Gábor Csupó
Encyclopedia
Gábor Csupó is a Hungarian
-born animator, writer, film director and music producer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo
, which has produced shows like Rugrats
, Duckman
, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
.
animation studios, Csupó emigrated to the West in 1975. While working in Sweden
he met Arlene Klasky
, an American-born animator
. The two subsequently started their own company, Klasky Csupo, which produced many popular animated television shows
.
Klasky Csupo animated the short cartoons about the Simpson family which appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show
(1987-1989) and continued this role on the half-hour adaptation of the characters, entitled The Simpsons
, for its first three seasons (1989-1992). Csupó was credited as "animation executive producer" and "supervising animation director". Klasky Csupo animator and colorist Gyorgyi Peluce conceived the idea of the Simpsons characters having yellow skin, and Marge Simpson
having blue hair, opting for something which "didn't look like anything that had come before." Csupó liked the idea, although many of the show's producers at production company Gracie Films
disapproved. He noted "everybody kept saying, 'You can't have people with yellow skin', and I said, 'Why not?'" Csupo successfully persuaded the producers and the show's creator Matt Groening
to approve of the colors. Groening liked the idea, feeling that attempts to recreate human skintone on cartoons always appeared "freakish". Groening said of Csupó and Klasky, "What I love about them is their stuff looks like no one else." The character design of The Simpsons character Dr. Nick Riviera
is based somewhat on Csupó. The show's animators mistakenly believed the character's voice actor, Hank Azaria
, was impersonating Csupó, but Azaria said the voice was actually a "bad" imitation of Ricky Ricardo
from I Love Lucy
.
In 1992, Gracie Films switched domestic production of The Simpsons to Film Roman
. Csupó was "asked [by Gracie Films] if they could bring in their own producer [to oversee the animation production]," but declined, stating "they wanted to tell me how to run my business." Sharon Bernstein of The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Gracie executives had been unhappy with the producer Csupo had assigned to The Simpsons and said the company also hoped to obtain better wages and working conditions for animators at Film Roman." Of the 110 people he employed to animate The Simpsons, Csupó made 75 redundant. Klasky Csupo went on to produce other shows, including Rugrats
, Duckman
, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
.
His record label, Tone Casualties, founded in 1994, released several industrial, noise, ambient and experimental music releases, including discs by Holger Czukay
, Drew Neumann
, Paul Schütze
, Kuroi Mori, Borut Kržišnik, Wahorn, Controlled Bleeding and his own works.
He also directed two live action
films outside of Klasky Csupo: Bridge to Terabithia
for Walt Disney Pictures
, and The Secret of Moonacre
for Warner Bros.
and Lionsgate
.
, and three of which are from his second wife, Bret Cain).
Csupó is a big fan of Frank Zappa
and credits Zappa with helping him learn the English language
. His collection of Zappa albums were the only items he took with him when he fled his native Hungary in the 1970s.
In early 2006, Csupó bought a house in Honolulu, Oahu
, Hawaii
.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-born animator, writer, film director and music producer. He is co-founder of the animation studio Klasky Csupo
Klasky Csupo
Klasky Csupo, Inc. is a multimedia entertainment production company located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, founded by artist/producer, Arlene Klasky and animator, Gábor Csupó.- History :...
, which has produced shows like Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
, Duckman
Duckman
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American animated sitcom that aired from 1994–1997, created by Everett Peck and developed by Peck. The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his Dark Horse comic...
, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
AAAHH!!! Real Monsters
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series about adolescent monsters in training, developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon...
.
Career
After four years at the PannóniaPannóniaFilm
Pannonia Film Studio is the largest animation studio in Hungary, based in the capital of Budapest.-History:...
animation studios, Csupó emigrated to the West in 1975. While working in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
he met Arlene Klasky
Arlene Klasky
Arlene Klasky is an animator, graphic designer, television producer and co-founder of Klasky-Csupo with Gábor Csupó. Arlene Klasky is one of the television industry’s leading advocates for quality animated programming that entertains children. In 1999, she was named one of the “Top 25 Women in...
, an American-born animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
. The two subsequently started their own company, Klasky Csupo, which produced many popular animated television shows
Animated cartoon
An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...
.
Klasky Csupo animated the short cartoons about the Simpson family which appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show
The Tracey Ullman Show was an American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts...
