Matt Stone | |
|---|---|
 Stone in 2025 | |
| Born | Matthew Richard Stone (1971-05-26)May 26, 1971 (age 54) Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Colorado Boulder (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1992–present |
| Works | Filmography and awards |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2[1] |
Matthew Richard Stone[2] (born May 26, 1971)[3] is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known for co-creating the animated television seriesSouth Park (since 1997) and the stage musicalThe Book of Mormon (2011) with his creative partnerTrey Parker. Intrigued by a career in entertainment at a young age, he studied film and mathematics at theUniversity of Colorado Boulder, where he met Parker. During their attendance, the two worked on various short films and starred in the feature-length musicalCannibal! The Musical (1993).
Stone and Parker moved to Los Angeles and wrote their second film,Orgazmo (1997). Before its premiere,South Park aired onComedy Central in August 1997 and was met with widespread praise. Following its success, the two directed a film based on the series,South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), which was met with positive critical reception. Outside ofSouth Park, Stone has written, produced, and starred in the satirical action filmTeam America: World Police (2004), as well as theBroadway musicalThe Book of Mormon (2011), which, after long-tenured delays and years of development, was met with positive reviews.
Stone is the recipient of numerous accolades, including fivePrimetime Emmy Awards for his work onSouth Park, as well as threeTony Awards and oneGrammy Award forThe Book of Mormon.
Matthew Richard Stone was born on May 26, 1971 inHouston,Texas, the son of Sheila Lois (née Belasco) and Gerald Whitney Stone Jr. He is ofIrish-American heritage from his father's side andJewish heritage from his mother's side.[4][5] TheSouth Park charactersGerald and Sheila Broflovski were named after them. Stone and his younger sister Rachel were raised inLittleton,Colorado, a suburb ofDenver, where they attendedHeritage High School.[6] He attended theUniversity of Colorado Boulder. His father was worried he would "become a musician and a bum", so he insisted that his son major in something "practical". They compromised on Matt's majoring in both mathematics and film. Stone graduated with a double-majorBachelor of Arts degree in 1993.[7]
In 1992, Stone, Parker and Ian Hardin founded a production company named the Avenging Conscience. The company was named after theD. W. Griffithfilm by the same title (which was actively disliked by the group).[8] Parker employed the cutout paper technique on Avenging Conscience's first production,Jesus vs. Frosty (1992), an animated short pitting the religious figure againstFrosty the Snowman.
The quartet created a three-minutetrailer for a fictional film titledAlfred Packer: The Musical. The idea was based on an obsession Parker had withAlfred Packer, a real nineteenth-centuryprospector accused ofcannibalism.[9] During this time, Parker had become engaged to long-time girlfriend Liane Adamo, but their relationship fell apart shortly before production on the trailer began.[9] "Horriblydepressed", Parker funneled his frustrations with her into the project, naming Packer's "beloved but disloyal" horse after her.[9][10] The trailer became something of a sensation among students at the school, leading Virgil Grillo, the chairman and founder of the university's film department, to convince the quartet to expand it to a feature-length film.[10] Parker wrote the film's script, creating anOklahoma!-style musical featuring ten originalshow tunes.[11] The group raised $125,000 from family and friends and began shooting the film. The movie was shot onLoveland Pass as winter was ending, and the crew endured the freezing weather.[8][11] Parker, under the pseudonym Juan Schwartz, was the film's star, director and co-producer.[10]
Alferd Packer: The Musical premiered inBoulder in October 1993; "they rented a limousine that circled to ferry every member of the cast and crew from the back side of the block to the red carpet at the theater's entrance."[11] The group submitted the movie to theSundance Film Festival, who did not respond. Parker said he had a "vision" they needed to be at the festival, which resulted in the group renting out a conference room in a nearby hotel and putting on their own screenings.[9]MTV did a short news segment onThe Big Picture regarding the film,[8] and they made industry connections through the festival.[9][12] They intended to sell video rights to the film for $1 million and spend the remaining $900,000 to create another film.[12] The film was instead sold toTroma Entertainment in 1996 where it was retitledCannibal! The Musical,[13] and upon the duo's later success, it became their biggest-selling title.[10] It has since been labeled a "cult classic" and adapted into a stage play by community theater groups and even high schools nationwide.[14]
Following the film's success, the group, without Hardin, moved toLos Angeles.[11] Upon arrival, they met a lawyer for theWilliam Morris Agency who connected them with producerScott Rudin. As a result, the duo acquired a lawyer, an agent, and a script deal.[12] Despite initially believing themselves to be on the verge of success, the duo struggled for several years. Stone slept on dirty laundry for upwards of a year because he could not afford to purchase a mattress.[12] They unsuccessfully pitched a children's program titledTime Warped toFox Kids, which would have involved fictionalized stories of people in history.[13] The trio created two separate pilots, spaced a year apart, and despite the approval ofFox Broadcasting Company development executivePam Brady, the network disbanded the Fox Kids division.[11]
