Biography

Andreas Deja was born on April 1, 1957 in Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland. He is a director, known for Mushka (2023), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Winnie the Pooh (2011).

Often animates the villain (Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Jafar in Aladdin (1992), Scar in The Lion King (1994), Alameda Slim in Home on the Range (2004))

Worked together with director Tim Burton, who was at the time employed at Disney as a concept artist. According to Burton, Disney's attempts at making them "mate and have offspring" were completely in vain, and they mostly ignored each other.

Referred as one of Disney's "Nine New Men".

I love animating villains and my favorites are always interesting. Sure, they could beat people up and call them names but, to me, it's much better if they are interesting.

The hardest thing about animating Scar in The Lion King (1994) was when I realized that he doesn't have hands. I thought, "My god, the hands can be so expressive! What do I do without them?" It definitely made me stretch as an animator because I had to make other things do the gestures. Occasionally though I treated his paws like hands.

Villains are the most fun to animate. It's fine to have a villain who beats people up and calls them names but the more important thing for me is whether or not they are they interesting. The villains that are interesting are the ones you remember.