Intro American film director
Is Film director Animator Screenwriter Actor Voice actor Film producer 
From United States of America 
Type Creativity Film, TV, Stage & Radio 
Gender male
Birth 7 June 1974, Mt. Lebanon, USA
Age: 46 years
Star sign Gemini
Education
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American animation director, voice actor, television writer, television producer, and animator. He is most known for his work on Avatar: The Last Airbender and on the theatrical film and television series of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He was also the creator and an executive producer on Star Wars Rebels for all four seasons, and served as its supervising director for the first two and fourth and final seasons. (Justin Ridge served as supervising director for the third season when Filoni accepted a promotion to oversee all of Lucasfilm Animation projects.) Filoni is also credited as one of the executive producers of the web series, Star Wars Forces of Destiny and as the creator of the 2018–2020 animated series, Star Wars Resistance.

Table of Contents

Early life

Dave Filoni grew up in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. He graduated from the Mt. Lebanon High School in 1992 and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 1996. Filoni’s father was an opera and a classical music fan, according to composer Kevin Kiner (who did most of the music for The Clone Wars and Rebels); as such, he inherited appreciation for classical music and helped with the collaboration process, with Kiner crediting Filoni for suggesting the organ in Grand Admiral Thrawn’s theme from Rebels. Filoni has also said that his grandfather and uncle were pilots, with the latter specializing in restoring planes. He cited this as a significant influence with regards to the concept of Star Wars Resistance.

Early career

Prior to his work with Lucasfilm Animation, Filoni worked for Nickelodeon directing episodes of the first season of animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Star Wars

An avid Star Wars fan, particularly of character Plo Koon, Filoni dressed up as the Jedi Master for the opening of Revenge of the Sith, and was dismayed at the character’s fate in the film. Filoni left Nickelodeon after George Lucas offered him a job, helping him develop a Star Wars animated series. While on The Star Wars Show Filoni revealed that he originally believed he was being pranked when given the Star Wars job.

Directing

He is the director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature film and the supervising director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.

Filoni made an appearance at Celebration IV on Sunday, May 28, 2007 with producer Catherine Winder to discuss the beginnings of the new television series and reveal how The Clone Wars is being created. At the time, he announced he would be writing for the Clone Wars monthly comic. Filoni voices the bounty hunter Embo during various episodes in different seasons. In February 2009, Filoni was inducted as an Honorary Member of the 501st Legion international costuming organization in recognition of his contributions to the continuing Star Wars saga.

Filoni’s office, as seen in the extra features on the Star Wars: The Clone Wars DVD, is filled with Plo Koon paraphernalia. He has a bust of Plo Koon’s head, a model of Plo Koon’s ship, an autographed portrait by the actor who played Plo Koon, a replica of Plo Koon’s lightsaber on his desk, and his personal Plo Koon costume on display. Filoni also has a notebook-sized planner on his desk with Plo Koon’s picture taped to the outside, and he has written the words “Plo Kool” on concept art designs for the Clone Wars, indicating that he liked those designs. Filoni also has a small model of the character Appa on his desk, from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Filoni has attended all the Clone Wars premieres and attended the fifth season premiere in Orlando, Florida during the special event Celebration VI on August 24, 2012. He is most associated with developing the characters of Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex.

Filoni served as an executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, which debuted in fall 2014, alongside Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg. For the first two seasons he also served as its supervising director. He appointed Justin Ridge as his successor for the remainder of the show, though he still remained as executive producer. Filoni departed as supervising director in September 2016 when he was given the job as overseer of all future and current Lucasfilm Animation projects. Then he returned as supervising director for season 4. He directed two episodes of The Mandalorian television series, making his live action debut.

Voice acting

Filoni provided the voice of the bounty hunter Embo in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the Star Wars Rebels season three episodes “The Holocrons of Fate” and “Legacy of Mandalore”, Filoni voiced a Rebel Crewman, Stormtroopers, and Mandalorian Warrior, respectively. He also voiced Chopper for the entirety of the show, a fact not revealed until the series finale. Dave Filoni also voiced Bo Keevil, a secondary character in Star Wars Resistance .

Acting

Dave Filoni made his first live action acting roll in The Mandalorian as Trapper Wolf; a x-wing pilot during the time of the New Republic in the episode Chapter 6: The Prisoner .

