Born Hayao Miyazaki(January 5, 1941), a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney. After directing his first successful film, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli where he continued to produce many successful feature films. While Miyazaki's films have long enjoyed both commercial and critical success in Japan, it wasn't till Miramax released his 1997 film, Princess Mononoke that he gained fame in the West. His next film Spirited Away was the first anime film to win an American Academy Award. Miyazaki's films often incorporate recurrent themes, such as humanity's relationship to nature and technology, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic. The protagonists of his films are often strong, independent girls or young women, reflecting Miyazaki's support of the feminist movement. Miyazaki is also a vocal critic of capitalism and globalization.