Duke Johnson (director)
American film director (born 1979)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duke Johnson is an American film director who specializes in stop-motion animation.[1] He currently serves as a director and junior partner for Dino Stamatopoulos's animation production studio Starburns Industries in Burbank, California.[2][3]
Duke Johnson | |
|---|---|
Duke Johnson at the 2015 Fantastic Fest | |
| Born | March 20, 1979 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University, AFI Conservatory |
| Occupations | Director, Writer, Producer |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Spouse | Soyoung Na |
Early life
Johnson was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended St. John Vianney High School. Between his second and third years at St John Vianney, he attended a summer film course at Columbia College Chicago.[4][5] He graduated from the film school at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he spent a semester studying animation in Prague.[6] After graduating, he spent three years working as a waiter in a New York restaurant before moving to Los Angeles, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from the AFI Conservatory in 2006.[5][7]
Career
Johnson has been nominated for Annie Awards in 2011 and 2012 for directing stop-motion episodes of shows such as Mary Shelley's Frankenhole and Community.[8][9]
In 2016, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in the 88th Academy Awards for co-directing the stop-motion comedy-drama film Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman.[10][11]
Johnson made his solo directing debut with the 2025 film The Actor, based on the 2010 novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake.[12]
Filmography
Short film
| Year | Title | Director | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Marrying God | Yes | No |
| 2017 | Moonwrapped | No | Yes |
Feature film
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Moral Orel | Yes | No | No | Episode "Help" |
| 2010 | Community | Yes | No | No | Episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" |
| 2010–2012 | Mary Shelley's Frankenhole | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also matte painter |
| 2012 | Beforel Orel: Trust | Yes | No | Yes | TV special; also animator |
| 2020 | Cosmos: Possible Worlds | Yes | No | No | Supervising animation director Episode "Vavilov" |
Other credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Just an American Boy | Cinematographer | Documentary film |
| 2020 | I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Producer of animation | |
| 2025 | Severance | Animator of "Lumon is Listening" video | Episode "Hello, Ms. Cobel" |
