Matt Stone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Stone

Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American actor, animator, screenwriter, television director, producer, comedian, and recording artist. He is best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Trey Parker, as well as co-writing the 2011 multi-Tony Award winning musical The Book of Mormon.

Stone and Parker launched their largely collaborative careers in 1989 when they met at the University of Colorado. In 1992 they made a holiday short titled Jesus vs. Frosty which would eventually become South Park. Their first success came from Alferd Packer: The Musical, subsequently distributed as Cannibal! The Musical. From there he made another short title Jesus vs. Santa, leading him and college friend Parker to create South Park, which has been airing for over fifteen years. He has four Emmy Awards for his role in South Park, winning for both "Outstanding Programming More Than One Hour" and "Outstanding Programming Less Than One Hour".

Contents [show] Early life Stone was born in Houston, Texas, to economics professor/textbook author Gerald Whitney Stone, Jr. (1941-2010) and Sheila Lois Belasco. The South Park characters Gerald and Sheila Broflovski were named after them. Gerald was of Irish descent. Sheila is Jewish.[dead link][3] Stone and his younger sister Rachel were raised in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, where both attended Heritage High School. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and was their first student to double major in film and mathematics.[4]

Career

Stone (right) with Trey Parker, January 20, 2007 South Park In 1992, Stone and Parker created the short film Jesus vs. Frosty.[5] It included four boys, two resembling Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski, one called Kenny who looked like Cartman, and a fourth unnamed boy who looked like Kenny. Both Jesus and Cannibal! The Musical were made while they were students at the University of Colorado film school, studying under both Stan Brakhage and Jerry Aronson. After the duo released Cannibal! The Musical, they were asked to make another animated short.[6][7] They came down to two ideas: one a sequel to Jesus vs. Frosty, and one about a character that would later be recurring in South Park, Mr. Hankey.[8] They chose to write about the four boys, and their decision ultimately opened the door for them to present a show (South Park) to Comedy Central.[9] Stone and Parker produced 13 episodes for season 1.[10] The video landed in the hands of Comedy Central's Doug Herzog. "It literally was the funniest thing I'd ever seen," he said in a 2006 interview. "We said, 'Develop a show.' So they went off and developed the show."[11] Stone and Parker produced 13 episodes for season 1. South Park is currently still under contract to produce new episodes through 2016.[12]

In June 1999, Stone and Parker made South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which gave the series prominence.[13] The film's music was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan.

As of 2007, Parker is credited with directing and writing the vast majority of South Park episodes, and voicing most of the regular and guest characters, leading fans to question Stone's involvement in the creative process. According to a 2007 Maclean's article by Jaime J. Weinman, however, Stone handles the business side of the series as its production coordinator, responsible for assembling its various elements, and making sure they arrive on time and under budget. Stone commented to IGN, "I am not a good director, I know that. I am not a very good actor either, and I know it, but it is good to know that." As Parker is "self-admittedly anti-social" and non-confrontational, Stone is the one who handles conflicts with the network over issues of censorship and contracts, grants interviews with the media in the wake of controversial episodes, and acts as a go-between between Parker and others when Parker says provocative things. Weinman compared Parker and Stone's relationship to that of Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, in which the diplomatic Seinfeld would defuse tension created by more volatile David, and suggested that Parker would not be able to get away with saying offensive things without Stone.[14] On September 25, 2013, South Park's seventeenth season premiered.[15]

Voices on South Park Kyle Broflovski Kenny McCormick Gerald Broflovski Stuart McCormick Craig Tucker Butters Stotch Jimbo Kern Pip Pirrup (1997–2010) Skeeter Terrance Saddam Hussein Kevin Stoley Father Maxi Tweek Tweak Mr. Adler Jesus Other projects In September 1997, Stone and Parker released Orgazmo, a movie rated NC-17. In July 1998, they starred in (but did not write or direct) BASEketball, another feature film, while being renewed for a second season of South Park. In 2001, the duo announced they would do 39 shorts between the lengths of 2 and 5 minutes. Although originally thought to be South Park related, they decided they would do something different. The result was the shorts Princess.[16] The content was so extreme that it was cancelled after two shows aired. In 2001, they also created That's My Bush!, another television series, which was cancelled after one season. In 2004, they made a film, titled Team America: World Police.[17][18] The film was not considered a box-office success, grossing 51 million dollars in theaters, despite largely positive reviews.[19]

Stone claimed that he and Parker were on acid at the time of the 72nd Academy Awards in 2000, where they wore dresses popularized by Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow at previous awards shows.[20]

On September 28, 2007, Parker and Stone acquired the US rights to the Canadian-made Kenny vs. Spenny, which premiered November 14, 2007 on Comedy Central with ten old and new episodes.[21]

In April 2010, Stone and Parker received a "warning" for allegedly representing the Muslim prophet Muhammad in a bear costume: "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Dutch director Theo van Gogh for airing this show."[22] It was revealed in the next episode that the person in the bear costume was actually Santa Claus and not Muhammad; the "real" Muhammad was supposed to appear as well, but Comedy Central had him censored out against Stone and Parker's wishes.

On January 14, 2013, Stone and Parker announced that they would be starting a film production company called Important Studios. Inspired by the production work of Lucasfilm and DreamWorks, Stone and Parker considered founding the studio for approximately two years before committing. The initial financial assets of the studio are valued at $300 million, with the majority of the money originating from South Park, The Book of Mormon, while $60 million is from an investment from Joseph Ravitch of the Raine Group, giving him a 20 percent minority stock.[23]

On January 24, 2013, Stone and Parker announced that they would be producing a fishing show. The show will star Dean Ween and Les Claypool and that the show will "fuse sportfishing with music and comedy." The premise of the show is that Deaner and Claypool will bring celebrity guests out on the water for fishing trips. Other than mentioning it will be a "cable" show, there’s no word yet on what station the show to air on.[24]

Stone is also a member of the band DVDA with Trey Parker.[25]

Theater productions Parker and Stone collaborated with Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez on the religious comedy musical The Book of Mormon, which stars Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad as two young Mormon missionaries whose lives are juxtaposed with the story of Mormonism founder Joseph Smith.[26] It has been produced by Scott Rudin and Anne Garefino. It opened at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011, following previews from February 24, 2011.[27] The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards in 2011, including that of Best Direction of a Musical for Parker and co-director Casey Nicholaw.[28] As of March 2013, Stone and Parker are developing a movie version of the musical.[29]

Personal life In 2008, Stone married Angela Howard. Together they have two children.[2][30]

Regarding religion, Stone describes himself as "ethnically Jewish", on account of his mother's religion, but grew up agnostic, and has no other adherence to the religion.[3][31] He identifies himself as an atheist.[32][33]

Discography Baseketball (soundtrack) (1998) Orgazmo (soundtrack) (1998) Chef Aid: The South Park Album (1998) South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (soundtrack) (1999) Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics (1999) Team America: World Police (soundtrack) (2005) The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording (soundtrack) (2011)