Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening (/ˈɡreɪnɪŋ/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012) and the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023–present), and Disenchantment (2018–2023). The Simpsons is the longest–running U.S. primetime television series in history and the longest–running U.S. animated series and sitcom.
Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant–garde magazine Wet in 1978. At its peak, it was carried in 250 weekly newspapers, and caught the attention of American producer James L. Brooks, who contacted Groening in 1985 about adapting it for animated sequences for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening crated a new set of characters, the Simpson family. The shorts were spun off into their own series, The Simpsons, which has since aired 764 episodes.
In 1997, Groening and former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999, It ran for four years on Fox; was picked up in 2008 by Comedy Central for another 5 years; then was finally picked up by Hulu for another revival in 2023. In 2016, Groening developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018.
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. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society, Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.
Early life[]
Groening was born on February 15, 1954, in Portland, Oregon, the middle of five children (older sister Patty and brother Mark were 1943 and 1950, and younger sisters Lisa and Maggie in 1956 and 1958, respectively). His Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth (née Wiggum; March 23, 1919 – April 22, 2013), was once a teacher and his German Canadian father, Homer Philip Groening (December 30, 1919 – March 15, 1996), was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist. Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Plautdietsch–speaking family.
Groening's grandfather, Abram A. Groening, was a professor at Tabor College, a Mennonite Brethren liberal arts college in Hillsboro, Kansas, before moving to Albany College (now known as Lewis and Clark College) in Oregon in 1930.
Greoning was raised in Portland and attended Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School. Following his high school graduation in 1972, Greoning attended the Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Washington, a liberal arts school that he described as "a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every weirdo in the Northwest." He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons. He 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. Groening has credited Barry with being "probably [his] biggest inspiration." He first became interested in cartoons after watching the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and he also cited Robert Crumb, Ernie Bushmiller, Ronald Searle, Monty Python, and Charles M. Schulz as inspirations. Groening graduation with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1977.
Career[]
Early career[]
In 1977, at age 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer. He went through what he described as "a series of lousy jobs", including being an extra in the television movie When Every Day Was the Fourth of July, busing tables, washing dishes at nursing home, clerking at the Hollywood Licorice Pizza record store, landscaping in a sewage treatment plant, and chauffeuring and ghostwriting for a retired Western director.
Personal life[]
Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1968 and has two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe, both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. The couple divorced in 1999.
In 2011, Groening married Agustina Picasso, an Argentine artist, after a four–year relationship, and became stepfather to her daughter Camila Costantini. In May 2013, Picasso gave birth to Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening, named after writer Nathanael West. She joked that "his godfather is SpongeBob's creator Stephen Hillenburg". In 2015, Groening's daughters Luna Margartpet and India Mia were born. On June 16, 2018, he became the father of twins for a second time when his wife gave birth to Sol Matthew and Venus Ruth, announced via Instagram. In 2020, their daughter Nirvana was born. In January 2022, they had another child, Satori.
Groening's brother–in–law is Hey Arnold!, Dinosaur Train, and Ready Jet Go! creator, Craig Bartlett, who is married to Groening's sister. Lisa, but they separated in 2015. Bartlett used to appear in Simpsons Illustrated.
Groening is a self–identified agnostic.
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Simpsons Movie | N/A | Writer and producer |
| Futurama: Bender's Big Score! | N/A | Direct-to-DVD Executive producer | |
| 2008 | Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs | N/A | |
| Futurama: Bender's Game | N/A | ||
| 2009 | Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder | N/A |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987–1989 | The Tracey Ullman Show | N/A | 48 episodes; writer and animator |
| 1989–present | The Simpsons | Himself | Creator, writer, executive producer, character designer and creative consultant Also appeared in 3 episodes as himself |
| 1999–2003; 2008-2013; 2023-present |
Futurama | Himself | Creator, writer, and executive producer Also appeared in Episode; "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" as himself |