Genndy Tartakovsky

Genndy Tartakovsky (born January 17, 1970 in Moscow, USSR) is an American animator, director, writer and producer.

Biography

Genndy Tartakovsky was born on January 17, 1970, in Moscow, USSR to Jewish parents. His father, Boris, worked as a dentist for government officials and a Russian hockey team. His mother, Miriam, was an assistant principal at a school. He also has a brother, Alex, who is two years older and is currently a computer consultant in Chicago. Tartakovsky's family moved to the United States when he was seven due to concerns about the effect of anti-Semitism on their children's lives. Originally settling in Columbus, Ohio the family later moved to Chicago. He was greatly influenced by the comics he found there. The first book he bought was a Super Friends comic at a 7-Eleven.

Before coming to the United States, however, 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."

Genndy 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 (a.k.a. Lane Tech), and says he never felt he fit in until he was a sophomore there.

When he was sixteen, Tartakovsky's father died of a heart attack. He felt that his father was very strict and 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 the ambitions of his family, Genndy tried to take an advertising class, because they were encouraging him to be a businessman. However, he signed up late, and therefore did not have any choice over his classes. He was assigned to take an animation class, and this led to his study of film at Chicago's Columbia College before moving to Los Angeles to study animation at the California Institute of the Arts (with his friend, Robert Renzetti). It was at the Institute of the Arts where Tartakovsky directed and animated two student films— one of which became the basis for Dexter's Laboratory.

Reportedly, after two years at Cal Arts, Tartakovsky got a job in Spain on Batman: The Animated Series and The Critic. While there, he "learned the trials of TV animation, labor intensive and cranking it out." Also, while in Spain, his mother died of cancer. Later, Tartakovsky worked at Hanna-Barbera, drawing storyboards for the show 2 Stupid Dogs.

Craig McCracken showed his portfolio to Hanna-Barbera and got a job art directing for the show 2 Stupid Dogs. They asked him if he knew anyone else, and he responded that he knew that Robert Renzetti and Genndy Tartakovsky would be right for the job. 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.

Tartakovsky is most well known for creating, writing, and directing the animated series Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. Dexter's Laboratory grew out of the student film with the same title that he produced while at the California Institute of the Arts. Tartakovksy also co-wrote and pencilled the 25th issue of the Dexter's Laboratory comic book series, titled "Stubble Trouble." Additionally, he helped produce The Powerpuff Girls and directed many episodes, also serving as the animation director for The Powerpuff Girls Movie. All three projects were variously nominated 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 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' depicting the Clone Wars, taking place between the films 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 has no plans to work on future Star Wars projects.

To date, Tartakovsky has amassed 12 Emmy nominations and three wins. He has also been nominated four times for Annie Awards, winning once for the Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume 2 series.

Tartakovsky was made creative president of The Orphanage's Orphanage Animation Studios, an animation studio comprised of Lucasfilm veterans. The company hopes to one day rival animation giant Pixar, and believes that Tartakovsky can get them there. Their first feature will be the sequel to the 1982 classic The Dark Crystal. It will be directed by Tartakovsky, under the title Power of the Dark Crystal.

He has also been pitching a cartoon series of Stephen King's The Dark Tower to HBO. It is unknown how the recent Dark Tower media will affect the possibility of this projected series becoming a reality – whether the new productions will pave the way for Genndy's animation, or they will prove to be enough for King and the Grant publishing company.

Genndy helped create and directed animation on the pilot episode of Korgoth of Barbaria. The series was set for a complete first season on Adult Swim, scheduled to air in spring of 2007, but was dropped. It is unknown if a full series will eventually be produced or if Genndy will be involved if it does.

A Samurai Jack feature film will be produced by Frederator Films, and will be written and directed by Tartakovsky.

He provided storyboards for the film Iron Man 2.