Alex Hirsch


Alexander Robert Hirsch is an American animator, voice actor, writer, storyboard artist, and producer. He is the creator of the Disney Channel series Gravity Falls, for which he provided the voices of Grunkle Stan, Soos, and Bill Cipher, among others. He also earned BAFTA and Annie Awards for the series. In 2016, Hirsch co-authored Gravity Falls: Journal 3 which debuted as a No. 1 New York Times Best Seller and remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for forty-seven weeks. In 2018, Hirsch wrote Gravity Falls: Lost Legends which also appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Early life and education

Hirsch was born in Piedmont, California on June 18, 1985. He has a twin sister named Ariel. His father is Jewish, and he was raised agnostic, celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Between the ages of 9 and 13, Hirsch and his twin sister would go stay with their great-aunt Lois, at her cabin in the woods during the summer. These experiences later served as Hirsch's inspiration for Gravity Falls. He graduated from Piedmont High School where, as a junior, he won the school's annual Bird Calling Contest in 2002 and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Hirsch went on to attend the California Institute of the Arts where he created a variety of projects and short films including his senior film, Off The Wall, which combined animation and live action. He also spent the summer of 2006 working in Portland, Oregon on a later-scrapped animated film for Laika. He graduated from the college in 2007.

Career

Hirsch's first job after graduating from CalArts was as a writer and storyboard artist for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack on Cartoon Network where he worked alongside fellow CalArts alumni, J. G. Quintel, Pendleton Ward, and Patrick McHale. He would go on to develop the pilot for the Disney Channel series, Fish Hooks along with Maxwell Atoms and future Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland.
In 2012, Hirsch created the series Gravity Falls for the Disney Channel. The show, set in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, premiered in June 2012 with a voice cast including Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, and Hirsch himself. Over the course of the series, he provided the voices of Grunkle Stan, Soos, Old Man McGucket, Bill Cipher, and many other minor characters. The show was moved to Disney XD in 2014. It would go on to win a BAFTA Children's Award and an Annie Award in 2015 and was nominated for several other awards. Hirsch ended Gravity Falls in February 2016 to pursue other projects.
In July 2016, Hirsch threw a global treasure hunt for Gravity Falls fans with clues hidden throughout the world including in the United States, Japan, and Russia. The goal of the hunt was to find a statue of the Gravity Falls character, Bill Cipher. After two weeks, fans of the show discovered the statue in Reedsport, Oregon. The hunt coincided with the release of Hirsch's tie-in book, Gravity Falls: Journal 3, which was released on July 26, 2016 and eventually became a No. 1 New York Times Best Seller and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for nearly a year. Due to the successful sales of Gravity Falls: Journal 3, a special edition of the book was released on June 13, 2017 and limited to 10,000 copies. The Gravity Falls: Journal 3 Special Edition contains blacklight writing, parchment pages, a monocle, removable photos and notes, and other features that were not included in the regular edition of the book.
In February 2018, Hirsch used his Twitter account to announce an official Gravity Falls graphic novel, through a series of puzzle pieces that he would release throughout the day. Put together the puzzle pieces revealed the cover of Gravity Falls: Lost Legends; 4 All-New Adventures! which was written by Hirsch was released on July 24, 2018 and also became a New York Times Best Seller.
Outside of Gravity Falls, Hirsch has done voice work for a number of projects including Phineas and Ferb, Rick and Morty, and as the announcer for the Chelsea Peretti special, One of the Greats. In August 2016, it was announced that Hirsch was in negotiations to co-write the live-action Pokémon movie, ', alongside Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel writer Nicole Perlman. However, he left the project early into the production before writing any of the script. Hirsch was a story contributor to Sony's animated Spider-Man film, '.
On August 27, 2018, Hirsch signed a deal with American streaming company Netflix for a multi-year deal, according to Variety, thus led to the green-light of Inside Job, which he co-executive produces alongside the creator and show-runner Shion Takeuchi.
He is currently the voice of King in the Disney Channel animated series The Owl House, created by Dana Terrace. The show premiered on January 10, 2020.

Personal life

Gravity Falls was inspired by Hirsch's own childhood experiences and his relationship with his own twin sister growing up during their summer vacations. He placed many of his real-life experiences in the show, like living in Piedmont and trick-or-treating with his sister as kids. Dipper Pines, one of the lead characters of Gravity Falls, is based on Hirsch's memory of how it felt to be a kid. When Hirsch was around Dipper's age, he "would record self and play it backwards and try to learn to speak backwards." Hirsch described himself as "that neurotic kid who would carry 16 disposable cameras everywhere I went." The character Mabel Pines was inspired by his twin sister, Ariel Hirsch. According to Hirsch, just like Mabel, his sister "really did wear wacky sweaters and have a different ridiculous crush, every week." In the series Mabel gets a pet pig, just like his sister had always wanted when she was a kid. The character of Grunkle Stan was inspired by Hirsch's grandpa Stan, who according to Hirsch "was a guy that told tall tales and would frequently mess with us to get a rise out of us. So, my family really inspired the characters on the show."
Hirsch, along with Dana Terrace, have done multiple charity live streams, in which they draw cartoons to raise money for various organizations including Planned Parenthood, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The Southern Poverty Law Center, Direct Relief, The Trevor Project, and RAICES. All together totaling over $270,000 raised.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Nominations and awards

YearAwardCategoryNomineeResultRef
201542nd Annie AwardsBest Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children's AudienceGravity Fallsrowspan="2"
201520th British Academy Children's AwardsBest International SeriesGravity Falls-
201643rd Annie AwardsBest Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Children's AudienceGravity Fallsrowspan="4"
201643rd Annie AwardsBest Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast ProductionAlex Hirsch-
201675th Annual Peabody AwardsExcellence in Children's/Youth ProgrammingGravity Falls-
201744th Annie AwardsBest Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast ProductionAlex Hirsch-