Craig McCracken

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Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania) is an American animator mostly known as the creator of the cartoon series The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.

Biography

Craig McCracken was born on March 31, 1971. After his father died when he was seven years old, he and his family moved to Whittier, California.

Craig became interested in drawing at an early age. Upon graduation of high school, he attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he honed his animation skills. There he met classmate Genndy Tartakovsky, with whom he would occasionally collaborate throughout his career. During his freshman year at CalArts, he created a series of short cartoons featuring a character named No Neck Joe. These cartoons were picked up by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation and seen by audiences worldwide. While at CalArts, Craig also created a short entitled Whoopass Stew, featuring three cute little girls with superpowers.

In 1993, Craig was tapped by Cartoon Network to do the art direction on one of their first original shows, 2 Stupid Dogs. The show only lasted for about a year. Craig also did the art direction on Dexter's Laboratory. However, while there, Cartoon Network allowed Craig to develop more shorts of Whoopass Stew; only this time, under the title of The Powerpuff Girls, since the previous title was deemed verbally offensive by Cartoon Network execs. The first shorts aired in 1995 on What a Cartoon!, and full half-hour episodes hit the air in 1998. This show has won both Emmy and Annie awards. In April 2008, he became executive producer of a new Cartoon Network project called "Cartoonstitute" (somewhat like the previous What A Cartoon! show that aired on the network earlier)^{[citation needed]}.

In August 2004, Craig's latest project, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, began airing on Cartoon Network. This series, just like The Powerpuff Girls before it, soon turned into an Emmy- and Annie-winning show.

McCracken is married to Lauren Faust, who works alongside with him on Foster's and The Powerpuff Girls. She has also created the website called Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls.

One of his favorite films is The Big Lebowski (interviewed in the book 'I'm a Lebowski, You're a Lebowski'), and is referenced in some episodes of 'Fosters' and 'Powerpuff Girls'.

External links

• Craig McCracken at the Internet Movie Database
• Craig McCracken's "WANDER OVER YONDER"
• Craig McCracken's deviantART account
• Craig's wife's Galaxy Girls site