Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator.
54 Facts About Matt Groening
2.
Matt Groening is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell and the television series The Simpsons, Futurama, and Disenchantment.
3.
In 1985, Brooks contacted Matt Groening about adapting Life in Hell for animated sequences for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show.
4.
In 2016, Matt Groening developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018.
5.
Matt Groening has won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, 11 for The Simpsons and 2 for Futurama, and a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.
6.
Matt Groening received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14,2012.
7.
Matt Groening was born on February 15,1954, in Portland, Oregon, the middle of five children.
8.
Matt Groening's Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth, was once a teacher, and his Russian Mennonite father, Homer Philip Groening, was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist.
9.
Matt Groening grew up in Portland and attended Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School.
10.
Matt Groening befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry after discovering that she had written a fan letter to Joseph Heller, one of Groening's favorite authors, and had received a reply.
11.
Matt Groening graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1977.
12.
In 1977, at the age of 23, Matt Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer.
13.
Matt Groening described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of the self-published comic book Life in Hell, which was loosely inspired by the chapter "How to Go to Hell" in Walter Kaufmann's book Critique of Religion and Philosophy.
14.
Matt Groening distributed the comic book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked.
15.
Matt Groening made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978.
16.
Matt Groening had gained employment at the Los Angeles Reader, a newly formed alternative newspaper, delivering papers, typesetting, editing and answering phones.
17.
Matt Groening showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed and eventually gave him a spot in the paper.
18.
Matt Groening started Acme Features Syndicate, which initially syndicated Life in Hell as well as work by Lynda Barry and John Callahan, but would eventually only syndicate Life in Hell.
19.
Originally, Brooks wanted Matt Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show.
20.
Matt Groening feared that he would have to give up his ownership rights, and that the show would fail and take down his comic strip with it.
21.
Matt Groening famously named the main Simpson characters after members of his own family: his parents, Homer and Marge, and his younger sisters, Lisa and Margaret.
22.
Maggie Matt Groening has co-written a few Simpsons books featuring her cartoon namesake.
23.
The family was crudely drawn, because Matt Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.
24.
Matt Groening decided that this would be too distracting though, and redesigned the ear to look normal.
25.
Marge's distinct beehive hairstyle was inspired by Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Matt Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue.
26.
At the time Matt Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that [Bart] would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes that appear to be an extension of his head.
27.
Years later, during the early seasons of The Simpsons, when it came time to give Grampa a first name, Matt Groening says he refused to name him after his own grandfather, Abraham Matt Groening, leaving it to other writers to choose a name.
28.
Matt Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.
29.
Matt Groening has pitched "Young Homer" and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield.
30.
In 1995, Matt Groening got into a major disagreement with Brooks and other Simpsons producers over "A Star Is Burns", a crossover episode with The Critic, an animated show produced by Brooks and staffed with many former Simpsons crew members.
31.
Matt Groening requested his name be taken off the episode.
32.
Matt Groening co-wrote and produced The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007.
33.
Matt Groening has had several cameo appearances in the show, with a speaking role in the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding".
34.
Matt Groening currently serves at The Simpsons as an executive producer and creative consultant.
35.
However, Matt Groening had expressed a desire to continue the Futurama franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.
36.
On January 15,2016, it was announced that Matt Groening was in talks with Netflix to develop a new animated series.
37.
Matt Groening described the fantasy-oriented series as originating in a sketchbook full of "fantastic creatures we couldn't do on The Simpsons".
38.
In 1994, Matt Groening formed Bongo Comics with Steve Vance, Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison, which publishes comic books based on The Simpsons and Futurama, as well as a few original titles.
39.
Matt Groening guest-edited Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2003 and curated a US All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in 2003.
40.
Matt Groening illustrated the cover of Frank Zappa's posthumous album Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute.
41.
Matt Groening plays the drums in the all-author rock and roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr.
42.
In July 2013, Matt Groening co-authored Hard Listening with the rest of the Rock Bottom Remainders.
43.
In 2011, Matt Groening married Agustina Picasso, an Argentine artist, after a four-year relationship, and became stepfather to her daughter Camila Costantini.
44.
In May 2013, Picasso gave birth to Nathaniel Philip Picasso Matt Groening, named after writer Nathanael West.
45.
Matt Groening joked that "his godfather is SpongeBob's creator Stephen Hillenburg".
46.
Matt Groening has made a number of campaign contributions, all towards Democratic Party candidates and organizations.
47.
Matt Groening has donated money to the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of Democratic candidates Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, as well as previously donating to Kerry's Massachusetts senator campaign.
48.
Matt Groening collectively donated to the Democratic senatorial campaign committee and to the Senate campaigns of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Paul Simon, Ted Kennedy, Carl Levin, Hillary Clinton, Harvey Gantt, Howard Metzenbaum, and Tom Bruggere.
49.
Matt Groening donated to the now-defunct Hollywood Women's Political Committee, which supported and campaigned for the Democratic Party.
50.
Matt Groening's first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, was a member of the Oregon State Senate, representing eastern Multnomah County.
51.
Matt Groening has been nominated for 41 Emmy Awards and has won thirteen, eleven for The Simpsons and two for Futurama in the "Outstanding Animated Program " category.
52.
Matt Groening received the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000.
53.
Matt Groening received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.
54.
Matt Groening received the 2,459th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14,2012.