Andrew Gunn, a film producer on live-action Disney favorites including โFreaky Fridayโ and โSky High,โ has died. He was 56.
Gunn died Monday at his Toronto home following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, according to an obituary.
โHe was a courageous and modest man always doing for others before himself. His love of family, friends, motorcycles and tattoos will long be remembered by those who knew him,โ his wife Jane Bellamy Gunn said in a statement to USA Today. She told the outlet that Andrew had been diagnosed with Bulbar-onset ALS, a form of the neurodegenerative disease affecting the neck and face, in September 2025 after experiencing symptoms for more than two years.
The Canadian film producer was best known for his work on family friendly Disney comedies starting in the 2000s. Gunn launched his own production company, Gunn Films, in 2001 and had an exclusive first-look deal with Walt Disney Pictures.
Among his earliest hits was the 2003 body-swap comedy โFreaky Friday,โ starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother-daughter duo who wake up one morning in each otherโs bodies. The remake was made after Gunn had pitched the movie to then-studio president Nina Jacobson.
Andrew Gunn, center, with director Mark Waters, left, and Jamie Lee Curtis on the set of โFreaky Fridayโ in 2003.
(Ron Batzdorff / Disney Entertainment)
โAndrew Gunn … was a producer with great passion and emotionality which added so much to what makes those movies special,โ Curtis wrote in her tribute posted to Instagram on Wednesday. โHis legacy lives on, and he will be missed.โ
Gunn was also the producer on the 2005 superhero comedy โSky High,โ as well as films based on iconic Disney theme park attractions, including โThe Country Bearsโ (2002) and โThe Haunted Mansionโ (2003). His most recent credits include โCruellaโ (2021), the fashion-forward origin story of โ101 Dalmationsโ villain Cruella de Vil, as well as the next-gen sequel โFreakier Fridayโ (2025).
Born July 15, 1969, in Toronto, Gunn moved to L.A. to earn a masterโs degree from the Annenberg School at USC, according to Deadline. He began his Hollywood career in the late 1990s, working at John Hughesโ Great Oaks Entertainment where he contributed to the development of films such as โ101 Dalmatiansโ (1996), โ102 Dalmatiansโ (2000) and โFlubberโ (1997).
Gunn is also credited with helping establish the Disney Writers Program in 2001, where he championed and mentored up-and-coming writers.
โAndrew Gunn took a chance on a very green 29 year old from nowhere and gave him a screenwriting career and more than thatโฆa family in my adopted city,โ said โClifford the Big Red Dogโ writer and Disney Writers Program alum Blaise Hemingway in his Instagram tribute.
โAndrew fostered a fraternity of writers who did EVERYTHING together,โ Hemingway added. โLunches, Friday movies, happy hours at Moโs, kidโs birthday parties. Alongside Andrew, we rewrote, roundtabled, did triage on productions in crisisโฆyou name it. It was crazy, unhinged, and so [fโ] fun. And despite the leather jackets and tattoos, Andrew was a softy who got a kick out of his writersโ knuckle-headed antics. He was a great mentor.โ
Gunn is survived by his wife Jane; his children Isabelle and Connor Gunn; mother Anne Gunn; and siblings Hilary Knight, Graeme Gunn and Cameron Gunn.