Butch Hartman

Animator Butch Hartman received the nickname Butch as a kid, and continued to use this name professionally when he started creating programming for children. While attending the California Institute of the Arts, Hartman got a chance to work as an intern for famed animator Don Bluth on the movie "An American Tail," and after he graduated Hartman was hired to work on the kid's cartoon "My Little Pony." For a few years, Hartman worked for Hanna-Barbera on several of their animated shows, but he got a chance to do his own show for Nickelodeon, "The Fairly OddParents," which premiered in 1997. The quirky series followed a 10-year-old kid whose humdrum life is made a lot more interesting when he meets his pair of wish-granting fairy godparents. The show became a big hit, second only to "SpongeBob SquarePants," and Hartman soon followed this with another successful animated show for Nickelodeon, "Danny Phantom," which premiered in 2004. Hartman has also done several voices on his pal Seth MacFarlane's show "Family Guy."