Ross Dickran Bagdasarian (born 1949) is an American animator, filmmaker, and voice actor, known for his work on theAlvin and the Chipmunks franchise. He is the son of the franchise's creator,Ross Bagdasarian.^[1][2]

Bagdasarian was born in Fresno, California in 1949,^[3] the son of Armenian-American parents Armenuhi Bagdasarian (née Kulhanjian) andRoss Bagdasarian (1919–1972). As a child, he worked with his father onThe Alvin Show by helping edit and coordinate the soundtracks and falsetto voice-overs ofthe Chipmunks.

Bagdasarian graduated from law school.^[4] He succeeded his father^[4] as president ofBagdasarian Productions in 1972 after the death of the elder Bagdasarian. The company had fallen into obscurity after significant success between 1958 and the late 1960s. Bagdasarian was also admitted to the California bar as an attorney in 1975.^[5]

Under Bagdasarian's supervision, new Chipmunks records were created shortly after his marriage toJanice Karman, includingChipmunk Punk. In 1981, the Chipmunks returned to television in the cartoon specialA Chipmunk Christmas. Two years later,Ruby-Spears Productions'Alvin and the ChipmunksSaturday morning cartoon series debuted onNBC. Based on that series, a feature film,The Chipmunk Adventure was released in 1987. Bagdasarian voices Alvin, Simon, and Dave Seville, and Karman voices Theodore andthe Chipettes (Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor).

Bagdasarian and Karman hold tight creative and financial control over theChipmunk franchise, reviewing each and every business contract in great detail. In the mid-90s, Bagdasarian bought out his brother's and sister's portions of theChipmunk rights, to take complete control of the franchise.^[4]

Bagdasarian licensed the rights to the Chipmunk characters toUniversal Pictures in 1996, resulting in a string of Universal-produceddirect-to-video films. Four years later, he and Karman sued them forbreach of contract, claiming that Universal failed to properly utilize, market, and merchandise the characters and hence resulting in a loss of royalties to Bagdasarian.^[6] The case was decided in Bagdasarian's favor. "For us, it was a custody battle", Karman said. "They finally realized 'OK, these two are really fighting for their kids'."^[4]

Bagdasarian marriedJanice Karman in 1980. She is the co-president of Bagdasarian Productions.^[7]

• History at Chipmunks.com
• Ross Bagdasarian Jr. atIMDb

• 1949 births
• Living people
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• American male voice actors
• American people of Armenian descent
• Animators from California
• Film producers from California
• Male actors from Fresno, California
• Record producers from California
• 20th-century American male actors
• 21st-century American male actors
• 20th-century American screenwriters

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