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'Wish' come true: Filipino animator John Aquino marks 30 years at Disney

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Yong Chavez | TFC News Hollywood

As its environment model supervisor, Filipino animator John Aquino was in charge of the team that created Rosas, the wonderful world depicted in the new disney film “Wish.”The cast is led by Oscar winner Ariana Debose as Asha and Chris Pine who plays Magnifico.<div><a data-ved="2ahUKEwi58q3i0teCAxXadXAKHTm1AHkQFnoECBUQAQ" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/11/22/23/jennifer-lee-gets-her-wish-come-true-at-disney" jsname="UWckNb" ping="/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/11/22/23/jennifer-lee-gets-her-wish-come-true-at-disney&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi58q3i0teCAxXadXAKHTm1AHkQFnoECBUQAQ">Jennifer Lee gets her &#x27;Wish&#x27; come true at Disney</a></div>&quot;Working with the team and working with everyone here at Disney, from the departments to story, you can&#x27;t help but be inspired,&quot; said Aquino. &quot;You want to do great work.&quot;The film deals with how each precious wish fuels one’s purpose. Aquino said he related deeply to that theme.Born in the Philipppines, he immigrated to the U.S. after high school.&quot;I was in Pasay City and the first Disney animated film that I saw was Sleeping Beauty and I was so amazed by it,&quot; he said. &quot;And you know, I didn&#x27;t know there were Disney cartoons or Disney films. But after watching that film, I wanted to be an artist.&quot;In 2020, his other wish of becoming a director also came true.His “Lightning in Bottle” is part of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Short Circuit” program. The short film is streaming on Disney+.Almost 30 years ago, Aquino started as an &quot;inbetweener,&quot; the job of an artist tasked with drawing in between an animated film’s key frames.Disney Animated films take about four years to make, so he was very excited when his first film “Hercules” was released.<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="johnaquino" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/entertainment/11/22/1.png"/><figcaption><address style="text-align:left">Filipino animator John Aquino is celebrating his third decade with Disney this year with the latest animation film, &quot;Wish.&quot; (Courtesy: John Aquino)</address></figcaption></figure></div>His ever-growing list of blockbuster-films-credits include “Tangled,” “Moana,” “Wreck-it Ralph,” and “Raya and the Last Dragon.”&quot;It was really tough because I was in art but I didn&#x27;t know how to go that route,&quot; Aquino shared. &quot;I wanted to be a comic-book artist because that was another influence of mine. But then they said, you should look into animation.&quot;He added: &quot;And at that time, Beauty and the Beast was a big hit. I got into a program that taught animation - from life-drawings to animating and even a little bit of CG.&quot;“Wish” is Disney’s celebration of its 100 years of magic and entertainment.

One of the animation supervisors of Disney's 100th year film 'Wish' is a Filipino who is celebrating three decades in the company.