Rebecca Sugar | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sugar at the 2019Peabody Awards | |
| Born | Rebecca Sugar (1987-07-09)July 9, 1987 (age 38) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | School of Visual Arts (BFA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2007−present |
| Known for | Steven Universe |
| Spouse | |
Rebecca Sugar (born July 9, 1987) is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and musician. A pioneer ofLGBTQ representation in children's television, she[a] is best known for being the creator of theCartoon Network seriesSteven Universe, making her the firstnon-binary person to independently create a series for the network;[1] prior tocoming out as non-binary, Sugar was described as the first woman to do so.[2]
BeforeSteven Universe in 2013, Sugar was a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television seriesAdventure Time. Her work on the two series has earned her sevenPrimetime Emmy Award nominations in total.[3]
Sugar isbisexual, non-binary, and genderqueer,[4] using bothshe/her andthey/them pronouns.[5] Sugar's queerness has served as an inspiration for her to stress the importance ofLGBT representation in the arts, especially in children's entertainment.[6]
Sugar was raised in the Sligo Park Hills area ofSilver Spring, Maryland. She simultaneously attendedMontgomery Blair High School and the Visual Arts Center atAlbert Einstein High School[7] (where she was an arts semifinalist in the Presidential Scholar competition[8] and won Montgomery County's prestigious Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Arts Award),[9] both of which are located in Maryland. While at Blair, she drew several comics (called "The Strip" for the school's newspaper,Silver Chips) which won first place for comics in the Newspaper Individual Writing and Editing Contest. "The Strip" ran a comic challenging MCPS's new grading policy from 2005.[10] She went on to attend theSchool of Visual Arts in New York.[11] Sugar majored in animation and graduated with aBachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2009.[12]
According to Sugar's father Rob, Rebecca and her younger brother Steven were raised with what he called "Jewish sensibilities", and both siblings observe the lighting ofHanukkah candles with their parents viaSkype.[13]
Sugar played an important role in the creation ofnockFORCE, a cartoon series created by Ian Jones-Quartey and Jim Gisriel and launched in 2007 onYouTube. In particular, she contributed to the cartoon's backgrounds and characters.[14]
During her time at the School of Visual Arts, Sugar directed short animated films, includingJohnny Noodleneck (2008).[15] In 2009, she wrote and animatedSingles, in which frequent collaborator Ian Jones-Quartey acted as an assistant animator, assistant inker and voice actor on the project, while Sugar's brother Steven Sugar acted as an assistant colorist.[16] She completed this film as her thesis[16] and later officially released in August 22, 2025, on YouTube under her account.[17]
In 2010, Sugar published her first graphic novel,Pug Davis, featuring an astronaut dog and his gay sidekick Blouse.[18][19] She is also known for her comic "Don't Cry for Me, I'm Already Dead", a story about two brothers whose shared love ofThe Simpsons takes a tragic turn.[15]
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Sugar first joined the crew ofAdventure Time as astoryboard revisionist during the show'sfirst season.[20] Due to the quality of her work, within a month of being hired she was promoted to a storyboard artist, making her debut during the production of thesecond season.[13] Her first episode was "It Came from the Nightosphere".[21] While working on the show, she was encouraged by the creative team to put her "own life experiences into the character ofMarceline".[22] As she put it in an interview withPaper Magazine, she connected with indie and underground comic artists who worked on the show, likePendleton Ward,Patrick McHale andAdam Muto, who told her to do what she would do when drawing comics and to not hold anything back. She stated that some of the changes in animation for years to come were inspired by what the show was able to do by being "very artist-driven", by independent comic artists like herself.[23]
Production forSteven Universe began while Sugar was still working onAdventure Time. She continued working onAdventure Time until the show'sfifth season, whereupon she left in order to focus onSteven Universe. Her last episode forAdventure Time was "Simon & Marcy"; following that episode, working on both series simultaneously "became impossible to do". She had also previously encountered difficulty in the production of theAdventure Time episode "Bad Little Boy".[24] Sugar returned temporarily to write the song "Everything Stays" for theseventh season miniseriesStakes, and the song "Time Adventure" for the series finale,Come Along with Me.[25][26][27] Sugar returned for the Adventure Time spin offFionna and Cake to write the songs "Part of the Madness" and "Cake on the Loose".[28][29]
She was anexecutive producer forSteven Universe for its entire run, and a storyboard artist for several of its episodes; the series premiered on November 4, 2013 and concluded on January 21, 2019. She directed the full-lengthtelevision movie taking place after the fifth season ofSteven Universe, calledSteven Universe: The Movie, which premiered on September 2, 2019 on Cartoon Network.[30] The movie was followed by an epilogue limited series titledSteven Universe Future, also with Sugar as executive producer, which premiered on December 7, 2019[31] and concluded on March 27, 2020.
