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Matthew Abram GroeningΒ (/ΛΙ‘reΙͺnΙͺΕ/Β GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television seriesΒ The SimpsonsΒ (1989βpresent),Β FuturamaΒ (1999β2003, 2008β2013, 2023βpresent),Β andΒ DisenchantmentΒ (2018β2023), as well as the comic stripΒ Life in HellΒ (1977β2012).Β The SimpsonsΒ is theΒ longest-running American primetime television series in history, as well as theΒ longest-running American animated series and sitcom.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Groening made his first professional cartoon sale, ofΒ Life in Hell, to the avant-garde magazineΒ WetΒ in 1978. At its peak, it was carried in 250 weekly newspapers and caught the attention of American producerΒ James L. Brooks, who contacted Groening in 1985 about adapting it for animated sequences for theΒ Fox 21st CenturyΒ variety showΒ The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening created a new set of characters, theΒ Simpson family. The shorts were spun off into their own series,Β The Simpsons, which has since airedΒ 791 episodes.
In 1997, Groening and formerΒ SimpsonsΒ writerΒ David X. CohenΒ developedΒ 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 byΒ Comedy CentralΒ for another five years, and was finally picked up byΒ HuluΒ for another revival in 2023. In 2016, Groening developed a new series forΒ Netflix,Β Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018.
Groening has won 14Β Primetime Emmy Awards, 12 forΒ The SimpsonsΒ and 2 forΒ Futurama,Β and aΒ British Comedy AwardΒ for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won theΒ National Cartoonist SocietyΒ Reuben AwardΒ for his work onΒ Life in Hell. He received a star on theΒ Hollywood Walk of FameΒ on February 14, 2012.
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