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John Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animation director. Along with Ron Clements, he makes up the duo of one of the Disney animation studio's leading director teams. Musker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of eight children in an Irish Catholic family. He first met Ron Clements during the production of The Fox and the Hound (1981), where he worked as a character animator under Clements and Cliff Nordberg. Musker later worked with Clements again on the ambitious animated flop The Black Cauldron (1985). In 1986 he made his directorial debut with Clements and two other... MORE

John Musker (born November 8, 1953) is an American animation director. Along with Ron Clements, he makes up the duo of one of the Disney animation studio's leading director teams. Musker was born in Chicago, Illinois, the oldest of eight children in an Irish Catholic family. He first met Ron Clements during the production of The Fox and the Hound (1981), where he worked as a character animator under Clements and Cliff Nordberg. Musker later worked with Clements again on the ambitious animated flop The Black Cauldron (1985). In 1986 he made his directorial debut with Clements and two other collaborators on the feature The Great Mouse Detective. Together, Musker and Clements wrote and directed The Little Mermaid (1989), a touching retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen tale. With Oscar-winning songs by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, the film was a huge success, bringing back critical and commercial clout for feature animation. Later on, the two wrote, directed, and produced Aladdin (1992), which was an even larger success. They also directed Hercules (1997), which was not as successful as the previous two films but was still profitable. Their next directorial collaboration would be LESS