Butch Hartman

Elmer Earl Butch Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, illustrator, writer, producer, director, and voice actor. He is best known for creating the animated television shows The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Bunsen Is a Beast for Nickelodeon. He founded the company Billionfold Inc. in 2003 to produce the shows. Hartman executive produced all 4 of his Nickelodeon shows for their entire runs. His work has been nominated for multiple Daytime/Primetime Emmys, Annie Awards and won several BMI Film & TV Awards.

In February 2018, Hartman announced his departure from Nickelodeon after almost 20 years; this resulted in the end of Bunsen Is a Beast production after one season.

In 2021, he returned to the studio to produce The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder, a live-action Fairly OddParents sequel which premiered on Paramount+ the following year and aired for one season. In 2023, his first non-secular animated program, The Garden, premiered on the Christian streaming service Pure Flix.

Early life Hartman was born in Highland Park, Michigan to Linda and Elmer Hartman III, a doctor. He received the nickname Butch as a young boy and continued to use it as an adult. Hartman spent his childhood in Roseville, Michigan, and his teenage years in New Baltimore, Michigan. He graduated from Anchor Bay High School in New Baltimore in 1983 He graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a young student, he appeared on The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, winning nearly $3,000.

Career Early career While attending CalArts, Hartman interned as an in-between animator on the Don Bluth film An American Tail. Before graduating, he was a contestant on the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour for three episodes, and shortly after graduating, he was hired as a character designer and storyboard artist for the 1986–1987 My Little Pony. As he had no previous experience with storyboards, he was soon fired. Afterwards, he found work with Ruby-Spears, where he worked on It's Punky Brewster and Dink, the Little Dinosaur. He was also a member of the video reference crew for the Disney film Pocahontas.

In the early 1990s, he was hired as an artist in the model department at Hanna-Barbera and was eventually contacted by studio president Fred Seibert to create the shorts Pfish and Chip and Gramps for his animated incubator series What a Cartoon!. Eventually, he became a writer, director and storyboard artist for several early Cartoon Network shows, including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel. After his contract with Hanna-Barbera expired, he went to work with Seibert at his newfound Frederator studio, on his successor incubator series, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, for Nickelodeon.

During his time working at Hanna-Barbera, he became acquainted with future Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The two would later make the short Zoomates together for Oh Yeah! Cartoons. The character Dr. Elmer Hartman in Family Guy was named after Hartman. He also voiced various characters in the show's first season.

Working at Nickelodeon

His biggest success came in December 1997, when he created The Fairly OddParents. The series originally started as shorts on the anthology show Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Eventually, Nickelodeon decided to pick the shorts up as a full series. Premiering in 2001, the adapted series became a huge hit, second only in the ratings to SpongeBob SquarePants (and it briefly even passed SpongeBobs ratings). The Fairly OddParents ended production in 2016 with its final episode aired a year later afterward and is Nickelodeon's second-longest-running animated show behind SpongeBob.

Due to the success of The Fairly OddParents, Hartman was asked to create another show for Nickelodeon; Hartman says the President of Nickelodeon asked him if he had an idea, and before he could say the title, he was given the green light. The show would later become Danny Phantom. Hartman founded his own production company, Billionfold Inc., to produce the show in 2003, which he also used to produce his other projects. Danny Phantom ended production in early 2007 and amassed a cult following since its original run.

Around 2008–2009, Hartman began production of his third show for Nickelodeon, T.U.F.F. Puppy, which premiered in 2010 alongside the Jimmy Neutron spin-off Planet Sheen. The show ended five years later on Nickelodeon's spinoff network, Nicktoons.

His final show, Bunsen Is a Beast, aired on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons from 2017 to 2018. On February 8, 2018, Hartman announced on his Twitter and YouTube accounts that he had left Nickelodeon as of February 2 after a 20-year run.

In October 2017, Hartman launched the podcast Speech Bubble, on which he talks about pop culture. Several voice actors have appeared on the podcast, including Rob Paulsen, Tara Strong, Jerry Trainor, Grey Griffin, and Vic Mignogna. After initially posting excerpts on his primary YouTube channel, the podcast videos were later moved to their dedicated YouTube channel, now including full episodes.

