Donald Paul Hahn (born November 26, 1955) is an American film producer who is credited with producing some of the most successful animated films in recent history, including The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. He currently is Executive Producer of the Disneynature films, and owns his own film production company, Stone Circle Pictures.\n', '

Don Hahn was born in Chicago, Illinois. His father was a Lutheran minister. When Hahn was three, his family moved to Bellflower, California, where he went to school and shot his first animated shorts in the high school film club. His family then moved to Burbank, California when he was a teenager. He graduated from North Hollywood High School (where he was a drum major) in 1973, went on to study music at Los Angeles Valley College, and majored in Music and minored in fine art at California State University Northridge. At both colleges, he was also a drum major as he also was in the Royal Cavaliers Youth Band of Van Nuys, California. He was a percussionist in the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic Orchestra. He worked as a drum head tester for Remo Inc. and was the percussion instructor at Notre Dame High School to put himself through college.\n', '

He began his career in animation working for Disney Legend Wolfgang Reitherman as an assistant director on The Fox and the Hound. He worked closely with director Don Bluth on the production of Pete\'s Dragon and even worked in Bluth\'s garage on the animated short Banjo the Woodpile Cat. He later became production manager of The Black Cauldron (1985) and The Great Mouse Detective before moving on as an associate producer of Disney/Amblin\'s Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).\n', '

Return to Don Hahn Autograph Profile