Matt Braly facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Matt Braly
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Braly in 2019
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| Born |
Matthew Benjakarn Braly
November 8, 1988 Sacramento, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | California Institute of the Arts |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 2010–present |
| Known for | Amphibia |
| Spouse(s) |
Katherine Bedrosian
(m. 2018) |
| Parent(s) |
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Matthew Benjakarn Braly (born November 8, 1988) is an American animator, writer, and director. He is famous for creating the Disney Channel cartoon series Amphibia. He also directed episodes for other popular shows like Gravity Falls and Big City Greens.
Contents
Matt Braly's Career Journey
Starting in Animation
Matt Braly decided to work in animation after a special day at his high school. A Pixar animator visited and drew a character from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This made Matt realize he wanted to create animated stories for a living.
He studied at the California Institute of the Arts, a well-known art school. Matt graduated in 2010. After school, he joined DreamWorks Animation. There, he worked as a storyboard artist for the movie Turbo (2013). A storyboard artist draws pictures that show how a scene will look, like a comic book version of the movie.
Working on Gravity Falls
While at DreamWorks, Matt and other artists visited Alex Hirsch. Alex was creating a show called Gravity Falls (2012–16) for Disney. Matt liked Alex's student films from their shared art school. Alex told Matt about his new show, and Matt was very interested.
Matt took a test and was hired to work on Gravity Falls. He became a storyboard artist and director for the series. Matt says Alex Hirsch taught him a lot about telling stories and creating characters and worlds. This experience inspired Matt to make his own show one day. Gravity Falls was very popular and ran from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, Matt won an Annie Award for directing the Gravity Falls episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery".
Creating Amphibia
After directing on Big City Greens, Matt Braly created his own series called Amphibia for Disney Channel. The show is about a Thai-American girl named Anne Boonchuy. She finds herself in a magical world filled with talking frogs and other amphibians.
Matt was inspired by his own childhood trips to Bangkok, Thailand. He felt like an outsider there at first, but he loved it and didn't want to leave. He also got ideas from video games like The Legend of Zelda and Chrono Trigger. Matt is Thai-American himself, and he wanted to create a Thai main character because there were not many on TV when he was growing up.
Amphibia aired for three seasons, from 2019 to 2022. Matt considers the final episode, "The Hardest Thing," his favorite.
Future Projects
After Amphibia finished in 2022, Matt left Disney Television Animation. In 2023, he wrote a Sonic the Hedgehog online comic strip.
In December 2023, it was announced that Matt will direct a new fantasy-adventure movie for Sony Pictures Animation. He co-wrote the story with Rebecca Sugar. The film will be about a sick boy who travels to a special Thai spirit world. Matt is also working on a graphic novel called Family Force V, which will be published in 2025. He is also helping to develop a series of short cartoons that explore important social topics.
Matt Braly's Personal Life
Matt Braly is of Thai descent. His mother, On Braly, even voiced the character of Mrs. Boonchuy in Amphibia! Matt and his wife, Katherine Bedrosian, went to high school together. They got married on April 21, 2018.
As a child, Matt loved watching movies filmed in Thailand, like Mortal Kombat (1995), because they showed Thai people. He also enjoyed drawing characters from games like Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog. Matt is a big fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog games. The opening of the Sonic X anime even inspired a big moment in the Amphibia episode "True Colors". He also loves horror films, which inspired the Amphibia episode "The Shut-In".
Matt is also a fan of the Disney series Gargoyles and the movie The Princess and the Frog. Some of the voice actors from those shows appeared in Amphibia. Matt and his wife also enjoy RuPaul's Drag Race, and RuPaul himself had a role in Amphibia's third season.
Filmography
Films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Storyboard artist |
Others | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Adam and Dog | No | No | No | Yes | Assistant animator Short film |
| 2013 | Turbo | No | No | Yes | No | |
| 2021 | The Mitchells vs. the Machines | No | No | Yes | No | Uncredited |
| TBA | Untitled Sony Pictures Animation film | Yes | Yes | TBA | TBA | Co-written with Rebecca Sugar |
Television
| Year | Title | Creator | Producer | Writer | Storyboard artist |
Director | Actor | Others | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–16 | Gravity Falls | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | 8 episodes Key animator |
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| 2014 | Steven Universe | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Episode: "Lars and the Cool Kids" | |
| 2017 | Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Storyboard revisionist Episodes: "Lab Friends... Forever?" and "Surviving Billy" |
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| DuckTales | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Additional character designer Episode: "Woo-oo!" |
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| 2018 | Big City Greens | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | 7 episodes | |
| 2019–22 | Amphibia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Chuck Newtopian gatekeeper The Seamstress Additional voices |
Executive producer |
| 2023 | The Owl House | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Special Thanks Episode: "Watching and Dreaming" |
Awards and Nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 43rd Annie Awards | Outstanding Achievement, Directing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production | Gravity Falls (for "Northwest Mansion Mystery") | Won | |
| 2021 | Daytime Emmys | Outstanding Children's Animated Series | Amphibia | Nominated | |
| 2022 | Annie Awards | Best TV/Media – Children | "True Colors" | Nominated | |
| 33rd GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Kids and Family Programming | Amphibia | Nominated | ||
| Children's and Family Emmys | Outstanding Writing for an Animated Program | Amphibia | Nominated | ||
| 2023 | 34th GLAAD Media Awards | Outstanding Kids and Family Programming | Amphibia | Nominated |
See also
In Spanish: Matt Braly para niños
