About
Hunter Hopewell: Filmmaker. Comedian. Musician.
Hunter Hopewell is a 70-time award-winning filmmaker and Senior Producer at Disney. Born near Walt Disney’s birthplace in Chicago, he developed a lifelong dream of one day directing Disney films. Growing up, he spent most of his free time making short films with friends and submitting them to festivals.
While studying at UNLV, Hunter won a competitive grant to fund his first feature-length screenplay. With the support of a dedicated team, he went on to direct and star in Shellfish, a coming-of-age comedy with a stop-motion twist. The film won thirty awards, including ten Best of Festival honors. After premiering at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Shellfish was picked up for distribution and is now streaming on Prime Video.
After applying to eight Disney internships before finally landing an interview, Hunter eventually made it to the company he had been dreaming about since childhood. Today, he works as a Senior Producer in Los Angeles, co-hosts the D23 Inside Disney podcast, created the video series D23 Five Facts and D23 Propped Up, and was the Assistant Director on the Disney+ documentary Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives.
70+ FILM AWARDS
Working with talented collaborators, Hunter has won over seventy awards across ten short films, a feature film, and 300+ videos, including a first place win at the United Nations for Numbskull, an anti-bullying short.
FEATURE DIRECTOR
Hunter’s feature directorial debut Shellfish premiered at the TCL Chinese Theater as part of the Dances with Films Festival and went on to win thirty awards at seventy-five festivals, including ten Best of Festival awards. You can catch Shellfish streaming on Prime Video.
DISNEY PRODUCER
Walt Disney has been a longtime inspiration in Hunter’s life. At Disney for eight years now, Hunter works full-time as a Senior Producer, where he Assistant Directed the feature documentary Adventure Thru The Walt Disney Archives, streaming on Disney+.
Ongoing, he produces content for D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, Disney Corporate, Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel, and more.
DISNEY HOST
As a voice actor, Hunter provides VO for D23 promos and events, co-hosts the D23 Inside Disney video series, and is the creator and narrator of D23’s most popular series, Five Facts. Five Facts is now available on Disney On Demand at every Disney Resort in the United States.
MUSICIAN
A lifelong guitarist, drummer, and keyboard player, Hunter composes the scores for his films and has released three albums and a couple singles. He is also the frontman for the alt rock band The Need to Know.
This website is filled with projects I’ve been lucky to work on, with people who have given me opportunities and taught me so much. None of it would be possible without support from friends, family, and teachers. To that end, my full-circle goal is to ultimately pay it forward through film productions with profits benefiting arts education programs, like the ones that had such a big impact on me.