Trey ParkerBirth Place: Conifer, Colorado, USA Date of Birth: October 19, 1969 Heritage: American Famous for: Cocreator of the blissfully rude and crude Comedy Central animated series South Park Contact Trey Parker |
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Creator of South Park Background: “You know, everyone says that "South Park" (1997) is satire and political satire and whatever, but really when you look at a season, there's rarely more than a couple episodes per season that are political satire.” Trey Parker Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor. He is best known as the co-creator of the popular animated series “South Park” (Comedy Central, 1997-?), along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone. The show has brought him four Emmy Awards. He also directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed feature length film “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut” (1999). It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for the song “Blame Canada,” which Parker wrote with Marc Shaiman. Parker is the co-writer and co-director of the multiple Tony Award winning musical “The Book of Mormon” (2011). Parker has been divorced from his wife Emma Sugiyama. He was once engaged to Liane, his high school sweetheart, but she reportedly left Parker for another man. Currently, parker is living with a woman and her son. Parker has a black belt in tae kwan do and s a lifelong fan of Denver Broncos.
Childhood and Family: Born Randolph Severn Parker III, on October 19, 1969, in Conifer, Colorado, Trey Parker is the son of Randy Parker (a geologist) and Sharon Parker (an insurance broker). He has an older sister named Shelley Parker. As a sixth grader, he wrote a skit called “The Dentist” and performed in his school's talent show. In his teens, Trey became interested in musical theater and joined the Evergreen Players, a venerable mountain community theater outside of Denver. When he was 14, he got his first role as chorus member in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Flower Drum Song.” He would continue to design sets for the community theater's production of “Little Shop of Horrors.” Trey attended Evergreen High School, in which he landed the role of Danny Zuko in his school's production of “Grease” and became president of the choir counsel. He took a part time job in a pizza restaurant during high school. After graduating. Trey went to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, but he later transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he majored in music and Japanese. At Colorado, he met fellow student Matt Stone, with whom he began making a series of inexpertly animated cartoons. Trey was also a film geek and music fan. He has played piano since the age of 12. In January 2006, Trey married Emma Sugiyama, with 1970s sitcom producer Norman Lear becoming the officiant. However, they later divorced.
Career: With a video camera from his father, Trey Parker started making short films when he was a teenager. At the University of Colorado, he made several student films, including “The Giant Beavers of Sri Lanka” (1989), “First Date” (1990) and “American History” (1991), which won Silver Medal for Animation at the 1993 Student Academy Awards, USA, an honor he shared with partner Chris Graves. In 1992, with Matt Stone, Parker created a holiday short, “Jesus vs. Frosty.” In the following year, Parker had his first feature film with “Alferd Packer! The Musical!,” which he directed, wrote and co-produced with Stone. The comedy/musical was submitted to the Sundance Film Festival but rejected. It was later purchased by Troma and retitled “Cannibal! The Musical!” Credited as Juan Schwartz, Parker also starred in the film as Alferd Packer. In 1994, Parker and Stone moved to Los Angeles to pursue further opportunities. Attracted by their work on “Cannibal! The Musical!,” Brian Graden, then an executive at Fox, hired the two to create a TV show that would become a musical children's series called “Time Warped.” Fox ended up passing on the show. Also in 1995, at Graden's request, the two made a new version of “The Spirit of Christmas” that Graden could send out as a video Christmas card. The film won Audience Award for Best Short at the 1997 Florida Film Festival and a 1997 Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) for Best Animation. In 1997, Parker and Stone produced the comedy film “Orgazmo,” which Parker also directed, co-wrote (with Stone) and starred. The film was given an NC-17 rating that resulted in a very limited release in the US. It grossed $602,302 against a budget of $1.3 million. However, the two did not experience a big break until they created the animated sitcom “South Park” for the Comedy Central television network. The series, for which Parker also