Steven MacLeod

Steven A. MacLeod is an American storyboard artist at DreamWorks Animation. He served as the head of story for Glen Keane's 2020 Netflix film Over the Moon and the 2026 DreamWorks film Forgotten Island.

Education

MacLeod studied at the California Institute of the Arts. After his first year, he took a three-year break from CalArts in the early 2000s to become a missionary in Brazil, and eventually graduated from CalArts in 2007.

Career

After graduation, MacLeod was immediately accepted by DreamWorks Animation in 2007 for its story training program as ran by animator Jeff Snow. After spending three months in the program, MacLeod began work as a storyboard artist for Chris Sanders' then-upcoming film The Croods as his first project, wherein he was placed in charge of character creation. MacLeod also served as a story artist for How to Train Your Dragon (2010) for 11 months when Sanders became its director, and afterwards returned to storyboarding for The Croods until as late as October 2012. After The Croods premiered in February 2013, MacLeod began storyboarding for Me and My Shadow, a project conceptualized by filmmaker Edgar Wright, but the film did not come to fruition.

In the late 2010s, MacLeod served as the head of story for the Netflix animated film Over the Moon, directed by former Disney animator Glen Keane, and by 2024, became head of story for the DreamWorks project Forgotten Island (2026).

Personal life

MacLeod's first child, a daughter, was born in 2007. MacLeod is partially of Filipino ethnicity from his mother Luisa.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Studio Note(s) Ref.
2005 My Little Obsessive Compulsive Friend Director, animator N/a short film
2010 How to Train Your Dragon Story artist DreamWorks Animation
2013 The Croods Story artist
2014 Rocky & Bullwinkle Story artist Short film
2016 Trolls Additional story artist
2017 The Boss Baby Story artist
2019 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Additional story artist Warner Bros. Animation
2020 Over the Moon Head of story Netflix Animation Studios
Pearl Studio
Glen Keane Productions
The Croods: A New Age Additional story artist DreamWorks Animation
2021 Back to the Outback Story artist Netflix Animation Studios
Reel FX Animation
Weed Road Pictures
2022 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Story artist DreamWorks Animation
2024 Thelma the Unicorn Story artist Netflix Animation Studios
Scholastic Entertainment
The Wild Robot Story artist DreamWorks Animation
2025 A Minecraft Movie Illustrator Warner Bros. Pictures
2026 Forgotten Island Head of story DreamWorks Animation

Television

Year Title Role Note(s) Ref.
2014 Over the Garden Wall Writer Episode: "Songs of the Dark Lantern"
2017 Trolls Holiday Story artist Television special

Accolades

YearAward-giving bodyCategoryWorkResultRef.
2014 41st Annie Awards Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production The Croods Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Scott, Ben (December 29, 2012). CGMA | Interview with the Masters | featuring Steven Macleod. YouTube. Retrieved September 3, 2026. I'll [Steven MacLeod] probably be working on Me and My Shadow, unless something happens, but that'll come out in 2014.
  2. ↑ Cartwright, Nancy (February 22, 2008). "Nancy Cartwright Chats with Jeff Snow". Animation World Network. Retrieved September 3, 2026. Currently Jeff is running a training program at DreamWorks.
  3. 1 2 3 McDonnell, Chris (March 19, 2013). "Artist of the Day: Steven A. MacLeod". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Lawson, Corrina (February 28, 2013). "Creating The Croods, Part 1". Wired. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  5. ↑ Amidi, Amid (December 19, 2016). "Watch Never-Before-Seen Animation From Dreamworks' Aborted 'Me and My Shadow'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  6. 1 2 Drosu, Alexandra (August 25, 2020). "The Possibility of the Impossible". Keyframe Magazine. The Animation Guild. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  7. 1 2 3 Carpio, Audrey (August 1, 2026). "An Island Remembered: The Artists and Creatives Behind DreamWorks' Forgotten Island". Vogue Philippines. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  8. ↑ Wolfe, Melissa (July 6, 2006). "Channel Frederator Features: The Top 4 of '06". Channel Frederator Blog. This film [My Little Obsessive Compulsive Friend] has been in the Munich Film Festival, and recently the Philadelphia Film Festival.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ "Trolls credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  10. ↑ "The Boss Baby credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  11. ↑ "The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  12. ↑ "The Croods: A New Age credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Back to the Outback credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Thelma the Unicorn credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  16. ↑ Drosu, Alexandra (December 16, 2024). "Call of the Wild". Keyframe Magazine. The Animation Guild. Retrieved September 3, 2026.
  17. ↑ "A Minecraft Movie credits". Metacritic. Retrieved September 21, 2026.
  18. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (December 2, 2013). "'Frozen,' 'Croods' Among Annie Nominees for Best Animated Feature". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 3, 2026.