Directory Profile

Originally a native of New York City, Tom Sito is a well-known veteran of the Hollywood Animation Industry. His 32 movie credits include the Walt Disney classic films The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty & The Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Pocahontas (1995), and Fantasia (2000). Animation World Network called Tom "one of the key players in the Disney Animation Revival "(January 2001). He also created animation and storyboards for Dreamworks Shrek (2001), The Prince of Egypt (2001), Spirit (1997) Fox’s Garfield (2003), Warner Bros Osmosis Jones (2001), Looney Tunes: Back In Action (2003), and the 3D Roadrunner shorts (2010). 

For television, Tom animated on the 1982 Emmy award winning ABC special Ziggy's Gift (1982), animated on series such as Fat Albert, He Man & The Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Biker Mice From Mars, Click & Clack, Superfriends, Gobots,and numerous commercials.

Tom Sito is President-Emeritus of the Hollywood Animation Guild, Local# 839 IATSE, and was on the Board of Governors for The Motion Picture Academy for Shorts and Feature Animation. He was Vice President of the International Animator's Society (ASIFA/Hollywood), as well as the National Cartoonists Society, and Hollywood Heritage. Prior to joining USC, Tom taught animation at Woodbury College, UCLA, The American Animation Institute, Gnomon and Santa Monica College. He has lectured about animation around the world from Beijing to Berlin. He serves on the advisory committee for The Academy Museum of the Motion Picture.

Tom Sito is the author of several books. His first book "Drawing the Line: the Untold Story of Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson" (2006), was honored by the London Review of Books and the Firestone School of Economics of Princeton University. Also "Moving Innovation: A history of Computer Animation",  and "Eat,Drink,Animate, an Animators Cookbook", which won an International Gourmand Award in 2019.

In 1998 he was named in Animation Magazine's list of "the 100 Most Important People in Animation". In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious June Foray Award by the International Animator’s Society ( ASIFA/Hollywood) for a lifetime of service to the animation community.