Nathan Greno
American film director (born 1975)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nathan Greno (born March 22, 1975) is an American film director, story artist, and writer. He is best known for directing Walt Disney Animation Studios' Tangled (2010) and Skydance Animation's Swapped (2026).
- Film director
- story artist
- writer
- Walt Disney Animation Studios (1998–2018)
- Skydance Animation (2018–present)
Nathan Greno | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 22, 1975[1][2] Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.[2] |
| Alma mater | Columbus College of Art and Design |
| Occupations |
|
| Employers |
|
| Notable work | Tangled Swapped |
Career
Inspired by Disney films since the first grade, Greno started as a young boy writing and drawing comic books and strips.[2] In 1996, during his junior year at Columbus College of Art and Design, he was hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation.[2] He started there as an animation clean-up artist on Mulan (1998).[2] Being creatively unfulfilled, he switched to story development.[2] He then contributed as a story artist on Brother Bear (2003), wrote a screenplay and worked as a story artist on Meet the Robinsons (2007), and supervised the story on Bolt (2008).[2] With the short film Super Rhino (2009), he made his directorial debut.[2] In 2006, he took over a long-in-development project Tangled, based on the fairy tale Rapunzel and chose Byron Howard, with whom he had collaborated on Bolt and Super Rhino, as a directing partner.[3] The film was released in 2010 to a great critical and financial reception, and was followed in 2012 by Greno and Howard-directed short film Tangled Ever After.
Greno was at one point set to direct an animated film titled Gigantic. Loosely based on the fairy tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, it was scheduled for a 2020 release. However, in October 2017, it was announced that the film had been shelved.[4][5]
In February 2018, it was announced that Greno had signed a multi-year contract with Skydance Animation to write and direct an animated film titled Powerless, as well as consult on projects in development.[6] Following retooling of the film's original "teenage superhero story" premise, Powerless was retitled Pookoo, then finally released in May 2026 under the title Swapped.[7]
Filmography
Films
| Year | Film | Credited as | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Writer | Head of Story |
Creative Advisor |
Story Artist |
Other | Voice | Notes | ||
| 1998 | Mulan | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Breakdown Animator: Mushu | |
| 2003 | Brother Bear | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ||
| 2005 | Chicken Little | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
| 2007 | Meet the Robinsons | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Lefty | |
| 2008 | Bolt | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Additional Voices | |
| 2009 | The Princess and the Frog | No | No | No | No | No | No | Disney Story Trust - uncredited [8] | |
| 2010 | Tangled | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Guard 1/Thug 1 | |
| 2011 | Winnie the Pooh | No | No | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2012 | Wreck-It Ralph | No | No | No | No | No | No | ||
| 2013 | Frozen | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
| 2014 | Big Hero 6 | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Creative Leadership | |
| 2016 | Zootopia | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | ||
| Moana | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | |||
| 2024 | Spellbound | No | No | No | No | Additional | No | ||
| 2026 | Swapped | Yes | Story | No | No | No | Yes | Snake 1 | [9][10][11] |
Shorts and TV specials
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Story Artist |
Other | Voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | John Henry | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2009 | Super Rhino | Yes | Yes | No | No | |
| Prep & Landing | No | No | No | Yes | Dasher | |
| 2012 | Tangled Ever After | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Guard/Maximus/Stabbington Brothers |
| 2021 | Blush | No | No | Yes | No |