Justin K. Thompson

Justin K. Thompson (birthname: Michael Kent Thompson) has worked as a respected production designer, visual development artist, and animation background designer for animation in TV and movies since 1993.

After working in television for 14 years as a layout artist, location designer, and background designer, Thompson added feature film work to his resume with The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), Priest (2011) Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017), and The Emoji Movie (2017).

Thompson’s work as a lead production designer began with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and culminated with his award-winning work on the first entry in the new Sony franchise, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), co-directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, and featuring the voices of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Zoe Kravitz,  Mahershala Ali, Jake Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lily Tomlin.

Justin K. Thompson was elevated to co-director for the series’ smash hit and highly acclaimed second entry, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), with co-directors Joaquim dos Santos and Kemp Powers and co-writers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callahan, along with the original cast reunited. For his second directing assignment, Thompson continued as co-director with Dos Santos and Powers for the series’ third edition, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2024).