Byron P. Howard (born December 26, 1968) is an American animator, character designer, story artist, film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as one of the directors of the Walt Disney Animation Studios films Bolt (2008), Tangled (2010), Zootopia (2016), Encanto (2021), and Zootopia 2 (2025). He is the first LGBT director to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature twice for his work on Zootopia and Encanto.