
Filipino-Japanese American character animator and supervising animator who formerly worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios. His work has included several Disney characters, including Simba as an adult in The Lion King, Chief Powhatan in Pocahontas, Maurice in Beauty and the Beast, Denahi in Brother Bear, Shang in Mulan, and Ursula in The Little Mermaid. In March 2013, it was announced that Aquin...
Explore all movies appearances

A behind the scenes look into The Lion King and The Lion King Broadway production.

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.

Find out how the spectacular music inspired the animation, and learn more about the development of the characters—such as how Ursula ended up being a big octopus—and how the memorable song "Part of Your World" almost got cut from the film.
Subscribe for exclusive insights on movies, TV shows, and games! Get top picks, fascinating facts, in-depth analysis, and more delivered straight to your inbox.