Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois. Walt was one of five children, four boys and a girl.

After Walt's birth, the Disney family moved to Marceline Missouri, Walt lived most of his childhood there.

Walt had an early interest in art, he would often sell drawings to neighbours to make extra money. He followed his art career, by studying art and photography in McKinley High School in Chicago.

Walt loved, and appreciated nature and wildlife, family and community, which were a large part of agrarian living. Though his father could be quite severe, and often there was little money, Walt was encouraged by his mother, and older brother, Roy to follow his dreams.

During the autumn of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service. He was rejected because he was under age, only sixteen years old at the time. Instead, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent to France, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with camouflage, but with Disney cartoons.
Once Walt returned from France, he began a career in commercial art. He started a small company called Laugh-O-Grams, which eventually fell bankrupt. With his suitcase, and twenty dollars, Walt went to Hollywood to start a new life.

After making a success of his "Alice Comedies," Walt became a recognized Hollywood figure. On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, in Lewiston, Idaho. Later on they would have two daughters, Diane and Sharon .

In 1932, the production entitled Flowers and Trees(the first color cartoon) won Walt the first of his studio's Academy Awards. In 1937, he released The Old Mill, the first short subject to use the multi-plane camera technique.

On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles. The film produced at the cost of $1,499,000 is still considered one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.