In June 2018, Hartman started a Kickstarter campaign for OAXIS Entertainment, a "family-friendly" streaming service. A number of online personalities since alleged that OAXIS was planned to be a Christian-themed network. Hartman, however, asserted that, while faith would continue to be a part of his personal life, "OAXIS Entertainment is not faith-based". As of 2026, Hartman has yet to give any updates on OAXIS.

On June 22, 2019, Hartman released the animated web series HobbyKids Adventures. This series, produced by PocketWatch Inc., was created for the YouTube channel HobbyKidsTV. On 13 July, Hartman released a book, Mad Hustle, which details the ins and outs of pitching and selling a show in Hollywood.

In 2019, Hartman created the Christian animated web series The Garden, which he co-produced with his wife Julieann. Hartman planned at least two seasons of the series and to launch a subscription-based app for The Garden in late 2022. Hartman's further plans for the property include creating a VBS curriculum for churches and illustrating a children's Bible published by Thomas Nelson, titled The Garden Children's Bible, which stars the characters from The Garden and was scheduled to release in 2023.

In February 2021, Hartman was accused of plagiarism when he published his commissioned artwork of Attack on Titan character Mikasa Ackerman, in which similarities were noted to a 2018 artwork of a Japanese artist.

Hartman was credited as an executive producer on The Fairly OddParents revival series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder and The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish.

Personal life As of 2025, Hartman lives in Bell Canyon, California, with his wife, Julieann, and daughters, Carly and Sophia Hartman. He also has three younger brothers. Hartman is an openly devout born-again Christian and young-Earth creationist, converting in 2000 after hearing a sermon by Frederick K. C. Price.

In 2005, Hartman, along with his wife, co-founded Hartman House, a non-profit organization which supports those in developing nations, as well as poverty-stricken areas in the United States. By 2017, Hartman House had built two homes for families in Guatemala, fed nearly 7,200 families with Thanksgiving meals in the U.S., and funded aid projects for orphanages in Uganda and Haiti. At Hartman House events, Hartman usually draws and autographs items related to his work for children.

Filmography + Key Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film Year Title Role Notes 1986 An American Tail In between artist 1992 California Hot Wax Eddie Credited as "Shiloh Pettibone" 1994 Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights Character designer 1995 Pocahontas Video reference cast 1997 Annabelle's Wish Storyboard artistDirect-to-video1998 Adventures in Odyssey: Baby Daze Storyboard artist Adventures in Odyssey: A Stranger Among Us 2006 Doogal Writer and Voice Director (later rewritten without his knowledge, only about 3% of his script remained) 2011 A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! Maitre'd Writer and executive producer 2012 A Fairly Odd Christmas Christmas Caroler, GingerFred, GingerEd, GingerNed and GingerJed 2014 A Fairly Odd Summer Crazy Guy2025 A Garden Cartoon Movie: The Greatest Thing Ever! Creator/director/executive producer/story editor/writer The Christmas King! A Garden Cartoon MovieDelivery Man / Mr. Toothacher / Cuckoo Charlie / Various AnimalsCreator/director/executive producer/story editor/writer/voice actor

