Roger Allers (born 1949) is an American director, screenwriter, and animator, and a key figure in the Disney Renaissance. His career is inextricably linked with Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he contributed as a story artist to classics such as *The Little Mermaid*, *Beauty and the Beast*, and *Aladdin*. He achieved international fame in 1994 by co-directing the acclaimed film *The Lion King* with Rob Minkoff, one of the greatest commercial and critical successes in animation history. For his work as co-writer on the Broadway stage adaptation of *The Lion King*, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical. His subsequent works include directing the Academy Award-nominated short film *The Little Matchgirl* (2006) and the animated feature film *The Prophet* (2014), based on the work of Kahlil Gibran, solidifying his reputation as one of the most important storytellers in contemporary animation.