Nelson Shin

Nelson Shin
Nelson Shin
신능균; 申奈舜
Born	Shin Neung-kyun; 1939 (age 84–85); Pyongsan, Hwanghae Province, Chōsen (now Pyongsan, North Hwanghae, North Korea)
Nationality	South Korean
Occupation(s)	Animation director, producer
Years active	1970–present

Shin Neung-kyun (born 1939), also known as Nelson Shin, is an animation director. He is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985.

Career[change | change source]

In the 1970s, Shin worked as an animator at the DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Productions. This is where he worked on the Pink Panther films and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. While at DFE, he also helped the animation of the lightsaber blades in the original Star Wars.

Much of the animation Shin's studio has produced were for American television series. Some of Akom's credits are: Beavis and Butt-Head, The Simpsons, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Invasion America and Arthur. Shin's most well-known accomplishment is his direction of the television series The Transformers and The Transformers: The Movie. Shin also directed the first season of the Canadian animated TV series, Toad Patrol.

Beginning in 1999, Shin worked on the animated feature film Empress Chung. The movie was largely animated in North Korea. In August 2005 it became the first movie ever to open in North and South Korea.

In 2009, he was elected president of the International Animated Film Association. It was a post he held through 2012.