Seth MacFarlane

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seth MacFarlane, 2012

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973 in Kent , Connecticut ) is an American actor , voice actor , screenwriter , comedian , film producer , director and singer . MacFarlane is the creator of the animated series Family Guy , American Dad and The Cleveland Show and the science fiction series The Orville . As an actor, he has had several roles in film and television productions. He received the 2006 Annie Award for his dubbing of Stewie Griffin in Family Guy . He won the Emmy twice (2000, 2002), as well as other awards such as a Webby Award (2009) and a Teen Choice Award (2010).

Seth MacFarlane has been selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to host the 2013 Academy Awards on February 24th.

He got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in April 2019 .

On January 11, 2020, after MacFarlane's 20 years at 20th Century Fox, a deal was signed with the US company NBCUniversal . The current series such as Family Guy or American Dad should, however, continue.

First steps

MacFarlane attended Kent School (a boarding school in Connecticut) and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in animation . During his studies, he made a short film called The Life of Larry , an early predecessor of Family Guy . After graduating, he worked for Hanna-Barbera Productions , later as an animator and writer for Cartoon Networks cartoon cartoon series, which included series such as Johnny Bravo , Dexter's Laboratory and Cow and Chicken . MacFarlane was also a writer on the animated series Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and created Larry & Steve , a short cartoon set as part of Cartoon Network's What-A-Cartoon! Series was shown.

Television career

Family guy

MacFarlane's first independent venture, Family Guy , is a comedic cartoon series depicting the life of the Griffin family. Peter Griffin, the family man, is a lovable fool. Peter's wife, Lois Griffin, is a calm, level-headed housewife who takes care of the upbringing of the three children. Meg Griffin is the only daughter and the oldest child in the family. She is desperately looking for social recognition and wants her family to finally respect their privacy. Chris Griffin is the middle child, a son who lacks all intelligence but has a talent for painting. Brian Griffin is a talking dog who enjoys drinking, smoking, singing, and acting. The last and youngest member of the family is Stewie Griffin, a speaking toddler who is by far the most eloquent member of the family (in the Original Version, he speaks with a British accent). Stewie is obsessed with taking over the world and destroying everything that seems to get in his way. In particular, he wants to kill his mother Lois. In this series, MacFarlane lends his voice to several characters, such as B. Peter, Brian and Stewie Griffin and Glenn Quagmire.

Family Guy first aired in 1999, right after the Super Bowl on FOX . The ratings for the pilot episode ( "Death Has a Shadow" ) were extremely promising and Family Guy's future looked very bright. After the third season and thus 50 episodes, the series was canceled by FOX. A storm of indignation broke out among the regular viewers, who wanted to use calls for a boycott to get FOX to resume the series. Quite good ratings during the repetition of the old episodes and extremely strong sales of DVD sales brought the series back to life, so that on May 1, 2005 it was put back into the evening program of FOX. From 2009 to 2013 there was also a spin-off series called The Cleveland Show , also produced by MacFarlane.

American dad

American Dad! is MacFarlane's second endeavor. First broadcast as a sneak preview after Super Bowl XXXIX on February 6, 2005 , regular broadcast on FOX began on May 1, 2005. It tells of Stan Smith, a CIA agent who believes he is surrounded by terrorists - even in his own household. Stan has a loving wife, two children and two very unusual family members: Roger, an alien who rescued Stan from Area 51 , and Klaus, a goldfish with the brain implanted in a ski jumper in the former GDR . MacFarlane said his dislike of then-US President George W. Bush's policies was one of the motivators for the story to unfold.

The Cleveland Show

The Cleveland Show first aired on September 27, 2009; like Family Guy and American Dad! on FOX . She is a spin-off from Family Guy . Cleveland is still a Griffin neighbor in Family Guy , but moves from Quahog, Rhode Island to the fictional Stoolbend, Virginia at the beginning of the Cleveland Show , where he starts a new family with his former high school love, Donna. In May 2013, Fox discontinued the series after four seasons and 88 episodes.

Dads

MacFarlane was the executive producer of the sitcom Dads , which revolves around two men whose fathers are moving in with them. Dads premiered on Fox on September 17, 2013 , but was discontinued during the first season in February 2014.

MacFarlane delivers a star award speech for Bill Maher on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Bordertown

In 2016, MacFarlane was executive producer on the Fox animated series Bordertown , which was discontinued after a season of 13 episodes.

The Orville

Since 2017, MacFarlane has acted as the main actor, producer, director and screenwriter of the science fiction / comedy series The Orville, which he himself largely developed .

Notable guest appearances

MacFarlane is an avid fan of Star Trek and made a guest appearance as Engineer Ensign Rivers in the series Star Trek: Enterprise during the third season in the episode "The Forgotten" (3.20) and in the fourth season in the episode "Affliction" (4.15 ).

He was also in The War at Home (Family Quarrel De Luxe / Hinterm Sofa an der Front) in episode 5 of the 2nd season as the date of daughter Hillary ( Kaylee DeFer ), his character in this episode resembling the character of Glenn Quagmire from Family Guy did.

In 2002 he had a brief guest appearance on the second season of the series Gilmore Girls (episode 42, "Remote Controlled / Lorelai's Graduation Day").

In 2009 he sang the Mars-Vegas song in the 4th Futurama film Leela and the Encyclopods .

2010 probation in Tooth Fairy ; Guest appearance as a tooth fairy who deals with inferior fairy gadgets.

2010 guest speaker role in The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! as ISRAEL, a female robot who is supposed to destroy the Drawn Together team.

