Matt Groening Net Worth, Money and More

By Aishwarya Ramesh | July 10, 2014 0 Comments

Net Worth – $ 500 Million

American cartoonist, script writer, screen writer, producer, animator, voice actor, author, musician and comedian

NET WORTH : $500 million

CAREER

Groening’s first peek into the world of professional cartooning began with the cartoon sale of his comic Life in Hell to Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon’s popularity peaked and soon it was being carried in over 250 weekly newspapers in the USA. The main focal point of Groening’s Life in Hell comic was anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. Using these, characters, Groening took the liberty of exploring a wide range of topics including love, sex, life, work and death. The comics have dark streaks of expressions of angst, gloom, loathing, and fear of inevitable doom.

It caught the attention of James. L. Brooks who contacted Groening with a proposition- one that would involve him working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman show. Though his initial idea was to adapt the characters from his Life in Hell comic strip, he changed his mind and came up with an idea of a cartoon family.

The Tracey Ullman show was an American variety television show that was hosted by the British comedian and pop singer- Tracey Ullman. The show premiered on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network’s second prime time series after Married… with children. The show had a glorious run till May 26, 1990. The show was produced by Gracie Films and 20^th century Fox for television. The show was famous for blending some of its sketch comedy shots along with various musical numbers; featuring choreography by Paula Abdul, American singer, choreographer, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality.

Yes folks, you guessed it. This cartoon family was none other than The Simpsons. The Simpsons were originally part of the Tracey Ullman show when they debuted. Three seasons of this later, owing to the popularity of the cartoon family, Fox started broadcasting The Simpsons as a show of its own. Groening named The Simpsons family members after his own and the name of Bart Simpson alone was said to be an anagram of the word Brat-befitting to the role and character of Bart Simpson on the show. The show is said to be set in Springfield, a fictitious American town; with Homer, a safety inspector at Springfield nuclear plant being the head of the household. He’s married to Marge Simpson; the stereotypical all American housewife. They have three children; 10 year old Bart who is a typical rebellious troublemaker, Lisa, a 10 year old activist, and Maggie- a baby who barely speaks at all, but communicates effectively by sucking on her pacifier. The family owns two pets- a greyhound dog named Santa’s little helper and a Cat named Snowball. The highly successful satirical show on American lifestyle debuted on December 17,1989 and since then, 541 episodes have been aired.

 

 

 

 

Another unique aspect of The Simpsons is that it is probably the only cartoon based TV show to actually incorporate real celebrities into their sketched, cartoon world. Some examples of celebrities who have starred in The Simpsons include J.K. Rowling, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Martin, Lisa Kudrow, Neil Patrick Harris, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor, Dustin Hoffman, The Who, Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Sherlock Holmes on the popular television series Sherlock) and even The Beatles! The Simpsons became so wildly popular that the makers decided to come out with a Simpsons Movie in 2007. The film was directed by David Silverman and Groening’s idea was eventually developed into a full blown movie plot.

In the year 1999, Matt Groening and David. X. Cohen came up with an idea for yet another animated series. The series was called Futurama and it spoke about life in the year 3000. Fry, a pizza delivery boy accidentally becomes cryogenically frozen and finally thaws in the year 3000, where he finds himself in New New York city. Fry finds that he has ended up at Pizza Express, a small intergalactic package delivery company that is run by his distantly descended nephew. Again, he is hired as a delivery boy. The series explores the life and adventures of Fry and his friends as they travel through the universe, making deliveries on behalf of Pizza Express.

The series became wildly successful and aired between March 28 1999 to August 20, 2003. When Comedy Central entered into an agreement with 20^th century Fox, Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes. Later, in June 2009, Comedy Central ordered a new season of Futurama, consisting of 26 new episodes that would be aired over two seasons.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

In 1990, Groening won the award for Outstanding animated program for an episode of The Simpsons titled Life in the fast lane. Groening went on to win awards for Outstanding Animated program for the Simpsons in the years 1991,1995, 197, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008. In 2011 was when Futurama won an award for Outstanding animated show for its episode “The late Phillip. J. Fry.” The latest award Groening received was when The Teen choice award for animated series was won by The Simpsons.

PERSONAL LIFE

Matt Groening married Deborah Caplan in 1986 and they had two sons together; Homer and Abe. The couple got divorced in 1999 after 13 years of marriage. In 2011, Groening remarried an Argentinian artist named Augustina Picasso after a 4 year relationship and courting. This made him Picasso’s daughter’s stepfather. Currently, Matt is the brother-in-law of Hey Arnold! (a popular children’s cartoon show) creator, Craig Barlett who is married to Groening’s sister, Lisa.