Biography
Joel Crawford is an American film director, storyboard artist and screenwriter. He has worked at DreamWorks Animation since 2006, initially as a story artist on films including Bee Movie (2007), the Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Shrek Forever After (2010) and Rise of the Guardians (2012). He later served as head of story on Trolls (2016).
Crawford made his feature directorial debut with The Croods: A New Age (2020). He directed Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, and co-directed and co-wrote Forgotten Island (2026) with Januel P. Mercado. He also directed the television special Trolls Holiday (2017). In 2023 he received an honorary degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
