About Michael Cawood
Multi Award Winning Animated Filmmaker & Game Director
Michael Cawood, has been creating animated films since 1994. He’s a multi-award winning British/American Animation Director and Supervisor based out of Los Angeles with credits in Film, Commercials and Games working with Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Brothers, Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Microsoft, Activision, Nintendo, Sega and many more.
Michael has a broad creative skillset including directing, story development, animation, game design, character design, storyboarding, producing, previs, layout, rigging, editing, and supervising. He has a unique strength in directing online collaborations as first showcased in his 'Orson Welles Award' winning short film, 'Devils Angels & Dating', which attracted over 19 millions of views online. He repeated this success again with 'The Wrong Rock' which toured various Oscar qualifying festivals worldwide. Both films won 'Best Short Film' at the Burbank Film Festival (2012 and 2019). He also served as Head of Story for the multi-award winning 'The OceanMaker' which was screened at South by SouthWest. All three films screened at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, at the Hollyshorts Festival.
Michael supervised both, the previsualisation for Universal's new take on 'The Mummy' with Tom Cruise, and the postvis animation for 'Bumblebee'. Credits also include 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', 'Happy Feet', 'Pete’s Dragon', 'Ghostbusters', 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5', and 'Night at the Museum 3'. He was the Animation Director for the game cinematics in 'Skylanders Giants' and Lead on 'Starfox Adventures' and the XBox 360 launch title 'Kameo'.
In 2025, Michael shipped his first game as a Director, Game Designer, Producer and Generalist. The Phoenix Gene is an exceptional experience in VR gaming with unique mechanics that really takes advantage of wireless VR. It's available on Steam and the Meta Quest.
-
Grant Kirkhope,
Bafta Nominated Composer - The Wrong Rock, GoldenEye, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64"Working with Michael has been a total pleasure. It's so great for composers when the director has a very clear vision of the kind of music they are looking for and can articulate that vision in a very precise manner. Whenever I was slightly unclear of the mood of a scene Michael would always be able to give me the exact thing that I needed to hear/read that made it easy for me to compose what he wanted. It's so refreshing to work with a director that really cares about the score. The Wrong Rock has been a delight to work on and I look forward to working with Michael and Heromation again!"
-
Shaun Reed,
Design Director at Rare / Microsoft"I worked with Michael several years ago now but still remember him as one of the most driven and professional people I have made games with. At the time the animation work we were doing was leading the industry and Michael drove this with passion and expertise. I would not hesitate in recommending Michael and wish him every success in the future."
-
George Andreas,
Creative Director at Sony Computer Entertainment"Mike was a very ambitious and highly motivated artist who was never afraid to share his thoughts during the game development period. He had bags of energy and passion and had many skills in many areas. He showed a particular high level of skill and talent for putting together FMV movies and storyboards and I would definitely work with him again if our paths crossed in the future."
-
Kevin Williams,
Previs Supervisor - Proof"Michael has a great eye for animation and camera. He is a team player and a true professional. I have recommended Michael for other jobs, and will definitely work with him again."
-
Chris Knott,
VFX Supervisor for Passion Pictures / Disney"I look forward to working with Michael again, he has broad experience, and is a serious talent: throughout his previz work and animation on a 'pressure' project, he was calm and assured, a great anchor point for other members of the crew. Highly recommended."
