Tom Bancroft

Tony Bancroft (birthname: Thomas D. Bancroft) is a veteran animator and director who first worked professionally fourteen years at Disney’s Feature Animation unit for some of that group’s best movies in the studio’s stellar history, where he was part of the animation teams for The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995),  The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999), Fantasia 2000 (1999), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Brother Bear (2003) and Home on the Range (2004).

Bancroft left Disney Animation to serve as an animator on the long-running VeggieTales series and movie franchise, including Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002) and The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie (2008). Bancroft worked with brother Tony as storyboard artist on Bunyan and Babe (2017), and then again as additional animator for Warner Bros. Animation’s long-awaited sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).

Tom Bancroft stepped up to the director’s chair as co-helmer (with John J. Schafer) of Light of the World (2025), an animated account of Jesus’ life based on The Book of John, starring Ian Hanlin as the voice of Jesus, produced and released by Salvation Poem Project.