Who created Family Guy?

The American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is the creator and star of the American animated sitcom Family Guy.

In addition to co-creating the television show American Dad! (since 2005) and The Cleveland Show (2009–2013), he is best known for being the creator and star of the shows Family Guy (since 1999) and The Orville (2017–2022). He has also co-written, co-produced, and directed A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), Ted (2012), and its follow-up Ted 2 (2015).

Seth MacFarlane’s early life and education

Growing up, MacFarlane lived in Kent, Connecticut. His parents, Ann Perry (née Sager; 1947–2010) and Ronald Milton MacFarlane (b. 1946), were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rachael, his younger sister, also works as a voice actress.

MacFarlane's interest in illustration began when he was two years old, and he started sketching cartoon figures like Woody Woodpecker and Fred Flintstone. When he was five years old, he understood he wanted to work in animation, so his parents got him a book on it, and he began creating flipbook.

He started writing a weekly comic strip, Walter Crouton, for the local newspaper, The Kent Good Times Dispatch, when he was nine. He was paid $5 per week for this work. In an interview conducted in October 2011, MacFarlane stated that he was "weirdly fascinated by the Communion ceremony" as a child.

In 1991, MacFarlane graduated from Kent School with a high school diploma. His parents gave him an 8 mm camera while he was there, and he kept experimenting with animation. Following his high school graduation, MacFarlane majored in animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). He had planned to work for Disney as a student, but after watching The Simpsons, he decided against it.

He did stand-up comedy while he was in RISD. He also appeared in several student films, where he met Mike Henry, who would later appear on Family Guy, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate. Family Guy was inspired by his thesis film, The Life of Larry, which he filmed in his senior year. He was eventually hired by Hanna-Barbera, an animation firm after a professor submitted his film there. In 1995, he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Read More: cast of family guy

Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy success

Family Guy debuted on January 31, 1999. MacFarlane drew inspiration for Family Guy from Hanna-Barbera and Jackie Gleason, as well as from All in the Family and The Simpsons.

Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Glenn Quagmire, Tom Tucker, his son Jake Tucker, and other significant male characters on Family Guy are all voiced by MacFarlane. He also wrote three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow," "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1," and "North by North Quahog."

Family Guy became a $1 billion franchise thanks to strong DVD sales and devoted fans. After almost two and a half years of negotiations, MacFarlane and Fox came to an agreement on May 4, 2008, wherein MacFarlane agreed to pay $100 million to retain American Dad! and Family Guy until 2012. He became the most-paid television writer in the world as a consequence.

Family Guy has been canceled twice, but Fox has changed its mind due to overwhelming fan support and DVD sales. MacFarlane added, "One of the positive aspects of Family Guy constantly being pulled off [the air] is that we were always having to re-staff writers." These cancellations had an impact on the lineup of writers.