Larry Lauria is an animator/ director and educator who loves his craft. His expertise in direction, animation, character design and layout has kept Larry trotting around the globe. His workshops at Festivals in London, Cologne, Dublin, Belfast, Los Angeles and Provence, have inspired and amused audiences from all over the world.

His animation career spans over 35 years and includes
animation and direction on feature, television, commercial
and interactive productions. The projects he has worked on have garnered over 50 awards, from Emmys to Addys to Codys and even a few BAFTRAs.

He has experience in every aspect of animation. He is the former head of animation at the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida where he was personal animation guru to folks like Andy Garcia, Joan London, and Gladys Knight. He has appeared on ABC, NBC, SPORTS CENTER, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, CNN and the BBC.

Prior to Disney, Larry also lived in Ireland for five years and taught and co-coordinated the world-renowned classical animation program at European school of Animation, one of the top three animation programs in the world.

Socially conscious animation is a hallmark of Laurias career.

While in Dublin, he created the ANIMAGIC project, a cross-border North/South of Ireland film produced by 32 students which focused on their cultural heritage. The 15 minute film was seen as an innovative landmark in Irish cinema.

During his tenure at Disney, Larry produced a 30 second animated commercial for the UNICEFs Rights of the Child project; almost 500 people participated in making the spot.

His awarding winning film, OUR WORLD has a simple premise, What do you have to say about this world? The film utilized the skills of student animators supervised by professionals under the auspices of the Internationale Filmschule in Cologne and Laurias Larrys Toon Institute.

The recently released, PETES ODYSSEY, is being enjoyed by festival audiences and has already won several awards.

Laurias next film, MIMI AND GACK, a story of war, peace, love, hate and sects is now in production.

Larry and his wife live in the Orlando, Florida area. He enjoys painting, drawing, reading and taking long walks on the beach.