Chris Beetles Gallery

Alex Steuart Williams (born 1967)

Alexander Williams was born on 18 October 1967 in London. His father, Richard Williams, was a three-time Academy Award-winning animator, celebrated for this work on productions such as the television film version of A Christmas Carol (1971) (for which Alexander Williams provided the voice of Tiny Tim) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988). Alexander Williams was educated at Westminster School, Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, and Merton College, Oxford.

In 1987, while still at University, Alexander Williams began working as an intern and assistant animator on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, before being invited to work on the film full-time. The following year, having paused his university studies, he joined the Disney-MGM Studio in Orlando, Florida, to work on the Roger Rabbit short film, RollerCoaster Rabbit.

In 1993, whilst working as research assistants in the House of Commons, Williams and a colleague, Graham Francis Defries, created the comic strip Queen’s Counsel, which first appeared in the law pages of The Times that year, and has been running ever since. He also produced Writer’s Block, for The Times’ book section from 2005 to 2006, and The Dealers, which was published in The Tatler between 1994 and 1995. He was awarded a prize for Strip Cartooning in October 2017 by the Cartoon Art Trust.

Alexander Williams was working as a barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk Chambers in London until 1996, when he left to pursue a full-time career in animation, first joining Warner Bros Feature Animation. In addition to his work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, his animation credits include The Lion King (1994), The Iron Giant (1999), Open Season (2006) and the final three movies in the Harry Potter franchise.

In addition to his work on King’s Counsel for The Times, Alexander Williams is Dean and Director of the School of Animation at Escape Studios in London. He is the founder of the online animation school annimationapprentice.org.