What is Rob Minkoff's net worth?
Rob Minkoff is an American filmmaker, best known for co-directing the 1994 Disney animated feature "The Lion King" with Roger Allers. Rob Minkoff has a net worth of $30 million. Before this, he served as a character animator on a number of Disney films. Among the other movies Minkoff has directed are "The Haunted Mansion," "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," and "Stuart Little" and its sequel.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Rob Minkoff was born in 1962 in Palo Alto, California to Jewish parents Tola and Jack. As a teen, he went to Palo Alto High School, and subsequently enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita. There, he graduated from the Character Animation department in the early 80s.
While studying at CalArts, Minkoff was hired by Walt Disney Animation Studios as an in-between artist for its film "The Black Cauldron." Following this, he served as a supervising animator on "The Great Mouse Detective," and went on to do character design for "The Brave Little Toaster." Additionally, he wrote the song "Good Company" for 1988's "Oliver & Company." At the end of the decade, Minkoff did character animation for "The Little Mermaid," and between 1989 and 1990, directed two Roger Rabbit short films: "Tummy Trouble" and "Roller Coaster Rabbit." After this, he was involved in pre-production script development for 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," and directed the 1992 Mickey Mouse short "Mickey's Audition.
Breakthrough with "The Lion King"
Minkoff had his career breakthrough in 1994, when he co-directed the Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film "The Lion King" with Roger Allers. The film was an enormous success upon release, grossing $763 million to become the highest-grossing film of 1994, as well as the highest-grossing animated film at the time. Moreover, "The Lion King" received four Oscar nominations, winning two for Hans Zimmer's original score and Elton John and Tim Rice's song "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."
Live-Action Directing
Following the success of "The Lion King," Minkoff directed his first live-action film, 1999's "Stuart Little." Loosely based on the 1945 E. B. White novel of the same name, the film starred Hugh Laurie, Geena Davis, and Jonathan Lipnicki, and featured the voices of Michael J. Fox, Nathan Lane, and Jennifer Tilly, among others. "Stuart Little" did well at the box office, and received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, which it ultimately lost to "The Matrix." Minkoff subsequently directed a sequel to the film, "Stuart Little 2," which came out in 2002. The next year, he directed the horror comedy "The Haunted Mansion," based on the Disney theme park attraction. The film starred Eddie Murphy, Marsha Thomason, Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, and Jennifer Tilly.
Minkoff saw the release of his first non-family film in 2008: "The Forbidden Kingdom." Starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the wuxia film was liberally adapted from the 16th-century novel "Journey to the West." It was the first film to co-star Chan and Li, two of the biggest names in martial arts cinema. A box-office success, "The Forbidden Kingdom" grossed $128 million on a budget of $55 million. Minkoff followed this with another movie targeted at adults, called "Flypaper." The crime comedy film, which starred Ashley Judd and Patrick Dempsey, was a critical flop; playing at only one theater, it was also a commercial failure.
(Photo by Mike Pont/Getty Images for Beth Katz Media)
Return to Animation
After the failure of "Flypaper," Minkoff returned to children's animation with DreamWorks Animation's 2014 film "Mr. Peabody & Sherman." Based on characters from the classic television series "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends," the film featured the voices of Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Stephen Colbert, Allison Janney, Ariel Winter, and Leslie Mann. In 2015, Minkoff began producing a Netflix series based on the film, entitled "The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show." Also on Netflix, Minkoff worked as a director on the animated original series "Llama Llama," an adaptation of the late Anna Dewdney picture book franchise. Meanwhile, for the Nick Jr. network, he co-created the computer-animated series "Rainbow Rangers," which follows seven young girls who live in the kingdom of Kaleidoscopia.
In 2021, Minkoff and Mark Koetsier replaced Chris Bailey as directors of the animated film "Blazing Samurai." Starring Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Yeoh, and George Takei, among others, the film is inspired by the classic 1974 Mel Brooks Western comedy "Blazing Saddles." Beyond this, Minkoff is set to direct "Chinese Odyssey," as well as produce the films "Wolf Totem" and "Silkworms."
Personal Life
At an office party in 2003, Minkoff met Crystal Kung; they subsequently went to the premiere of "Finding Nemo" on their first date. They got engaged on Valentine's Day in 2006, and later married in 2007. Together, Minkoff and Kung have a son named Max and a daughter named Zoe. Kung is a 76th-generation descendant of Chinese philosopher Confucius.
Real Estate
In 2010 Crystal and Rob paid $2.3 million for a property in Bel Air. They tore down the existing structure and proceeded to build a 7,200 square-foot mansion that today is worth an estimated $14 million.
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