Hideaki Anno

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, actor, producer and voice actor, born in 1960. He began as an animator on the television series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross while studying at Osaka University of Arts, produced the Daicon III and IV opening animations, and drew wider notice for his work on Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. In 1984 he co-founded the studio Gainax, where he became the leading director of its projects, among them Gunbuster and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. His best known creation is the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, which shaped Japanese television anime and popular culture and later continued in the Rebuild of Evangelion films. He also directed live action work including Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider.