Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Tartakovsky (/ˈɡɛndi ˌtɑːrtəˈkɒfski/;[1][2][lower-alpha 1] born 17 January 1970) is a Russian-American animator, director, producer, screenwriter, storyboard artist, comic book writer and artist. He is the creator of the animated television series Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Primal on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Genndy Tartakovsky
Геннди Тартаковский
Tartakovsky in 2018 at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival
Born
Gennady Tartakovsky

(1970-01-17) 17 January 1970
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
EducationCalifornia Institute of the Arts
OccupationAnimator, director, producer, screenwriter, storyboard artist
Years active1991–present
Spouse(s)
Dawn David
(
m. 2000)
Signature

He co-created Sym-Bionic Titan and directing the animated Hotel Transylvania film trilogy.[3][4] Additionally, Tartakovsky was a pivotal crew member of The Powerpuff Girls and worked on other series such as 2 Stupid Dogs and Batman: The Animated Series.

Early life

Tartakovsky was born Gennady Tartakovsky (Russian: Геннадий Тартаковский) on 17 January 1970, in Moscow, to Jewish parents.[5] His father worked as a dentist[6] for government officials and the Soviet Union national ice hockey team.[7] Genndy felt that his father was a very strict and old-fashioned man, but they had a close relationship. His mother, Miriam, was an assistant principal at a school. He has a brother, Alexander, who is two years older and a computer consultant in Chicago.[7] Before coming to the United States, his family moved to Italy. There, Tartakovsky 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 Super Friends. Tartakovsky began attending Chicago's Eugene Field Elementary School in the third grade. School was difficult because he was seen as a foreigner. He went on to attend Chicago's prestigious Lane Technical College Prep High School and says he did not fit in until his sophomore year. When he was 16, his father died of a heart attack.[7] Afterwards, Genndy and his family moved to government-funded housing, and he began working while still attending high school.

To satisfy his ambitious family, which was encouraging him to be a businessman, Tartakovsky tried to take an advertising class, but signed up late and thereby 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] There he met Craig McCracken. At CalArts, Tartakovsky directed and animated two student films, one of which became the basis for Dexter's Laboratory.[9] After two years at CalArts, Tartakovsky got a job at Lapiz Azul Productions in Spain on Batman: The Animated Series.[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 Rob 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 co-wrote and pencilled the 25th issue of the Dexter's Laboratory comic book series, titled "Stubble Trouble",[10] as well as several stories which are collected in the Dexter's Laboratory Classics trade paperback. Additionally, he helped produce The Powerpuff Girls, co-directed several episodes and served as the animation director and a cinematographer for The Powerpuff Girls Movie; he co-wrote one of the franchise's comics. Both Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls were nominated repeatedly for Emmy Awards.

Tartakovsky created the action-adventures series Samurai Jack, which premiered in 2001; he also wrote comics for the franchise. The series won him an Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" in 2004. Star Wars creator George Lucas hired Tartakovsky to direct Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005), an animated series 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 2008 follow-up series.[11]

In 2005, Tartakovsky was appointed creative president of Orphanage Animation Studios. In 2006, he was chosen as the director for a sequel to The Dark Crystal, but was replaced and the film was later scrapped. Tartakovsky served as animation director on the pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria, which aired on Adult Swim in 2006 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] In 2009, Tartakovsky created a pilot entitled Maruined for Cartoon Network's Cartoonstitute program, which was not picked up.

Tartakovsky in 2012 at AIAFF

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 and title character's story, but the project had been shelved after Abrams moved on to direct Star Trek.[15] In 2010, Tartakovsky created storyboards for Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2.[16] He created a new series for Cartoon Network, Sym-Bionic Titan, between 2010 and 2011. He had hoped to expand on the initial season, but it was not renewed.[17] On 7 April 2011, an animated prologue by Tartakovsky for the horror film 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] In June 2012, Sony announced that Tartakovsky was slated to direct a computer-animated Popeye feature.[20] On 18 September 2014, Tartakovsky revealed an "animation test".[21] In March 2015, Tartakovsky announced that despite the well-received test footage, he was no longer working on the project. He moved onto directing original story Can You Imagine?, announced in 2014,[22][23] but it was cancelled.[24]

Tartakovsky directed Hotel Transylvania 2, the sequel to Hotel Transylvania, released in 2015. In December 2015, Adult Swim announced that Tartakovsky would return for a final season of Samurai Jack,[25] during which he stepped away from Sony Pictures Animation.[26] When the series finished airing in 2017, Tartakovsky returned to Sony and directed Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018). After its financial success, two original projects were announced: an R-rated comedy called Fixed and an action-adventure film entitled Black Knight.[27]

In May 2019, it was announced that Adult Swim had commissioned a new series from Tartakovsky entitled Primal, which is about "a caveman at the dawn of evolution ... [and a] dinosaur on the brink of extinction".[28] It aired on 7 October 2019.[29]

On 11 May 2020, it was announced that the Popeye film would start production again from scratch with Tartakovsky returned to direct but this time under King Features and a new writer, T. J. Fixman.[30]

Tartakovsky was involved in the development process of the upcoming video game Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, which is set to release on August 21, 2020.[31][32][33]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Notes
2002 The Powerpuff Girls Movie Animation director, art director and cinematographer
2006 How to Eat Fried Worms Animation supervisor
2010 Iron Man 2 Storyboard artist
2011 Priest Prologue director
2012 Hotel Transylvania Director
2012 Goodnight Mr. Foot[34] Short film
Director and animator
2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 Director
2016 Trolls Creative consultant (uncredited)[35]
2017 Puppy! Short film
Director and writer[36]
2018 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation[37] Director and writer
Voice actor of Blobby, Blobby Baby and Puppy Blobby
2021 Hotel Transylvania 4 Executive producer[38]
TBA Fixed Director[27]
TBA Black Knight Director and writer[27][39]
TBA Popeye Director[30]