David Zucker, who was a fan ofCannibal!, contacted the duo to produce a 15-minute short film forSeagram to show at a party for its acquisition ofUniversal Studios.[15] Due to a misunderstanding, Parker and Stoneimprovised much of the film an hour before it was shot, creating it as a spoof of 1950s instructional videos.[15] The result,Your Studio and You, features numerous celebrities, includingSylvester Stallone,Demi Moore, andSteven Spielberg. "You could probably make a feature film out of the experience of making that movie because it was just two dudes from college suddenly directing Steven Spielberg", Parker later remarked, noting that the experience was difficult for the two.[15]
During the time between shooting the pilots forTime Warped, Parker penned the script for a film titledOrgazmo, which later entered production. Half of the budget for the picture came from a Japanese porn company called Kuki, who wanted to feature its performers in mainstream Western media.[11] Independent distributorOctober Films purchased the rights to the film for one million dollars after its screening at theToronto International Film Festival.[11] The film received an NC-17 rating from theMotion Picture Association of America, which resulted in the poor box office performance of the film. Parker and Stone attempted to negotiate with the organization on what to delete from the final print, but the MPAA would not give specific notes.[12] The duo later theorized that the organization cared less because it was an independent distributor which would bring it significantly less money.[12]
Fox executive Brian Graden cut Parker and Stone a personal check of a few thousand dollars to produce a video greeting card he could deliver to friends; the film would be a sequel to their earlier shortJesus vs. Frosty.[11] Graden sent the film on aVHS to several industry executives in Hollywood; meanwhile, someone digitized the clip and put it up on the Internet, where it became one of the firstviral videos.[11][16][17] Due to the popularity ofJesus vs. Santa, Parker and Stone wanted to turn the short into a television series later entitledSouth Park, and offered the show to Fox. While Fox executives were enthusiastic about the premise, they didn't want to air a show that included the talking poo characterMr. Hankey and passed on it after the duo refused to remove the character several times. Parker and Stone then entered negotiations with bothMTV andComedy Central. Parker preferred the show be produced by Comedy Central, fearing that MTV would turn it into a kids' show.[18] When Comedy Central executiveDoug Herzog watched the short, he commissioned the development of the show into a series.[16][19]
The pilot episode ofSouth Park was made on a budget of $300,000,[20] and took between three and three and a half months to complete, and animation took place in a small room at Celluloid Studios, inDenver, Colorado, during the summer of 1996.[21][22] Similar to Parker and Stone's Christmas shorts, the original pilot was animated entirely with traditionalcut paperstop motion animation techniques.[21] The idea for the town of South Park came from the realColorado basin of the same name where, according to the creators, a lot of folklore and news reports originated about "cattle mutilations and UFO and bigfoot sightings".[23]
South Park premiered in August 1997 and immediately became one of the most popular shows on cable television, averaging consistently between 3.5 and 5.5 million viewers.[24] The show transformed the then-fledgling Comedy Central into "a cable industry power almost overnight".[16] At the time, the cable network had a low distribution of just 21 million subscribers.[24] Comedy Central marketed the show aggressively before its launch, billing it as "why they created theV-chip."[25] The resulting buzz led to the network earning an estimated $30 million in T-shirts sales alone before the first episode was even aired.[24] Due to the success of the series' first six episodes, Comedy Central requested an additional seven; the series completed itsfirst season in February 1998.[26][27][28] An affiliate of theMTV Network until then, Comedy Central decided, in part due to the success ofSouth Park, to have its own independent sales department.[29] By the end of 1998, Comedy Central had sold more than $150 million worth of merchandise for the show, including T-shirts and dolls.[30] Over the next few years, Comedy Central's viewership spiked largely due toSouth Park, adding 3 million new subscribers in the first half of 1998 alone and allowed the network to sign international deals with networks in several countries.[24]
Parker and Stone became celebrities as a result of the program's success; Parker noted that the success ofSouth Park allowed him to pursue, for a time, a lifestyle that involved partying with women and "out-of-control binges" inLas Vegas.[12] Their philosophy of taking every deal (which had surfaced as a result of their lack of trust in the early success ofSouth Park) led to their appearances in films, albums, and outside script deals. Among these includedBASEketball, a 1998 comedy film that became a critical and commercial flop.
