Canemaker, John.

John Canemaker (b. 1943) is an internationally recognized animator, animation historian, teacher and lecturer. He has been a Guest Fellow at Yale University and teaches film animation at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

Raised in Elmira, Canemaker began an acting career which included off-Broadway and advertising work in New York City from 1961 to 1965. In 1967, after a two-year stint in the Army, Canemaker, with funds from acting assignments in TV commercials, obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Marymount Manhattan College in 1974 and Master of Fine Arts in Film from New York University in 1976.

While studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree, Canemaker's childhood interest in animation revived and he wrote the first of his more than 100 articles on animation. His first book, the story of the making of Richard Williams' Raggedy Ann & Andy, was published in 1977 as The Animated Raggedy Ann & Andy. In 1982, he wrote the introduction to Treasures of Disney Animation Art, and, in 1987, he published Winsor McCay - His Life and Art, and, in 1991, Felix, The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat. His research in the history of animation inspired two of his own films, Remembering Winsor McCay (1976) and Otto Messmer & Felix the Cat (1977).

Canemaker's filmography includes The 40's (1974), Street Freaks (1975), Confessions of a Stardreamer (1978), Bottom's Dream (1983), and The Hunger Project (1987). In the early 1980's, he made several Children's Television Workshop films, and, in 1981, did the animation sequences for The World According to Garp. His documentary You Don't Have to Die (1988) received an Academy Award.

In addition to work done for his own animation production company, Canemaker has produced and hosted several television programs, has served on film festival juries, and has lectured extensively.