Rubén Procopio

Procopio is a key contributor to the award-winning Walt Disney Classics Collection, bringing Disney characters to life through three-dimensional porcelain sculptures and promoting the products through gallery appearances. His works include Elastigirl and Edna Mode from The Incredibles, Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Genie from Aladdin, Chernabog and the 2006 Signature Series Magical Maelstrom from Fantasia (for which Procopio animated the brooms and pails of water before sculpting them), and several pieces in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

Procopio also developed, with Electric Tiki Design, the Classic Heroes line of collectible statues, which includes such characters as The Phantom, The Green Hornet and Kato, Dick Tracy, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Flash Gordon, The Tick, Mandrake the Magician, Prince Valiant, Tarzan and Lassie. In their Teeny Weeny line he has sculpted such memorable characters as Mighty Mouse, Woody Woodpecker, Popeye, Mr. Magoo, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Andy Panda and Chilly Willy, and in 2006 sculpted the new "Sergio" award for the Comic Art Professional Society, named for its founder, Sergio Aragonés. When he steps from his sculpting table to his drawing board, he illustrates comic books and graphic novels, including works featuring his original characters Chameleonman and Goliath. His father Adolfo and sister Vivian are the inspiration for the characters in the Chameleonman comic series.

In 2003, inspired by his lifelong admiration of the masked heroes of yesteryear, Procopio founded Masked Avenger Studios, specializing in sculpture, animation and design. Procopio's father Adolfo and sister Vivian also participate in Masked Avenger Studios to offer its clients more than 60 years of combined artistic experience and talent to numerous major motion picture, animation and television studios, comic book publishers, and manufacturers and designers of toys and collectible statues.

Joining Walt Disney Productions in 1980, Procopio was trained under Eric Larson, one of Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men," and other Disney veterans.

From the 1980s through the early 2000s, Procopio contributed his varied 2D and 3D talents to more than 25 feature films produced in Disney's California and Florida studios, several of which received Academy Award nominations.

Rubén Procopio (born November 21, 1961) is an American animation and comic book artist, animator and sculptor. Long affiliated with Walt Disney Feature Animation as an animator and sculptor, Rubén is credited with restoring the maquette process to feature animation film production in the early 1980s. He is the founder of Masked Avenger Studios, whose clients include Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Electric Tiki and DC Comics. He is known for his versatile sculpting and illustration style in both cartoony and realistic characters, with an emphasis on Disney characters, superheroes, and the masked heroes of yesteryear.

Procopio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961. His parents, émigrés of Italian origin, went to Los Angeles when he was four years old and his father, Adolfo Procopio, began an acclaimed 35-year career as a Walt Disney Imagineering sculptor whose works can be seen in Disney theme parks worldwide.