Crude animation bought a Sinatra habit, a science crusade, and the strangest double life in Hollywood.
At a glance
- Known for
- Creator of *Family Guy*, *American Dad!*, and *The Orville*; voice of Peter, Stewie, Brian, and Stan Smith
- Before fame
- Published a weekly comic strip in his local Connecticut newspaper at age nine, earning five dollars a week
- Off-screen
- Five-time Grammy-nominated big band vocalist with nine studio albums in the Sinatra tradition
Rise to Fame
A college thesis film about a couch-potato dad and his emotionally distant son landed him a job at Hanna-Barbera straight out of college. Fox handed him $50,000 to hand-draw a 15-minute pilot. Family Guy premiered after Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, making him the youngest showrunner in television at 24.
Then Fox cancelled it. Twice. The DVDs sold 400,000 copies in one month, Adult Swim reruns boosted the block's viewership by 239%, and in 2004 Fox ordered 35 new episodes. It was the first show ever revived on the strength of home video sales. Getting cancelled turned out to be the best marketing strategy he never planned.
In the Spotlight
After two decades making Fox rich, he publicly trashed Fox News ("makes me embarrassed to work for this company"), donated $2.5 million to NPR, and signed a $200 million deal with NBCUniversal in 2020. A Fox News exec shot back that he wasn't quite embarrassed enough to stop cashing the checks, which was fair.
Family Guy passed 450 episodes and got renewed through the 2028-29 season. A Stewie spinoff received a two-season order. His production company's Naked Gun reboot grossed $102 million. Ted grossed $549 million on a $50 million budget, making it the top-grossing original R-rated comedy ever. The live-action film career stumbled (A Million Ways to Die in the West earned four Razzie nominations), but the animation machine prints money regardless.
Side Notes
He missed American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001, by about ten minutes. A hangover and a wrong departure time from his travel agent kept him at the gate while the plane hit the North Tower. He's talked about it in interviews, usually with the same flat delivery he uses for everything else.
The other half of his career barely makes sense next to Family Guy. Nine big band albums, five Grammy nominations, the Carl Sagan papers purchased and donated to the Library of Congress, Cosmos executive produced with Ann Druyan and hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. He spends his days writing jokes about Peter Griffin falling down stairs and his evenings recording with a full orchestra.