Dave Filoni

David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Mandalorian, 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 all but the third season, in which Justin Ridge served as supervising director while Filoni accepted a promotion to oversee all of Lucasfilm Animation projects. Filoni is also credited as one of the writers and executive producers of the web series Star Wars Forces of Destiny, and as the creator of the 2018–2020 animated series Star Wars Resistance and the 2021 animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which has been renewed for a third season. His live-action miniseries Ahsoka (2023) continues the story of Star Wars Rebels. Early life Dave Filoni was born in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, on June 7, 1974. He graduated from 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 regard to the concept of Star Wars Resistance. Career Prior to his work with Lucasfilm Animation, Filoni worked as a storyboard artist and/or assistant director for various animated series, including Mike Judge's King of the Hill, Phil Walsh's Teamo Supremo, and Disney's Kim Possible, before moving on to direct many of Nickelodeon's first-season episodes of the 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. 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.