Matt Groening

Matthew Abram Groening was born on February 15, 1954, in Portland, Oregon, the middle of five children. His father, Homer, was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer, and cartoonist, while his mother, Margaret, was a teacher. Groening attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1977. During his time at Evergreen, he served as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, where he also contributed articles and cartoons. His early influences included animated works like Disney’s ‘One Hundred and One Dalmatians’ and the comedic style of Monty Python.

In 1977, at the age of 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles with aspirations of becoming a writer. While working various jobs, he began drawing a self-published comic book titled ‘Life in Hell,’ which vividly depicted his experiences in Los Angeles. This comic gained traction, leading to its syndication in the Los Angeles Reader starting April 25, 1980. ‘Life in Hell’ became popular, eventually appearing in 250 weekly newspapers and being compiled into several books, including ‘Love Is Hell,’ ‘Work Is Hell,’ and ‘Childhood Is Hell.’ This comic strip served as the foundation for his later, more widely recognized successes in animation.

His work on ‘Life in Hell’ caught the attention of James L. Brooks in 1985, who approached Groening about creating animated shorts for ‘The Tracey Ullman Show.’ Fearing loss of ownership rights over his ‘Life in Hell’ characters, Groening quickly sketched a new, dysfunctional family—the Simpsons. These shorts premiered on April 19, 1987, and their popularity led to a half-hour spin-off, ‘The Simpsons,’ which first aired on December 17, 1989. Following this success, Groening co-developed ‘Futurama’ in 1997, which premiered in 1999 and ran for several seasons across different networks. In 2016, he developed ‘Disenchantment’ for Netflix, further expanding his animated series portfolio.