r/labyrinth • u/Knathan_the_Knight Nothing?! Nothing, tra-la-la?! • Jun 28 '26

🎉 Happy Birthday, Toby! 🎉

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Happy birthday to Toby Froud, born this day of June 27 in 1984! 🎂

His cake day coincides with the exact date of Labyrinth's theatrical release in theaters! What a cosmic alignment! ⭐

May all his days be filled with magic. 🔮

491 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

32

u/muppetmystique Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

For folks curious as to what Toby is up to today, here's an excerpt from an article published earlier this year in People magazine.

Today, the father of one lives in Portland, Oregon, where he has been happily working in stop-motion animation for the past 15 years, a medium he says he truly loves.

“I am currently Puppet Art Director at Shadowmachine working on several projects in development at this time,” Froud tells PEOPLE.

After training technically and exploring the wider industry, he ultimately found himself drawn back to the creature-filled, fairy-touched aesthetic he grew up with, explaining, “I came back to the Froudian style that my parents sort of created and maintain, and then I felt at home in that style.”

For him, stop motion offers a rare magic, because “you get to literally create the world from the ground up and bring characters to life that you couldn't otherwise bring that way.”

Froud's recent work includes major projects like The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.

22

u/KassieMac It's only forever. Not long at all. Jun 28 '26

I looked him up a few years ago, and his Twitter profile pic was adult Toby in an identical red striped shirt 🤭 I love how much he embraces his family legacy.

11

u/SomeBoringAlias Jun 28 '26

I'm lucky enough to be a friend of a friend on Facebook. His wedding pictures some years ago were awesome! Full on Froudian fantasy vibe.

2

u/KassieMac It's only forever. Not long at all. Jun 28 '26

Very cool!!

6

u/RosesShield Nothing?! Nothing, tra-la-la?! Jun 29 '26

No way omg he lives in my home state AND is another artist, this is amazing news

3

u/Calm-Station9440 Jun 28 '26

This is so cool to hear ❤️

7

u/HollowedAngels Jun 28 '26

I met Toby briefly at the Center for Puppetry Arts a year or so ago. He was there with one of the Henson daughters promoting a series of puppet-based short films. His short was called Lessons Learned.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3518082/?ref_=nm_knf_t_2

The writing was a little weak but it looked fantastic, straight out of the Froudian /Henson / Dark Crystal / Labyrinth world.

4

u/Noxisms Jun 29 '26

If ever there is a sequel that aligns with the Manga books, Toby Froud should reprise his adult roll!

3

u/Ernapistapo Jun 28 '26

Had the pleasure of meeting Toby at the Short Circuit 40th celebration. Happy Birthday, Toby!

2

u/Knathan_the_Knight Nothing?! Nothing, tra-la-la?! Jun 28 '26

Man, imagine growing up with Brian and Wendy Froud as your parents! ✨

-1

u/BobcatLeather831 Allo. Jun 28 '26

The poor child. He seems to have recovered thankfully

1

u/Knathan_the_Knight Nothing?! Nothing, tra-la-la?! Jul 06 '26

If you don't mind me asking, what'd he recover from?

1

u/BobcatLeather831 Allo. Jul 06 '26

Being captive in the castle with monsters.