Madeline Sharafian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Film director
- Screenwriter
- Storyboard artist
- Animator
Madeline Sharafian | |
|---|---|
 Madeline Sharafian in 2025 | |
| Born | February 1, 1993 Alameda, California, U.S. |
| Education | California Institute of the Arts (BFA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2013−present |
| Employers |
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Madeline Sharafian (born February 1, 1993)[1] is an American film director, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and animator. She is best known for her work at Pixar, including directing the short film Burrow (2020) and the feature film Elio (2025), both were nominated for the Academy Awards.
Career
In 2013, Sharafian wrote and directed the short film Omelette.[4][5] In 2014, she served as a storyboard artist, writer, and character designer on the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears.[4] In 2017, she storyboarded sequences for Coco and Dante's Lunch.[6][7] In 2020, she was a story lead on the Academy-Award nominated Onward, then later wrote and directed a 2D animated Pixar short film titled Burrow, originally slated to play in theaters before the feature film Soul.[8] In October 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the short would instead premiere on Disney+.[9][10] In 2022, she served as a storyboard artist for Turning Red.[3] In 2024, she served as an associate executive producer on the Disney+ series Dream Productions.[citation needed] In June 2025, she made her feature directorial debut with Elio, alongside Domee Shi and Adrian Molina.[11] After finishing Elio, Sharafian was confirmed to be developing another original Pixar feature film.[12]
Filmography
Feature films
| Year | Title | Director | Story Writer | Story Artist | Other | Notes/Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Coco | No | No | Yes | No | [7] |
| 2020 | Onward | No | No | Yes | No | [13] |
| 2022 | Turning Red | No | No | Yes | No | [3] |
| 2025 | Elio | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Additional voices; Pixar Senior Creative Team[11][14] |
| 2026 | Hoppers | No | No | Story Supervisor | Yes | Additional voices; Pixar Senior Creative Team |
Short films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Animator | Other | Notes/Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Omelette | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Producer[4] |
| 2014 | Acorn | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [15] |
| 2017 | Weekends | No | No | Yes | Yes | Cel painter[16] |
| Dante's Lunch | No | No | No | Yes | Story artist[6] | |
| 2018 | Purl | No | No | No | Yes | Story trust[17] |
| 2020 | Burrow | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | [8] |
| 2021 | Twenty Something | No | No | No | Yes | Story trust |
| Nona | No | No | No | Yes | Special Thanks | |
Television
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Story Artist | Other | Notes/Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–17 | We Bare Bears | No | 20 episodes | 17 episodes | Yes | Character Designer[4] |
| 2016 | Goodnight Ice Bear | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Editor[18] |
| 2024 | Dream Productions | No | No | No | Yes | Associate executive producer[citation needed] |
