Josh Cooley

Actor, Writer, Director, Animation Department

Birthdate: May 23, 1979 (47 Years Old)

Birthplace: Berkeley, California

Josh Cooley (birthname: Joshua Cooley) is an Oscar-winning feature animation director who began his career as a story artist on Disney/Pixar movies The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), and Up (2009), before he graduated to the story department as additional story supervisor on the Disney/Pixar sequel, Cars 2 (2011), and then as screenwriter/story supervisor on Disney/Pixar’s highly acclaimed Inside Out (2015), for which Cooley received his first Oscar nomination (shared with Pete Docter and Meg LeFauve) for best original screenplay. Cooley continued his remarkable Oscar streak by winning the Best Animated Feature Academy Award for his first feature as a director with Disney/Pixar’s excellent, long-delayed sequel, Toy Story 4 (2019), on which Cooley also wrote the original story, which grossed a remarkable $1.07 billion on a $200 million budget. Cooley provided voice performances (as he did on Up and Inside Out) for his first non-Pixar project, We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020) and Disney/Pixar’s Soul (2020), and then Cooley returned to the director’s chair for his first movie as helmer outside of the Disney/Pixar stable with Paramount Pictures’ animated Transformers One (2024), starring the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm, and marking the first animated Transformers movie since The Transformers: The Movie (1986). Josh Cooley made his live-action debut as a director/writer of Malamander (date to be announced), an adaptation of Thomas Taylor’s children’s book, as well as signing up with Universal Pictures to write and direct a new entry in the studio’s Universal Monsters universe, Little Monsters (date to be announced). Cooley also returned to Disney—but on the live-action side—to write the screenplay for a movie based on the Disney Parks attraction, Tower of Terror (date to be announced), starring and produced by Scarlett Johansson.

Personal Life
Movies
Facts

Personal life

Josh Cooley was born and raised in Berkeley, California by his parents.

Known For

Transformers One

Director (2024)

Toy Story 4

Director (2019)

Awards

Winner, Best Animated Feature Film, Academy Awards (2020); Nominee, Best Original Screenplay, Academy Awards (2016); Winner, Best Writing—Animated Features, Annie Awards (2016); Three-time Nominee, Best Screenplay/Best Feature Film, BAFTA Awards (2016, 2019, 2020); Nominee, Best Family Feature, Humanitas Prize (2020); Nominee, Best Writing—Motion Picture, NAACP Image Awards (2016);

Oscar

Oscar

Academy Awards, USA

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Film Award

BAFTA Awards

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Award

Critics Choice Awards

Josh Cooley Movies

Director

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Previous (2)

2024 |
Transformers One
Transformers One
2024
Action, Adventure, Animation, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
More Info
2019 |
Toy Story 4
Toy Story 4
2019
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.
More Info

Writer

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Previous (1)

2019 |
Toy Story 4
Toy Story 4
2019
Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy.
More Info

Actor

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Previous (2)

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as Jangles
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as Omega

Facts About Josh Cooley

A: Josh Cooley is the rare Oscar competitor who earned an Oscar nomination for his first eligible credit, and then a Best Animation Feature Oscar on his first movie as director, Toy Story 4.

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