Photo: Sage Ross / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Nina Paley is one of those creators I genuinely admire, because the work and the principles are inseparable. Sita Sings the Blues took the Ramayana and folded her own divorce into it, then she released the whole thing freely, putting her free-culture convictions where her art was. That's a rare kind of nerve. Coming up through comic strips like Nina's Adventures before moving into animation, and earning a Guggenheim along the way, she has the craft to back the philosophy. I'll always take an artist with a stance over a merely skilled one, and Paley gives you both at once.
Overview
Nina Carolyn Paley (born May 3, 1968) is an American cartoonist, animator, and free culture activist. She was the artist and often the writer of the comic strips Nina's Adventures and Fluff, after which she worked primarily in animation. She is perhaps best known for creating the 2008 animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues, based on the Ramayana, with parallels to her personal life.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Nina Paley
- Name (Japanese)
- ニナ・ペイリー
- Reading
- にな・ぺいりー
- Born
- May 3, 1968 (age 58)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Monkey
- Origin
- Urbana, Illinois, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film director / animator / cartoonist / screenwriter / writer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- University Laboratory High School
- University
- University Laboratory High School
Awards & achievements
- Guggenheim Fellowship
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Sita Sings the Blues | — | |
| Notable work | Seder-Masochism | — | |
| Notable work | Nina's Adventures | — | |
| Notable work | The Hots | — |
6. Links
Film director — see all → · Animator — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.