Kelly Asbury

Kelly Asbury
Birth name	Kelly Adam Asbury
Born	(1960-01-15)January 15, 1960
Birth place	Beaumont, Texas, U.S.
Died	June 26, 2020(2020-06-26) (aged 60)
Death place	Encino, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Lamar University California Institute of the Arts
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, voice actor, artist, author, illustrator
Years active	1982–2020
Spouse(s)	Loretta Weeks ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 2006)​ Jacquie Boggs ​ ​ (m. 2011)​
Employer(s)	Walt Disney Animation Studios (1983–1995, 2009–2013) DreamWorks Animation (1995–2009)

Kelly Adam Asbury (January 15, 1960 – June 26, 2020) was an American film director, writer, voice actor, and illustrator. He was best known for directing animated films, including Shrek 2, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Gnomeo & Juliet, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and UglyDolls.

Early life

Asbury was born on January 15, 1960, in Beaumont, Texas, the son of Josephine Margaret (Lebeouf) and Donald Leslie Asbury. His father Donald died from cancer when Asbury was 12. He attended Lamar University for two years before transferring to the renowned California Institute of the Arts in 1980, where he studied animation and filmmaking.

Career

Asbury got his start at Walt Disney Feature Animation from 1983 to 1995, and contributed storyboards for several animated films including The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, as well as Pixar's first feature film, Toy Story. In 1993, he was the assistant art director on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

In 1995, he began working for DreamWorks Animation, and directed two Academy Award-nominated feature films, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and Shrek 2 (2004). In addition to directing, he provided some of the extra voices in Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third.

He directed and co-wrote the animated film Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), for which he also provided the voices of the tiny Red Goon Gnomes. He was nominated for two Annie Awards for directing and co-writing that film.

In 2003, he wrote a non-fiction book, Dummy Days, a biography of five 20th-century ventriloquists. He wrote and illustrated twelve children's books, including Rusty's Red Vacation, Bonnie's Blue House, and Yolanda's Yellow School.

In mid-2011 to mid-2012, Asbury briefly returned to Disney to contribute storyboards to Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen. His final directing credits were Smurfs: The Lost Village for Sony Pictures Animation and UglyDolls for STX Entertainment.

Death

Asbury died of abdominal cancer on June 26, 2020, in his home, Encino, Los Angeles, at age 60. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. He was featured in the In Memoriam section of the 93rd Academy Awards, and Spirit Untamed was dedicated to his memory.

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1984	The Littles	Storyboards (8 episodes)
1985	The Black Cauldron	Inbetween artist
1987	Sport Goofy in Soccermania	Short Layout Artist
1989	The Little Mermaid	Visual development artist
1990	The Rescuers Down Under	Character designer, storyboard artist, visual development
	Roller Coaster Rabbit	Short Art Director
1991	Beauty and the Beast	Story, visual development artist
1993	The Nightmare Before Christmas	Assistant art director
1995	Toy Story	Story artist
1996	Quack Pack	Storyboard: Ducky Dearest
	James and the Giant Peach	Storyboard supervisor with Joe Ranft
	Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story	Video game Additional story and writing
1998	Histeria!	Storyboard artist: The American Revolution
	The Prince of Egypt	Artistic Supervisor: story with Lorna Cook and Ronnie del Carmen
2000	Chicken Run	Additional story artist
2001	Shrek	Director with Andrew Adamson [directorial debut]
2002	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron	Director with Lorna Cook
2004	Shrek 2	Director with Andrew Adamson and Conrad Vernon, voices: Page, Elf, and Nobleman, ADR group
2005	100 Greatest Cartoons	Documentary Himself
2007	Shrek the Third	Voices: Master of Ceremonies and Fiddlesworth, special thanks
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Additional story artist
	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
2009	I'm No Dummy	Documentary Himself
	The BackStage Pass	TV special Himself
2011	Gnomeo and Juliet	Director, screenwriter, story, voices: Red Goon Gnomes
	Made in Hollywood	Himself (1 episode)
	Jeff Dunham: Birth of a Dummy	TV special Himself
2012	Made in Hollywood: Teen Edition	Himself (1 episode)
	Wreck-It Ralph	Story artist
2013	Frozen
2014	Lennon or McCartney	Documentary short Himself
	Achmed Saves America	Original character designer
2017	Smurfs: The Lost Village	Director, voice: Nosey Smurf
	Cake Wars	Himself: guest judge
2018	Sherlock Gnomes	Based on characters, creative consultant, storyboard artist, voices: Goons
2019	UglyDolls	Director, voices: Gibberish Cat, Oliver, and Chef
	The Addams Family	Story consultant, special thanks
2021	Spirit Untamed	Dedicated

External links

• Animated Views: Gnomeo & Juliet’s director Kelly Asbury Opens His Secret Garden!
• Kelly Asbury on IMDb