(1987-1989) and continued this role on the half-hour adaptation of the characters, entitled The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, for its first three seasons (1989-1992). Csupó was credited as "animation executive producer" and "supervising animation director". Klasky Csupo animator and colorist Gyorgyi Peluce conceived the idea of the Simpsons characters having yellow skin, and Marge Simpson
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
having blue hair, opting for something which "didn't look like anything that had come before." Csupó liked the idea, although many of the show's producers at production company Gracie Films
Gracie Films
Gracie Films is an American film and television production company, created by James L. Brooks in 1986. The company has produced many award-winning films and television series, including Broadcast News, Jerry Maguire, and most notably The Simpsons...
disapproved. He noted "everybody kept saying, 'You can't have people with yellow skin', and I said, 'Why not?'" Csupo successfully persuaded the producers and the show's creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
to approve of the colors. Groening liked the idea, feeling that attempts to recreate human skintone on cartoons always appeared "freakish". Groening said of Csupó and Klasky, "What I love about them is their stuff looks like no one else." The character design of The Simpsons character Dr. Nick Riviera
Dr. Nick Riviera
Dr. Nick Riviera, usually referred to as Dr. Nick, is a recurring fictional character on the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the episode "Bart Gets Hit by a Car". Riviera is an inept quack physician, and a satire of incompetent medical...
is based somewhat on Csupó. The show's animators mistakenly believed the character's voice actor, Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
, was impersonating Csupó, but Azaria said the voice was actually a "bad" imitation of Ricky Ricardo
Ricky Ricardo
Enrique Alberto Fernando Ricardo y de Acha, III, a.k.a. Ricky Ricardo is a main character in the television show I Love Lucy, played by Desi Arnaz...
from I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
.
In 1992, Gracie Films switched domestic production of The Simpsons to Film Roman
Film Roman
Film Roman is an animation studio founded by Phil Roman, best known for producing the animation for The Simpsons, King of the Hill for 20th Century Fox, as well as the Garfield and Peanuts animated TV specials....
. Csupó was "asked [by Gracie Films] if they could bring in their own producer [to oversee the animation production]," but declined, stating "they wanted to tell me how to run my business." Sharon Bernstein of The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Gracie executives had been unhappy with the producer Csupo had assigned to The Simpsons and said the company also hoped to obtain better wages and working conditions for animators at Film Roman." Of the 110 people he employed to animate The Simpsons, Csupó made 75 redundant. Klasky Csupo went on to produce other shows, including Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
, Duckman
Duckman
Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man is an American animated sitcom that aired from 1994–1997, created by Everett Peck and developed by Peck. The sitcom is based on characters created by Peck in his Dark Horse comic...
, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
AAAHH!!! Real Monsters
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters is an American animated television series about adolescent monsters in training, developed by Klasky Csupo for Nickelodeon...
.
His record label, Tone Casualties, founded in 1994, released several industrial, noise, ambient and experimental music releases, including discs by Holger Czukay
Holger Czukay
Holger Czukay is a German musician, probably best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described by critic Jason Ankeny as "successfully bridg[ing] the gap between pop and the avant-garde," Czukay is also notable for creating early important examples of ambient music, for exploring...
, Drew Neumann
Drew Neumann
Drew Neumann is a musician and composer of film and television scores. He created the soundtrack of the science fiction animated series Æon Flux, and has composed music for many other shows includingCrazy Cars,Fanboy & Chum Chum,The Wild Thornberrys, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and...
, Paul Schütze
Paul Schütze
Paul Schütze is an Australian artist resident in London. Over thirty years his work has spanned composition, performance, installation, video, printmaking and photography....
, Kuroi Mori, Borut Kržišnik, Wahorn, Controlled Bleeding and his own works.
He also directed two live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
films outside of Klasky Csupo: Bridge to Terabithia
Bridge to Terabithia (2007 film)
Bridge to Terabithia is a 2007 fantasy drama film directed by Gábor Csupó and adapted for film by David L. Paterson and Jeff Stockwell. The film is based on the Katherine Paterson novel of the same name, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in the US. The film stars Josh Hutcherson, AnnaSophia...
for Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, and The Secret of Moonacre
The Secret of Moonacre
The Secret of Moonacre is a film adaptation of the novel The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. The film, which started filming on 1 October 2007, was released in the UK February 2009 by Warner Bros. The film will be distributed to select theatres in the United States on August 12, 2010...
for Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation is a North American entertainment company. The company was formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1997, and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California...
.
Personal life
He now has five children (two of which are from his business partner and ex-wife, Arlene KlaskyArlene Klasky
Arlene Klasky is an animator, graphic designer, television producer and co-founder of Klasky-Csupo with Gábor Csupó. Arlene Klasky is one of the television industry’s leading advocates for quality animated programming that entertains children. In 1999, she was named one of the “Top 25 Women in...
, and three of which are from his second wife, Bret Cain).
Csupó is a big fan of Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and credits Zappa with helping him learn the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. His collection of Zappa albums were the only items he took with him when he fled his native Hungary in the 1970s.
In early 2006, Csupó bought a house in Honolulu, Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.