Biography of Hayao Miyazaki

Born January 5^th, 1941 in the town of Akebono-cho in Bunkyo, Tokyo Hayao Miyazaki is the second of four brothers born to Katsuji Miyazaki an aeronautical engineer and his wife. During World War II, Miyazaki’s father was the director of Miyazaki Airplanes, which manufactured fighter plane parts. Due to his father’s career, Miyazaki developed a fascination for aviation and began drawing pictures of airplanes. His mother, who was diagnosed with Pott disease, underwent treatment and was bedridden for most of Miyazaki’s childhood. Nevertheless, she remained a positive influence in Miyazaki’s life.

Around 1956, Miyazaki entered Toyotama High School. In postwar Japan came the emergence of manga and like many children, Miyazaki wanted to become an artist, his influences being shaped around famous manga artist such as Osamu Tezuka, Tetsuji Fukushima, and Sanpei Shirato. Around his third year at Toyotama, he saw his first Japanese featured length animated film, Hakujaden, which left a strong impression on him and sparked his interest in animation. However, Miyazaki’s drawing abilities were only limited to battleships, planes, or tanks and had a problematic time drawing people. After graduating from Toyotama, Miyazaki attended Gakushuin University, where in 1963 he obtained two degrees in political science and economics.

Within that same year, Miyazaki earned a job working as an in-between artist on the anime Watchdog Bow Wow at Toei Animation, a well-known production company in Japan. After a union dispute in 1964, Miyazaki became the chairman of Toei Animation’s labor union. It is there that he meets fellow animator Isao Takahata, who became a longtime collaborator with their most notable films being Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki’s Delivery Services, and Castle in the Sky.

In 1965, Miyazaki married fellow animator Akemi Omi, with whom he had two sons, Goro and Keisuke. In 1971, both Miyazaki and Takahata left Toei Animation and worked at A Pro, than Nippon Animation in 1973, which lead him to be involved with TMS Entertainment. In 1978, Miyazaki produced his first animated television show, Conan Boy in Future. A year later, Miyazaki left Nippon Animation and began working for TMS Entertainment, where he produced his first feature length film The Castle of Cagliostro. In 1985, Miyazaki opened Studio Ghibli, with Castle in the Sky (1986) being the studio’s first featured length film, though the original origins of the company was due in success of his film Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) with funding by Tokuma Shoten. My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Porco Rosso (1992), and Princess Mononoke (1995) soon followed after.

In 1998, Miyazaki stated that “Princess Mononoke would be his last film,” spreading rumors about his retirement, but returned in 2001 to direct Spirited Away, which became the highest grossing film worldwide and the only anime film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. After its completion, he retired yet again, only to come back in 2004 for the production of Howl’s Moving Castle, which won a Golden Osella Award for animation technology and receive an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. In 2005, Miyazaki received a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.

In 2007, Ponyo was released, which received mostly positive reviews and earned $202 million worldwide.

His most current project, The Wind Is Rising, is currently in production and is planned to be released in July of this year.