Januel Mercado

Januel Mercado (birthname: Januel Patricio Mercado) is a features animation director and veteran story artist. Hired by DreamWorks Animation after graduating from California State University, San Jose, Mercado was a story artist on his first DreamWorks production, Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), working with director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and cast members Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and new cast members Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Mercado continued as a story artist on Turbo (2013), starring Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Maya Rudolph, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Pena, Luis Guzman, Bill Hader, Snoop Dogg, Richard Jenkins, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Rodriguez. Mercado’s next project as a story artist was Penguins of Madagascar (2014), directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith, and starring John Malkovich, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jeong, Chris Miller, Peter Stormare, Andy Richter, and Werner Herzog.

Januel Mercado continued his story artist duties for director Mike Mitchell on Trolls (2016), starring Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden, and Gwen Stefani. Mercado was a storyboard artist on The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) under co-directors Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, and Bob Logan, with Jackie Chan, Dave Franco, Fred Armisen, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Pena, Justin Theroux, Charlyne Yi, and Olivia Munn.

As an additional story artist, Januel Mercado worked on The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019), directed by Mike Mitchell, and starring Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Nick Offerman, Maya Rudolph, Will Ferrell, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Ben Schwartz, and Jason Momoa. Mercado continued in this capacity for Trolls 2: World Tour (2020) under the direction of Walt Dohrn and David P. Smith, with Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Bloom, James Corden, Kelly Clarkson, and Anderson .Paak, Sam Rockwell, George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Kenan Thompson, and Jamie Dornan.

Mercado was promoted to head of the story for The Croods: A New Age (2020), under Joel Crawford’s direction and starring Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Peter Dinklage, and Leslie Mann. For the long-awaited, long-delayed revival of the Shrek-derived Puss in Boots franchise, Mercado co-directed (with Joel Crawford) his first feature, the entertaining and witty sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Wagner Moura, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.