Between October 2020 and April 2021, the anti-racismPSAs "Don't Deny It, Defy It", "Tell the Whole Story", "See Color", and "Be An Ally", that she worked on withIan Jones-Quartey, featuring characters fromSteven Universe, were released on the Cartoon Network YouTube channel.[32][33]
In June 2024, it was announced that Sugar would write a newAdventure Time movie alongside fellow franchise alums Adam Muto and Patrick McHale, marking her return to the franchise.[34]
On June 11, 2025, at anAnnecy International Animation Film Festival event, it was announced that a sequel series toSteven Universe, entitledSteven Universe: Lars of the Stars, was in development withPrime Video, withCartoon Network Studios producing it, while Sugar andIan Jones-Quartey will be executive producers. During the event, Sugar said she missed her world and characters, and said she couldn't wait to share the series and thanked everyone for their support.[35][36] Sugar also toldThe Wrap that theSteven Universe characters and world are important to her, said she was "thrilled" to do the series, and said the biggest part for her was that she is "co-creating it with Ian Jones-Quartey," and noted that all she wants to do is "make cartoons with him."[37]
In the "Froggy Little Christmas" episode ofAmphibia, a 22-minute Christmas special which aired on November 27, 2021, Sugar voiced a street performer who sang a musical number which Sugar had written. Sugar was not credited for her contribution to the episode.[38][39] Matt Braly, the creator ofAmphibia, praised her song as "really amazing" and saying that it had been stuck in his head and that of the crew for months.[40] Her role in the episode was confirmed bythe series art book, saying that the song she wrote was meant to "bring the story together thematically."[41]
In December 2023, it was announced thatSony Pictures Animation was developing a fantasy-adventure film directed byMatt Braly, with the script written by Sugar and Braly.[42]
On June 12, 2025,Adult Swim announced that Sugar alongsideIan Jones-Quartey,Patrick McHale, andPendleton Ward were developing an animated special under the title"The Elephant" slated for a 2026 release.[43]
On October 6, 2025, it was announced that Sugar was writing and directing an animated movie based on theMoomins franchise withAnnapurna Pictures and Julia Pistor as producer.[44]
On September 17, 2023, Sugar announced on social media her first personalmusic album,Spiral Bound, which was released on November 3, 2023.[45][46] In a video for theSchool of Visual Arts in September 2024, Sugar said it was challenging to write a song herself, that she "didn’t know how to start" and decided to write original songs for a cartoon character she created, noted that previously she had made a lot of art out of a "quest forperfection" andself-destruction, and said that much of what she does at the present goes back to her time at the school. SVA described the album as inspired by "three years of dailyjournaling and sketching in spiral-bound notebooks" and chronicling the process of healing from "extremeburnout and unresolvedtrauma."[47]
On June 4, 2025, Sugar announced her second album,Lonely Magic, with posts on social media featuring a short teaser animation detailing the album's release date, August 29. She said that the album would have "true songs about magic."[48][49] Sugar would later discuss this music, and have screenings of three music videos using songs from the album, along with a panel with Sugar, Jones-Quartey, and others, and have a "special" music performance, at an invitation-only event atSVA on November 8, 2025.[50]
In 2015, Sugar designed the album cover ofTrue Romance forEstelle, the voice of Garnet onSteven Universe.[51]
In December 2016, comic book publisherYouth in Decline featured Sugar's sketches and story notes for her unpublished comicMargo in Bed as issue #14 of the art/comics anthology seriesFrontier.[52][53]
