Steven Loter is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, and producer. His work includes several well-known Disney projects, such as Kim Possible, Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast, and the development of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Early life and education Loter was born and raised in New York City and moved to Los Angeles.
As a child, he used to watch Looney Tunes shorts and "a very poorly subtitled" bootleg of My Neighbor Totoro, which he credited as inspirations for his work on animation. He also cited Lilo & Stitch as a personal inspiration.
Career Loter's earliest works were as a character designer for Disney Consumer Products and at Jim Henson Productions. He started his work as a director directing episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show, where he learned from the team about helming an animated production. He later worked as a director and producer on Kim Possible starting on season 2, as well as on Brandy & Mr. Whiskers and American Dragon: Jake Long. Loter also directed the Happy Monster Band, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and Disney's The Legend of Tarzan series, as well as episodes of Duckman and Stressed Eric. In 2001, he was hired as an additional director for Kevin Smith's Clerks The Animated Series. Loter was hired due to fellow directors Chris Bailey and Nick Fillipi being too busy with their episodes to focus on episodes 4 and 6, which he ended up directing. Loter applied his experience on Ren & Stimpy and Duckman for his work on the show.
In 2008, he directed a music video for the song "Hidden in the Sand", for the indie rock band Tally Hall. He was also an animation director for The Penguins of Madagascar, which won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2012 for Outstanding Animated Program.
Loter announced he was directing the feature film Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast from DisneyToon Studios, at the D23 Expo on August 9, 2013. The film is from the Tinker Bell film series and is executive produced by John Lasseter. It was released direct-to-video on March 3, 2015. Loter, who was approached by Lasseter to pitch a Tinker Bell film, drew inspiration for the film's story on his daughter's love for animals and his own experiences as a father. He worked with the production teams for Secret of the Wings and The Pirate Fairy to ensure continuity within the films.
From 2021 to 2024, Loter worked as an executive-producer on The Ghost and Molly McGee, having joined the series due to long time collaborators Bill Roth and Bob Motz serving as showrunners. Loter also served as showrunner and an executive producer on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, based on the comic book characters of the same name, which aired from to 2025. Loter was contacted by Laurence Fishburne to serve as an executive-producer on the series due to his work on Kim Possible. Having been a fan of Marvel comics since childhood and excited at the idea of working with Fishburne, Loter accepted. Loter and the team pitched the series to Disney with a roller-skating sequence featuring Childish Gambino's "Sweatpants", which was approved by Disney. He approached musician Raphael Saadiq to compose the score and provide songs for the series, being a fan of his; the two were previously set to collaborate on the cancelled Cars spin-off film Metro.
Personal life Loter is married, and has a daughter and a son.
Loter is a fan of anime, particularly Cowboy Bebop, and often references it in his animation work, something he described as "one of the things [he's] known for". He is a fan of Marvel Comics, and noted some Inhumans to be among his favorite characters.
Filmography Films YearFilmCredited asDirectorProducerWriter Notes2002Tarzan & JaneDirect-to-video film 2003Kim Possible: A Sitch in TimeTelevision film 2005Kim Possible: So the Drama 2015Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverbeastDirect-to-video film
Television Year Title Credited as Notes Director Producer Storyboard artist Animationdepartment1993–1995The Ren & Stimpy Show (1 episode)Layout supervisor1994–1997DuckmanRetake supervisor (episode: "Das Dub")1994–1995The Baby Huey Show1998–2000Stressed Eric1998–2004Rocket PowerUnaired pilot only2000–2002Clerks: The Animated Series2001–2002Buzz Lightyear of Star Command2001–2003The Legend of Tarzan2002–2007Kim Possible2006Brandy & Mr. Whiskers2006–2007American Dragon: Jake Long2008–2015The Penguins of Madagascar2021–2024The Ghost and Molly McGee2023–2025Moon Girl and Devil DinosaurAlso developer and showrunnerTBAJourney
Nominations and awards Year Award Category Nominee Result Ref 2002 29th Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Special Class Animated Program The Legend of Tarzan 2005 32nd Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Children's Animated Program Kim Possible 2008 35th Annie Awards Best Animated Television Production 201239th Annie Awards Directing in a Television ProductionThe Penguins of Madagascar Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Animated ProgramThe Penguins of Madagascar (episode: "The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole") 2022Children's and Family Emmy AwardsOutstanding Main Title and GraphicsThe Ghost and Molly McGee 2023 TCA Awards Outstanding Achievement in Family Programming Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Children's and Family Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's or Young Teen Animated SeriesOutstanding Animated Special2024GLAAD Media AwardOutstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Animated 2025Children's and Family Emmy AwardsOutstanding Children's or Young Teen Animated Series
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