Jayson Thiessen

{{Short description|Canadian animation director (born 1976)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jayson Thiessen | image = Jayson Thiessen at AoD 2012.jpg | alt =  | caption = Jayson Thiessen at [[w:Animation On Display|Animation On Display]] 2012 in San Francisco, California | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|12|30}}<ref>[http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Jayson-Thiessen/ Behind the Voice Actors]</ref> | birth_place = | other_names = | occupation = Animator, voice actor | years_active = 1997–present | known_for = ''[[Pucca (TV series)|Pucca]]''<br />''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]''<br />''[[My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film)|My Little Pony: The Movie]]'' | notable_works = }}

'''Jayson Thiessen''' (born December 30, 1976) is a Canadian animator and voice actor, best known as the first supervising director of the animated television series ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]''. He also directed its spin-off films ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (film)|Equestria Girls]]'' (2013) and ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks|Rainbow Rocks]]'' (2014), as well as [[My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film)|the 2017 feature film adaptation]] based directly on the television series.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2012/0320/Is-TV-paying-too-much-attention-to-fans | title=Is TV paying too much attention to fans? | work=Christian Science Monitor | date=20 March 2012 | accessdate=8 March 2016 | author=Turner, James}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/my-little-pony-movie-emily-blunt-1201704719/ | title=Emily Blunt Joins 'My Little Pony' Movie | work=Variety | date=12 February 2016 | accessdate=8 March 2016 | author=McNary, Dave}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2015/11/19/My-Little-Pony-movie-set-for-release-in-2017/7771447944507/ | title='My Little Pony' movie set for release in 2017 | work=UPI | date=19 November 2015 | accessdate=8 March 2016 | author=Martin, Annie}}</ref>

==Career== Prior to working on ''Friendship Is Magic'', Jayson co-directed the second season of the [[Pucca (TV series)|''Pucca'' television series]] and served as the animation supervisor for the first season of ''[[George of the Jungle (2007 TV series)|George of the Jungle]]'' from 2007 to 2008.

He was the supervising director for the first four and a half seasons of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'', and would occupy the position of executive producer (or showrunner) from season 2 until halfway through season 5. He also provided some voices, most notably [[List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters#Ponyville characters|Bulk Biceps]] and [[List of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic characters#Background characters|Doctor Whooves]]. He also directed the first two ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls]]'' films, ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013 film)|Equestria Girls]]'' (2013) and ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks|Rainbow Rocks]]'' (2014), as well as directing Rainbow Rocks' companion animated shorts. Halfway into season five, he stepped down from his role in the series as his attention shifted to directing [[My Little Pony: The Movie (2017 film)|the 2017 theatrical film based directly on the series]]; his role as supervising director would be occupied by Jim Miller for the remainder of the series' run. As such, his role in the series diminished into a consulting director for both the second half of season 5 and the third Equestria Girls film, ''[[My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games]]'' (2015), which was his final involvement in the ''Equestria Girls'' spin-off franchise (although he did direct the film's 5 companion animated shorts). After [[The Cutie Re-Mark|the season 5 finale]], his focus completely shifted to directing the film. Season six was the first season in which he had no involvement in, and he also had no involvement in any of the final three seasons of the series even after the film was released in theaters on October 6, 2017.

He directed eight episodes of ''[[Cleopatra_in_Space_(TV_series)|Cleopatra in Space]]'', an animated series which premiered on [[DreamWorks Channel]] in Southeast Asia in late November 2019 and was part of the offerings of the NBC streaming service [[Peacock (streaming service)|Peacock]] in April 2020.<ref>Thiessen's [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaysontee/?originalSubdomain=ca LinkedIn page] notes that he was an episodic director for Cleopatra in Space at Titmouse, employed for about a year, from March 2018 to March 2019.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Pearce |first=Steven |title=Cleopatra in Space |url=http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cleopatra_in_space |magazine=[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]] |access-date=February 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218221632/http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cleopatra_in_space |archive-date=February 18, 2020 |date=December 30, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|2149505}} * [https://twitter.com/goldenrusset Jayson Thiessen] on [[Twitter]] {{Jayson Thiessen}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiessen, Jayson}} [[Category:1976 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Canadian animated film directors]] [[Category:Canadian television directors]]