2010 in FlashForward Season 1 Episode 1 and Season 1 Episode 15; Guest appearance as FBI agent who secretly plays role-playing games on his duty computer.

In 2010 and 2011, MacFarlane hosted three parts of the Comedy Central Roasts , a Comedy Central series in which celebrities are poked by other celebrity lauders. He performed the programs in honor of David Hasselhoff , Donald Trump and Charlie Sheen and is thus the first "Roastmaster" to host more than one roast at Comedy Central.

Film career

MacFarlane made his directorial debut in 2012 with the comedy Ted . He was able to win Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis as leading actors . He himself took over the speaking role of the eponymous figure. A sequel was published in June 2015.

The western comedy A Million Ways to Die in the West followed in 2014 , in which he himself played the leading role, wrote the script and directed. Other roles include Charlize Theron , Giovanni Ribisi , Liam Neeson and Neil Patrick Harris . In 2017 he appeared in Logan Lucky .

MacFarlane served as executive producer on the 2014 documentary series Our Cosmos: The Journey Goes On , hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson .

Music career

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Music Is Better Than Words
  US 111 October 15, 2011 (1 week)
Holiday for Swing!
  US 51 December 20, 2014 (3 weeks)

MacFarlane has already sung various musical parts of his characters himself in many of his cartoon productions and has also made some guest appearances in other productions. His debut album Music Is Better Than Words was recorded in the recording studios of Capitol Records , where Frank Sinatra already recorded his songs. His music is based on the jazz style of the 40s and 50s . The two singers Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles can also be heard on his first album in duets with MacFarlane. The album was released on September 27, 2011.

The second album Holiday for Swing was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and released on September 30, 2014. It contains 13 songs with winter or Christmas lyrics.

Albums

  • 2011 - Music Is Better Than Words
  • 2014 - Holiday For Swing
  • 2015 - No One Ever Tells You
  • 2017 - In Full Swing
  • 2019 - Once in a While

Books

Private

Seth MacFarlane is an atheist , enjoys playing the piano and is a big fan of science fiction and trekkie . He named The Sopranos as one of his favorite series .

In September 2012 it was revealed that MacFarlane had been in a relationship with British actress Emilia Clarke for a long time . The split was announced in March 2013.

Political opinions

Seth MacFarlane advocates the legalization of cannabis and supports the lesbian and gay movement . He is a sympathizer of the Democratic Party and supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election campaign in the United States.

Trivia

After MacFarlane gave a lecture at his former college in Rhode Island , he planned to fly back to Los Angeles on September 11, 2001 . He was booked on American Airlines Flight 11 , but missed boarding at Logan International Airport by a few minutes. According to his own statements, this happened because his travel agent wrote down the wrong departure time and because he had a hangover from the previous night. Shortly after take-off, the plane was hijacked by terrorists and steered into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. EDT , killing all passengers.

Filmography (selection)

Movies

watch TV

Web links

Commons : Seth MacFarlane  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ Markus Lippold: Oscar, Argo, Haneke and Waltz: The Oscar gets dirty. In: n-tv.de . February 25, 2013, accessed September 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ WORLD: Seth MacFarlane honored on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" . April 23, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Waldemar Dercho: "Family Guy" maker Seth MacFarlane leaves Fox and goes to NBC. In: derchotv.de. January 11, 2020, accessed January 12, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b 10 Facts about “The Cleveland Show” , quotenmeter.de, August 7, 2016
  5. ↑ a b US quotas: "Family Guy": The fat years are over , quotenmeter.de, July 26, 2013
  6. ↑ First Look: “Bordertown”: After “Family Guy” comes the crash , quotenmeter.de, January 9, 2016
  7. ↑ From Family Guy to Bordertown: Seth MacFarlane with US satire on Fox , moviepilot.de, November 11, 2013
  8. ↑ Bordertown: FOX closes the border after season 1 , serienjunkies, May 13, 2016
  9. ↑ Orlino Frick: Yogi Bear for Adults: Mark Wahlberg hurts around - together with a bear! moviepilot.de, October 26, 2010, accessed on May 23, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Ted 2 filmstarts.de, accessed on January 23, 2015
  11. ↑ US chart history
  12. ↑ The-Blue-Nile.com Seth MacFarlane follows in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra with “Music Is Better Than Words” . (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 2, 2012 ; Retrieved January 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.the-blue-nile.com
  13. ↑ Virginia Skeels: Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke steals a kiss from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane on romantic lunch date. dailymail.co.uk, September 25, 2012, accessed May 23, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Seth MacFarlane Splits From Emilia Clarke: Comedian And 'Game Of Thrones' Star Call It Quits. huffingtonpost.com, March 21, 2011, accessed May 23, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Seth MacFarlane with Larry King
  16. ^ Seth MacFarlane at Advocate.com
  17. ↑ Seth MacFarlane Hosts Bernie Sanders Fundraiser nbcnewyork.com, October 15, 2015, accessed November 2, 2015 (English)
  18. ↑ Interview with Seth MacFarlane. tvshowsondvd.com, April 21, 2003, accessed May 23, 2014 .
  19. ↑ Seth MacFarlane Biography. tv.com, accessed May 23, 2014 .
  20. ↑ Patrick Sauriol: 10 Questions with Family Guy Seth McFarlane. mania.com, September 15, 2003, accessed May 23, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME MacFarlane, Seth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES MacFarlane, Seth Woodbury (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American animator and actor
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Kent , Connecticut