Joe Ansolabehere | |
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| Born | Joseph Michael Ansolabehere (1959-06-18)June 18, 1959 (age 66) Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, producer |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Known for | Recess (1997–2001),Recess: School's Out (2001),Lloyd in Space (2001–2004) |
Joseph Michael Ansolabehere (born June 18, 1959) is an American writer and producer. He is the co-creator ofRecess andLloyd in Space with partner and friendPaul Germain; they form the team Paul & Joe Productions.[1] He also served as a story editor on the first 65 episodes ofRugrats, as well as a co-producer and story editor of the first season ofHey Arnold!
Ansolabehere has a daughter, Jean, who is also a writer. His son Hugo was born in 2013. Ansolabehere is married to costume designer Dorotka Sapinska. He currently lives inNew Zealand.
Born inSacramento, California, ofBasque descent, Ansolabehere is the oldest of five brothers. His brotherStephen is a political scientist and Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government atHarvard. His brother Paul is a vice president of Anagram in Minneapolis,[citation needed] and his youngest brother, Louis, is a computer technician. As children they moved around often, living inDetroit,Champaign,Reno-Sparks, andMinneapolis.[2]
Ansolabehere graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, and then went to UCLA for film school, where he was introduced to the world of animation.
In the early 1980s, Ansolabehere partnered withSteve Viksten to write screenplays. Together they wrote and sold several comedy screenplays, includingSurfin CIA,Exterminators,Crooked Affair, andSitting Ducks. None of their scripts were ever produced, and by the end of the 1980s, Ansolabehere found himself working for his friends atRhythm and Hues as a producer of computer animation, mostly for commercials. While working at R&H, Ansolabehere was contacted by an old friend from UCLA,Paul Germain. Germain had recently co-created (withArlene Klasky andGabor Csupo) and sold the showRugrats toNickelodeon, and was looking for writers.
In 1990, Ansolabehere began working onRugrats, first with Viksten, and then on his own.[3] He eventually became one of the first head story editors on the show. During his tenure, the show won a slew of Emmys and became a massive hit for Nickelodeon.[citation needed]
It was here that he metCraig Bartlett (who had been the first story editor on the show). They became friends, and a few years later when Bartlett soldHey Arnold! toNickelodeon, he asked Ansolabehere to work on it with him. He co-wrote the pilot, and co-produced the first two seasons. The show has remained a cult hit for years, with a huge internet following of die-hardArnold fans.[citation needed]
Ansolabehere then partnered with Paul Germain to createRecess for Disney.[4] TheRecess playground was based on Ansolabehere and Germain's own elementary school memories, and the characters were all based on friends they knew back then. The show became ABC's biggest Saturday morning hit of the late 1990s. It spawned a feature film,Recess: School's Out, which Ansolabehere and Germain wrote and produced in 2001.[5][6]
With Germain, Ansolabehere also created and produced the animated seriesLloyd in Space for Disney, and developed and produced the showPound Puppies forThe Hub, receiving the 2012 Humanitas Award for the episode "I Never Barked for My Father".
He worked for Disney Jr. from 2011 to 2017, writing forSheriff Callie's Wild West[7] andMiles from Tomorrowland, then story editing the first season ofGoldie and Bear.[8]
Other animatedtelevision shows Ansolabehere has written and produced for includeBeethoven,Duckman,Dinosaur Train,Peter Rabbit,Henry Hugglemonster,Let's Go Luna! andMotown. He was credited as a screenwriter onTinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.
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