Marilyn Zornado

A rare indigenous inhabitant of Portland, Oregon, Marilyn spent her childhood vacations on the Long Beach Peninsula staring through the murky glass at Jake the Alligator Man and wondering if his family was as complicated as hers. (She is her own aunt.)

Marilyn worked for many years at Will Vinton Studios producing animated commercials for such diverse clients as the California Raisins, the Smithsonian and Sesame Street. She is a filmmaker in her own right with her first animated film, Insect Poetry, winning several awards.

These days, when she's not traveling the globe, hobnobbing and clinking glasses with animators in France or England, she teaches book arts at the Oregon College of Art & Craft and animation history at the Art Institute of Portland. Although she no longer teaches Irish dancing, she can sometimes be seen doing a four-hand reel at a local pub. She lives on a houseboat with her husband, sound engineer and entomologist, Alan Garren.

The Baby Claire