Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (/məkˈfɑːrlɪn/; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer.

MacFarlane has also made guest appearances as an actor on live action shows including Gilmore Girls, Star Trek: Enterprise, The War at Home, and FlashForward.

[6][7] As a child, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration, and at the age of two he began drawing cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker.

[15] He also starred in many student films, meeting future Family Guy cast member Mike Henry, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate.

[1] As a part of the Johnny Bravo crew, he met actors and voiceover artists such as Adam West and Jack Sheldon of Schoolhouse Rock!

He also did freelance work for Walt Disney Television Animation, writing for Jungle Cubs, and for Nelvana, where he wrote for Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

A development executive there, who was trying to get back into prime-time business, introduced MacFarlane to Leslie Kolins and Mike Darnell, heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox.

Fox offered the young writer a strange deal: They gave him a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $95,000 in 2023) to produce a pilot that could lead to a series (most episodes of animated prime-time productions cost at least $1 million).

[1][23] Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane said: "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot.

"[24] After six months, MacFarlane returned to Fox with a "very, very simply, crudely animated film—with just enough to get the tone of the show across" to present to the executives, who loved the pilot and immediately ordered the series.

[25] Family Guy was originally intended to be a series of shorts on MADtv, much in the same way The Simpsons had begun on The Tracey Ullman Show a decade earlier.

[35] Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year".

It organized a letter-writing campaign to remove it from Fox's lineup,[45] and filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that some of its episodes contained indecent content.

As the family's breadwinner, he works as a CIA officer and was initially portrayed in the series as an old-fashioned conservative bigot but has since grown out of these traits (the show is known for its story arc elements and other distinguishing plot techniques); Stan's paradoxically moralistic yet simultaneously inappropriate, corrupt wife, Francine; and their two children, new-age hippie daughter Hayley and nerdy son Steve.

Accompanying the Smith family are three additional main characters, two of which belong to non-human species: zany, shocking, blithely cruel and rascally alien Roger, who's full of disguises/alter egos and has few if any limits on his behaviors.

[85][86][87] The series followed an English newscaster who moves to Los Angeles with his alcoholic manservant and the baggage of several failed marriages to host a sanctimonious talk show.

Columnist Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly commented "By calling constant attention to the naughty factor," MacFarlane created "an echo chamber of outrage, working a little too hard to top himself with faux-scandalous gags about race, Jews in Hollywood, and the killing of Abraham Lincoln.

The film received generally favorable reviews from both critics and audiences, and was a box office success, opening with the highest weekend gross of all time for an original R-rated comedy.

[145] MacFarlane was executive producer of a 2020 feature film adapting Clive Barker’s novel Books of Blood for Hulu, directed by Brannon Braga.

[146] In 2020, he signed a $200 million deal with NBCUniversal to develop television projects for both internal and external networks, including the company’s then-developing streaming service Peacock.

[150][151] In June of the same year, Neeson stated that MacFarlane was working on a new draft of the script, with the studio additionally negotiating the filmmaker's potential role as director.

[158] Three months later on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane was interviewed on Fox's Talkshow with Spike Feresten,[159] and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young".

[175] 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.

[186] MacFarlane has said that his comedy influences include Woody Allen, Jackie Gleason, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Matt Groening, and Norman Lear;[187][188][189] while his musical influences include Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Vic Damone, Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Gordon MacRae and the Rat Pack.

In 2008, prior to the holding of the Obergefell v. Hodges case by the United States Supreme Court, MacFarlane called it "infuriating and idiotic" that two gay partners "have to go through this fucking dog and pony act when they stop at a hotel and the guy behind the counter says, 'You want one room or two?'"

[217][218] On April 20, 2024 MacFarlane partnered with Martin Scorsese to showcase Back From the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival.

Due to a hangover after the previous night's celebrations and an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent,[226][227] he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight, as the gates had been closed.

[234] Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.[235][236] On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.

[237] In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature magic parody act, involving absurd faux magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy".

[239] In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved—"purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work", and "amount and substantiality of the taking"—counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth—"economic impact"—had to await more fact-finding.