Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Tartakovsky (/ˈɡɛndi ˌtɑːrtəˈkɒfski/;[1] born Gennady Borisovich Tartakovsky, Russian: Геннадий Борисович Тартаковский;[2] January 17, 1970) is a Russian American animator, director, writer and producer. He is best known for creating the Cartoon Network animated television series Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars, and co-creating Sym-Bionic Titan. In 2011, Tartakovsky joined Sony Pictures Animation, where he directed his feature film debut, Hotel Transylvania,[3] and its sequel, Hotel Transylvania 2.[4]

Although his Russian name Геннадий is normally transliterated as Gennady or Gennadiy, he changed its spelling to Genndy after moving to the US.[2]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Filmography 3.1 Film 3.2 Television 4 Awards and nominations 5 References 6 External links

Early life
Tartakovsky was born January 17, 1970, in Moscow, to Jewish parents.[5] His father, Boris, worked as a dentist[6] for government officials and the Soviet Union national ice hockey team.[7] His mother, Miriam, was an assistant principal at a school. He also has a brother, Alexander, who is two years older and currently a computer consultant in Chicago.[7] Before coming to the United States, his family first moved to Italy, where he lived next to a German family. There, Tartakovsky says he was first drawn to art, inspired by a neighbor's daughter. Tartakovsky later commented, "I remember, I was horrible at it. For the life of me, I couldn't draw a circle."

Tartakovsky's family moved to the United States when he was seven[8] due to concerns about the effect of antisemitism on their children's lives.[7] The family originally settled in Columbus, Ohio[9] and later moved to Chicago. He was greatly influenced by the comics he found there; his first purchase was an issue of the Super Friends. Tartakovsky began attending Chicago's Eugene Field Elementary School in the third grade. School was hard for him because he felt that everyone recognized him as a foreigner. He went on to attend Chicago's prestigious Lane Technical College Prep High School, and says he never felt he fit in until he was a sophomore there. When he was 16, his father died of a heart attack.[7] He felt that his father was very strict and was an old-fashioned man, but Genndy's relationship with his father was very special to him. After the death of his father, Genndy and his family moved to government-funded housing, and he began working while still attending high school.

To satisfy his ambitious family, Tartakovsky tried to take an advertising class, because they were encouraging him to be a businessman. However, he signed up late and had little choice over his classes. He was assigned to take an animation class, and this led to his study of film at Columbia College Chicago before moving to Los Angeles to study animation at the California Institute of the Arts[9] (with his friend Rob Renzetti)[7] and there he also met Craig McCracken. At CalArts, Tartakovsky directed and animated two student films, one of which became the basis for Dexter's Laboratory.[9] Reportedly, after two years at CalArts, Tartakovsky got a job in Spain on Batman: The Animated Series and The Critic.[6] There, "he learned the trials of TV animation, labor intensive and cranking it out".[6] While he was in Spain, his mother died of cancer.[7]

Career
Craig McCracken acquired an art director job at Hanna-Barbera for the show 2 Stupid Dogs[6] and recommended hiring Robert Renzetti and Tartakovsky as well. This was a major turning point in Tartakovsky's career. Hanna-Barbera let Tartakovsky, McCracken, Renzetti and Paul Rudish work in a trailer in the parking lot of the studio, and there Tartakovsky started creating his best-known works. Dexter's Laboratory grew out of a student film with the same title that he produced while at the California Institute of the Arts. Tartakovsky also co-wrote and pencilled the 25th issue of the Dexter's Laboratory comic book series, titled "Stubble Trouble".[10] Additionally, he helped produce The Powerpuff Girls and has directed many episodes, serving as the animation director for The Powerpuff Girls Movie. All three projects were nominated repeatedly for Emmy Awards, with Samurai Jack finally winning "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" in 2004 – the same year he would win in the category for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More) for Star Wars: Clone Wars.

Star Wars creator George Lucas hired Tartakovsky to direct Star Wars: Clone Wars, a successful animated microseries taking place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The series won three Emmy awards: two for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)" in 2004 and 2005, and another for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation" (for background designer Justin Thompson in 2005). Tartakovsky was not involved in the follow-up series, and has no plans to work on future Star Wars projects.[11]

In 2005, Tartakovsky was appointed creative president of The Orphanage's Orphanage Animation Studios. In 2006, he was chosen as the director for a sequel to The Dark Crystal, but was eventually replaced by Michael and Peter Spierig. Tartakovsky served as animation director on the 2006 pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria, which aired on Adult Swim but was not picked up as a series. He also directed a series of anti-smoking advertisements, one for Nicorette in 2006[12] and two for Niquitin in 2008.[13] He created a short in 2009 entitled Maruined for Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute program, which has yet to be officially aired or otherwise released.

