Masashi Ando (安藤 雅司, Andō Masashi, born January 17, 1969) is a Japanese animator, character designer and filmmaker.

This biography of a living person relies on a single source. (November 2012)

He is known for working with Hayao Miyazaki, Satoshi Kon and Makoto Shinkai. He was the animation director and character designer for three of the four anime films in the top five box office revenues of Japanese films of all time: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Your Name.^[1][2]

Ando took the entrance exam for Studio Ghibli while he was a student at the Nihon University College of Art and was accepted.^[1] At the young age of 25, Ando was chosen to be the chief animation director of Princess Mononoke.^[1][3] Ando also served as Hayao Miyazaki's right-hand man on Spirited Away in 2001, but left Ghibli after a confrontation with Miyazaki over directing methods.^[4]

Ando has been involved in Satoshi Kon's films since 2003, and served as character designer and animation director for Kon's 2006 film Paprika.^[4] He worked as a character designer and animation director for Hiroyuki Okiura's A Letter to Momo in 2012.^[4] He joined Studio Ghibli films for the first time in a long time in 2013 as a member of the animation staff for The Tale of Princess Kaguya. In 2014, he worked on When Marnie Was There as an animation director for Studio Ghibli for the first time in 13 years since Spirited Away, and also co-wrote the script for the film. He led the animation team for the Makoto Shinkai-directed Your Name in 2016.^[5]

Ando made his directorial debut with Shika no Ō: Yuna to Yakusoku no Tabi, alongside co-director Masayuki Miyaji.^[3][6] He also served as character designer and animation director.^[1][2]