Matt Groening

Cartoonist and animator, and the mind behind the highly successful animated television show The Simpsons (1989– ). Groening had started with a comic strip Life in Hell, featuring two rabbits, Binky and Sheba, and the fez-wearing Akbar and Jeff. But it's been Bart and the gang who have brought fame and fortune to Groening. Beginning as a recurring vignette on the short-lived Tracy Ullman Show (1987), the Simpsons have gone on to become, as they say, household words. In 1999 Groening launched a new series, Futurama which lasted until 2003.