In 2009, it was announced that Tartakovsky would write and direct a Samurai Jack film from Fred Seibert's Frederator Studios, and J. J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions.[14] In June 2012, Tartakovsky said that he had a story to conclude the series, but the project had been shelved after J. J. Abrams moved on to direct Star Trek.[15] In 2010, he created storyboards for Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2.[16] Tartakovsky's last TV series for Cartoon Network, Sym-Bionic Titan, aired between 2010 and 2011. He had hoped to expand on the initial 20 episodes but it was not renewed beyond its first season.[17] On April 7, 2011 an animated prologue by Tartakovsky for the horror movie Priest premiered online.[18] In early 2011, Tartakovsky moved to Sony Pictures Animation, where he made his feature film directing debut with Hotel Transylvania (2012).[3] In July 2012, he signed a long-term deal with Sony to develop and direct his own original projects.[19] His first original project is currently titled Can You Imagine? and will be produced by Michelle Murdocca. It's described as a "fantastic journey through one boy's imagination".[20]

In June 2012, Sony Pictures Animation announced that Tartakovsky was slated to direct a computer-animated Popeye feature film.[21] On September 18, 2014, Tartakovsky revealed an "animation test" footage, about which he said, "It's just something that kind of represents what we want to do. I couldn't be more excited by how it turned out."[22] In March 2015, Tartakovsky announced that despite the well-received test footage, he was no longer working on the project, and would instead direct Can You Imagine?.[23]

In December 2015, Adult Swim announced that Tartakovsky will return for a new season of the animation Samurai Jack, which continues on from the original series.[24] In April 2016, Craig McCracken mentioned on Twitter that Tartakovsky no longer works for Sony Pictures Animation.[25]

Filmography
Film

Year

Title

Notes

1999 Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip Television film Director, supervising producer, story and storyboard artist 2001 The Flintstones: On the Rocks Television film Supervising producer 2002 The Powerpuff Girls Movie Animation director & Cinematographer 2006 How to Eat Fried Worms Animation director 2010 Iron Man 2 Storyboard artist 2011 Priest Animation director 2012 Hotel Transylvania Director Goodnight Mr. Foot[26] Short film Director and animator 2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 Director 2018 Hotel Transylvania 3[27] Director TBA Genndy Tartakovsky's Can You Imagine?[20] Director and writer

Television

Year

Title

Notes

1991 Tiny Toon Adventures Assistant animator Episode: "Henny Youngman Day" 1992–93 Batman: The Animated Series Inbetween artist 1993–95 2 Stupid Dogs Animation director, storyboard artist, and director 1994 The Critic Animation timer 1995 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself Episode: "President's Day Nightmare" 1996–2003 Dexter's Laboratory Creator, director (1996-1999; 2002; 2003), writer, storyboard artist, producer, executive producer (2001-2003), recording director, and character designer 1998 Cow and Chicken Storyboard artist ("Cow's Pies") 1998–2005 The Powerpuff Girls Supervising producer (season 1-4), writer, recording director, storyboard artist, and director 2001–04, 2016– Samurai Jack Creator, director, writer, storyboard artist, producer, and executive producer 2003–04 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Supervising producer (Pilot) 2003–05 Star Wars: Clone Wars Creator, writer, executive producer, and director 2005 Duck Dodgers Cyber Pirate of the Future (voice) Episode: "Samurai Quack" 2006 Korgoth of Barbaria Animation director 2010–11 Sym-Bionic Titan Creator, director, storyboard artist, writer, voice director, and executive producer 2013 Steven Universe Timing director Episode: "Pilot"

Awards and nominations
Year

Award

Category

Work

Result

1995 Annie Awards Best Animated Short Subject[28] Dexter's Laboratory Won Best Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in the Field of Animation[28] Dexter's Laboratory Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[29] Dexter's Laboratory Nominated 1996 Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[29] Dexter's Laboratory "The Big Sister" Nominated 1997 Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[29] Dexter's Laboratory "Star Spangled Sidekicks", "T.V. Superpals", and "Game Over" Nominated Annie Awards Best Animated TV Program[30] Dexter's Laboratory Nominated Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a TV Production[30] Dexter's Laboratory "Ham Hocks and Arm Locks" Nominated 1998 Annie Awards Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program[31] Dexter's Laboratory Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[29] Dexter's Laboratory "Dyno-might" and "LABretto" Nominated 1999 Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) The Powerpuff Girls "Bubblevicious" and "The Bare Facts" Nominated 2000 Annie Awards Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Program.[32] Dexter's Laboratory Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) The Powerpuff Girls "Beat Your Greens" and "Down 'n Dirty" Nominated 2001 Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) The Powerpuff Girls "Moral Decay" and "Meet the Beat Alls" Nominated WAC Winner Best Television Special Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip Won 2002 Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour Or More) Samurai Jack I–III – "The Beginning" Nominated OIAF Award Best Television Series Samurai Jack VII – "Jack and the Three Blind Archers" Won 2004 Annie Awards Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production Samurai Jack XXXVII–XXXVIII – "The Birth of Evil" Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) Samurai Jack XXXVII–XXXVIII - "The Birth of Evil" Won Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)[33] Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1 (chapters 1–20) Won Saturn Award Best Television Presentation in the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA[34] Star Wars: Clone Wars Nominated 2005 Annie Awards Directing in an Animated Television Production Samurai Jack L - "Tale of X-9" Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)[35] Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 2 (chapters 21–25) Won Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[36] Samurai Jack XLIX – "The Four Seasons of Death" Nominated 2006 Annie Awards Best Animated TV Program[34] Star Wars: Clone Wars Vol. 1 (chapters 21–25) Won 2007 Winsor McCay Award [37] Won 2013 Golden Globe Awards Best Animated Feature Hotel Transylvania Nominated VES Award Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture Hotel Transylvania Nominated