Butch Hartman

Michigan native Butch Hartman remembers wanting to create cartoons as far back as kindergarten. “I drew a picture of my teacher and she kept raving about it. I realized art was a good way to get attention and I was hooked,” said Hartman. Until recently, he was at Nickelodeon for 18 years, spearheading four successful series: The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen is a Beast.

Hartman pursued drawing through high school and then attended Cal Arts to study animation. Hartman decided on animation as a career after working freelance as an assistant animator for Don Bluth on An American Tail during his junior year at Cal Arts. Upon graduation, he worked as a character designer and storyboard artist for Marvel Productions, and later, Ruby Spears Productions.

Soon after, he earned a job working on Family Dog for Amblin Television before joining Hanna-Barbera in 1991. Hartman worked at Hanna-Barbera for six years doing storyboard work, directing cartoons and creating his own shorts for What A Cartoon! He also wrote and directed episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow & Chicken and Johnny Bravo before churning out three shorts – Pfish & Chip, Hillbilly Blue and Gramps.

Following his stint at Hanna-Barbera, Hartman began working on Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah, Cartoons! where he created a new short, The Fairly OddParents. The short was then developed into an animated series and became a mega-hit for the network when it launched in 2001. The Fairly OddParents ranks as Nickelodeon’s third longest running animated series, behind SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. It has been running steadily on Nickelodeon for the last 18 years.

In 2011, Nickelodeon commemorated the 10th anniversary of the animated series with the live-action/CG animated TV movie A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! The series came to life once again in the original TV movie, A Fairly Odd Christmas in 2012 and A Fairly OddSummer in 2014.

The Fairly OddParents was nominated for an Emmy in 2002 in the Outstanding Music and Lyrics category for an original song co-written by Hartman entitled, “I Wish Every Day Could Be Christmas.” The series garnered two additional Emmy nominations the following year in the same category for original songs co-written by the creator entitled, “What Girls Love” and “It’s Great to be a Guy,” and in 2004 for “Wish Come True!.” The Fairly OddParents received two BMI Cable Awards for Outstanding Theme Song and Underscore in 2002 and 2003. In 2010, The Fairly OddParents earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing. The successful animated series has also earned several Annie Award nominations.

In 2004, Hartman created Danny Phantom, an animated comedy series featuring a teenage boy endowed with ghost-like superpowers, and in 2010, he created the Nickelodeon animated series, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which follows a gung-ho, dim- witted dog named Dudley Puppy who is thrust into the role of “hero” when recruited by the super secret crime fighting organization T.U.F.F. (Turbo Undercover Fighting Force).

In 2015 Nickelodeon announced the 20-episode greenlight for Hartman’s fourth series with the network, Bunsen is a Beast, following the adventures of Bunsen, the first beast ever to attend a human grade school, and his human best friend Mikey.

Hartman also launched his own online kid’s destination called “THE NOOG NETWORK.” An interactive app featuring all-original cartoons, live-action shows and games for kids. Some of which were created by Hartman himself.

In August, 2016, Butch got into the world of graphic novels when his original comic book Three O’Clock Club (co-created with Jordan Gorfinkel) was released by Lion Forge Comics. It follows the adventures of a group of teenagers who have to defend their school against a mystic portal that opens in their school every day at 3:00 and spews out the freakish and sometimes dangerous embodiment of whatever it is the kids are anxious about that day.

Butch has also become a YouTube creator. His channel: “Butch Hartman” currently has 790,000 subs and is growing steadily. It’s a great arena that allows him to create whatever he wants for his ever-expanding audience. In June, 2019 Butch’s newest show, Hobby Kids Adventures, launched on You Tube and each episode easily reaches over 1M views in just a few days.

In 2005, Hartman and his wife, Julieann, founded Hartman House, a non-profit foundation whose mission is to help underprivileged children all around the world. Since its formation, Hartman House has helped support numerous global child-based charities, including The Angola Girls Project, a shelter for adolescent girls in Angola, Africa. Hartman House has also spearheaded aid projects in orphanages in Uganda, Africa and Haiti. In Los Angeles, Hartman House has funded school scholarships for inner city children and sponsored a complete home renovation for a family in need. More information regarding the non-profit foundation is available at www.hartmanhouse.org.

Butch and his wife Julieann have spent many years mentoring and consulting with business owners, entrepreneurs and couples to bring out their vision and create successful business plans and strategies. The year 2018 was the launch point for the ‘VISION POSSIBLE’ brand which includes a book, conferences all over the U.S. mentoring and consulting packages and a radio show on AM870 The Answer in Los Angeles. Hartman lives in Bell Canyon, Calif. with his wife, two daughters, one dog and one mother-in-law. And she has an attitude. In a good way.