Parker and Stone signed a deal withComedy Central in April 1998 that contracted the duo to producingSouth Park episodes until 1999, gave them a slice of the lucrative spinoff merchandising the show generated within its first year, as well as an unspecified seven-figure cash bonus to bring the show to the big screen, in theaters.[31] During the time, the team was also busy writing thesecond andthird seasons of the series, the former of which Parker and Stone later described as "disastrous". As such, they figured the phenomenon would be over soon, and they decided to write a personal, fully committed musical.[32] Parker and Stone fought with the MPAA to keep the film R-rated; for months the ratings board insisted on the more prohibitiveNC-17.[33] The film was only certified an R rating two weeks prior to its release, following contentious conversations between Parker/Stone, Rudin, andParamount Pictures.[34] Parker felt very overwhelmed and overworked during the production process of the film, especially between April and the movie's opening in late June. He admitted that press coverage, which proclaimed the end ofSouth Park was near, bothered him.[12] The film opened in cinemas in June 1999 and received critical acclaim while grossing $83 million at the box office.
Parker and Stone continue to write, direct, and voice most characters onSouth Park. Over time, the show has adopted a unique production process, in which an entire episode is written, animated and broadcast in one week.[35] Parker and Stone state that subjecting themselves to a one-week deadline creates more spontaneity amongst themselves in the creative process, which they feel results in a funnier show.[16] Although initial reviews for the show were negative in reference to its crass humor, the series has received numerous accolades, including fivePrimetime Emmy Awards, onePeabody Award, and numerous inclusions in various publications' lists of greatest television shows. As of 2011 its viewership was lower than at the height of its popularity in its earliest seasons, butSouth Park remained one of the highest-rated series on Comedy Central.[36] In 2012,South Park cut back from producing 14 episodes per year (seven in the spring and seven in the fall) to a single run of 10 episodes in the fall, to allow the duo to explore other projects the rest of the year.[37] The twenty-seventh season premiered on July 23, 2025.[38]
South Park has expanded to music and video games. Comedy Central released various albums, includingChef Aid: The South Park Album andMr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, in the late 1990s.[39][40][41] The song "Chocolate Salty Balls" (as sung by the character Chef) was released as a single in the UK in 1998 to support theChef Aid: The South Park Album and became a number one hit.[42] Parker and Stone had little to do with the development of video games based on the series that were released at this time,[43][44] but took full creative control ofSouth Park: The Stick of Truth, a 2014 video game based on the series that received positive reviews and for which they won the 2014Writing in a Comedy award and Stone (asVarious) was nominated forPerformance in a Comedy, Supporting by National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR).[45][46]Broadcast syndication rights toSouth Park were sold in 2003,[47][48] and all episodes are available for free full-lengthon-demandlegal streaming on the official South Park Studios website.[49] In 2007, the duo, with the help of their lawyer, Kevin Morris, cut a 50–50 joint venture with Comedy Central on all revenue not related to television; this includes digital rights toSouth Park, as well as movies, soundtracks, T-shirts and other merchandise, in a deal worth $75 million.[50]
In 2000, Parker and Stone began plotting a television sitcom starring the winner of the2000 presidential election. The duo were "95 percent sure" thatDemocratic candidateAl Gore would win, and tentatively titled the showEverybody Loves Al (a play on the showEverybody Loves Raymond).[51] The main goal was to parody sitcom tropes, such as a lovable main character, the sassy maid, and the wacky neighbor, in the context of theWhite House household.[52] Parker said the producers did not want to make fun of politics, but instead lampoon sitcoms.[51] They threw a party the night of the election with the writers, with intentions to begin writing the following Monday and shooting the show in January 2001 with the inauguration. With theconfusion of whom the President would be, the show's production was pushed back.[51] The show was filmed atSony Pictures Studios, and was the first time Parker and Stone shot a show on a production lot.[53]