In 2018, Sugar was featured in R&B singerGallant's 2018 song "TOOGOODTOBETRUE", along withSufjan Stevens.[54]
On February 24, 2025,Keita Takahashi, creator of theKatamari series of games, announced his new gameTo a T to be released on May 28. The game's trailer featured a new song performed by Sugar titled "Giraffe Song".[55]
Sugar has discussed the importance of creating LGBTQ representation and content, especially in children's entertainment. OnCameron Esposito's podcastQueery, Sugar stated, "I want to champion LGBTQIA, all of it, content ... in G-Rated, family entertainment. I want to do that forever".[6] She also explained howSteven Universe has helped her come to terms with her own identity as bisexual andnon-binary. She believes that early and positive exposure to theLGBTQ community can helpqueer identifying children avoid experiencing shame in their own identities.[56][57]
As for influences, Sugar has citedWhisper of the Heart as her "absolute favorite" film and as a major influence on her work, even providing an introduction for screenings in July 2019.[58][59] She also cited the anime seriesRevolutionary Girl Utena as an "epiphany" for her, by playing with "the semiotics of gender" and called it beautiful, funny, and extreme, having a huge influence on her, and noted the "hugeTakarazuka Theater influence" inSteven Universe.[60][61] Additionally, she describedNeon Genesis Evangelion as a major influence, while her seriesSteven Universe has references toSailor Moon,Dragon Ball,Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann,Captain Harlock,Kiki's Delivery Service, andInitial D.[62][63]
In February 2016,Ian Jones-Quartey confirmed viaTwitter that he and Sugar were in a romantic relationship; at the time of the tweet, the two had been together for eight years.[64] He added that they met when Sugar was at the School of Visual Arts in New York. They were married on December 4, 2019.[65]
In July 2016, Sugar said at aSan Diego Comic-Con panel that the LGBT themes inSteven Universe are in large part based on her own experience as abisexual woman.[66] In a July 2018 interview onNPR,[67] Sugar said that she created the series' Gems as non-binary women to express herself, as a non-binary woman, through them.[5][68] In August 2020, she said she "didn't identify as a woman" but had felt pressure to conceal that fact due to being known as the first woman to create a Cartoon Network series.[23] In October 2020, in the final art book forSteven Universe, Sugar said that she loved being able to place her experiences in a different context "through a nonbinary lens" when writing characters for the show.[69] As of 2022, Sugar goes by bothshe/her andthey/them pronouns.[70]
In March 2020, Sugar expressed support for SenatorBernie Sanders'ssecond presidential bid.[71] In April 2020, Sugar narrated a video titledLet My People Go, a video created by the organizationNever Again Action. The video talks aboutU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees and the poor living conditions they were experiencing in light of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[72]
Sugar's work onAdventure Time gainedPrimetime Emmy Award for Short-format Animation nominations for the episode "It Came from the Nightosphere" in 2011 and for the episode "Simon & Marcy" in 2013.[73] The show also earned multipleAnnie Award nominations. These included, Best Storyboarding in a Television Production in 2012[74] and Story-boarding in an Animated Television Production in 2013.[75]
ForSteven Universe, Sugar has been nominated for several media industry awards, including six Primetime Emmy Awards. She and the series have received, among others, the 2018Peabody Award for Children's & Youth Programming and the 2019GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Program; in 2015 the series was named to theJames Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List.
