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Bruce W. Smith

Bruce W. Smith

Director, producer and writer · Born January 1, 1961 (65) · Los Angeles, California, USA

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Bruce W. Smith is an American character animator, film director, and television producer, best known as the creator of Disney's The Proud Family. He studied animation in the Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. One of the few Black animators working in the industry, Smith got his start as an assistant animator for Bill Meléndez's 1984 Garfield television special Garfield in the Rough. He went on to animate for Baer Animation on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and in 1992 directed his first feature, Bébé's Kids. Other notable work for Smith during the mid-1990s included supervising the animation for The Pagemaster, serving as director and character designer for Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, designing the characters for A Goofy Movie and C Bear and Jamal, and co-directing the animated segments of Space Jam. He was also was the creator of Da Boom Crew along with John P. White and Stiles White. In 1998 he joined Walt Disney Feature Animation, Smith served as a supervising animator on four of its films: Tarzan, The Emperor's New Groove, Home on the Range and The Princess and the Frog. In 2000 when he still worked for Hyperion Pictures, he piloted his series The Proud Family to Nickelodeon, who passed on it. Disney Channel eventually picked the series up the following year and ran it until 2005. The series was the first to be produced by his production company Jambalaya Studios. Smith grew up in Central Los Angeles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bruce W. Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
January 1, 1961 (65)
From
Los Angeles, California, USA
Works as
Director, producer and writer
Titles
24 on MovieCove · 29 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 155 days to Oct 26Down 34% in 30 days

What are Bruce W. Smith's films like?

Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.

Themes

share of theme weight
Bonds
62%
Self
38%

Moods and endings

endings shown from 5 titles

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Joyful
2
Thrilling
1
Triumphant
1
Hopeful
1
Manic
1
Other
3

How their films linger

Fun3 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Bruce W. Smith's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 22 of their 24 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Disney+ (12).

Also on these channels

Subscription and free streaming for Bruce W. Smith's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

29 credits, 24 with a MovieCove page; 5 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

  • A Proud Family Wizmas (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)

    Executive Producer

  • The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder(2022)

    Show 29 episodes · Creator · Executive Producer

    Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all shows

  • Hair Love (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)

    Director

  • The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow(2013)

    Animation

    Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films

  • Wreck-It Ralph(2012)

    Additional Effects Development

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films

  • The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol(2011)

    Animation

    Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films

  • Winnie the Pooh(2011)

    Supervising Animator

    Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films

  • The Princess and the Frog(2009)

    Supervising Animator

    Midcredits score: 90th percentile of all films

  • The Proud Family Movie(2005)

    Director · Producer · Writer

    Midcredits score: 37th percentile of all films

  • Da Boom Crew(2004)

    Show 13 episodes · Creator · Producer · Writer

    Midcredits score: 1st percentile of all shows

  • One by One (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)

    Visual Development

  • Home on the Range(2004)

    Supervising Animator

    Midcredits score: 29th percentile of all films

  • Lilo & Stitch: The Series(2003)

    Show 1 episode · Writer

    Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all shows

  • The Proud Family(2001)

    Show 52 episodes · Director · Creator · Producer

    Midcredits score: 36th percentile of all shows

  • The Emperor's New Groove(2000)

    Supervising Animator

    Midcredits score: 93rd percentile of all films

  • Space Jam(1996)

    Animation Director

    Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films

  • Arli$$(1996)

    Show 1 episode · as Bruce Smith

    Midcredits score: 52nd percentile of all shows

  • A Goofy Movie(1995)

    Character Designer

    Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films

  • Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child(1995)

    Show 13 episodes · Director

    Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all shows

  • The Pagemaster(1994)

    Animation Director · Supervising Animator

    Midcredits score: 57th percentile of all films

  • Bebe's Kids(1992)

    Director

    Midcredits score: 49th percentile of all films

  • Rover Dangerfield(1991)

    Sequence Supervisor

    Midcredits score: 38th percentile of all films

  • Tummy Trouble(1989)

    Animation

    Midcredits score: 83rd percentile of all films

  • Back to Neverland (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1989)

    as Animator

  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit(1988)

    Animation

    Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all films

  • Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night(1987)

    Animation

    Midcredits score: 48th percentile of all films

  • Silverhawks(1986)

    Show 5 episodes · Writer

    Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all shows

  • Thundercats(1985)

    Show 2 episodes · Writer

    Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all shows

  • Garfield in the Rough (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1984)

    Key Animation

Career shape

A full career of 29 titles, 28 of them dated from 1984 to 2022.

Biggest box office

Bebe's Kids (1992)

$8.4M worldwide

Highest rated

Bebe's Kids (1992)

Midcredits 49th

Most popular right now

The Proud Family Movie (2005)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Acting2 of 29: 2 only acting, 0 with another roleDirecting5 of 29: 4 only directing, 1 with another roleWriting3 of 29: 3 only writing, 0 with another roleProducing4 of 29: 1 only producing, 3 with another roleOther crew19 of 29: 16 only other crew, 3 with another role · typical Midcredits score57th

29 titles, 3 with more than one role — other crew and directing overlap on 1 of them.

By decade

1980s7 · 1 acting · 6 crew1990s7 · 1 acting · 6 crew2000s8 · crew2010s5 · crew2020s1 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

Who does Bruce W. Smith work with?

People who share at least 2 of Bruce W. Smith's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Thomas L. Wilhite shares the most, 3.

Writers

Producers