21 | Disney animator, Tom Bancroft helped create The Lion King, but proposing to Jen was chaos. High school sweethearts, long-distance love, and a bachelor party prank that stopped a plane—this story is wilder than any movie

Tom and Jennifer first met their senior year—he and his twin brother ran the high school art club, she was on the drill team. One walk to class turned into every walk to class, and a sweet high school romance began.
Jen ended the relationship before heading to college, but shortly after she left, she realized how much she missed Tom. Daily phone calls turned into long-distance dating until she moved closer to where Tom was studying animation at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts.
On Valentine’s Day, after a series of failed attempts to find the “perfect moment,” Tom proposed in his dorm room—and Jen said yes. Soon after, Tom and his brother landed an internship with Disney in L.A., but several months later they were relocated to Orlando, launching Tom’s legendary animation career. Jen finished her Special Ed. degree in California, and together they navigated long distance again until their wedding day—despite a bachelor-party prank that caused Tom to be kicked off the plane.
Married life took them from Florida to Chicago and back, raising two daughters and then twin girls while Tom animated films like The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Mulan. Jen dedicated herself to raising their girls, and afterwards continued to build her career as a speech-language pathologist, later earning her Ph.D. and becoming a university professor.
Today, Tom is the CEO of Pencilish Animation Studios, and Jennifer teaches at Austin Peay State University—still choosing each other after decades of creativity, laughter, adventure, and love that started in a high school hallway.

More info and photos of Tom & Jen at https://unexpectedlovestories.com/episode/episode-21-tom-and-jen-bancroft/
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Music credits:
Sophie's Dream by Philip Ayers | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Where to Next by Ritchie Everett | Courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com
Other music by ⁠@JoeEPmusic