Matt Groening
Before his work in television, Groening created the syndicated cartoon Life in Hell, which is still carried in many weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, such as School is Hell, Love is Hell, Work is Hell, and The Big Book of Hell.
Groening grew up in Portland, Oregon, and seems to have found names for some characters from major Portland street names such as Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby, and Terwilliger.
He named the main family Simpson characters after his own family (reportedly he was not feeling very creative that day), his parents, Homer and Marge, and his younger sisters, Lisa and Maggie. Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, but these siblings were left out of the main Simpson family. As for Matt himself, he decided it was a bit too obvious and therefore called him Bart (an anagram of brat). Groening has also named his own sons Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe (which is the name of Grandpa Simpson).
Groening was influenced as a youngster by the dark humor of English cartoonist Ronald Searle.
He is part of the rock & roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders whose members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and Greg Iles.
Matt Groening Facts
Birth Name | Matthew Abram Groening |
Occupation | Animator |
Birthday | February 15, 1954 (70) |
Sign | Aquarius |
Birthplace | Portland, Oregon, USA |
Selected Filmography
Theory of Obscurity | ||
Sex and Broadcasting: a Film About Wfmu | ||
Fry and the Slurm Factory | ||
Space Pilot 3000 | ||
The Simpsons Panel: SDCC 2016 | ||
The Devil and Daniel Johnston | ||
Scary Surf & Turf | ||
Fashion | ||
The Simpsons: Cast & Creators Live at the Paley Center | ||
The Simpsons | ||
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