Casarosa began his professional career as a background designer and storyboard artist on several animated TV series, including
101 Dalmatians: The Series and
PB&J Otter. Before joining Pixar, he worked as a storyboard artist at
Blue Sky Studios on
Ice Age and
Robots. In 2002, Casarosa joined Pixar, where he worked as a story artist on
Cars,
Ratatouille,
Up and
Cars 2. In late 2004, Casarosa started a drawing marathon community called
SketchCrawl and has been organizing the event ever since. In 2011, his short film
La Luna premiered at the
Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France, and was released theatrically with Pixar's
Brave in 2012. Cararosa then worked as head of story on
The Good Dinosaur when
Bob Peterson was the original director, and later as a story artist on
Coco. In 2021, Casarosa made his feature directorial debut with
Luca, which was released on
Disney+ in the United States. The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its nostalgic feel and acting. The film won a
Hollywood Critics Association award for Best Picture. It was also nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the
79th Golden Globe Awards and the
94th Academy Awards. In October 2022, Cararosa stated he was developing another original Pixar feature film. In June 2025, the film was titled
Gatto, with the story centered on a black cat named Nero living in Venice who questions whether he's lived the
right lives. It is scheduled for release in 2027. == Personal life ==