Norton Virgien

Having already won a brace of Emmys for the Nickelodeon cartoon show, Norton Virgien made a little movie history in 1998 when "The Rugrats Movie," which he co-directed with Igor Kovalyov, became the first non-Disney animated feature to gross $100 million. Five years later, having co-produced "Rugrats in Paris" and another Nickelodeon spin-off, "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," Virgien teamed with John Eng for "Rugrats Go Wild," which remains the last entry in the series to date. Virgien started out as a production assistant on animation titan Richard Williams's 1977 feature, "Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure." He next worked as an animator on shows featuring such popular characters as Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, and the Pink Panther, and also contributed to the "Taarna" segment of Gerald Potterton's 1981 fantasy portmanteau, "Heavy Metal." Later the same year, he cut his teeth as a producer with the short "Faeries." Following a stint as a timing director on "The Ren & Stimpy Show," Virgien was hired as a storyboard artist on both "Rugrats" and "Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man." By the early 1990s, however, he was directing episodes of both programs, although he also had time to help animate such shorts as "Pen'n'Inc." and "Angry Cabaret." In 2009, he revisited a childhood favorite in "Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!" (which contained a vocal cameo by Jerry Lewis), since when, Virgien has returned to the small screen for such diverse shows as "Tutenstein," "Doc McStuffins," and "The Penguins of Madagascar."