Matt Groening

Matt Groening (born February 15, 1954) (name rhymes with "raining", SAMPA ['grEniN]) is an American cartoon artist and the creator of Futurama and The Simpsons, where he currently serves as creative consultant. In high school, he was the student body president, with his title stripped when he tried to amend the constitution to make him an all-powerful president for life. Post-secondary school, he graduated from The Evergreen State College.

Before his work in television, Groening created the syndicated cartoon Life in Hell, which is still carried in many weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, such as:

• School is Hell
• Love is Hell
• Work is Hell
• The Big Book of Hell

Groening's most notable works include animated TV shows The Simpsons and Futurama. The Bart Simpson character derives from the earlier comic strip.

Groening grew up in Portland, Oregon, and seems to have found names for some characters from major Portland street names such as Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby, and Terwilliger.

He named the main family Simpson characters after his own family (reportedly he was not feeling very creative that day); his parents, Homer and Marge, and his younger sisters, Lisa and Maggie. Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, but these siblings were left out of the main Simpson family. As for Matt himself, he decided it was a bit too obvious and therefore called him "Bart" (an anagram of "brat"). Groening has also named his own sons Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe (which is the name of Grandpa Simpson).

Groening was influenced as a youngster by the dark humor of English cartoonist Ronald Searle.

He is part of the rock & roll band, Rock Bottom Remainders. The band consist of Stephen King, Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Mitch Albom, and several other famous writers.

External links

• Matt Groening’s Portland from the Portland Tribune
• Matt Groening's Bio at Rock Bottom Remainders' Website