Matt Braly
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Matthew Benjakarn Braly ( ; born November 8, 1988) is an American animator, storyboard artist, writer, and director. He is best known as the creator and executive producer of the
Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...
animated series ''
Amphibia Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic ...
''. He also worked as a director on ''
Gravity Falls ''Gravity Falls'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery television comedy, comedy animated television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter) and his twi ...
'' and ''
Big City Greens ''Big City Greens'' is an American animated sitcom created by the Houghton Brothers that premiered on Disney Channel on June 18, 2018. The series follows the Green family—siblings Cricket and Tilly, their father Bill, and their Gramma Alice—a ...
''.


Career

Braly was inspired to pursue a career in animation after a "career day" at high school, where a
Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...
animator drew an image of Lumiere from Disney's ''
Beauty and the Beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...
'' while talking about working on animation for a living. He started his career studying at the
California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...
; he graduated in 2010 with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...
. After graduating, he joined
DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...
, where he worked as a storyboard artist for ''
Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (also known as a turbo or a turbosupercharger) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake air, forcing more air into the ...
'' (2013). While working on ''Turbo'', Braly and several other DreamWorks Animation storyboard artists went to visit Alex Hirsch, who was working on a show titled ''
Gravity Falls ''Gravity Falls'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery television comedy, comedy animated television series created by Alex Hirsch for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series follows the adventures of Dipper Pines (Jason Ritter) and his twi ...
'' (2012–16) for
Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA; also shortened to Disney TVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is an American animation production company that serves as the television a ...
. Hirsch also went to CalArts and, while they never studied together, Braly liked his student films. During the visit, Hirsch pitched ''Gravity Falls'' to Braly. Fascinated by the concept and how Hirsch wanted it to be a serialized program, Braly did a test to work on the show, after which he was hired, serving as a storyboard artist and director for the series. Braly credited Hirsch as the one who "taught imso much about storytelling, about developing characters and developing a world", as well as the one who inspired him to create his own show. The series premiered on June 15, 2012, and ended on February 15, 2016. In 2016, Braly won an
Annie Award The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in American cinema and television. Origina ...
for directing the ''Gravity Falls'' episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery". Braly also served as an in-house key animator for the closing scene for the episode " Not What He Seems". After directing on ''
Big City Greens ''Big City Greens'' is an American animated sitcom created by the Houghton Brothers that premiered on Disney Channel on June 18, 2018. The series follows the Green family—siblings Cricket and Tilly, their father Bill, and their Gramma Alice—a ...
'', Braly developed a series titled ''
Amphibia Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods, but excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic ...
'' for
Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...
. The series centers on the adventures of a Thai-American girl named
Anne Boonchuy Anne Savisa Boonchuy ( ; Thai: แอนน์ สาวิสา บุญช่วย) is the main protagonist of the Disney Channel animated series ''Amphibia'', created by Matt Braly. Voiced by actress Brenda Song, the character debuted in ...
in the titular amphibian-populated world. The series was inspired by Braly's childhood trips to
Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
, where he felt like an outsider but ultimately ended up not wanting to leave. He also drew inspiration from video games such as ''
The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...
'' and ''
Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first entry in the ''Chrono'' series. The game's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dr ...
''. Braly, who is Thai-American himself, made the choice of making the lead character Thai-American due to a wish to creating a Thai character, as there were few Thai lead characters in television series when he was a kid. The series aired for three seasons consisting of 58 episodes from June 17, 2019, to May 14, 2022. He considers the series finale "The Hardest Thing" to be his favorite episode. After ''Amphibia'' ended production in May 2022, Braly left Disney Television Animation. In August 2023, he wrote a ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...
'' online comic strip as a part of the ''Sonic Fast Friends Forever'' campaign. Braly is currently working on multiple feature films, including a fantasy-adventure film for
Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...
he is set to direct and co-write with longtime collaborator
Rebecca Sugar Rebecca Rea Sugar (born July 9, 1987) is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and musician. She is best known for being the creator of the Cartoon Network series ''Steven Universe'', making her the first non-binary person to in ...
; the film will center on an ill boy who travels to a spiritual Thai world. Braly is also developing a graphic novel, which was announced in August 2024 as ''Family Force V''. Skybound Comet is set to publish the graphic novel in May 2025. Braly is also supervising development on a series of shorts exploring social issues. In November 2024, Braly responded to the reported shelving of an episode of ''
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur ''Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'' (or simply ''Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'') is an American animated superhero television series developed by Steve Loter, Jeffrey M. Howard, and Kate Kondell for Disney Channel. Based on '' Moon Girl A ...
'', focusing on a transgender character, by
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
, calling it "absolute cowardice" when content like the episode is needed more now than ever, and said it was a "total breakdown" of the process.


Personal life

Braly is of Thai descent. His mother, On Braly, provided the voice of Mrs. Boonchuy on ''Amphibia''. Braly and his wife,
software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...
Katherine Bedrosian, both attended Christian Brothers High School together. They married on April 21, 2018. On January 31, 2025, Braly became a father as he and Bedrosian welcomed their first child, a boy named Alex. As a child, Braly used to watch films such as ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
'' (1995) due to them being filmed in Thailand, as there was no Thai representation on television. He also used to draw characters from franchises like ''
Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...
'' and ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...
''. Braly is a fan of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise, and was inspired by the opening sequence in the first episode of the anime ''
Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 ep ...
'' for the climax of the ''Amphibia'' episode " True Colors". Similarly, he was inspired by several horror films for the episode "The Shut-In" due to being a horror fan. He is also a fan of the Disney series '' Gargoyles'' and the film ''
The Princess and the Frog ''The Princess and the Frog'' is a 2009 American Animation, animated musical film, musical Romance film, romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Inspired in part by the 2002 ...
''; cast members from both productions have appeared through ''Amphibia''. Both Braly and his wife are fans of ''
RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...
'';
RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...
himself had a recurring role in season 3 of ''Amphibia''.


Filmography


Films


Television


Nominations and awards


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Braly, Matt Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Actors of Thai descent American male actors of Asian descent American people of Thai descent American male voice actors Television producers from California Television writers from California Animators from California People from Sacramento, California California Institute of the Arts alumni American male television writers DreamWorks Animation people Disney Television Animation people Cartoon Network Studios people Sony Pictures Animation people Showrunners of animated series American storyboard artists 1988 births