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Seth MacFarlane
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Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973) is an Emmy award-winning American comedian, singer, animator, screenwriter, producer, actor, voice actor and composer. MacFarlane is best known as the creator and executive producer of Fox Broadcasting Company's animated series Family Guy and American Dad!. He was executive producer of the short-lived television series The Winner. MacFarlane's series are produced through his company, Fuzzy Door Productions.
MacFarlane voices several characters from his cartoon programs Family Guy and American Dad!.
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Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973) is an Emmy award-winning American comedian, singer, animator, screenwriter, producer, actor, voice actor and composer. MacFarlane is best known as the creator and executive producer of Fox Broadcasting Company's animated series Family Guy and American Dad!. He was executive producer of the short-lived television series The Winner. MacFarlane's series are produced through his company, Fuzzy Door Productions.
MacFarlane voices several characters from his cartoon programs Family Guy and American Dad!. He also voices The English Yokel from The Cleveland Show. As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows such as Gilmore Girls and The War at Home. MacFarlane's interest in science fiction and fantasy has led to cameo and guest appearances on Star Trek: Enterprise and voicing the character of Johann Krauss in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army, as well as singing for the opening credits in the film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder. His cartoon shows are known for spoof references to popular fiction in movies and on TV. He recently made his own YouTube channel called Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.
He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States. A recent deal signed with The Fox Broadcasting Company has made MacFarlane the highest-paid television writer and producer in history. He resides in Los Angeles, California where he recently purchased a $13.5 million home and is reportedly being paid $100 million by 20th Century Fox TV for his most recent contract with them.
Early life
MacFarlane was born on October 26, 1973 in Kent, Connecticut. His mother, Ann Perry (née Sager), and father, Ronald Milfton MacFarlane, reside in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and are of English, Scottish and Welsh descent, partly by way of Canada. During his childhood, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration and began drawing cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker. When he was eight years old, he drew "Walter Crouton", a comic strip for the The Kent Good Times Dispatch.
MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School in Connecticut. His headmaster, the Rev. Richardson W. Schell, publicly rebuked MacFarlane for his "low" style of humor and later asked Fox not to air Family Guy. MacFarlane's parents, who both taught at the school, resigned in protest.
MacFarlane went on to study animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. As a student, he wanted to work for The Walt Disney Company, but changed his mind upon graduating from RISD. As he recalled, "Like a lot of animators, I felt Disney is God. Now, it's become Disney is Satan". During college, he created his thesis film entitled The Life of Larry. His professor at RISD submitted MacFarlane's cartoon to Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired.
Career in animation and television
At Hanna-Barbera, MacFarlane worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series. He also worked on Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and Dexter's Laboratory. MacFarlane also created and wrote a short titled "Zoomates" for Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry called Larry and Steve, which featured a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Executives at Fox saw both Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters, to be called Family Guy.
At 24, MacFarlane was television's youngest executive producer. Fox proposed MacFarlane complete a 15-minute short, giving him a budget of $50,000. MacFarlane stated that the pilot for Family Guy took half a year to create and produce. Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane stated, "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot". MacFarlane's heavy involvement with Family Guy caused him to expand to other animation projects, such as American Dad! and The Cleveland Show.
Bolstered by high DVD sales and established fan loyalty, Family Guy developed into a $1 billion franchise. On May 4, 2008, after approximately two and a half years of negotiations, MacFarlane reached a $100 million agreement with Fox to keep Family Guy and American Dad until 2012. The deal makes him the world's highest paid television writer.
MacFarlane has come under fire by many critics for 'blandness' in his characters, most notably was a review of American Dad! by Jeff Cohen, who stated, "It's the same chemistry as Family Guy. The daft father, indifferent mother, older and uncool daughter and younger, nerdy and thick son are all too the same. The variety? Instead of a talking dog, we get a talking fish or, in the case of his latest show, The Cleveland Show, talking bears. And instead of a super-intelligent baby we have an undiscovered alien. And The Cleveland Show is looking set to head right down that route."
Family Guy
Family Guy first aired Jan. 31, 1999. MacFarlane's work in animating Family Guy has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Woody Allen's work, along with examples from The Simpsons and All in the Family. In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices Family Guys main characters — Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker and his son Jake and additional characters.
