Kevin Lima (born June 12, 1962) is an American film director, voice actor and animator who has directed A Goofy Movie (1995), Tarzan (1999), 102 Dalmatians (2000), and Enchanted (2007). He is married to Brenda Chapman, the head of story for The Lion King (1994), the co-director of The Prince of Egypt (1998), and the writer and director of Brave (2012).
Life and career
Lima was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on June 12, 1962. His grandparents were both Portuguese.
Lima studied film and animation at the California Institute of the Arts, during the mid-1980s. Lima's student film Let's Misbehave was later preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012. After graduation, he went to Taiwan for half a year to work on The Brave Little Toaster (1987). Then, he worked on The Chipmunk Adventure (1987), where he met Glen Keane, one of many artists, who had left Disney after The Black Cauldron (1985) had failed at the box office. Keane persuaded Lima to apply at Disney, where he got a job, despite the fact that he was turned down three years earlier. At Disney, Lima worked as a character animator on The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Oliver & Company (1988), as a character designer on The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), and Beauty and the Beast (1991), and as a storyboard artist for Aladdin (1992). Wanting to direct a feature film, he left Disney for Hyperion Pictures, where he worked on the television series Itsy Bitsy Spider and films such as Bebe's Kids (1992).
He returned to Disney where he directed the animated film A Goofy Movie (1995). Before the film's release, Lima had been approached by Jeffrey Katzenberg to direct Tarzan (1999). He initially declined the offer as he was confounded by Katzenberg's decision to have the film animated in Canada under the Walt Disney Television Animation division. Months later, he was asked again by Michael Eisner to direct the film, but instead animated by the Feature Animation division. He accepted, and months later, he was paired with Chris Buck. Following the release of Tarzan (1999), Lima wanted to direct live-action films, and subsequently left Disney once again.
Soon after, Lima was offered by Glenn Close, who had voiced Kala in Tarzan, to direct her on 102 Dalmatians (2000), which had just lost its director. Afterwards, he went on to direct two television films starring Julie Andrews, Eloise at the Plaza (2003) and Eloise at Christmastime (2003). Lima was an executive producer on The Wild (2006). Since 2000, Lima had wanted to direct the film Enchanted (2007), but he was repeatedly turned down because the script was too dark, and that he was not "funny enough to do this film". The revised script eventually was green-lit, and in 2007 Enchanted was released to a positive critical reception.
