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Name: Seth MacFarlane
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Date of Birth:
October 26, 1973
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Place of Birth:
Not available
Mini-bio:
Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an Emmy-winning American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the animated series Family Guy and American Dad!.
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MacFarlane received his diploma at the Kent School in Connecticut, whose headmaster later publicly rebuked MacFarlane for his "low" brand of humor. He went on to study animation at the Rhode Island School of Design, which inspired the Rhode Island setting of Family Guy. While in college, he created a short film entitled The Life of Larry, an early ancestor of Family Guy. After graduation, he was hired by Hanna-Barbera Productions and later worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series, which included Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken. He was also a writer for the animated version of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons called Larry and Steve, which featured the bumbling middle-aged Larry and his highly intelligent 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.
Immediately before starting Family Guy in 1998, Fred Seibert (who brought MacFarlane to Hanna-Barbera) asked him to write and produce a short titled "Zoomates" for Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon.
MacFarlane is a skilled pianist and singer who, as a young man, worked with the same vocal coaches as Frank Sinatra. He is an avid fan of musicals and often employs musical numbers in his work.