Walt Disney was one of the famous motion-picture producers in history. He first became known in the 1920's and 1930's for creating such cartoon film characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He later produced feature cartoon, and movies films about animals, and films starring human actors. Disney won 32 Academy Awards for his movies and for scientific and technical filmmaking. He also got fame for his development of theme parks.

Walter Elias Disney was born on Dec. 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to Missouri, and he spent much of his childhood on a farm near Marceline. At the age of 16, Disney studied art in Chicago. In 1920, he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he helped make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movie theaters.

In 1923, Disney moved to Los Angeles to become a film producer or director. When he failed to find a job, he returned to producing cartoons. He set up his first studio in the back half of a real estate office. He gained success in 1928, when he released the first short cartoons that featured Mickey Mouse. Earlier filmmakers had found that animals were easier to animate than people. Mickey Mouse, drawn with a series of circles, proved ideal for animation.

In 1927, sound that had been added to motion pictures, and a process for making movies in color was developed a few years later. Disney and his staff made imaginative use of sound and color. Disney himself provided Mickey Mouse's voice for Steamboat Willie (1928), the first cartoon to use sound. His cartoon Flowers and Trees (1932) was the first cartoon in full Technicolor.