Matt Groening- creator of The Simpsons and Futurama

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

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.

J.K. Rowling as seen on The Simpsons

Lady Gaga on The Simpsons

Stephen Hawking on an episode of The Simpsons

The entire cast and crew of Sherlock on The Simpsons

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.

Futurama- created by Matt Groening

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.

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PROFESSION: ACTOR, COMEDIAN, SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER

We all have enjoyed the delightful, soft comedy of the fictional character Chandler Muriel Bing, in NBC television sitcom “Friends”.  The humorous character gave numerous gigglebellies. The cheerful character of Chandler was played by an accomplished actor Matthew Langford Perry. He is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He was born on August 19, 1969, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

Net Worth

The approximated net worth of Matthew Perry is $70 million. He earns $150,000 per episode. Handsome leading man Matthew Perry has managed to translate the fame and popularity he garnered from playing Chandler Bing in Friends into an increasingly successful film career as a romantic comedy lead.

Early Life

Actor and screenwriter Perry was raised by his mother in Ottawa, Ontario, and was enrolled at Rockcliffe Park Public School and Ashbury College. While growing up, he took a keen interest in tennis and became a top ranked junior player. His mother, Suzanne Marie, is a Canadian journalist and former press secretary to Canadian Prime Minister. His father, John Bennett Perry, is an American actor and former model. His parents divorced before his first birthday.

After moving to Los Angeles at the age of 15 to live with his father, he became more interested in acting. In addition to performing in several high school stage productions, he remained an avid tennis player. Perry ranked 17^th nationally in the junior singles category and third in the doubles category. Upon graduating from high school, Perry intended to enroll at the University of Southern California. Perry also pursued improve comedy at the LA Connection in Sherman Oaks while still in high school, quickly becoming a featured performer.

Breaking into Acting           

Perry got his first film part while still in high school. In “A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon” (1988), he played a supporting role. In September 1987, Perry starred in his first sitcom “Second Chance”. The show was later retooled, dropping Martin and focusing on the teenage misadventures of Perry’s character. Despite its new direction and new title, “Boys Will Be Boys”, the sitcom failed to attract enough audience.

In the midst of his many continuing guest roles on television, Perry was cast as a regular on the 1990 CBS sitcom “Sydney”.  Perry landed his next starring role on the ABC sitcom “Home Free”. After a few months, the series was called off. Perry was cast in a pilot called LAX 2194, which was a futuristic look at an airport. It never aired though. But soon Perry won a leading role in a new sitcom about a group of young men and women in New York City.

Friends Stardom

Debuting in September 1994, “Friends” became one of the most prominent television sitcoms of all the time. Perry played the witty and sarcastic Chandler Bing. The program was a huge success and Perry, along with his co-satrs, gained wide renown among television viewers. The program also earned him “Emmy” nominations in 2002 for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series” along with Matt Le Blanc. His co-stars were: Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani), David Schwimmer (Ross), Courteney Cox (Monica), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel) and Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe). The six actors proved to be a tight group both on-and-off screens.

During his years in Friends, perry simultaneously, tackled several film projects. He starred in several comedies, including “Fools Rush In (1997)”, “Almost Heroes (1998)” and “Three to Tango (1999).”

Perry found some commercial success with “The Whole Nine Yards (2000)” that earned $57 million and spawning the sequel “The Whole Ten Yards”.

Though Perry’s film career had reached the heights, but his series remained one of the top shows on American television. During the later season of the ‘Friends’, Chandler Bing developed a romantic relationship with Monica. The characters eventually get married, adopt twins and plans to move to the suburbs as the series come to an end in May 2004, after a decade on air.

Post “Friends” career                

After completing the most famous “Friends” series, Perry took on a range of roles. Perry also made his directional debut in an episode of the 4^th season of the American comedy-drama “Scrubs”. He starred in the TNT movie, “The Ron Clark Story”, which premiered August 13, 2006. Perry received Golden Globe nomination as well as Emmy nomination for his performance. That same year, Perry returned to series television for Aaron Sorkin’s behind the scenes drama “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip”. Later on, he appeared in movies like “Numb”, “Sexual Perversity in Chicago”, “17 Again”, “Birds of America”.

In 2010, Perry’s new comedy pilot, “Mr. Sunshine”, based on Perry’s original idea, was brought by ABC.

On March2012, it was reported that Perry had signed on to star on the NBC comedy pilot “Go On”, written and produced by former “Friends” writer/producer Scott Silveri. The project was picked up to series in May 2012. The pilot aired on August 2012. The series was cancelled by NBC in May 2013, shortly after the conclusion of its first series.

 Personal Life

During the run of the show “Friends”, Perry encountered personal challenges. He battled addictions to alcohol and prescription medications. He has had to attend rehabs to treat his addictions. His weight fluctuated drastically and once dropped to 66 kg.

Perry holds dual American-Canadian citizenship.

Relationship

Perry has reportedly dated Julia Roberts, Yasmine Bleeth and Lauren Graham. He dated actress Lizzy Caplan from 2006 to 2012.

Charity Work, Events and Causes

Perry helped design and signed a pair of shoes for the Stuart Weitzman shoe auction benefiting ovarian awareness and research

Matthew Perry has supported the following charities

Clothes off Our Back

Feeding America

Lili Claire Foundation

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