AlthoughThat's My Bush!, which ran between April–May 2001, received a fair amount of publicity and critical notice, according to Stone and Parker, the cost per episode was too high at "about $1 million an episode".[54] Comedy Central officially cancelled the series in August 2001 as a cost-cutting move; Stone was quoted as saying "A super-expensive show on a small cable network ... the economics of it were just not going to work."[55] Comedy Central continued the show in reruns, considering it a creative and critical success.[54] Parker believed the show would not have survived after theSeptember 11 attacks anyway, and Stone agreed, saying the show would not "play well".[56][57] During this time, the duo also signed a deal withShockwave.com to produce 39 animated online shorts, in which they would retain full artistic control; the result,Princess, Which was rejected after only two episodes.
In 2002, the duo began working onTeam America: World Police, a satire of big-budgetaction films and their associatedclichés andstereotypes, with particular humorous emphasis on the global implications of thepolitics of the United States.[58]Team America was produced using a crew of about 200 people; sometimes four people at a time were needed to manipulate a marionette.[59] Although the filmmakers hired three dozen highly skilled marionette operators, execution of some very simple acts by the marionettes proved to be very difficult, with a simple shot such as a character drinking taking a half-day to complete successfully.[59] The deadline for the film's completion took a toll on both filmmakers, as did various difficulties in working with puppets, with Stone, who described the film as "the worst time of [his] life", resorting to coffee to work 20-hour days and sleeping pills to enable him to rest.[59][60][61] The film was barely completed in time for its October release date,[62] but reviews were positive and the film made a modest sum at the box office.[63]
Parker and Stone, alongside writer-composerRobert Lopez, began working on a musical centering onMormonism during the production ofTeam America. Lopez, a fan ofSouth Park and creator of the puppet musicalAvenue Q, met with the duo after a performance of the musical, where they conceived the idea.[13][64] The musical, titledThe Book of Mormon: The Musical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was worked on over a period of various years; working around theirSouth Park schedule, they flew betweenNew York City and Los Angeles often, first writing songs for the musical in 2006.[13] Developmental workshops began in 2008,[65] and the crew embarked on the first of a half-dozen workshops that would take place during the next four years.[13] Originally, producer Scott Rudin planned to stageThe Book of Mormonoff-Broadway at theNew York Theatre Workshop in summer 2010, but opted to premiere it directly on Broadway, "[s]ince the guys [Parker and Stone] work best when the stakes are highest."[66]
After a frantic series of rewrites, rehearsals, and previews,[13]The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway at theEugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011.[67][68]The Book of Mormon received broad critical praise for the plot, score, actors' performances, direction and choreography.[69] Acast recording of the original Broadway production became the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades.[70] The musical received nineTony Awards, one forBest Musical, and aGrammy Award forBest Musical Theater Album. The production has since expanded to two national tours, aChicago production, and a UK production, and Parker and Stone have confirmed a film adaption is in pre-production.[37][50]
With sufficient funds from their work onSouth Park andThe Book of Mormon, the duo announced plans to create their own production studio, Important Studios, in January 2013. The studio will approve projects ranging from films to television to theatre.[50]
In the midst of theCOVID-19 pandemic, Parker, Stone, andPeter Serafinowicz created a web series,Sassy Justice. The series usesdeepfake technology to insert unrelated celebrities and politicians into the fictional world of a television reporter.[71] The first episode was posted toYouTube on October 26, 2020.[72] The team was originally assembled for a film project that was interrupted due to the pandemic, who made the video based on a series of impressions that Serafinowicz developed of a "sassy"Donald Trump.[73] The creators have a handful of shorter videos alongside a 15-minute first episode that may be turned into an ongoing series, film, or other type of project.[73]
