Genndy Tartakovsky, a renowned animation director and producer, was born in Moscow, USSR, and later relocated to Chicago, Illinois, with his family after his father defected to the United States when Genndy was just 7 years old.
Growing up, Genndy's fascination with comic books and animation led him to study animation at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Los Angeles. During his time at CalArts, he produced two student films, one of which served as the basis for his iconic series, Dexter's Laboratory, which premiered in 1996.
The character of Dee-Dee, Dexter's nemesis, was inspired by Genndy's older brother Alex, who would often thwart his plans, much like Dee-Dee does to Dexter. Genndy's first long-form directing work was for the TV movie Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip, released in 1999.
In addition to his work on Dexter's Laboratory, Genndy collaborated with fellow animator Craig McCracken on The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002). His most celebrated work, however, is the epic animated series Samurai Jack, which premiered in 2001 and follows the journey of a time-traveling samurai in a battle between good and evil.
Genndy's work on Samurai Jack was interrupted by his involvement in the production of Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003),a direct-to-video story tie-in to the beginning of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). He later directed animation for the Adult Swim pilot Korgoth of Barbaria (2006).
For over a decade, plans for a possible movie conclusion to Samurai Jack and directing a sequel to The Dark Crystal (1982) were put on hold. During this time, Genndy created storyboards for the action-packed opening of Iron Man 2 (2010).
Genndy went on to produce the dynamic TV series Sym-Bionic Titan (2010) before directing his first feature film, Hotel Transylvania (2012),which involved taking over a tumultuous production and incorporating 2D techniques into 3D animation.
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) marked the first film for which Genndy had complete creative control over the entire production, although it still maintained the style developed during the first film. In 2017, Genndy returned to direct a darker season of Samurai Jack to conclude the story on Adult Swim.
Currently, Genndy is directing Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018),the latest installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise.
