Jimmy Hayward

Jimmy Hayward
Hayward in 2009
Born	(1970-09-17) September 17, 1970 (age 55) Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Occupations	Director, screenwriter, animator
Notable work	Horton Hears a Who Jonah Hex

James Hayward (born September 17, 1970) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and animator. He has written screenplays for Columbia, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. ^[1]

Biography

At a young age, Hayward began his career at Mainframe Entertainment animating and directing commercials. He was one of the original animators of the television series ReBoot in which he was the first animator to be hired and invited while the studio’s employees working on the series in Granville Island Hotel. He modeled the character Phong in the show. ^[2] Throughout his career, he has worked at Pixar Animation Studios, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, and was an animator for Toy Story , A Bug's Life , Toy Story 2 , Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo . ^[3] He was the sequence director and story consultant for Robots . ^[4]

His studio directorial debut, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! ^[5] starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, had a worldwide gross of $298.6 million. ^[6]

Hayward's first live-action film, Jonah Hex , ^[7] was released in June 2010. ^[8] While it was a commercial failure, having grossed only $11 million against a budget of $47 million and received generally negative reviews from critics, it did succeed on several streaming platforms for years.^{[ citation needed ]}

Hayward was also director and writer on an animated film Free Birds , starring Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler, which was released in 2013. The film was a financial success, grossing over $110 million. ^[9]

In April 2023, a benefit for Hayward was put together to help pay medical bills in relation to a bone cancer diagnosis. ^[10]

While in cancer treatment, Hayward directed projects with world renowned bands like Primus and Tool. ^[11] After surviving multiple surgeries and radiation, Hayward was declared cancer free.

Filmography

Animator

Year	Title	Notes
1994	ReBoot	Senior animator: episodes 1–4
1995	Toy Story
1996	Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story	Video game
1996	Toy Story Activity Center
1998	A Bug's Life	Additional animator
1999	Toy Story 2
2001	Monsters, Inc.
2002	Mike's New Car	Short film
2003	Finding Nemo

Voice roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!	Obnoxious Who
2013	Free Birds	Ranger/Leatherbeak/President/Hazmats	Additional voices
2015	Transformers vs. G.I. Joe: The Commissary	Narrator/Destro/Soundwave/Gung-Ho/Zartan	3 episodes

Director

Year	Title	Notes
2008	Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!	Also musician: guitar
2010	Jonah Hex	Live-action role: Train Wood Tender
2013	Free Birds	Also writer

Other credits

Year	Title	Role
1995	NHL 96	Special thanks
1999	Toy Story 2	Additional story material
2005	Robots	Director of additional scenes and story consultant

References

1. "Jimmy Hayward". IMDB. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
2. TELUS STORYHIVE (September 24, 2024). ReBoot Rewind S1 Ep 02 . Retrieved January 15, 2025– via YouTube.
3. "'Horton' Director Jimmy Hayward 'Hears a Who!' [Exclusive]". Movieweb. March 12, 2008.
4. Hart, Hugh (April 13, 2008). "INDUSTRY BUZZ". SFGATE.
5. "Oh-ho-ho, it's Horton's (and Blue Sky animators') show - USATODAY.com". usatoday30.usatoday.com.
6. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! (2008)". Box Office Mojo . Archived from the original on March 24, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
7. Roush, George (July 25, 2009). "Comic Con 2009: Video Interview Jimmy Hayward & Josh Brolin On Jonah Hex". latinoreview.com. Archived from the original on July 29, 2009.
8. Miska, Brad (May 5, 2010). "This Time, 'Jonah Hex' Does the Burning".
9. "Free Birds". IMDB. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
10. "Primus, Members of Tool and More to Put on Benefit for Jimmy Hayward". Jam Bands. March 24, 2023. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
11. "Dunlop Christmas Commercial". Loudwire. November 22, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2024.

External links

• Jimmy Hayward at IMDb