Julie Taymor

On December 15, 1952, Julie Taymor was born. Her talent in theatre and performing arts was revealed at an early age when she began to put on shows with her sister in the backyard. She joined the Boston Children's Theatre Company at the age of 10 and went to Paris to study at a mime school. Although she knew she was headed for a career in theatre, she earned a degree in folklore and mythology rather than following a conventional theatre curriculum. However, she also studied with Joseph Chaikin's Open Theatre in New York City. In 1974, she traveled to Japan and Indonesia to study the forms of foreign theatre. She believes that an ancient ceremony performed by male elders of a village in Bali has informed and inspired all of her work. Fast forward past dazzling productions of The Tempest, The King Stag, Juan Darien, a Carnival Mass, Titus Andronicus, and The Green Bird to 1997 when her greatest success appeared in the form od Disney's Lion King. Since the Disney officials could not figure out a way to costume and act out their greatest animated triumph because the characters were all animals, they turned to Julie Taymor who, by then, was known for her out-of-the-box thinking. She directed the production, designed the costumes, co-designed the masks and puppets, and rewrote many of the film's scenes and songs. Elephants were played by four people, the actors playing giraffes were on stilts, and there were over 100 puppets representing over 25 different animal species. The Lion King is still running on Broadway now, while Julie Taymor has gone on to create films as well as more productions and musicals.