Craig McCracken

• Born — 31 March 1971 • Birthplace — Charleroi, Pennsylvania, U.S. • Years Active — 1990–present • Known for — * The Powerpuff Girls • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends • Wander Over Yonder • Kid Cosmic • Occupation — * Animator • Children — 1 • Website — 1=http: www.deviantart.com/cmcc

McCracken was born on March 31, 1971, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, to Eva (née Pfile), a community college art instructor, and Norman "Herk" McCracken, a Minor League Baseball pitcher who died when McCracken was 7. They relocated to Southern California shortly after Norman's death. He began drawing at an early age. He attended California High School in Whittier, California and in 1990 enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he met his friend and future collaborator, Genndy Tartakovsky. During his first year, he created a series of short cartoons featuring a character named No Neck Joe, which were picked up by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. While at CalArts, he also created a short entitled Whoopass Stew!, which would later become the basis for The Powerpuff Girls.

In 1993, McCracken was hired by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons as an art director on the Turner Broadcasting System series 2 Stupid Dogs, alongside Tartakovsky. As his first job in the animation industry, he was "never really happy with how that [show] worked". While McCracken was at Hanna-Barbera, studio president Fred Seibert began a new project: an animation incubator consisting of 48 new cartoons running approximately seven minutes each. Dubbed What a Cartoon!, it motivated McCracken to further develop his Whoopass Girls! creation. He recalled that the network could not market a show with the word "ass" in it, so two of his friends came up with The Powerpuff Girls as a replacement for the original title. His new pilot, "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins", premiered during the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode 1st World Premiere Toon-In on February 20, 1995. A second short, "Crime 101", followed on January 28, 1996. The first short to be picked up by the network was Tartakovsky's Dexter's Laboratory, which McCracken would contribute to in early seasons. McCracken's Powerpuff Girls was the fourth cartoon to be greenlit a full series, which premiered on November 18, 1998, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. The show has won Emmy and Annie awards. In 2002, McCracken directed The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a prequel to his series. The film received generally positive reviews but was a box office failure. • Illustration — McCracken and his wife Lauren Faust at the Emmy Awards in 2008 McCracken left The Powerpuff Girls after four seasons, focusing on his next project, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It premiered with the 90-minute television special "House of Bloo's" on August 13, 2004, on Cartoon Network. He developed the series with wife Lauren Faust and Mike Moon. The show ran for six seasons, all directed by McCracken, and concluded on May 3, 2009. It also won Emmy and Annie awards. In April 2008, he became executive producer of a new Cartoon Network showcase project called The Cartoonstitute. After 17 years of employment, he resigned from Cartoon Network in 2009, after it shifted focus to live-action and reality shows. He created Wander Over Yonder for Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel in August 2013. After Wander Over Yonder was cancelled, McCracken pitched a new show to Disney, based on his 2009 comic strip The Kid from Planet Earth. Disney ultimately passed on the project, and he eventually left the company in 2017. He then pitched his idea to Netflix and it was greenlight under the name of Kid Cosmic. The show premiered on February 2, 2021, and ended on February 3, 2022. It is the first of McCracken's original works to have a serialized format and his return to the superhero genre since The Powerpuff Girls. He pitched 10 projects to Netflix in August 2021, but eventually left by April 2022 due to mass layoffs at Netflix Animation. On July 18, 2022, it was announced that McCracken began developing reboots of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends at Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. Foster's Home will take form in a pre-school show focused on new characters. In 2023, McCracken received the Winsor McCay Award at the Annie Awards ceremony for his "unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation". The Hollywood Reporter also named him one of the most powerful people in kids entertainment, alongside Lauren Faust. In February 2024, Deadline announced that the couple was developing a screenplay based on the children's picture book The Circus Ship for Trustbridge Entertainment.

McCracken married animator Lauren Faust on March 13, 2004. Faust took maternity leave in mid-2016 to take care of their newborn daughter, Quinn.

• Year — Title — Director — Story — Writer — Producer — Creator — Storyboard artist — Other roles — Notes • 1995–1997 — What a Cartoon! — Art director • 1996–2003 — Dexter's Laboratory — Art director and model designer • 1998–2005 — The Powerpuff Girls — Executive — Recording director — Director (1998–2002; 2008) • 2004–2009 — Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends — Executive — Developer, art director, character designer, and story editor • 2008 — Uncle Grandpa — Executive — Executive producer (Episode: "Pilot") • 2009 — The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! — Executive — Character designer and story editor • Chowder — Storyboard artist (Episode: "The Birthday Suits") • Regular Show — Executive — Executive producer (Episode: "Pilot") • 2013–2016 — Wander Over Yonder — Executive — Character designer and additional voices — Storyboard artist (2013) and director (2013) • 2021–2022 — Kid Cosmic — Executive — Character designer Other roles • Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1993–1995 — 2 Stupid Dogs — Art director • 1995 — Space Ghost Coast to Coast — Himself (Episode: "1st Annual World Premiere Toon-In") • 1995–1996 — Dumb and Dumber — Character designer • 2007 — Diggs Tailwagger: Galactic Rover — Executive creative consultant • Enter Mode 5 • 2020 — Ollie & Scoops — Opening Narrator

Craig McCracken is recorded with the occupation television director. Recorded as screenwriter, cartoonist, animator and television producer.