MacFarlane's success with Family Guy has opened doors to other ventures relating to Family Guy. On April 26, 2005, he and composer Walter Murphy created Family Guy: Live in Vegas. The soundtrack features a Broadway show tune theme, and MacFarlane voiced Stewie in the track "Stewie's Sexy Party". A fan of Broadway musicals, MacFarlane comments on using musicals as a component to Family Guy:
In addition, a Family Guy video game was released in 2006. Two years later, in August 2007, he closed a digital content production deal with AdSense. MacFarlane takes cast members on the road to voice characters in front of live audiences. Family Guy Live provides fans with the opportunity to hear future scripts. In mid-2007, Chicago fans had the opportunity to hear the then upcoming sixth season premiere "Blue Harvest". Shows have been played in Montreal, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Despite its popularity, Family Guy has not been immune to criticism. It has been cancelled twice, although strong fan support and DVD sales have caused Fox to reconsider on both occasions. MacFarlane mentioned how these cancellations affected lineup of writers each time Fox again gave Family Guy the green light, "One of the positive aspects of 'Family Guy' constantly being pulled off [the air] is that we were always having to restaff writers".
During the sixth season, episodes of Family Guy and American Dad! were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. On Feb. 12, 2008, the strike ended, and the series resumed airing regularly, beginning with "Back to the Woods".
American Dad!
Seth co-created American Dad, with Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker. American Dad! was first shown after Super Bowl XXXIX as a sneak preview on February 6, 2005. The show began airing regularly on Fox on May 1, 2005. MacFarlane describes the show being similar to All in the Familyl However, many critics and television bloggers have noticed distinct similarities to the spoof series "Sledge Hammer!" especially in regards to the main character's penchant for being trigger-happy and shooting everything in sight.
American Dad! received its inspiration from President George W. Bush's policies. The show focuses on Stan Smith, a straitlaced CIA officer and fanatical neoconservative. Stan's wife (Francine) and children, (Steve and Hayley), share a typical middle class home with Roger, an extraterrestrial alien rescued by Stan from Area 51, and Klaus, a goldfish who hosts the transplanted brain of an East German, 1986 Olympian skier. Seth MacFarlane provides the voices of Stan and Roger, basing Roger's voice on Paul Lynde as he played Uncle Arthur in Bewitched. His sister Rachael MacFarlane provides the voice of Hayley Smith.
The Winner
MacFarlane was the executive producer of a live-action sitcom starring Rob Corddry called The Winner. The show premiered on Fox on March 4, 2007. The plot has a man named Glen discussing the time he matured at 32 and has him pursuing his only love after she moves in next door. Glen meets her son and both become good friends.
After six episodes, the show was officially canceled on May 16, 2007. However, at Family Guy Live in Montreal on July 21, 2007, Seth MacFarlane stated, "It is looking like there could be a future life for The Winner". After MacFarlane's statement neither Fox nor MacFarlane has released any details of plans for the show to return.
The Cleveland Show
MacFarlane is currently developing a Family Guy spin-off called The Cleveland Show, which focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family. The idea for the show originated from a suggestion by Family Guy writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry. Fox has ordered 22 episodes and the series is expected to be announced as a part of the 2009 FOX lineup.
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
On Sept. 10, 2008, MacFarlane released a series of web episodes known as Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. These animated shorts are distributed by Burger King and released weekly. The series saw a successful launch with Seth MacFarlane's YouTube Channel, SethComedy, becoming the most watched YouTube channel of the week obtaining over 3 million video views only two days after the first episode (a Super Mario parody) was released.
Guest appearances
MacFarlane has appeared in sitcoms, comedy and news programs, independent films, and other animated shows. MacFarlane served as a host to the Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts's Second Annual Elan Awards on February 15, 2008. In 2002, MacFarlane appeared in the Gilmore Girlss episode "Lorelai's Graduation Day". Four years later on November 5, 2006, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's The War at Home as "Hillary's Date", an unnamed 33-year-old man who secretly dates teenaged Hillary in the episode "I Wash My Hands of You". MacFarlane has also appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on the show Star Trek: Enterprise in the third season episode "The Forgotten" and the fourth season episode "Affliction".
During 2006, Seth had a role in the short independent film Life is Short. His character is Dr. Ned, a psychologist who advises a short man (played by Freaks and Geeks star Samm Levine) to have relationships with taller women. He is also a frequent guest on the radio talkshow Loveline, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky.
In Fox's comedy show MADtv on November 11, 2006, MacFarlane appeared and showed a live action re-enactment of a scene from the Family Guy episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci, Jr. High". In the scene, Peter and Lois suspect Chris of murdering his teacher's husband. As a reaction, Meg jumps out the window in fear. The actress playing Meg was rumoured to have bled to death after her window stunt, which was actually part of the scene. A version with Seth as Peter, Nicole Parker as Kathy Griffin as Lois, Ike Barinholtz as Dane Cook as Chris, Nicole Randall Johnson as Queen Latifah as Meg, and Keegan-Michael Key as Snoop Dogg as Stewie was recorded over the original cartoon.
