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{{Infobox actor| bgcolour =| name = Seth MacFarlane| image = Sethmacfarlane2.jpg| imagesize = 200px| caption = Seth MacFarlane at a reception after giving a speech at the
RISD| birthname = Seth Woodbury MacFarlane| birthdate = | location = Kent, Connecticut,
[Stewie Griffin,
Brian Griffin and others in
Family Guy Stan Smith (American Dad!) and
Roger (American Dad!) in
American Dad!],
Family Guy (2000)
Outstanding Music and Lyrics,
Family Guy (2002)], 1973) is a two-time Emmy-winning
United States animator, screenwriter,
television producer, actor,
comedian and voice actor. He is best known as the creator of the
animated series Family Guy and
American Dad!. He was also the executive producer of the short-lived series,
The Winner (TV series).He does the voices in his shows which include: Peter Griffin,
Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Tom Tucker (Family Guy),
Glenn Quagmire,
Stan Smith (American Dad!) and
Roger the Alien.
Early life and career
MacFarlane was born in 1973 in
Kent, Connecticut to Ann Perry Sager and Ronald Milton MacFarlane, both of whom were from Newburyport, Massachusetts and descended from immigrants from Canada,
England,
Scotland and Mayflower passenger
William Brewster (Pilgrim).http://www.wargs.com/other/macfarlane.html He received his diploma at the
Kent School in
Connecticut, whose
Head teacher, Richardson Schell, later publicly rebuked MacFarlane for his "low" brand of humor. He went on to study animation at the
Rhode Island School of Design, which inspired the
Rhode Island setting of
Family Guy. While in college, he created a short film entitled
Larry shorts, an early version of
Family Guy. After graduation, he was hired by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc. and later worked as an animator and writer for
Cartoon Network Cartoon Cartoons series, which included
Johnny Bravo,
Dexter's Laboratory and
Cow and Chicken. He was also a writer for the animated version of
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
MacFarlane is an avid fan of
Star Trek and has appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on the show
Star Trek: Enterprise in the third season episode "
The Forgotten (Enterprise episode)" (3.20), and the fourth season episode "Affliction (Enterprise episode)" (4.15). Since then, Patrick Stewart has had a recurring role as Director Bullock of the CIA in
American Dad! (and also reprised his famed role of
Jean-Luc Picard in an episode of
Family Guy). MacFarlane is also said to be a huge fan of the Howard Stern Show. MacFarlane also appeared in a 2002 episode of the
Gilmore Girls, entitled "Lorelai's Graduation Day" (2.21) as a classmate of Lorelai's (a number of episodes of
Family Guy were produced by
Gilmore Girls producer and writer Daniel Palladino, husband of the show's creator
Amy Sherman-Palladino). Not only did he voice
Wayne "The Main Brain" McClain in an episode of
Aqua Teen Hunger Force, he has also voiced various characters on Adult Swim's
Robot Chicken, including a parody of
Lion-O and Emperor Palpatine.
He has also lent his voice of Stewie several times to
Countdown with Keith Olbermann on
MSNBC. In one episode, he introduced a serious segment about
Bill O'Reilly (commentator), Olbermann's main rival on Fox News Channel by saying "Oh, wait Bill. Hold still, allow me to soil myself on you. Victory is mine!" Seth also appeared on the January 19,
2007 edition of Countdown to discuss Stephen Colbert appearance on The O'Reilly Factor and O'Reilly's return appearance on
The Colbert Report.
On November 5, 2006, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's
The War at Home (TV series) as an unnamed person known as "Hillary's Date". He plays a 33-year-old man who secretly dates Hillary, but ends up dumping her when she tells him that she doesn't put out.
