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2006 / 200 Ibs ago MATT GROENING Matt Groening was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 15, the third of five children. His father, Homer, was a cartoonist and filmmaker. From an early age, Matt created his own cartoons, amusing his friends and annoying his teachers. Groening attended Evergreen State College in Washington State, where he studied philosophy and continued his interest in cartoons, comics and music. After his graduation in 1977, Groening headed to Los Angeles where he struggled in immobilizing but irksome poverty. Increasingly frustrated by the traffic, smog, and his landlords, Matt began to vent his angst to his friends by sending them cartoons starring a bug-eyed rabbit named Binky. Groening soon began to publish and sell these cartoons at the record shop where he worked. Their popularity encouraged Matt to syndicate, and in April 1980, Life In Hell® formally debuted in the Los Angeles Reader. It was there that he met his future wife, Deborah Caplan, and together they formed Acme Features Syndicate, which today circulates Life in Hell® to more than 250 newspapers around the world in a half-dozen languages. Life in Hell® has also been collected in a best- selling series of books with over two million copies in print, including Love is Hell, Work is Hell, School is Hell, Childhood is Hell, Akbar & Jeff's Guide to Life, Greetings From Hell, The Big Book of Hell, With Love From Hell, How to Go to Hell, The Road to Hell, Binky’s Guide to Love, and Love is Still Hell. In 1987 James L. Brooks approached Matt about creating animated shorts to fit between sketches of “The Tracey Ullman Show.” Matt agreed, but instead of using the Life in Hell® characters, he created an entirely new cast: The Simpsons, which bear the names of his family members, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie (Bart is an anagram for brat). The Simpsons were soon spun off into a half-hour animated series which first aired on December 17, 1989 with a Christmas special, followed by the series premiere on January 14, 1990. It has since gone on to become the longest running prime-time animated show in television history. An international hit, the series has also spawned a licensing and merchandising empire. Books based on The Simpsons include The Simpsons Xmas Book, Greetings From The Simpsons, The Simpsons Rainy Day Fun Book, The Simpsons Uncensored Family Album, Maggie Simpson’s Alphabet Book, Maggie Simpson’s Counting Book, Maggie Simpson’s Book of Colors ¢ Shapes, Maggie Simpson’s Book of Animals, The Simpsons Fun in the Sun Book, Making Faces With The Simpsons, The Ultra-Jumbo Rain- Or-Shine Fun Book, Cartooning With The Simpsons, Bart’s Guide To Life and The Simpsons: A Complete Guide To Our Favorite Family, a campanion book to the television series. Groening is also creator and publisher of Bongo Comics and Zongo Comics. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017540