Hayao Miyazaki author page

Hayao Miyazaki biography

Hayao Miyazaki (born 5 January 1941) is a Japanese animator, director, screenwriter and manga artist, and a co-founder of Studio Ghibli. He began his career at Toei Animation in the 1960s, contributing as an in-betweener and layout artist before moving into story development and direction.

Miyazaki’s feature debut as a director was The Castle of Cagliostro (1979). He followed it with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), adapted from his own manga; the film’s success led to the establishment of Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata and colleagues. Across the next four decades he directed a run of influential animated features: Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), The Wind Rises (2013) and The Boy and the Heron (2023).

His films are noted for hand-drawn animation, complex female protagonists, and themes that engage with nature, flight, work and pacifism. He has also written extensively, including the long-form manga Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (serialised 1982–1994) and essays on animation and craft.

Miyazaki’s work has received major international honours. Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and shared the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He received an Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014. The Boy and the Heron later won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, recognising his return to feature direction after multiple announced retirements.

Studio Ghibli, which he helped establish, remains one of the most influential animation studios globally, and his films are widely used in education and film studies for their craft and storytelling.