Floyd Norman is set to receive an honorary Oscar.
The animation legend is behind some of Disney's iconic hits.
Norman will be felicitated at the 2026 Governor Awards.
Floyd Norman, the 90-year-old animation maestro, is finally receiving his due. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that its Board of Governors voted to present Academy Honorary Awards to actor Glenn Close, animator Floyd Norman and director Ridley Scott, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler. The Oscar statuettes will be presented at the Academy’s 17th Governors Awards event on November 15, 2026, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood.
“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to present this year’s Governors Awards to five remarkable individuals whose groundbreaking work has forever shaped the art of filmmaking,” said Academy President Lynette Howell Taylor. “Floyd Norman is the legendary animator who has broken barriers and inspired generations of artists over his remarkable career.”
An animator and storyboard artist, Norman began his distinguished 65-year career at Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1956, becoming the studio’s first Black animator. He was just 21 and went on to land uncredited roles as an assistant animator on classic films such as Sleeping Beauty, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book.
After exiting Disney to set out on his own, he would help create some of the more memorable animated TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Smurfs, Heathcliff, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Godzilla. He'd eventually return to Disney in various roles, scoring writing credits for the 1998 animated hit Mulan, serving as an additional storyboard artist on Toy Story 2, and earning an art department credit for another Pixar smash hit, Monsters Inc. As a pioneer in animation, Norman has been honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 2002 Annie Awards, inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2021, and named a Disney Legend in 2007, among other honors.
The Honorary Award is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences in any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
