ABOUT
Hollywood filmmaker and keynote speaker Saul Blinkoff has worked with Disney, DreamWorks, and Netflix, helping create some of the world’s most beloved stories. Today, he travels the globe inspiring audiences to replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones that lead to breakthrough. Saul is also the host of the Life of Awesome! podcast, where he explores the mindsets behind extraordinary success.
INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKER!
As an internationally recognized keynote speaker, Saul helps audiences replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones, unlocking the clarity, courage, and resilience needed to achieve extraordinary results.
HOLLYWOOD FILMMAKER!
Award-winning filmmaker Saul Blinkoff has spent more than two decades directing and producing animated films and series for some of Hollywood’s most celebrated studios, including Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix, and Amazon.
PODCAST HOST!
On the Life of Awesome! podcast, Saul explores the beliefs, habits, and mindsets behind extraordinary success. Through inspiring conversations with guests including George Foreman, Alan Menken, Lea Salonga, and Rudy Ruettiger, listeners gain practical insights to thrive in their careers, relationships, leadership, and everyday lives.
LIFE COACH!
Saul shares practical, immediately applicable tools that help people replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones—unlocking the clarity, confidence, resilience, and courage to pursue ambitious goals, overcome obstacles, and achieve extraordinary results in both their professional and personal lives.
SAUL’S STORY
FAR FROM HOLLYWOOD! I grew up in a suburb on Long Island, New York, where Hollywood felt a million miles away. As a kid, I never imagined someone could actually work in the film industry because no one I knew did. The adults around me were doctors, teachers, or business owners. While my older brother excelled in sports and my younger twin sister loved to read, I spent nearly every free moment drawing. I didn’t have many friends (actually, none), so I climbed trees, filled sketchbooks, and drew cartoon characters like Snoopy and Garfield on just about everything—even the walls sometimes. (Sorry, Mom!)
Looking back, I realize the biggest obstacle wasn’t my circumstances—it was my belief about what was possible. Before I could ever pursue a dream, I first had to believe that someone like me belonged in that world.
A BOY AND AN ALIEN! Everything changed in 1984 when I saw Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. I was captivated by the story of a boy my own age whose compassion and courage transformed the life of an alien stranded far from home. As the credits rolled, something inside me shifted. For the first time in my life, I knew exactly what I wanted to do: become a movie director.
That moment taught me a lesson I’ve carried ever since: every breakthrough begins with belief. Long before I ever stepped onto a Hollywood studio lot, I had to believe that a kid from Long Island could one day tell stories that would inspire audiences the way E.T. inspired me.
LIGHTS, CAMERA…DREAMER! I checked out every book my local library had on filmmaking and Steven Spielberg. That’s when I discovered that, as a teenager, Spielberg made movies with his sisters and neighborhood friends using a film camera. I thought, Why can’t I do that? So I gathered my siblings and kids from around the block and started writing, storyboarding, and directing my own short films. From that moment on, I was convinced I was going to be a Hollywood director.
Then, near the end of my junior year of high school, everything changed again. I saw Disney’s The Little Mermaid and was completely captivated. The breathtaking artwork, unforgettable music, and especially Ariel’s expressive animation—brought to life by legendary Disney animator Glen Keane—opened my eyes to an art form that combined my two greatest passions: drawing and filmmaking. I soon learned Disney had an animation studio in Orlando, Florida, and just like that, I had a new dream. I wasn’t just going to make movies—I was going to become a Disney animator.
There was only one problem…I had absolutely no idea how.
THE RECIPE! This was long before the internet, so my incredibly supportive mom flew with me to Orlando to help me figure it out. We spent two days wandering Walt Disney World, asking anyone who might know how someone became a Disney animator. My mom even asked the Cast Member loading guests onto It’s a Small World. As a teenager, I was completely mortified.
Thankfully, her fearless persistence paid off. We learned that anyone interested in working for Disney needed to visit the Disney Casting building. The moment I walked up to it, I was captivated. It wasn’t just an office—it was a work of imagination. Every detail reflected the creativity and storytelling that had inspired me, and standing there made my dream feel more real than ever.
WALT DISNEY WORLD CASTING BUILDING
As I pulled open the front doors—designed to look like the talking doorknobs from Alice in Wonderland—I stepped into what felt like another world. The grand atrium was filled with golden statues of beloved Disney characters, from Dumbo to Roger Rabbit. Even the air seemed magical, as if pixie dust had been sprinkled throughout the building. I walked up a long ramp beneath a mural of Walt Disney holding a sketchbook, while Peter Pan and Wendy soared across the ceiling toward Neverland. That’s exactly where I wanted to go.
More than anything, I wanted to believe I belonged there.
A few minutes later, I was sitting across from a Disney Casting representative. She asked why I was there, and I proudly replied, “My dream is to become a Disney animator.”
She smiled politely and explained that I was in the wrong place. The Casting building hired performers, attractions, merchandise, food service, and theme park Cast Members—not animators.
Seeing my disappointment, she paused, left the room, and returned with a single sheet of paper. On it were the names of eight art schools where Disney recruited its animators.