Later, November 11, 2006, MacFarlane guest hosted on Fox's
MADtv, where he showed a live action re-enactment of the scene from the
Family Guy episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci, Jr. High" where Peter and Lois suspect Chris of murdering his teacher's husband and Meg jumps out the window (with Crista Flanagan, the actress playing Meg, cut and bleeding after her window stunt) in fear and a redubbed version with Seth as Peter,
Kathy Griffin (
Nicole Parker) as Lois,
Dane Cook (
Ike Barinholtz) as Chris,
Queen Latifah (Nicole Randall Johnson) as Meg, and
Snoop Dogg (
Keegan-Michael Key) as Stewie. The following year, on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's
Talkshow with Spike Feresten, and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young". Politically, MacFarlane has donated $33,500 to
Democratic Party (United States) causes such as the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He has also donated $1,000 to U.S._President Barack Obama.{{cite web |url=http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Seth_MacFarlane.php|title=Seth MacFarlane's Federal Campaign Contribution Report |publisher=NEWSMEAT|accessdate=2007-08-31-->
Speaking engagements
Convention in
Los Angeles on
May 26, 2007 signing autographs.MacFarlane is a popular guest to college campuses. Invited by
Stanford University's ASSU Speakers' Bureau, MacFarlane spoke to a crowd of over 1,000 at Memorial Auditorium on April 16, 2006. MacFarlane was invited by
Harvard University's class of 2006 to deliver the "class day" address on
June 7, 2006. He spoke as himself, as Peter Griffin, as Stewie Griffin, and as Glenn Quagmire. Later, MacFarlane spoke at George Washington University on
September 16,
2006, and showed the episode to be aired the following day. One month before Family Guy's resurrection in Season 4 on television, he was a guest at Washington University in St. Louis, speaking to a standing-room only crowd. He was also a guest at the
University of Texas on April 13, 2007. "'Family Guy' creator brings insights to UT"
The Daily Texan -- Retrieved April 22, 2007 MacFarlane spoke at the Rhode Island School of Design, his alma mater, upon receiving an honorary doctorate of fine arts at the school's commencement on June 2, 2007. "The art of graduating goes to a higher plane at RISD ceremony"
The Providence Journal. Retrieved June 3rd, 2007On May 26, 2007, MacFarlane appeared at a
Star Wars convention to promote his new
Family Guy episode. Larsen, Peter. " 'Star Wars' convention to attract thousands"
Orange County Register Published:
May 24,
2007. Accessed:
May 30,
2007.
Career in animation and television
MacFarlane was a writer for the
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (TV series) cartoon.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0532235/ In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to
The Life of Larry for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons called
Larry shorts, which featured the bumbling middle-aged Larry and his highly intelligent dog Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's
What-A-Cartoon!. Executives at Fox Broadcasting Company saw both
Larry shorts and contracted MacFarlane to create a series based on the characters. He has a production company named Fuzzy Door Productions.
Immediately before starting
Family Guy in 1998, he created and wrote a short titled "Zoomates" for Frederator Studios'
Oh Yeah! Cartoons on
Nickelodeon (TV channel).
Butch Hartman also helped with the short by storyboarding, production and directing. MacFarlane is a skilled
pianist and
singer who, as a young man, worked with the same vocal coaches as Frank Sinatra. He is an avid fan of
musicals and often employs musical numbers in his work. MacFarlane also appears to be a fan of 1980s culture, as his shows have used spoofs of TV shows, movies, commercials, toys, music videos, and other forms of pop culture and historical events from that decade.
Family Guy
Main article:
Family Guy
Seth MacFarlane voices many of the main characters on the TV show
Family Guy, an animated series which follows the life of Peter Griffin and his family. On the show, MacFarlane provides the voices of:
Peter Griffin, a bumbling oaf and
pater familias of the Griffin family;
Brian Griffin, the eloquent, rational, and alcoholic dog;
Stewie Griffin, the
megalomaniacal and comically intelligent infant; Glenn Quagmire, the sex-maniac neighbour; and Tom Tucker (Family Guy), a local news anchor. He also voices some non-recurring characters. MacFarlane's normal speaking voice sounds like Brian Griffin's. Incidentally, astute viewers will note that Tom Tucker's voice is almost exactly the same, only the cadence is different, as the character is a news anchor. Seth's sister, Rachael MacFarlane, plays small roles in the show. Some of MacFarlane's favorite episodes to date are
PTV (Family Guy) ,
Road to Rhode Island, and Peter's Two Dads. Seth MacFarlane on Family Guy #100
American Dad!
Main article:
American Dad!
American Dad! was first shown after
Super Bowl XXXIX as a sneak preview on
February 6, 2005. It then began airing regularly on FOX on
May 1,
2005. It focuses on Stan Smith, a fanatical conservative and a Central Intelligence Agency officer. He has a loving wife and two children, along with two unusual houseguests: Roger, the
extraterrestrial life whom Stan rescued from Area 51, and Klaus the
goldfish who hosts the transplanted brain of an
East German 1986 Olympic skier. In 2006,
American Dad! was picked up by Fox for two more seasons. Seth MacFarlane provides the voices of Stan and Roger. As with
Family Guy, his sister Rachael MacFarlane provides her voice for characters, most notably Stan's daughter Hayley.