Television
Year Title Notes
1991 Tiny Toon Adventures Assistant animator
Episode: "Henny Youngman Day"
1992–1993 Batman: The Animated Series Inbetween artist
1993–1995 2 Stupid Dogs Animation director, storyboard artist and director
1994 The Critic Animation timer
1996–2003 Dexter's Laboratory Creator, director (1996–1999, 2003), writer, storyboard artist, producer, executive producer (2001–2003), recording director, and character designer
1998 Cow and Chicken Writer and storyboard artist
Episode: "Cow's Pies"
1998–2002 The Powerpuff Girls Supervising producer (season 1-4), writer, recording director, storyboard artist and director (season 1-3)
1999 Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip Television film
Director, supervising producer, story and storyboard artist
2000 Foe Paws Animation director
2001 The Flintstones: On the Rocks Television film
Supervising producer
2001–2004
2017		 Samurai Jack Creator, director, writer, storyboard artist, story, sheet timer, voice director, producer and executive producer
2003 Duck Dodgers Voice actor as himself
Episode: "Samurai Quack"
2003–2004 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Supervising producer
2003–2005 Star Wars: Clone Wars Creator, writer, executive producer and director
2004 Periwinkle Around the World Pilot
Producer, director and sheets
2006 Korgoth of Barbaria Pilot
Animation director
2008 Maruined Pilot
Creator
2010–2011 Sym-Bionic Titan Creator, director, storyboard artist, writer, voice director and executive producer
2013 Steven Universe Timing director
Episode: "Pilot"
2019–2020 Primal Creator, director, storyboard artist, writer, voice director and executive producer

Bibliography
Year Title Publisher Notes
2001 Dexter's Laboratory: "Stubble Trouble" DC Comics Writer, illustrator
2016 Cage! Marvel Comics Writer, illustrator[40]

Awards and nominations
YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
1995Annie AwardsBest Animated Short Subject[41]Dexter's LaboratoryWon
Best Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in the Field of Animation[41]Dexter's LaboratoryNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)[42]Dexter's LaboratoryNominated
1996Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)[42]Dexter's Laboratory
"The Big Sister"		Nominated
1997Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)[42]Dexter's Laboratory
"Star-Spangled Sidekicks", "T.V. Superpals", and "Game Over"		Nominated
Annie AwardsBest Animated TV Program[43]Dexter's LaboratoryNominated
Best Individual Achievement: Producing in a TV Production[43]Dexter's Laboratory
"Ham Hocks and Arm Locks"		Nominated
1998Annie AwardsOutstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program[44]Dexter's LaboratoryNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)[42]Dexter's Laboratory
"Dyno-might" and "LABretto"		Nominated
1999Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)The Powerpuff Girls
"Bubblevicious" and "The Bare Facts"		Nominated
2000Annie AwardsOutstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Program.[45]Dexter's LaboratoryNominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)The Powerpuff Girls
"Beat Your Greens" and "Down 'n Dirty"		Nominated
2001Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)The Powerpuff Girls
"Moral Decay" and "Meet the Beat Alls"		Nominated
WAC WinnerBest Television SpecialDexter's Laboratory: Ego TripWon
2002Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour Or More)Samurai Jack
I–III – "The Beginning"		Nominated
OIAF AwardBest Television SeriesSamurai Jack
VII – "Jack and the Three Blind Archers"		Won
2004Annie AwardsOutstanding Directing in an Animated Television ProductionSamurai Jack
XXXVII–XXXVIII – "The Birth of Evil"		Nominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding 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)[46]Star Wars: Clone Wars
Vol. 1 (chapters 1–20)		Won
Saturn AwardBest Television Presentation in the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA[47]Star Wars: Clone WarsNominated
2005Annie AwardsDirecting in an Animated Television ProductionSamurai Jack
L - "Tale of X-49"		Nominated
Emmy AwardOutstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)[48]Star Wars: Clone Wars
Vol. 2 (chapters 21–25)		Won
Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less)[49]Samurai Jack
XLIX – "Seasons of Death"		Nominated
2006Annie AwardsBest Animated TV Program[47]Star Wars: Clone Wars
Vol. 2 (chapters 21–25)		Won
2007Winsor McCay Award[50]Won
2013Golden Globe AwardsBest Animated FeatureHotel TransylvaniaNominated
VES AwardOutstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion PictureHotel TransylvaniaNominated

Notes
  1. Russian: Геннадий Тартаковский; although his Russian name Геннадий is normally transliterated as Gennady or Gennadiy, he changed its spelling to Genndy after moving to the U.S.[2]
gollark: Generality is good because future job markets are very unpredictable.
gollark: Forensics seems very specific. I'd probably favour studying a more general thing.
gollark: Oxford rejected me so no.
gollark: Maths and CS.
gollark: Yes.

References
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  8. SAMURAI JACK. DUNCAN HIGGITT. Western Mail. First Edition; NEWS; p. 28. 17 June 2005.
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  33. Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time - Adult Swim Games
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  39. Black Knight
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  • Genndy's Scrapbook (Samurai Jack Season 2 DVD, Disk 2)
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