Eric Goldberg

Born: Eric Goldberg
Birthday: May 1, 1955
Location: Levittown, PA, U.S.
Alma mater: Pratt Institute
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1977-present

Eric Goldberg studied illustration at Pratt Institute, and began working in the animation industry on Richard Williams’ Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure in mid-1970s. This led to Eric’s move to Williams’ studio in London. There, he worked his way up from assistant to director.

During the 1980s, Goldberg started his own London-based studio, Pizazz Pictures, to produce television commercials in the 1980s. He’d eventually close the studio to travel back to the U.S. to work at Disney Animation Studios in California. At Disney, he became the lead animator on the character Genie in the film Aladdin. Eric would also serve as the lead animator on Phil in Hercules and as one of the directors of Pocahontas.

In late 1998, Goldberg began production of an animated short based on the music of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Disney permitted Eric to use his fellow Disney staff members to complete the film while the studio was between pictures. His film became part of Disney’s Fantasia 2000. Additionally, Eric was the director for another of Fantasia 2000’s segments; “The Carnival of the Animals.”

He went on to serve as the director of animation for Warner Bros.’ feature Looney Tunes: Back in Action, for which Goldberg was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production. Along with Bob Kurtz of Kurtz and Friends, he animated the opening credits sequence of MGM’s 2006 remake of The Pink Panther.

Goldberg returned to Disney in 2006 and directed a short animation of The Three Caballeros for the Epcot Center. He contributed to the How to Hook Up Your Home Theater short with Goofy, and was supervising animator for the character of Louis in The Princess and the Frog, Rabbit in Winnie the Pooh, and Maui’s tattoos in Moana.

In April 2022, Goldberg confirmed the return to traditional hand-drawn animation once again at the Disney studio.

The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.