The Winner
Main article: The Winner (TV series)
MacFarlane was the executive producer of a live-action sitcom starring Rob Corddry called
The Winner. Jack It,
Stuff Online, retrieved on March 16, 2007. It premiered on Fox on March 4, 2007. The show itself was about a 32 year old man discussing the time he matured, at the age of 32. This leads to him pursuing his only love, after she moves in next door, meeting her son then they become good friends. The show was officially canceled on May 16, 2007. 2007 Cancelled Shows: FOX Cancels Plenty of Series". TV Series Finale, retrieved
May 16, 2007.
September 11, 2001
Personal experience
and MacFarlane in
Family Guy Live in
Los Angeles, CaliforniaOn the morning of the September 11, 2001 attacks, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to
Los Angeles, California on
American Airlines Flight 11 after being a keynote speaker at his alma mater in Rhode Island. In 2005, on episodes of
Loveline and
Too Late with Adam Carolla, MacFarlane stated that he tried to make the flight, but arrived about ten minutes after final boarding ended. At 8:14 a.m., fifteen minutes after the departure of American Airlines Flight 11, the plane was hijacked, later being flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. He was told he would need to wait for the next flight and then sat down next to someone as they were watching the attacks and he said to the man beside him, “I was supposed to be on that flight."tv.com.
Seth MacFarlane. Accessed. 30 April 2007. From http://www.tv.com/seth-macfarlane/person/57171/biography.html.
In an interview with
TVShowsOnDVD.com, MacFarlane had the following to say about his 9/11 close call:{{cquote|
The only reason it hasn’t really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn’t really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you’re crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car… this one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can’t let it affect me because I’m a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head. {{cite web |url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/seth.cfm|title=Interview with Seth MacFarlane |publisher=TVShowsonDVD.com |accessdate=2007-09-01-->-->
Examples in
Family Guy
Osama bin Laden was featured in
Road to Rhode Island of
Family Guy, which aired more than a year before the 9/11 attacks. In a later interview for
Maxim (magazine) magazine, MacFarlane said that 9/11 would never be used as material for humor on
Family Guy due to the experience. However, in the episode "
PTV (Family Guy)", the episode begins with a mock of Osama bin Laden making a video message to America. In the episode, bin Laden does not mention 9/11, but instead a threat to America which is then mocked with "bloopers" and bin Laden making light of the situation, before being attacked by Stewie. However, the first gag to blatantly reference 9/11 was in the episode "
Airport '07"; Quagmire crash lands a plane and then Mayor West is informed while reading
The Pet Goat to school children, an obvious reference to when U.S. President
George W. Bush was informed of the 9/11 attacks. Two episodes later, in "
No Meals on Wheels", 9/11 was mentioned again when Peter's restaurant couldn't air its "Sixth Sense"-themed commercial because the director was involved with 9/11. Then in the season 5 episode "
It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", Lois responds to all the questions she receives on her mayoral campaign by saying, "9/11".
In the
Family Guy episode "Boys Do Cry", Brian and Stewie (both played by MacFarlane) leave a rural gas station while chuckling and mimicking a Middle-Eastern clerk; Stewie then remarks "If it weren't for 9/11, those guys would be adorable."
In an even more recent episode,
Meet The Quagmires, Brian travels back in time to the
1980s. A man challenges Brian to a fight, and 9/11 is mentioned once more when Brian tells the man to be in the
World Trade Center at the exact time the attacks occurred (this scene is only shown on the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim airings, not on FOX).
As well as in season five, episode
No Chris Left Behind, 9/11 is brought up when Chris Griffin is kidnapped by his grandfather to join the
Skull and Bones Society in order to make Chris more popular in his new school. After offering Chris to become a member, his grandfather remarks, “You’ll get your own stock portfolio, a percentage of the 9/11 victims fund and the best medical care on the planet..”
Awards
- Emmy Award winner 2000 for Outstanding Voice-over Performance. Stewie Griffin, Family Guy.
- Emmy Award winner 2002 for Outstanding Music and Lyrics. Family Guy.
- Annie Award winner 2006 for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. Stewie Griffin, "Brian the Bachelor" episode. Family Guy.
Footnotes
External links
- Official Family Guy Website on FOX
- Official American Dad! Website on FOX
- Seth MacFarlane at MySpace
- Interview on IGN.com
Videos
- Harvard Class Day 2006 - Part 1
- Harvard Class Day 2006 (as Peter Griffin) - Part 2
- Harvard Class Day2006 (as Stewie Griffin) - Part 3
- Harvard Class Day 2006 (as Glenn Quagmire) - Part 4
- Rare RISD video of Seth MacFarlane (video)
- Seth MacFarlane appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman (Video)
- Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein appearance on Good Day L.A. (Video)