Butch Hartman

In 2003 to produce the shows. Hartman executive produced all 4 of his Nickelodeon shows for their entire runs. In February 2018, Hartman announced his departure from Nickelodeon after almost 20 years; this resulted in the end of Bunsen Is a Beast production after one season. In 2021, he returned to the studio to produce The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, a live-action Fairly OddParents sequel which premiered on Paramount+ the following year and aired for one season. In 2023, his first non-secular animated program, The Garden, premiered on the Christian streaming service Pure Flix.

Hartman was born in Highland Park, Michigan to Linda and Elmer Hartman III, a doctor. He received the nickname Butch as a young boy and continued to use it as an adult. Hartman spent his childhood in Roseville, Michigan, and his teenage years in New Baltimore, Michigan. He graduated from Anchor Bay High School in New Baltimore in 1983 and subsequently attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. He graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a young student, he appeared on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, winning nearly $3,000.

While attending CalArts, Hartman interned as an in-between animator on the Don Bluth film An American Tail. Before graduating, he was a contestant on the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour for three episodes, and shortly after graduating, he was hired as a character designer and storyboard artist for the 1986–1987 My Little Pony. As he had no previous experience with storyboards, he was soon fired. Afterwards, he found work with Ruby-Spears, where he worked on It's Punky Brewster and Dink, the Little Dinosaur. He was also a member of the video reference crew for the Disney film Pocahontas. In the early 1990s, he was hired as an artist in the model department at Hanna-Barbera and was eventually contacted by studio president Fred Seibert to create the shorts Pfish and Chip and Gramps for his animated incubator series What a Cartoon!. Eventually, he became a writer, director and storyboard artist for several early Cartoon Network shows, including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel. After his contract with Hanna-Barbera expired, he went to work with Seibert at his newfound Frederator studio, on his successor incubator series, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, for Nickelodeon. During his time working at Hanna-Barbera, he became acquainted with future Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The two would later make the short Zoomates together for Oh Yeah! Cartoons. The character Dr. Elmer Hartman in Family Guy was named after Hartman. He also voiced various characters in the show's first season.

His biggest success came in December 1997, when he created The Fairly OddParents. The series originally started as shorts on the anthology show Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Eventually, Nickelodeon decided to pick the shorts up as a full series. Premiering in 2001, the adapted series became a huge hit, second only in the ratings to SpongeBob SquarePants (and it briefly even passed SpongeBob's ratings). The Fairly OddParents ended production in 2016 with its final episode aired a year later afterward and is Nickelodeon's second-longest-running animated show behind SpongeBob. Due to the success of The Fairly OddParents, Hartman was asked to create another show for Nickelodeon; Hartman says the President of Nickelodeon asked him if he had an idea, and before he could say the title, he was given the green light. The show would later become Danny Phantom. Hartman founded his own production company, Billionfold Inc., to produce the show in 2003, which he also used to produce his other projects. Danny Phantom ended production in early 2007 and amassed a cult following since its original run. Around 2008–2009, Hartman began production of his third show for Nickelodeon, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which premiered in 2010 alongside the Jimmy Neutron spin-off Planet Sheen. The show ended five years later on Nickelodeon's spinoff network, Nicktoons. His final show, Bunsen Is a Beast, aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons from 2017 to 2018. On February 8, 2018, Hartman announced on his Twitter and YouTube accounts that he had left Nickelodeon as of February 2 after a 20-year run.

In 2015, Hartman launched a "kid-safe [online] network of live shows and cartoons" called The Noog Network. The Noog Network, as well as the original YouTube channel of the same name, are both currently abandoned with no further information on if they will be re-instated. In October 2017, Hartman launched the podcast Speech Bubble, on which he talks about pop culture. Several voice actors have appeared on the podcast, including Rob Paulsen, Tara Strong, Jerry Trainor, Grey Griffin, and Vic Mignogna. After initially posting excerpts on his primary YouTube channel, the podcast videos were later moved to their dedicated YouTube channel, now including full episodes. In June 2018, Hartman started a Kickstarter campaign for OAXIS Entertainment, a "family-friendly" streaming service. A number of online personalities since alleged that OAXIS was planned to be a Christian-themed network. Hartman, however, asserted that, while faith would continue to be a part of his personal life, "OAXIS Entertainment is not faith-based". As of 2026, Hartman has yet to give any updates on OAXIS. On June 22, 2019, Hartman released the animated web series HobbyKids Adventures. This series, produced by PocketWatch Inc., was created for the YouTube channel HobbyKidsTV. On 13 July, Hartman released a book, Mad Hustle, which details the ins and outs of pitching and selling a show in Hollywood. In 2019, Hartman created the Christian animated web series The Garden, which he co-produced with his wife Julieann. Hartman planned at least two seasons of the series and to launch a subscription-based app for The Garden in late 2022. Hartman's further plans for the property include creating a VBS curriculum for churches and illustrating a children's Bible published by Thomas Nelson, titled The Garden Children's Bible, which stars the characters from The Garden and was scheduled to release in 2023. The series premiered on Pure Flix on January 1, 2023. In February 2021, Hartman was accused of plagiarism when he published his commissioned artwork of Attack on Titan character Mikasa Ackerman, in which similarities were noted to a 2018 artwork of a Japanese artist. Hartman was credited as an executive producer on The Fairly OddParents revival series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder and The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish.

As of 2025, Hartman lives in Bell Canyon, California, with his wife, Julieann, and daughters, Carly and Sophia Hartman. He also has three younger brothers. Hartman is an openly devout born-again Christian and young-Earth creationist, converting in 2000 after hearing a sermon by Frederick K. C. Price. In 2005, Hartman, along with his wife, co-founded Hartman House, a non-profit organization which supports those in developing nations, as well as poverty-stricken areas in the United States. By 2017, Hartman House had built two homes for families in Guatemala, fed nearly 7,200 families with Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., and funded aid projects for orphanages in Uganda and Haiti. At Hartman House events, Hartman usually draws and autographs items related to his work for children.