Theodore Thomas
Director & writer
Theodore Thomas
Award-winning director and writer Ted Thomas, son of legendary animator Frank Thomas, was born in 1951 and raised in Los Angeles.
Long stays in India and Japan, and world travels with a camera, eventually lead him to filmmaking. His first film is about a master musician from South India, and his second about a young boy growing up in the countryside of a changing Japan. These two jobs landed him a position at Disney Studios, developing films for EPCOT and Disneyland Tokyo. After Disney, his work receives attention in National Geographic Society specials, projects with PBS, and independent productions. He has been collaborating with his partner and wife Kuniko Okubo for thirty years, making award-winning documentaries such as: “Where the Toys Come From”, “Frank and Ollie”, “Walt & El Grupo”, and “Growing Up With Nine Old Men”.
Long stays in India and Japan, and world travels with a camera, eventually lead him to filmmaking. His first film is about a master musician from South India, and his second about a young boy growing up in the countryside of a changing Japan. These two jobs landed him a position at Disney Studios, developing films for EPCOT and Disneyland Tokyo. After Disney, his work receives attention in National Geographic Society specials, projects with PBS, and independent productions. He has been collaborating with his partner and wife Kuniko Okubo for thirty years, making award-winning documentaries such as: “Where the Toys Come From”, “Frank and Ollie”, “Walt & El Grupo”, and “Growing Up With Nine Old Men”.
A Sundance Institute member and California Arts Council Screenwriting Fellowship recipient, Thomas is also a photographer and traditional jazz musician. A student of the American Field Service in Brazil in high school, he majored in cultural anthropology and Asian studies at Callison College at the University of the Pacific, and later received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of this institution. His filmmaking honors include an Emmy, a Writers Guild Award, two more Writers Guild nominations, an International Documentary Association Award nomination, a Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival, and a People’s Choice Award from Houston International. Film Festival, an Ambassador Award from the San Joaquin International Film Festival, and an award as a distinguished documentary from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

theodore thomas & andreas deja
Nemoland 2015
Nemoland returns on April 15th and 16th with an incredible edition dedicated to “Disney Magic”. Animation legend Andreas Deja, director and writer Theodore Thomas and producer Kuniko Okubo received the Nemoland Legend award for the important role they have played and still have in the world of animation.
Other artists

John Harris
nemo legend 2023

Tony Benedict
nemo legend 2019

Willie Ito
nemo legend 2019

Mark Henn
nemo legend 2018

John Canemaker
nemo legend 2018

John Pomeroy
nemo legend 2018

Victor Navone
nemo legend 2018

Eric Goldberg
nemo legend 2017

Kazuhide Tomonaga
nemo legend 2017

Masami Suda
nemo legend 2016

Colin Chilvers
nemo legend 2016

Andreas Deja
nemo legend 2015

Takashi Namiki
nemo legend 2017

Theodore Thomas
nemo legend 2015

Florian Satzinger
nemo legend 2009

Tom Bancroft
nemo legend 2014

Giuliano Cenci
nemo legend 2004

Alex Orrelle
nemo legend 2008

Don Bluth
nemo legend 2005

Sandro Cleuzo
nemo legend 2013

Tony Bancroft
nemo legend 2016

Bobby Chiu
nemo legend 2012

Isao Takahata
nemo legend 2014