Episodic directing and writing credits

Title Se. Ep. Name Director Writer
Avatar: The Last Airbender 1 1 “The Boy in the Iceberg” Yes No
2 “The Avatar Returns” Yes No
6 “Imprisoned” Yes No
10 “Jet” Yes No
13 “The Blue Spirit” Yes No
14 “The Fortuneteller” Yes No
17 “The Northern Air Temple” Yes No
20 “The Siege of the North, Part 2” Yes No
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Theatrical film Yes No
1 2 “Rising Malevolence” Yes Additional dialogue
3 “Shadow of Malevolence” No Additional dialogue
4 “Destroy Malevolence” No Additional dialogue
9 “Cloak of Darkness” Yes No
2 22 “Lethal Trackdown” Yes Yes
3 1 “Clone Cadets” Yes No
21 “Padawan Lost” Yes No
22 “Wookiee Hunt” Yes No
4 14 “A Friend in Need” Yes No
5 2 “A War on Two Fronts” Yes No
20 “The Wrong Jedi” Yes No
7 2 “A Distant Echo” No Yes
5 “Gone with a Trace” No Yes
6 “Deal No Deal” No Yes
7 “Dangerous Debt” No Yes
8 “Together Again” No Yes
9 “Old Friends, Not Forgotten” No Yes
10 “The Phantom Apprentice” N/A Yes
11 “Shattered” N/A Yes
12 “Victory and Death” N/A Yes
Star Wars Rebels Shorts 1 “The Machine in the Ghost” Yes No
4 “Property of Ezra Bridger” Yes No
1 10 “Path of the Jedi” Yes No
15 “Fire Across the Galaxy” Yes No
2 3 “The Lost Commanders” Yes No
7 “Wings of the Master” Yes No
21-22 “Twilight of the Apprentice” Yes Yes
3 12-13 “Ghosts of Geonosis” No Yes
15 “Trials of the Darksaber” No Yes
20 “Twin Suns” Yes Yes
4 6 “Flight of the Defender” No Yes
7 “Kindred” No Yes
9 “Rebel Assault” No Yes
10 “Jedi Night” No Yes
11 “DUME” No Yes
12 “Wolves and a Door” Yes Yes
13 “A World Between Worlds” Yes Yes
14 “A Fool’s Hope” Yes No
15-16 “Family Reunion and Farewell” Yes Yes
Star Wars Resistance 1 1-2 “The Recruit” No Story
The Mandalorian 1 1 “Chapter 1: The Mandalorian” Yes No
5 “Chapter 5: The Gunslinger” Yes Yes

Books

Year Title Role Notes
2008 The Clone Wars 1 Cover arts Comics
2009 The Clone Wars 7: In Service of the Republic, Part 1
2012 The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters
2015 Dark Disciple Based on screenplays of eight unproduced episodes for The Clone Wars co-written with Filoni Novel

Dave Filoni Quotes

“When you’re working with Star Wars you know you’re never going to make everyone happy, but try to tell a story you like”

“One of the things I like as a creative is that the episodes can be different lengths if you want. I experienced this making Clone Wars as well as making Mandalorian… Before, I would have to come in at a certain length for every single episode of Clone Wars or Rebels and I thought, ‘Well, I’d love just an extra 30 seconds.’ It might not seem significant to a viewer, but it is actually a significant amount of time. So I love the flexibility of the space that allows you to tell the story in the way that you really intend. You don’t, if you don’t want to, have to cut things – you can add things as you see fit.”

“Just that it’s “Star Wars”, I mean, I hope, that’s what I feel, You know it’s “Star Wars” that Jon and I love, and we’re really excited and proud of it. And we’re proud of our team that came together to make this show. We feel really good about it and we want the audience to feel good about it. We want them to get that feeling of adventure and excitement. We like that we’re not dealing with the bigger moving, shaking, moments of the galaxy, but kinda of a gritty, underbelly, street level view you know, which to me, reminds me more of what I pictured coming out of “A New Hope”. It’s more of that realm of cantinas and villainy. But there’s something brewing maybe. And that could be quiet fighting. The not knowing of things that are happening outside your view.”

“For me, what precedes a lightsaber fight and what follows it is actually far more important if the emotions driving us to lights of your fighting fuel that get you energized. And if the outcome is dynamic and desperate, then I have something.”  

“That’s when “Star Wars” is at its best, when we are relating to it. Not because it’s a galaxy far far away but because it feels like something that happens in our everyday life. We just experience it through the fantastic, which is the “Star Wars” Universe.”

“Nothing really ever ends, things end then begin, they end they begin, so the end of “Rebels” is just the beginning of another story. And in this way, it’s a story even more focused on Sabine and what she’s become.”