Jorge Ruiz Cano, the Venezuelan who worked on the creation of the successful second part of Moana

With a spatula

December 17 2024, 1:33 pm

Jorge Ruiz Cano is a man from Maracay who dreamed of being an animator since he was a child and today he stands out at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he appears to the point of being one of the creators of Moana 2. “I was the one who had the desk covered with drawings, from Mickey until Dragon Ball. He made drawings and sold them. They gave me permission at school,” he remembers.

By Chronicle of Chile

Ruiz began his career at Disney Animation in 2012 as an animation trainee and assistant on the Oscar-winning film “Frozen.” His credits include “Big Hero 6,” “Zootopia,” “Moana 1 and 2,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Raya and the Last Dragon”; in addition to the shorts “Feast”, “Inner Workings” and the previous animation for “Myth: A Frozen Tale”.

During a visit to Caracas, he explained the complex process of creating Moana 2 and spoke about the importance of the collaboration of a diverse team that works in multiple stages of production. “In the team I am on, there is so much cream and chocolate and there is respect and delegation is very easy… trust comes from respect, to be able to delegate, so that there is a tasty collaboration and in that study, people surpass their role and his discipline.”

Jorge Ruiz Cano, the Venezuelan at Disney behind the magic of “Raya and the Last Dragon”

The Creole, a lover of Chuao and Choroní, revealed in an interview who his influences are.

“’The House of the Mouse’ had a big impact on me, Miguelito, I was greatly influenced by Mexican cinema, Cantinflas, Chespirito. I was also influenced by Akira Toriyama. Certain artists did influence me, like Carlos Cruz Diez, who taught me that a Venezuelan can be recognized anywhere,” he says.

Jorge was also an animator on the Short Circuit shorts “Elephant in the Room” and “Exchange Student.” In 2018, he was the animation lead on “Cycles,” Disney Animation’s first virtual reality short.

The Venezuelan trained at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and the Academy of Art University. He currently teaches animation and storytelling at the California Institute of the Arts.

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