Matt Groening

Matt Groening (born February 15, 1954) (name rhymes with "complaining", SAMPA ['grEniN]) is an American cartoon artist. He graduated with a degree from Evergreen State College[?].

Before his work in television, he created the syndicated cartoon Life in Hell[?], which is still carried in many weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, such as:

• School is Hell
• Love is Hell
• Work is Hell
• The Big Book of Hell one of the best books

His most notable works include animated TV shows The Simpsons and Futurama. The Bart Simpson character derives from the earlier comic strip.

He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and seems to have found names for some characters from major Portland street names such as Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby, and Terwilliger.

He named the main family Simpson characters after his own family (he was not feeling very creative that day).

• Lisa Groening - Lisa
• Margaret Groening - Marge
• Homer Groening - Homer
• Maggie Groening - Maggie

As for Matt himself, he decided it was a bit too obvious and therefore called him "Bart" (an anagram of "brat").

See also

http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=12392