50 facts you didn’t know actor Seth MacFarlane: has a baritone voice, he is also a pianist and singer

Seth MacFarlane and 50 things you didn't know about him.

1. Seth MacFarlane born Seth Woodbury MacFarlane is an American television-series creator and filmmaker, working primarily in animation and comedy, as well as live action and other genres.

2. Seth MacFarlane is the creator of the TV series Family Guy, co-creator of the TV series American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, and writer-director of the films Ted (2012), its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).

3. His credits include production, direction, writing, acting, and voice acting. He is also a singer and pianist.

4. Seth MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation.

5. Recruited to Hollywood, he was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television shows, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, I Am Weasel, and his own Family Guy-like "prequel", Larry & Steve.

6. As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows, such as Gilmore Girls, The War at Home and FlashForward.

7. In 2008, he created his own YouTube series titled Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.

8. Seth MacFarlane won several awards for his work on Family Guy, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Annie Award.

9. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year.

10. Seth MacFarlane occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and he is a supporter of gay rights.

11. His first feature-length comedy film Ted also features MacFarlane's voice acting and performance-capture as a walking and talking teddy bear, and became the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy.

12. As a singer MacFarlane has performed at several venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.

13. In 2011 MacFarlane released his debut album Music Is Better Than Words.

14. Seth MacFarlane served as executive producer of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update of the 1980s Carl Sagan-hosted Cosmos series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson.

15. Seth MacFarlane was instrumental in providing funding for the show, as well as securing studio support for it from other entertainment executives.

16. Seth MacFarlane was born in Kent, Connecticut. His parents, Ann Perry (née Sager; 1947-2010) and Ronald Milton MacFarlane (born 1946), were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

17. His sister is voice actress Rachael Ann MacFarlane.

18. Seth MacFarlane is of English, Scottish, and Irish descent, with roots in New England going back to the 1600s, including descent from Mayflower passenger William Brewster.

19. MacFarlane's parents met in 1970, when they both lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, and married later that year. The couple moved to Kent in 1972, where Ann began working in the Admissions Office at South Kent School. She later worked in the College Guidance and Admissions Offices at the Kent School, a selective college preparatory school where Ronald also was a teacher.

20. During his childhood, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration and began drawing cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker, as early as two years old.

21. By the age of five, MacFarlane knew that he would want to pursue a career in animation, and began by creating flip books, after his parents found a book on the subject for him.

22. Four years later, aged nine, MacFarlane began publishing a weekly comic strip titled "Walter Crouton" for The Kent Good Times Dispatch, the local newspaper in Kent, Connecticut, which paid him five dollars per week. In one anecdote from the time, MacFarlane said in an October 2011 interview that as a child he was always "weirdly fascinated by the Communion ceremony". He created a strip with a character kneeling at the altar taking Communion and asking "Can I have fries with that?" The paper printed it and he got an "angry letter" from the local priest; it led to "sort of a little mini-controversy" in the town.

23. Seth MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School.

24. While there, he continued experimenting with animation, and his parents gave him an 8 mm camera.

25. Seth MacFarlane went on to study film, video and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

26. As a student, he had originally intended to work for Disney, but changed his mind upon graduating.

27. At RISD MacFarlane created a series of independent films, eventually meeting future Family Guy cast member Mike Henry, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate.

28. During his time at RISD, MacFarlane performed stand-up comedy.

29. In his senior year at RISD MacFarlane created a thesis film titled The Life of Larry, which eventually would become the inspiration for Family Guy.

30. MacFarlane's professor submitted his film to the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired.

31. Was recruited during the senior film festival by development executive Ellen Cockrill and President Fred Seibert. He went to work at Hanna-Barbera (then Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) based on the writing content of The Life of Larry, rather than on cartooning ability. He was one of only a few people hired by the company solely based on writing talent.

32. Seth MacFarlane worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series.

33. Seth MacFarlane described the atmosphere at Hanna-Barbera as resembling an "old-fashioned Hollywood structure, where you move from one show to another or you jump from a writing job on one show to a storyboard job on another".

34. Seth MacFarlane worked on four television series during his tenure at the studio: Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, and Johnny Bravo.

35. Working as both a writer and storyboard artist, MacFarlane spent the most time on Johnny Bravo. He found it easier to develop his own style at Johnny Bravo through the show's process of scriptwriting, which Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel did not use.

36. As a part of the Johnny Bravo crew, MacFarlane met actors and voiceover artists such as Adam West and Jack Sheldon of Schoolhouse Rock! fame. Meeting these individuals later became significant to the production and success of his Family Guy series.

37. Seth MacFarlane also did freelance work for Walt Disney Television Animation, writing for Jungle Cubs, and for Nelvana, where he wrote for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Through strict observation of writing elements such as story progression, character stakes and plot points, MacFarlane found the work for Disney was, from a writing standpoint, very valuable in preparation for his career (particularly on Ace Ventura).

38. Seth MacFarlane also created and wrote a short titled Zoomates for Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon.

39. In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry entitled Larry & Steve, which features a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Executives at Fox saw both Larry shorts and negotiations soon began for a prime-time animated series.

40. Although MacFarlane enjoyed working at Hanna-Barbera, he felt his real calling was for prime-time animation, which would allow a much edgier style of humor. He first pitched Family Guy to Fox during his tenure at Hanna-Barbera. A development executive for Hanna-Barbera, who was trying to get back into the prime-time business at the time, introduced MacFarlane to Leslie Kolins and Mike Darnell, heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox.

41. After the success of King of the Hill in 1997, MacFarlane called Kolins once more to ask about a possible second pitch for the series. The company offered the young writer a strange deal: Fox gave him a budget of US$50,000 to produce a pilot that could lead to a series (most episodes of animated prime-time productions cost at least US$1 million). Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane stated, "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot".

42. Family Guy first aired January 31, 1999.

43. MacFarlane's work in animating Family Guy has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from The Simpsons and All in the Family.

44. MacFarlane's success with Family Guy has opened doors to other ventures relating to the show. On April 26, 2005, he and composer Walter Murphy created Family Guy: Live in Vegas.

45. In addition, a Family Guy video game was released in 2006.

46. Two years later, in August 2007, he closed a digital content production deal with AdSense. MacFarlane takes cast members on the road to voice characters in front of live audiences.

47. Seth MacFarlane often participates as one of the "roasters" in the annual Comedy Central Roasts. MacFarlane is the only person to serve as roastmaster for more than one Comedy Central roast.

48. On October 1, 2012, it was announced that MacFarlane would host the 85th Academy Awards on February 24, 2013. He also presented the nominees with actress Emma Stone, on January 10, 2013. In addition to hosting, MacFarlane was also nominated in the Academy Award for Best Original Song category for co-writing the theme song "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" for his film Ted with Walter Murphy.

49. Signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records and released a big band/standards album in 2011. MacFarlane's debut studio album, Music Is Better Than Words, was released on September 27, 2011, drawing on his training in and attraction to "the Great American Songbook and particularly the early- to late-'50s era of orchestration". Regarding his musical passion, MacFarlane has said, "I love and am fascinated by exciting orchestration-what you can do with a band that size-and I think in many ways it's a lost art."

50. MacFarlane has a baritone voice. He is a pianist and singer who, in his early years, trained with Lee and Sally Sweetland, the vocal coaches of Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra.

Source: Wikipedia.org