In 2012,Forbes magazine included her on its "30 Under 30 in Entertainment" list, noting that she was responsible for writing "many of the best episodes" ofAdventure Time.[2]
Variety included Sugar in "Hollywood's New Leaders 2016: The Creatives", a list celebrating upcoming filmmakers, show-runners and creators in bothtraditional anddigital media.[76]
In 2025, a South American flower of the genusCommelina was namedCommelina sugariae in honour of Sugar's artistic achievements. The same authors named another speciesC. almandina, a name referring to thegarnet colour of the "gem-like" fruits, in honour of the characterGarnet fromSteven Universe, "because it brings much-needed attention to BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ researchers in STEM."[77]
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Composer | Other | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Singles | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film; also animator | [17] |
| 2012 | Hotel Transylvania | No | No | No | Storyboard artist | [78] | |
| TBA | UntitledSony Pictures Animation film | No | Yes | TBA | TBA | Co-written with directorMatt Braly | [42] |
| UntitledMoomins film | Yes | [79] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–13 | Adventure Time | Story writer, storyboard artist, songwriter, storyboard revisionist | 34 episodes |
| 2015 | Voice role: Marceline's mother | Episode: "Stakes Part 2: Everything Stays" | |
| 2013–19 | Steven Universe | Creator, executive producer, storyline writer, storyboard artist, songwriter | Television series |
| 2017–19 | OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes | Writer and performer of end titles | Television series |
| 2019 | Steven Universe: The Movie | Creator, director, executive producer, writer, storyboard artist, composer, songwriter | Television film |
| 2019–20 | Steven Universe Future | Creator, executive producer | Limited television series |
| 2021 | Amphibia | Songwriter ("Our Special Time of Year", uncredited)[80] | Episode: "Froggy Little Christmas" |
| Voice role: street performer "Becka Salt" (uncredited)[80] | |||
| 2023 | Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake | Songwriter | Episodes: "Simon Petrikov" and "Cake the Cat" |
| 2026 | The Elephant | Creator, screenwriter, animator | Animated special[43] |
| TBA | Steven Universe: Lars of the Stars | Co-creator, executive producer | Television series |
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| Year | Title | Details | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Spiral Bound |
| Composer / lyricist / vocalist / publisher |
| 2025 | Lonely Magic |
| Composer / lyricist / vocalist / ukelelist |
| Year | Title | Details | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Steven Universe/Soundtrack: Volume 1 |
| Composer/lyricist/vocalist |
| 2018 | Adventure Time: Come Along With Me (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist/vocalist |
| 2018 | We Deserve To Shine |
| Lyricist |
| 2019 | Steven Universe//Soundtrack: Volume 2 |
| Composer/lyricist/vocalist |
| 2019 | Steven Universe//Karaoke |
| Composer |
| 2019 | Adventure Time, Vol. 1 (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2019 | Adventure Time, Vol. 2 (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2019 | Adventure Time, Vol. 3 (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist/vocalist |
| 2019 | Steven Universe: The Movie (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2019 | Marceline Canta: Timeless Songs |
| Composer |
| 2020 | Steven Universe Future (Original Soundtrack) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2020 | BMO's Mixtape (Gilligan Moss Mix) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2020 | Steven Universe Future (VGR Remix) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2021 | Cartoon Network Theme Songs (Holiday Remix) |
| Composer/lyricist |
| 2023 | Season 1 - Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (Soundtrack from the animated series) |
| Composer/lyricist/vocalist |
| Year | Title | Details | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | TOOGOODTOBETRUE |
| Featured artist/ukelele |
| 2018 | This Song Does Not Fit |
| Featured artist/ukelele |
| 2025 | Giraffe Song (Game Edit) |
| Featured artist/vocalist |
| 2025 | To a T (Original Videogame Soundtrack) |
| Featured artist/vocalist |
the project features an animation superstar lineup of talent including "Steven Universe" creator Rebecca Sugar
Braly will direct from his script written with Rebecca Sugar (Cartoon Network's Steven Universe).
The trailer features a musical performance of Giraffe Song, which is sung by Rebecca Sugar, who's best known for being the creator of Steven Universe.
In the version I saw, there was an introduction by Steven Universe's Rebecca Sugar (which made seeing all the stone and gem references in the movie that much more fantastic), who stated that part of the reason she loved the film so much was it was all about showing artists and creative people putting in the work to develop their craft.
...I met a VERY nice street performer named Becka Salt the other day, and they were singing this lovely song - a holiday original.
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