Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky ( ; born January 17, 1970) is a Russian-American animator, screenwriter, film producer, and director. He is best known as the creator of Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal for Cartoon Network. He is also known for creating the Adult Swim series Primal, directing the first three films and writing the fourth film in the Hotel Transylvania series for Sony Pictures Animation, and directing the studio’s first adult animated film Fixed. As of now, Tartakovsky is currently directing another adult animated film for Sony Pictures Animation, Black Knight.
Tartakovsky is widely considered to be among the most influential artists and storytellers in the history of animation. Much of his work is well known for its unique animation, visual spectacle, and distinctive narrative style, including fast-paced action, meditative adventures, physical comedy and slapstick, elements of horror and romance, minimal dialogue, and genre-blending (e.g., science fantasy). Throughout his career, Tartakovsky has won five Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards, a World Animation Conference Award, an OIAF Award, and the Winsor McCay Award, among other nominations for his works. According to Animation World Network, "the name 'Genndy Tartakovsky' carries considerable cultural weight...[he's] helped shape some of animation's most memorable and impactful series".
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Early life
Tartakovsky was born on January 17, 1970, in Moscow to Jewish parents. His father worked as a dentist for government officials and the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Tartakovsky 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. 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 due to concerns about the effect of antisemitism on their children's lives. The family originally settled in Columbus, Ohio 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. Since Tartakovsky was a foreigner, he found it hard to fit in and make friends, trying to find ways to assimilate into American culture. He went on to attend Chicago's prestigious Lane Tech College Prep High School and says he did not fit in until his sophomore year, when he joined and befriended teammates on the school's football team. When he was 16, his father died of a heart attack. Afterwards, Tartakovsky and his family moved to government-funded housing, and he began working multiple jobs while still attending high school.
To satisfy his ambitious family, who were 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 with his friend Rob Renzetti. There he met Craig McCracken. At CalArts, Tartakovsky directed and animated two student films, one of which became the basis for Dexter's Laboratory. After two years at CalArts, Tartakovsky got a job at Lapiz Azul Productions in Spain on Batman: The Animated Series. There, "he learned the trials of TV animation, labor intensive and cranking it out". While he was in Spain, his mother died of cancer.
Career
Craig McCracken acquired an art director job at Hanna-Barbera for the show 2 Stupid Dogs and recommended hiring Rob Renzetti and Tartakovsky, who were all roommates at this time. 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", 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-adventure 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.
In 2005, Tartakovsky was appointed creative president of Orphanage Animation Studios. In 2006, he was chosen as the director for a sequel to Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, but was replaced and the film was later scrapped. Tartakovsky served as animation director on the pilot episode of Aaron Springer's 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 and two for Niquitin in 2008. In 2009, Tartakovsky created a pilot entitled Maruined for Cartoon Network's The Cartoonstitute program, which was not picked up. Around this time, Tartakovsky unsuccessfully pitched Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige a superhero-themed series similar to Clone Wars. He then did some storyboarding work on Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2 (2010).
Legacy
Tartakovsky has often been hailed as an influence on various animators, illustrators, cartoonists, authors, filmmakers and writers especially across North America and Europe, including McCracken, Rudish, Renzetti, Favreau, Amphibia creator Matt Braly, Pixar artist Sanjay Patel, Final Space creator and YouTuber Olan Rogers, and Tomm Moore of Ireland's Cartoon Saloon, with the latter commending the way Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack "created a cinematic look on a TV budget".
Personal life
In 2000, Tartakovsky married Dawn David. As of 2017, he has three children. He is fluent in English and speaks some Russian. His top creative inspirations include Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, George Lucas, David Lean, Mel Brooks, Max Fleischer, Osamu Tezuka, Jack Kirby, Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Hayao Miyazaki, Sergio Leone, Frank Miller, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert E. Howard, Ridley Scott, Mel Gibson, and Harvey Kurtzman as well as Disney's Nine Old Men and Hanna-Barbera; he even admires the likes of James Baxter, Don Bluth, Antonio Prohías, Aaron Blaise, Mamoru Oshii, Matt Groening, Pendleton Ward, Bill Watterson, Frank Frazetta, Ralph Bakshi, Rebecca Sugar, J.G. Quintel, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Wes Anderson, South Park, Man of Action, Glen Murakami, and Katsuhiro Otomo.
Filmography
Television
Other roles
Feature film
Other roles
