Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Hiromasa "Maro" Yonebayashi

Hiromasa Yonebayashi (米林 宏昌, Yonebayashi Hiromasa^?) (nickname "Maro") was born 10 July 1973 in the town of Nonoichi in Ishikawa prefecture. He attended the Kanazawa College of Art where he majored in commercial design. He began his animation career at Studio Ghibli in 1996 as an in-betweener on Princess Mononoke and My Neighbors the Yamadas. His first film as a key animator was Spirited Away; he has also been a key animator on the films Ghiblies Episode II, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and From Up on Poppy Hill. He also worked on Tales from Earthsea as one of the three assistant animation directors on that film.

In addition, Yonebayashi worked on several of the short films that are shown exclusively at the Studio Ghibli Museum - Mei and the Kittenbus ("enshutsu" or technical director and animation supervisor), Imaginary Flying Machines (animation director), and Evolution (storyboards and "enshutsu").

At the age of 38 during production of Arrietty, Yonebayashi is the youngest person to have directed a feature-length film at Studio Ghibli. He completed his second feature film at the studio When Marnie Was There, in 2014 prior to the studio's production hiatus. He left Studio Ghibli at the end of 2014

See the Hiromasa Yonebayashi (books) page for a list of books or articles illustrated by, written by, or about Yonebayashi.