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In August 2021, Stone and Parker signed a $900 million deal withParamount Global to make six additional seasons ofSouth Park and 14 movies in theSouth Park universe for streaming.[74] After theHBO Max streaming rights expired in late June 2025, on July 21, 2025, Stone and Parker announced a five-year agreement withParamount+ to stream the series exclusively and to have 10 episodes produced per year.[75] After signing the deal with Paramount, Stone and Parker becamebillionaires.[76]
In September 2021, Stone and Parker reached an agreement to purchaseCasa Bonita for $3.1 million. A group named "Save Casa Bonita" filed an objection to Stone and Parker's purchase, pointing out that they had in fact made an offer first.[77] Their objection was later withdrawn, and the sale was completed by November 19.[78][79][80] They spent $40 million renovating the restaurant and hired Chef Dana Rodriguez to update the menu.[81][82] The restaurant had asoft opening on May 26, 2023.[83] In early June, Casa Bonita began taking reservations although a formal opening date had not been set.[84] Stone and Parker amended the employee compensation system at Casa Bonita, removing the need for wait staff to earn tips, instead paying every employee $30 per hour, much higher than the Colorado minimum wage, $13.65.[85]
In January 2022, it was announced Stone will produce anuntitled film with Parker through their now-renamed production company Park County andKendrick Lamar andDave Free's multi-disciplinary media companyPGLang.[86][87][88][89] The film will mark the first theatrical collaboration, and second overall, between Parker, Stone, Lamar, and Free. Parker and Stone developed thedeepfakes used in themusic video for Lamar'spromotional single "The Heart Part 5" (2022) through theirartificial intelligencestartup studio Deep Voodoo.[90] In March 2023, it was reported that Parker will direct the film.[91][92][93] It will be distributed byParamount Pictures.[87] The live-action comedy film, written byVernon Chatman, addresses racial issues.[88] Production began in the fall of 2024.[94]
On October 30, 2025, 57 performers at Stone and Parker'sLakewood, Colorado restaurantCasa Bonita went on strike for at least three days after alleging that Parker and Stone paid them unfair wages and subjected them to a less safe working environment.[95][96][97]Actors' Equity Association presidentBrooke Shields also criticized Stone and Parker as well,[98][97] with Casa Bonita lead negotiator Andrea Hoeschen also stating that their Casa Bonita management only offered "an additional 11 cents over their last unfair wage offer, and very little for future layoff protections."[95] It would also be revealed that the restaurant's labor union Casa Bonita United filed aNational Labor Relations Board unfair labor practices charge against the restaurant in September 2025.[99][100]
Stone met Comedy Central executive Angela Howard in 2001, and they began a relationship shortly after.[13] They got married in 2008 and have two children together.[1][101] Stone and his family live inVenice, Los Angeles.[102]
Stone has described himself asethnically Jewish due to his mother being Jewish.[103][104] He is anatheist.[105][106]
Stone said in 2001, regarding his political views, "I hateconservatives, but I really fucking hateliberals."[107] When asked about that quote during a 2010 interview, Stone stated: "We don't want you to come to it thinking, 'These guys are going to bash liberals,' … It’s so much more fun for us to rip on liberals only because nobody else does it, and not because we think liberals are worse thanRepublicans."[108] In 2006, Stone described himself aslibertarian.[109]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [110] | Can [111] | ||||||||
| Chef Aid: The South Park Album |
| 16 | 14 | ||||||
| South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut |
| 28 | 20 | ||||||
| Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics |
| — | — | ||||||
| Team America: World Police |
| — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [112] | |||||||||
| The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording |
| 3 | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Stone has two children under three. ... .
… filmmaker/actor Matt Stone in 1971 (age 49)
My mom is Jewish, we've certainly done our share of making fun of Jews. It just didn't feel totally honest not to do it because of that.
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Data from Wikidata
