Genndy Tartakovsky

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.

Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky (born 17 January 1970) is a Russian-American animator, writer, producer, and director.

He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, including Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.

For Sony Pictures Animation, he directed the first three films and wrote the fourth film in the Hotel Transylvania series and is currently directing two adult animated films for the studio, Fixed and Black Knight.

Additionally, he was a pivotal crew member of The Powerpuff Girls and worked on other series such as 2 Stupid Dogs and Batman: The Animated Series.

Tartakovsky is well known for his unique animation style, including fast-paced action and minimal dialogue.

Throughout his career, Tartakovsky has won five Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards, one WAC Winner, one OIAF Award, and one Winsor McCay Award, among other nominations for his works.

Tartakovsky was born on 17 January 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.

School was difficult because he was seen as a foreigner.

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 was 16, his father died of a heart attack.

Afterwards, Tartakovsky 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 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.

Craig McCracken acquired an art director job at Hanna-Barbera for the show 2 Stupid Dogs 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 created the action-adventures series Samurai Jack, which premiered in 2001; he also wrote comics for the franchise.

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 him an Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)" in 2004.

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).