Television Year Title Role Notes 1984 Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour Contestant 1985 Body Language Contestant1985–1986 It's Punky Brewster Models 1987 Growing Pains Robert Jordan Episode: "Michaelgate"1988 Just the Ten of Us Rod Grossman Episode: "Close Encounters" Police Academy Models 1988–1989 Days of Our Lives Henry Jake 7 episodes 1989 Dink, the Little Dinosaur Storyboard artist 1990 Piggsburg Pigs! Key model designer 1990–1991 Generations Sean Masters 16 episodes 1991–1993 Tom & Jerry Kids Character designer 1993 Droopy, Master Detective Designer 1995 What a Cartoon! Creator: "Pfish & Chip", & "Gramps"; writer/director "Hillbilly Blue" 1996–1999 Jumanji Storyboard artist: 3 episodes 1996–1997 Dexter's Laboratory Storyboard artist/background designer/layout artist 1996–1998The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper Storyboard artist 1996 Timon & Pumbaa Storyboard artist: "Beast of Eden", 1 episode, credited as Elmer Hartman 1997–1999 Johnny Bravo Storyboard artist/writer: story/director 1997 Cow & Chicken Models/storyboard artist 1997 I Am Weasel Models/storyboard artist 1997 101 Dalmatians: The Series Character/storyboard design 1997 The Weird Al Show Pizza delivery guy Episode: "Bad Influence" 1998–2002 Oh Yeah! Cartoons Creator: "The Fairly OddParents" and "Dan Danger"; director/producer: "Terry and Chris"; director/storyboard artist: "Zoomates" 1999–2002 Family Guy Jonathan Weed (pilot pitch only) / Additional voices 8 episodes 1999 The New Woody Woodpecker Show Storyboard artist: "Temper, Temper", 1 episode 2001–2017 The Fairly OddParents Dr. Rip Studwell / Additional voices Creator/story/writer/director/storyboard artist/voice actor/theme music composer/executive producer 2002 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius Writer: "See Jimmy Run" 2004–2007 Danny Phantom Football Announcer 1(episode: "What You Want") Creator/story/writer/storyboard artist/voice actor/director/theme music composer/executive producer 2010–2015 T.U.F.F. Puppy Agent Weaselman / Agent Rodentski / Escape Goat / TV Voice Creator/story/music composer/voice actor/executive producer/writer/storyboard artist/director 2010, 2013 Big Time Rush Himself Episode: Guest animator on "Big Time Christmas""Big Time Cartoon" 2017–2018 Bunsen Is a Beast Fido / Beast Ball / Pete / Memory Pete / Kitten Creator/writer/storyboard artist/executive producer/theme music composer 2022 The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder Executive producer 2024 The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish Executive producer

Internet Year Title Role Notes 2011 Dynamice! Creator. Animated pilot produced by Cartoon Network Studios and pitched for Cartoon Network. Butch Hartman released the pilot on his official YouTube channel on August 31, 2016. 2012 Booger Brothers! Creator. Animated short produced by YouToon Studios for his YouTube channel. 2014 Zack 2.0 Creator/writer/director/executive producer. Live action miniseries. 2015 Booger Brothers Creator. Animated pilot and remake of the 2012 short of the same name. Released on The Noog Network. 2016 Jet Packwell Creator. Animated pilot. 2016 Out There! Creator/writer/director/executive producer. Live action series. 2017 The Fairly Odd Phantom Internet short that reunites characters from all Butch Hartman shows created for Nickelodeon 2017 Dirty Rotten Space Monsters Creator. Animated pilot. 2017 I Think My Dad's a Superhero Newcaster Writer/actor. Live action short film. 2018 Elf Police Creator. Animated pilot. 2019 Family Fusion Creator. Animated pilot. 2019 ImagiNathan Creator. Animated pilot. 2019 Bug Girl Creator. Animated pilot. 2019 Dino High Creator. Animated pilot. 2019–2020 HobbyKids Adventures SlobbySnake (episode: "The Drawing Board") Creator/executive producer/director/writer/designs/voice actor 2019, 2023–present The Garden Mr. Toothacher / Cuckoo Charlie / Employee #101 / Various Animals Creator/story/writer/storyboard artist/director/executive producer/story editor/voice actor 2019 Lincoln High Director/executive producer. Live action pilot. 2021 Uncle Duck Creator. Animated pilot.2024The Big Blue BookOven MittExecutive producer/director/writer/lyrics by/background designer/set designer

Written works Year Title Publisher ISBN Notes 2017 Butch Hartman: Sketchbook 1: Stuff I've drawn or am drawn to. CreateSpace Author and illustrator 3 O'Clock Club Vol. 1: School's Out... of Control! ROAR Comics Co-author with Jordan B. Gorfinkel 2018 Vision: Possible! CreateSpace Co-author with Julieann Hartman 2020 Hannah and the Beanstalk: A True Story of Faith Harrison House Publishers Illustrator Mad Hustle: How to pitch & sell shows in Hollywood CreateSpace Author 2023 The Garden Children's Bible Thomas Nelson Illustrator

Awards and nominations