Dorothea Gillim (born July 18, 1964) is an American television producer. She is the creator of the animated series ''

WordGirl ''WordGirl'' is an American animated superhero children's television series produced by the Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for PBS Kids. The series began as a series of shorts entitled ''The Amazing Colossal Adventures of ...

'' and ''

Hey Monie! ''Hey Monie!'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Soup2Nuts. It features heavily improvised dialogue by the Second City cast, similarly to Soup2Nuts animated sitcom ''Home Movies''. Its creator and executive producer was Dorothea Gil ...

'' and co-creator of ''

Molly of Denali ''Molly of Denali'' (stylized in all caps) is an animated children's television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Kids and animated by Atomic Cartoons, created by Dorothea Gillim and Kathy Waugh for PBS Kids and CBC Kids.

''. Under GBH, Gillim has produced multiple animated series including ''Curious George'', ''

Pinkalicious & Peterrific ''Pinkalicious & Peterrific'' is an educational animated children's television series on PBS Kids, based upon the '' Pinkalicious'' book series by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann (Elizabeth co-written Pinkalicious and Purplelicious). The series is p ...

'', and '' Time Warp Trio''. In 2006, Gillim created ''WordGirl'' to respond to "the idea that children's television wasn't intelligent enough," feeling that most shows "underestimated their sense of humor and their intellect." In 2022, ''Collider'' praised the show for its "non-white, little girl superhero" protagonist, claiming it started a female superhero trend and the generation who grew up watching ''WordGirl'' later demanded new and diverse Marvel heroes such as Captain Marvel. Gillim's co-created animation series ''Molly of Denali'' has been celebrated as "the nation's first widely distributed children's program featuring an

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

as the lead character."

Career

After graduating from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

, Gillim was a fifth grade teacher in Philadelphia for three years before leaving to attend graduate school. She took interest in television writing following a media education course at

Harvard Graduate School of Education The Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) is the education school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1920, it was the first school to grant the EdD degree and the first ...

. Her 2003 adult animation series ''Hey Monie!'' was praised for its improvised comedic dialogue and for featuring Angela V. Shelton as Monie, the show's African-American female protagonist. In 2019, ''

Tuca & Bertie ''Tuca & Bertie'' is an American animated sitcom created by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt for Netflix. It began streaming on May 3, 2019. It stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, with a supporting cast including Steven Yeun, John Early (comedian), John ...

'' creator

Lisa Hanawalt Lisa Hanawalt is an American illustrator, writer, and cartoonist. She has published comic series, as well as three books of illustrations. She worked as the production designer and a producer of the Netflix animated series ''BoJack Horseman'' (2 ...

mentioned Gillim's show ''Hey Monie!'' while compiling a list of adult animated shows created by women. In 2022, regarding her co-creation of ''Molly of Denali'', Gillim described the show as "long overdue" and stated, "We knew that this story was not ours to tell, and so our intention was to partner with Alaska Natives in the development of the characters in the world." NPR commended the show for debunking

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

, addressing discrimination, and presenting an educational representation of Alaskan Native culture.

References

External links

* American television producers American women in television Television producers from Massachusetts 1964 births American animated film producers American animated film directors Women animated film directors Curious George WordGirl Daytime Emmy Award winners Peabody Award winners Swarthmore College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Living people Mass media people from Cambridge, Massachusetts Universal Animation Studios people {{US-tv-producer-stub

Career

See also

References

External links