Daniel Antonucci (, ; born February 27, 1957) is a Canadian animator, cartoonist, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. He created the Cartoon Network animated comedy series Ed, Edd n Eddy as well as Lupo the Butcher and The Brothers Grunt for MTV. He has also provided additional voice roles (such as voicing Mr. Sun in Ed, Edd n Eddy episode The Eds are Coming, the Eds are Coming and being a star in The Brothers Grunt.)
Antonucci dropped out of the Sheridan College of Visual Arts to take a job as an animator at Hanna-Barbera, and worked on a number of series: The Flintstone Comedy Show, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Smurfs, and Richie Rich. He continued his career in Vancouver, working on animated shorts and television commercials at International Rocketship Limited, where he created his first solo work, Lupo the Butcher. For MTV, Antonucci made a number of bumpers, his series The Brothers Grunt, and the title sequence to animation showcase program Cartoon Sushi. He went on to create Ed, Edd n Eddy on Cartoon Network.
Many of his commercials for Converse, ESPN, and Levi's won a number of awards, which he keeps in a trash can by his desk. Lupo the Butcher was a successful short and is considered to be a cult classic.
Early life
Antonucci's parents were Italian immigrants to Canada. His experiences as a child in an immigrant family deeply influenced his later work, such as Lupo the Butcher.
Growing up, he originally got into animation from watching Popeye the Sailor cartoons, along many other 1950's and 1960's cartoons like Tex Avery, Quick Draw McGraw, and Huckleberry Hound. Antonucci was a whistler as a boy, whistling "Big Noise from Winnetka" often, a personal favorite song of his. Antonucci whistled the intro of Ed, Edd, and Eddy. at Canimage Production, a division of Hanna-Barbera.
Career
Starting his career as an animator, Antonucci worked on numerous shows, including The Flintstone Comedy Show, The Smurfs, and Richie Rich.
Intending to move to Los Angeles in 1984 to find more work, Antonucci landed in Vancouver, British Columbia. He landed a job at International Rocketship Limited, animating short films and television commercials. His first effort was on the short film Hooray for Sandbox Land. Antonucci went on to work on MTV's Cartoon Sushi show in 1997, directing, writing and providing voices, in addition to being responsible for the title sequence of the show.
Ed, Edd n Eddy
Feeling confined to "gross" and "edgy" work, such as his series The Brothers Grunt, Antonucci decided to produce an animated children's television show again with his company a.k.a. Cartoon. Antonucci spent months designing the show, before trying to sell it to Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon told him that they would take the show, if they also obtained creative control. Antonucci refused to give it, and instead took the show to Cartoon Network. A deal was ultimately made for Cartoon Network to commission the show, after they agreed to let Antonucci go in his own direction. and Antonucci likens it to cartoons of the 1930s. The Eds also possess personality traits similar to The Three Stooges, whose money-making schemes and antics also invariably backfire. The cul-de-sac children and the Kanker Sisters were all based on children he grew up with. Antonucci also stated that he believed it was important to add Plank, a board of wood, to the show, stating that he "thought it would be really cool to do the show with Plank taking on a character of his own" and to cause Jonny to do things he would usually never do. He also stated that Rolf is strongly based on himself and his cousins, since he was part of an immigrant family, and grew up in a first-generation foreign household with different customs and ways of living.
WildBrain and upcoming series
While Antonucci was working on Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, it was announced on September 4, 2008 that he signed to WildBrain; Antonucci stated that he was "already kicking around three different ideas for his first WildBrain project". On June 11, 2013, US animator Joe Murray posted a short interview with Antonucci for his class on his website, and on the end wrote: "He's currently working on a new series, so rock on." In November 2020, Antonucci confirmed a series based on Lupo the Butcher was in development for release on Netflix which got canceled due to creative differences between Antonucci and Netflix.
Awards and nominations
Antonucci's first solo work Lupo the Butcher was a successful short and is considered to be a cult classic. Throughout his career, Antonucci received a number of awards. He worked on a number of award-winning commercials for Converse, ESPN and Levi's. and a Leo Award for Best Director in an Animated Production or Series in 2000. With an almost 11-year run, it remains the longest running original Cartoon Network series and Canadian-made animated series to date. It was also Cartoon Network's most popular series among boys ages 2–11. Bob Higgins, head of WildBrain, considered Ed, Edd n Eddy to be a "landmark in animation".
Filmography
Films
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 1981
| Heavy Metal
| Animator
|-
| 1984
| Hooray for Sandbox Land
| Short film<br />Lead animator
|-
| 1984
| Anijam
| Short film<br />Production artist
|-
| 1987
| data-sort-value="Chipmunk Adventure, The" | The Chipmunk Adventure
| Assistant animator
|-
| 1987
| Lupo the Butcher
| Short film<br />Director, animator, and composer
|-
| 1989
| Let's Chop Soo-E
| Short film<br />Corrections artist
|-
| 1994
| Deadly Deposits
| Short film<br />Animator
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
| 1980–1982
| data-sort-value="Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show, The" | The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show
| Animator
|-
| 1980–1982
| data-sort-value="Flintstone Comedy Show, The" | The Flintstone Comedy Show
| Animator
|-
| 1981
| data-sort-value="Smurfs, The" | The Smurfs
| Animator
|-
| 1985
| data-sort-value="Velveteen Rabbit, The" | The Velveteen Rabbit
| Television film<br />Animator
|-
| 1985
| Rumpelstiltskin
| Television film<br />Animator
|-
| 1987
| Tales of the Mouse Hockey League
| Short television film<br />Character designer and key animator
|-
| 1994–1995
| data-sort-value="Brothers Grunt, The" | The Brothers Grunt
| Creator, writer, executive producer, director, and voice actor
|-
| 1997
| Cartoon Sushi
| Co-creator and director
|-
| 1999–2009
| Ed, Edd n Eddy
| Creator, co-writer, director, executive producer, and voice of Mr. Sun from "The Eds are Coming, the Eds are Coming"
|-
| 2009
| Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show
| Television film<br />Director, co-writer, executive producer
|-
| 2017
| Snotrocket
| Pilot<br />Creator, director, writer and executive producer
|}