Robert John Renzetti is an American animator and author. Renzetti is known for creating '' My Life as a Teenage Robot'' and the '' Oh Yeah! Cartoons'' series '' Mina and the Count'' for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, directing '' Dexter's Laboratory'', '' The Powerpuff Girls'', and '' Samurai Jack'' for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

and serving as the animation director of '' Sym-Bionic Titan''. He was also the supervising producer on 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 television series ''

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 ...

'', the co-author of its spin-off '' Journal 3'', and an executive producer on '' Big City Greens''. He most recently served as story editor and co-executive producer on '' Kid Cosmic'' for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and released his first original novel, ''The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things''.

Early life

Renzetti, born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and raised in

Addison, Illinois Addison is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. The population was 35,702 at the 2020 Census. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. History The village was incorporated in 1884, at which time it had a population of 400. T ...

, was an art history major at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. After graduating from Illinois, Renzetti attended the animation program at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

for one year, where he was a classmate of

Genndy Tartakovsky Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky (; born January 17, 1970) is a Soviet-born American animation, animator, screenwriter, film producer, and film director, director. He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on ...

. Renzetti and Tartakovsky were then both accepted into 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 ...

, where they were roommates.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B9vqu0zpwI ''Rob Renzetti interview from Boing! Podcast Part 2 of 7'' Retrieved April 21, 2010

Career

After graduating from the

, Renzetti began his animating career in Spain, working on 5 episodes for '' Batman: The Animated Series''. Renzetti has been writer, director, and storyboard artist for several

shows, including ''

2 Stupid Dogs ''2 Stupid Dogs'' is an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons for on TBS. It originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995, as part of TBS's ''Sunday Morning in Front ...

'', '' Dexter's Laboratory'', '' The Powerpuff Girls'', '' Samurai Jack'', and ''

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios as the network's first show animated primarily with Adobe Flash, whic ...

.'' He won an Emmy Award in 2009 for his work on the latter. During the mid-1990s, he created '' Mina and the Count'', a series of animated shorts that premiered on the '' What a Cartoon!'' show then later aired for a short time on the similar anthology series '' Oh Yeah! Cartoons''. In 1999, he made the short "My Neighbor Was a Teenage Robot", which also debuted on ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons''; in 2003, '' My Life as a Teenage Robot'', based on the short, debuted on Nickelodeon. In April 2008, he started work on Cartoon Network's '' The Cartoonstitute'' project, where he served as supervising producer. He was story editor on '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' for the series' first two seasons, but left in 2011, soon after the departure of the series

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Lauren Faust Lauren J. Faust (born July 25, 1974) is an American animator, writer, director, and producer. She is known for developing the animated series '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and '' DC Super Hero Girls''. Faust has collaborated with her ...

, to work as the supervising producer on Disney's ''

''. He subsequently worked on Disney's '' Big City Greens'' as one of its executive producers for the first season. In 2021, he served as executive producer and co-writer on

Craig McCracken Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971) is an American cartoonist, animator, director, writer, and producer known for creating Cartoon Network's ''The Powerpuff Girls'' and ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'', Disney Channel and Disney XD's ''W ...

's '' Kid Cosmic'' for

. Renzetti has (co-)written four books based on various

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 ...

properties, including ''Dipper's and Mabel's Guide to Mystery and Nonstop Fun!'', the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Bestseller '' Gravity Falls: Journal 3'', '' DuckTales: Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History'', and '' Onward: Quests Of Yore''. His first original novel, ''The Horrible Bag of Terrible Things'', was released in July 2023. A new installment in ''The Horrible Series'', ''The Twisted Tower of Endless Torment'', is set to release in July 2024, with the third novel potentially already being in the works.

Works

Film

Television

Internet

Bibliography

References

External links

*
The Teenage Roblog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renzetti, Rob American people of German descent American people of Portuguese descent American storyboard artists American animated film directors American people of Italian descent Animators from Illinois Artists from Chicago California Institute of the Arts alumni Cartoon Network Studios people Columbia College Chicago alumni Disney Television Animation people Showrunners of animated series Living people Nickelodeon Animation Studio people People from Addison, Illinois Primetime Emmy Award winners University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Hanna-Barbera people Year of birth missing (living people)