wrote, directed, composed and performed music and voiced characters of Stan Marsh and Cartman, premiered on August 13, 1997 with great success, and remains the highest rated and long running program on Comedy Central. The fifteenth season premiered on April 27, 2011. Parker has won four Emmys in the category of Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less than One Hour) for his work on the series. The show also has earned him other awards such as a 1997 CableACE for Animated Programming Special or Series, a 2000Chicago Film Critics Association for Best Original Score and the 1998 PGA Nova Award for Most Promising Producer in Television. He stated, “Winning the Emmy really was like, you're kind of the punk rock kid at school, and suddenly you get Student of the Month. And you're like, “This isn't cool.”” In 1998, Parker was cast in the starring role of Coop, opposite Stone as Remer, on the David Zucker comedy film “BASEketball,” which received mixed reviews from critics. The song “Warts on Your Dick” by Parker and Stone's band, DVDA, also was featured in the film. In the next year, Parker and Stone produced “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” the animated musical comedy film based on their television series “South Park.” The film, which Parker directed, co-wrote (with Stone), starred in and co-composed the music, was a box office hit with over $83 million worldwide gross and received mostly positive reviews from critics. Parker was nominated for a 2000 Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song for the song “Blame Canada,” an honor he shared with Marc Shaiman. He also jointly netted a 1999 Los Angeles Film Critics Association for Best Music, a 1999 Annie nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Feature Production, a 2000 Chicago Film Critics Association for Best Original Score, and a 2000 MTV Movie for Best Musical Performance for the song “Uncle Fucka” (with Stone). Still in 1999, Parker had an uncredited part in “Terror Firmer,” a comedy/horror film directed by Lloyd Kaufman, written by Patrick Cassidy and Douglas Buck, and starring Will Keenan and Alyce LaTourelle. In 2000, Parker co-directed (with Stone) the music video of “Even If You Don't,” by the alternative rock group Ween. In 2001, Parker and Stone created the television comedy series “That's My Bush!,” centering on the fictitious personal life of President George W. Bush, which Parker also wrote, composed the theme music and executive produced. Starring Timothy Bottoms as George W. Bush, Carrie Quinn Dolin as Laura Bush, and Kurt Fuller as Karl Rove, the show ran on Comedy Central for one season from April 4, 2001 to May 23, 2001. Parker resurfaced in 2004 when along with Stone, he produced, co-wrote and voiced characters on the action/comedy film “ Team America: World Police.” The film, which was Parker also directed, grossed $32.8 million in the domestic market and $18.1 million elsewhere for a worldwide total of $50,907,422, well above its budget of $30 million. The film won a 2006 Empire Award for Best Comedy. The same year, he also made a cameo appearance as Steve Keen in the straight to video anthology film “Tales from the Crapper,” which was a spoof of the “Tales from the Crypt” comics. In 2005, Parker made a guest appearance in the documentary film “The Aristocrats,”about the famous dirty joke of the same name. In 2007, along with Stone, Parker joined the Canadian comedy/reality series “Kenny vs. Spenny” for the fourth season and were given their own separate credit as executive producers for the ten episodes produced. 2007 also saw Parker sing the theme song of the live action comedy show “Saul of the Mole Men,” which aired on Adult Swim from February 11, 2007 to July 15, 2007. In 2008, he directed, co-wrote, executive produced and did voice overs for the direct to video “South Park: Kyle Sucks Cartoon Ball - The Trilogy.” He then executive produced the infotainment series “How's Your News?,” which aired on MTV from February 8, 2009 to March 15, 2009. Parker and Stone have collaborated with Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez on a religious satire musical called “The Book of Mormon.” After about seven years of development, the musical premiered on Broadway in March 2011. Starring Andrew Rannells as Elder Kevin Price, the show gained positive critical response and many theater awards. Parker shared four Tony Awards in the categories of Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (with Casey Nicholaw) and Best Original Score as well as Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, Outstanding Music and Outstanding Director of a Musical, and Outer Critics Circles for Outstanding Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score and Outstanding Director of a Musical.
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