Duke Johnson (director)

American film director (born 1979)

Duke Johnson

Duke Johnson at the 2015 Fantastic Fest

Born|  (1979-03-20) March 20, 1979 (age 46)

St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Alma mater| New York University, AFI Conservatory
Occupation(s)| Director, Writer, Producer
Years active| 2000–present
Spouse| Soyoung Na

Duke Johnson is an American film director who specializes in stop-motion animation.[1] He currently serves as a director and junior partner for Dino Stamatopoulos's animation production studio Starburns Industries in Burbank, California.[2][3]

## Early life

[edit]

Johnson was raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended St. John Vianney High School. Between his second and third years at St John Vianney, he attended a summer film course at Columbia College Chicago.[4][5] He graduated from the film school at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, where he spent a semester studying animation in Prague.[6] After graduating, he spent three years working as a waiter in a New York restaurant before moving to Los Angeles, where he obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in directing from the AFI Conservatory in 2006.[5][7] At AFI, he directed his student film Marrying God, for which he won 8 awards for best student film or best short film.[8]

## Career

[edit]

Johnson has been nominated for Annie Awards in 2011 and 2012 for directing stop-motion episodes of shows such as Mary Shelley's Frankenhole and Community.[8][9]

In 2016, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in the 88th Academy Awards for co-directing the stop-motion comedy-drama film Anomalisa with Charlie Kaufman.[10][11]

Johnson made his solo directing debut with the upcoming film The Actor, based on the 2010 novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake.[12]

## Filmography

[edit]

Short film

Year  | Title  | Director  | Producer

|
|
|

2006  | Marrying God | Yes  | No
2017  | Moonwrapped | No  | Yes

Feature film

Year  | Title  | Director | Producer | Writer | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

2015  | Anomalisa | Yes  | Yes  | No  | Co-directed with Charlie Kaufman
2025  | The Actor | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  |

Television

Year  | Title  | Director  | Writer  | Producer  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

2008  | Moral Orel | Yes  | No  | No  | Episode "Help"
2010  | Community | Yes  | No  | No  | Episode "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas"
2010–2012  | Mary Shelley's Frankenhole | Yes  | Yes  | Yes  | Also matte painter
2012  | Beforel Orel: Trust | Yes  | No  | Yes  | TV special; also animator
2020  | Cosmos: Possible Worlds | Yes  | No  | No  | Supervising animation director
Episode "Vavilov"

Other credits

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

2003  | Just an American Boy | Cinematographer  | Documentary film
2020  | I'm Thinking of Ending Things | Producer of animation  |
2025  | Severance | Animator of "Lumon is Listening" video  | Episode "Hello, Ms. Cobel"

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rooney, David (5 September 2015). "Charlie Kaufman's 'Anomalisa': Venice Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
2. ^ "Team". Starburns Industries. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
3. ^ Tapley, Kristopher (8 September 2015). "Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson On Passion Project 'Anomalisa'". Variety. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
4. ^ Wilson, Calvin (10 January 2016). "Charlie Kaufman teams up with St. Louis native Duke Johnson for 'Anomalisa'". stltoday.com. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
5. ^ a b Debruge, Peter (29 December 2015). "10 Directors to Watch: How Duke Johnson Came to Co-Direct Charlie Kaufman's 'Anomalisa'". Yahoo! Movies. yahoo.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
6. ^ Peterson, Deb (1 December 2010). "St. Louis' Duke Johnson is directing an NBC Christmas show". stltoday.com. Lee Enterprises. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
7. ^ "AFI CONSERVATORY CONTINUES WINNING STREAK WITH ALUM DUKE JOHNSON'S GRAND JURY PRIZE WIN AT VENICE FILM FESTIVAL" (Press release). American Film Institute. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
8. ^ a b Duke Johnson at IMDb
9. ^ Robinson, Tasha (18 January 2016). "Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson talk about the technical and emotional work behind Anomalisa". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
10. ^ "2016 Nominees". Oscars.org - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
11. ^ "Nominations Announced for the EE British Academy Film Awards in 2016". bafta.org. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
12. ^ "Shooting of "The Actor" Moving to Budapest This Quarter". Budapest Reporter. November 16, 2022.

## External links

[edit]

* Duke Johnson at IMDb
* Media related to Duke Johnson (director) at Wikimedia Commons

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