Toshio Suzuki (producer)

Toshio Suzuki (鈴木 敏夫, Suzuki Toshio?, born August 19, 1948) is a film producer of anime and a long-time colleague of Hayao Miyazaki, as well as the former president of Studio Ghibli. Suzuki is renowned as one of Japan's most successful producers after the enormous box office success (in Japan) of many Ghibli films. According to Miyazaki, "If it were not for Mr. Suzuki, there wouldn't have been Studio Ghibli."

Suzuki started out at Tokuma Shoten joining the company shortly after graduating. He worked on Asahi Geino magazine before becoming editor of Animage in 1978, where he met Hayao Miyazaki who had created the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga. He convinced Miyazaki to turn Nausicaä into a film, he later helped establish Studio Ghibli after the film. He served on production committees on My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies before officially joining the studio in 1991 as a producer. Suzuki lead the company starting from 2005 but stepped down from the position in 2008, although he still serves as the company's managing director.

He graduated from Keio University with a degree in literature.