“If you want to be a Disney animator,” she said, “you need to attend one of these schools.”
In that moment, everything changed. For the first time, my dream no longer felt impossible—it had a path. I wasn’t holding a guarantee of success. I was holding something even more valuable: a reason to believe my dream could actually become reality.
FIERCE COMPETITION! My mom and I visited each of the schools on Disney’s list, but the moment I walked through the halls of the Columbus College of Art & Design, I knew I had found my place. The walls were covered with incredible paintings and illustrations—each one more impressive than the last. The students’ work was at a level I had never imagined, and I realized just how much I still had to learn.
Instead of discouraging me, it strengthened my belief. If this was where Disney found its artists, then this was where I needed to be.
I chose CCAD, spent the next six months pouring everything I had into my admissions portfolio, and was thrilled to be accepted.
Within my first week, I discovered I wasn’t the only student chasing the Disney dream. Almost everyone was. This was before DreamWorks or Pixar existed. If you wanted to become an animator, Disney was the destination.
Early that semester, legendary Disney animator Bill Matthews—who had worked on Sleeping Beauty—visited campus to explain exactly what Disney looked for in applicants to its prestigious Animation Internship. I listened intently, realizing that every step of the journey would require not only improving my skills, but continuing to believe I could one day earn my place there.
Freshman at Columbus College of Art & Design
The auditorium was packed with hundreds of students—freshmen through seniors—all hoping to one day become Disney animators. Bill Matthews looked out at the crowd and asked, “How many of you want to work for Disney someday?”
Every hand shot into the air.
Then he said something I’ll never forget:
“Just so you know, this internship is incredibly competitive. Maybe…just maybe…four of you will ever work there.”
The room fell silent.
But the only thought that crossed my mind was, “I wonder who the other three are going to be?”
That wasn’t arrogance. It was belief.
As I looked around at more than 500 talented artists, I knew many were probably better than I was. But I also believed no one would outwork me, outlast me, or out-believe me. That belief didn’t guarantee success—but it gave me the courage to keep pursuing a dream that seemed impossible.
Then Bill explained the challenge ahead. To even be considered for the Disney Animation Internship, we had to submit a portfolio filled entirely with figure drawings and anatomical studies of people and animals drawn from real life—no cartoon characters allowed.
The real work was about to begin.
DRAWING, DRAWING AND MORE DRAWING! That year I signed up for as many figure drawing classes as I could and never put my sketchbook down. My best friend Andy and I would draw everywhere together. At the cafeteria during dinner we would draw others students eating, we would sketch other students around campus doing their daily activities and my personal favorite were the nights we would walk around the desolate downtown city of Columbus drawing the benches, lampposts as we talked for hours about our dreams of working at Disney. Andy became my best friend and his work ethic and tenacity started to rub off on me. It was then I realized that who we choose to be friends with actually effects who we become.
Drawing in a life drawing class.
My sophomore year came and I took my best drawings, put them in a portfolio and sent them into the Walt Disney Studios. I didn’t really expect to get in as a sophomore but wanted to go through the process. I got rejected from Disney twice over the next 2 years and finally gave up on my dreams. Reality set in as I just didn’t feel like I would ever really be good enough. A week later I saw the inspirational underdog movie RUDY, which tells the true story of a short, un-athletic, college student who achieved the impossible by fulfilling his dream of playing football for NOTRE DAME.
After that, I was motivated to never give up again. I called up the Disney Studios and asked them to tell me how close I had been to being accepted. They explained they chose 17 students that year and that I had made it to number 20! I was only 3 away from getting in and I was ready to give it all up?! It’s a good reminder to all of us, so often we feel like we are miles away from achieving our goal but all we need to do do is preserver a bit more! I now worked even harder than ever at drawing. I put hundreds of my best drawings in a portfolio to submit to Disney.
SAUL’S LIFE DRAWING PORTFOLIO
SAUL’S LIFE DRAWING PORTFOLIO
SAUL’S LIFE DRAWING PORTFOLIO
Soonafter, Bill Mathews came back to our school and I was chosen with a select group of other students to show my portfolio to him. This was my third time trying.
Portfolio interview by Disney recruiter Bill Mathews.
Eventually, after all the rejection, hard work, tenacity and discipline, my dream came true and I was accepted by The Walt Disney Studios on an animation internship!!
SAUL ON THE DISNEY ANIMATION INTERNSHIP
SAUL ON THE DISNEY ANIMATION INTERNSHIP
Over the years I’ve gotten to work on some incredible projects with amazing people!
For the past 15 years I have traveled the world speaking about clarity, living out our dreams, resilience and finding meaning in all aspects of life!
SAUL TRAVELS THE WORLD INSPIRING AUDEINCES
People have asked me countless time “When is the podcast coming out?!” So in January of 2021 I launched my podcast ‘Life of AWESOME!” I have had the privilege of interviewing some truly remarkable people who are not just successful at making a LIVING, but successful at making a LIFE!
My goal now is to impact as many people as I can to live their truest dreams by living a life of…AWESOME!!!
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