:Yes	Template:No	Template:Yes	Role: Baker's Dozen Member, Band Player^[8]
2023	Trolls Band Together	Template:No	Template:No	Template:No	Special thanks

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Film	Result	Ref.
Golden Globe Awards	February 28, 2021	Best Animated Feature Film	The Croods: A New Age	Template:Nominated	^[9]
Visual Effects Society Awards	April 6, 2021	Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature	The Croods: A New Age	Template:Nom	^[10]
Golden Globe Awards	January 10, 2023	Best Animated Feature Film	Puss in Boots: The Last Wish	Template:Nominated	^[11]
British Academy Film Awards	February 19, 2023	Best Animated Film		Template:Nom	^[12]
Academy Awards	March 12, 2023	Best Animated Feature		Template:Nom	^[13]