MacFarlane has also appeared on news shows and late night television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Late Show with David Letterman. On January 19, 2007, MacFarlane appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC to discuss Stephen Colbert's appearance on The O'Reilly Factor and Bill O'Reilly's return appearance on The Colbert Report. MacFarlane introduced the segment by saying in Stewie's voice "Oh, wait Bill. Hold still, allow me to soil myself on you. Victory is mine!" Three months later on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane was interviewed on Fox's Talkshow with Spike Feresten, and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young".
Other than Family Guy and American Dad!, MacFarlane voices characters in other cartoon shows and movies. He voiced Wayne "The Main Brain" McClain in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He has also voiced various characters on Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, including a parody of Lion-O and Emperor Palpatine as well as Peter Griffin in the Season 2 premiere—he even parodied himself in the Season 4 premiere, in which he renewed the show simply by mentioning it in a Family Guy-like cutaway after its fictitious cancellation at the end of Season 3. He also played the villain "The Manotaur" in Bob Boyle's animated kids series Yin Yang Yo. In addition, MacFarlane voiced Johann Krauss in the 2008 film Hellboy II: The Golden Army. He also had a guest appearance in the animated film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder.
Speaking engagements
MacFarlane is a frequent speaking guest on college campuses. On April 16, 2006, he was invited by Stanford University's ASSU Speakers' Bureau to address an audience of over 1,000 at Memorial Auditorium. MacFarlane was invited by Harvard University's class of 2006 to deliver the "class day" address on June 7, 2006. He spoke as himself, as Peter Griffin, as Stewie Griffin, and as Glenn Quagmire. He has also delivered speeches at George Washington University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Texas, the University of Missouri, and Bowling Green State University.
Personal life
MacFarlane identifies himself as a Star Wars, Star Trek and science fiction fan. He appeared at a Star Wars convention to promote his new Family Guy episode "Blue Harvest" on May 26, 2007. He is a skilled pianist and singer who in his early years trained with Frank Sinatra's vocal coach. He also partakes in the club scene. In November 2008, having been denied entry to the popular Crown Bar in Los Angeles, MacFarlane responded by sending $5,000 worth of flowers to the club.
He is unmarried. In 2004, in an interview with The Daily Princetonian, MacFarlane noted his similarities to Brian on Family Guy, revealing, "I have some Brian type issues from time to time — looking for the right person — but I date as much as the next guy".
MacFarlane is an atheist, who supports gay rights, and gay marriage. He has said the treatment of a gay cousin by a family member, who suggested his homosexuality could be "cured," helped shape his beliefs on the matter. The incident angered MacFarlane, who later stated, "[it is] fucking horrifying to hear [that] from someone [he] love[s]".
Activism and the 2008 Writers' Strike
During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, MacFarlane publicly sided with the Writer's Guild, and fully participated in the strike. Official production of Family Guy was halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, and though he refused to work on the show during the strike, his contract with Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it subsequently produced. Rumors of continued production on Family Guy prompted the statement from MacFarlane that "...it would just be a colossal dick move if they did that". The strike ended on February 12, 2008.
Political beliefs
MacFarlane is a supporter of the Democratic Party. He has donated $33,500 to Democratic causes such as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In addition, he has also donated $1,000 to U.S. President Barack Obama, and has spoken at an Obama rally. An outspoken Democratic Party supporter, MacFarlane often uses his show, "Family Guy" as a platform to voice his political views. Oftentimes, this agenda is achieved through the dialogue of the Griffin family's dog, "Brian", who often utters comments to shame the Bush administration.
Experience with September 11, 2001 attacks
On the morning of the September 11, 2001 attacks, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts, after delivering a keynote speech at his alma mater. MacFarlane has stated that his travel agent had given him an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) and that he had been suffering from a hangover from the previous night's celebrations. As a result, he arrived at Logan International Airport sometime around 8:20 and was unable to board the flight after being told that the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and at 8:46 a.m. was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, with no survivors.
In an interview with TVShowsOnDVD.com, MacFarlane said the following about his close call:
Awards and nominations
Seth MacFarlane received two Emmy awards for his vocal performances and music on Family Guy. He has also received awards for his work in animation. MacFarlane received an honorary doctorate of fine arts at his alma mater's commencement on June 2, 2007.
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
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| 2000 | Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Voice-over Performance. | Stewie Griffin, Family Guy. | Won | | 2002 | Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. | Family Guy | Won | | 2006 | Annie Award winner for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. | Stewie Griffin, "Brian the Bachelor" episode. Family Guy. | Won | | 2007 | 1st Annual Wave Awards, Academy of Wireless Arts, Video and Entertainment | 2007 Favorite Clipped (from television) Comedy Series, Family Guy | Won |
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