Charles Martin Jones was born in 1912 in Spokane, Wash. and began his distinguished career in animation in 1932, as a cel washer at Ubbe Iwerks Studio. In 1936, he became an animator for Leon Schlesinger, later bought by Warner Brothers. He stayed with Warner Brothers until the studio closed in 1961; during his employment there, he was animator and director for such characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Marvin the Martian. He has been honored with four Academy awards and directed one of the most popular Christmas specials of all time, the Peabody award-winning Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). His What's Opera, Doc? (1957), in which Bugs and Elmer Fudd do their own… version of Wagner's Ring Cycle, was the first animated film to be included in the National Film Registry (1992). Chuck Jones is also the author, adapter, editor, and illustrator of several children's books, including Rudyard Kipling's Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1982) and William the Backwards Skunk (1987).
Steven Spielberg is a director and filmaker.
Matt Groening, 1954 - Matt Groening was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He moved to Los Angeles in 1980 to start writing the comic strip "Life in Hell" for the newspaper he worked for. The strip had premiered in 1977 and appears in over 250 newspapers worldwide. Groening got his big break when the Fox television network was looking for a filler for "The Tracy Ullman Show." James L. Brooks had seen some of the "Life in Hell" strips and offered Groening a chance to create 30 second skits for the show. The skits were so well received that the newly titled "The Simpsons" for which Groening was now creator and executive producer of, debuted on Fox as a half hour Christmas special on… December 17, 1989 and as a regular series on January 14, 1990. In 1993, Groening formed "Bongo Comics Group" which publishes "Simpsons Comics," "Itchy and Scratchy Comics," "Bartman," "Radioactive Man," "Lisa Comics" and "Krusty Comics." In 1995, he founded and published "Zongo Comics," which included "Jimbo" and "Fleener" Groening oversees all of the licensing and merchandising of the "The Simpsons." He is also a best selling author, publishing books such as "Life in Hell," "Work is Hell" and "School is Hell," based on his "Life in Hell" comic strip, and "Bart Simpson's Guide to Life" based on "The Simpsons" animation. Groening is also creator and Executive Producer of "Futurama," another animated prime time television show.