Seth MacFarlane

Some Lesser Known Facts About Seth MacFarlane

• Seth MacFarlane is of English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. His lineage includes deep Colonial American roots in Massachusetts. He was raised Roman Catholic but turned it into a joke by age 11 and became an atheist.

• As a child, Seth MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration, and at the age of two, he began drawing cartoon characters such as Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker.

  

• By age five, Seth MacFarlane knew he wanted to pursue a career in animation and began by creating flip books after his parents found a book on the subject for him.

• When Seth was growing up, his parents exposed him to Broadway, movie musicals, and the Great American Songbook. Meanwhile, his cousin named Shep introduced him to the filmmaker Woody Allen and Seth instantly became a huge fan of his movies.

• When he was nine years old, Seth began publishing a weekly comic strip named ‘Walter Crouton’ for the local newspaper named ‘The Kent Good Times Dispatch.’ The daily newspaper company used to pay him five dollars per week for his work.

• Seth MacFarlane mentioned in an interview that since his childhood days, he has always been fascinated by the Communion ceremony, which is a Christian ceremony honoring Jesus’ Last Supper in which believers share bread and wine or grape juice as a symbolic act of remembrance.

• Before he entered his teenage years, Seth created a performing act related to the Communion ceremony in which the character was shown kneeling at the altar, taking Communion and asking ‘Can I have fries with that?.’

• The newspaper company, The Kent Good Times Dispatch’ published his skit about the Communion ceremony and it made Seth receive an angry letter from a local priest.

• While studying in high school, Seth MacFarlane continued experimenting with animation, and his parents gave him an 8 mm camera.

• While being a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Seth aimed to eventually work for Disney, but he changed his mind after watching the American animated sitcom titled ‘The Simpsons’ and decided against it due to criticism from religious welfare groups.

• During his time at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Seth used to do stand-up comedy shows. He also starred in many student films.

• Seth MacFarlane has been famous in the world for his baritone voice.

• Seth MacFarlane is a skilled pianist, and he has a nine-foot piano at home which he plays every night after work, as of 2025.

• During the initial years of his career, Seth MacFarlane used to take training lessons from the American soprano singer and teacher named Sally Sweetland. He was also given voice training by a 90-year-old couple who also trained the American singer and actor Frank Sinatra.

• In the mid-1990s, Seth MacFarlane made his thesis animated short film titled ‘The Life of Larry,’ which eventually led to the development of the animated sitcom titled ‘Family Guy’ (1999).

• One of his professors at the university submitted his film ‘The Life of Larry’ to the now dissolved animation studio named ‘Hanna-Barbera’ (now called Cartoon Network Studios), where everyone was impressed with Seth’s work, which eventually led to him getting hired at the company.

• In the late 1990s, Seth MacFarlane was recruited into the Hanna-Barbera company during the senior film festival by the then-development executive Ellen Cockrill and President Fred Seibert.

• He was hired in the company based on the writing content of his animated short film titled ‘The Life of Larry’ rather than on his drawing abilities.

• Seth was one of only a few people hired by the company solely based on writing talent.

• In 1997, Seth worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network’s ‘Cartoon Cartoons’ series.

• Seth MacFarlane worked on three television series during his tenure at the Cartoon Network Studios, and those were ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ (1996-1999), ‘Cow and Chicken’ (1997), and ‘Johnny Bravo’ (1997).

• As a part of the Johnny Bravo crew, he met actors and voiceover artists such as Adam West and Jack Sheldon, and these people later became significant to the production and success of his ‘Family Guy’ series.

• In the late 1990s, Seth worked as a freelance writer for the American animation production company Walt Disney Television Animation’s animated series ‘Jungle Cubs’ (1996).

• He also worked as a freelance writer for the Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company ‘Nelvana Limited’s animated TV series titled ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’ (1997).

• Seth enjoyed working at Hanna-Barbera (Cartoon Network), but he felt the need to expand his career to prime-time animation, and that is when he first pitched ‘Family Guy’ to Fox Entertainment company during his tenure at Hanna-Barbera in the late 1990s.

• One of the development executives working at the Fox Entertainment company introduced Seth MacFarlane to Leslie Kolins and Mike Darnell, who were the heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox at that time.

• The Fox Entertainment company gave Seth a strange deal. They gave him a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $98,000 in 2025) to produce a ‘pilot’ (a standalone episode used to sell the proof of concept of a new show to television network executives in hopes of receiving a green light to produce an entire series).

• Recalling the whole incident, Seth was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot.”

• After six months, Seth MacFarlane returned to Fox Entertainment with the pilot of ‘Family Guy,’ and the company executives loved the pilot and immediately ordered the series. In July 1998, they announced the purchase of ‘Family Guy.’

• In 1998, Seth MacFarlane founded his American film and television production company named ‘Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc.’ The name of the company was derived from the name of his apartment when he attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). The door to the house was covered in fur.

• In 1999, Seth MacFarlane created, produced, and voiced the American animated sitcom ‘Family Guy’ was released and premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company on the Fox TV channel.

  

• At the age of 24, Seth MacFarlane became television’s youngest executive producer.

• Seth MacFarlane’s work in animating ‘Family Guy’ was influenced by the American comedian Jackie Gleason and the development executive of Fox channel named Hanna-Barbera, along with some examples from the American sitcom titled ‘The Simpsons’ and the American sitcom TV series titled ‘All in the Family.’

• Seth voices many characters of Family Guy‘s including the main male characters of Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Brian Griffin.

• His musical influences include Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Vic Damone, Johnny Mercer, and Bing Crosby.

• In 2001, he gave a speech at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design and the next morning, he was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11, which was one of the planes hijacked in the September 11 attacks (9/11 attacks).

• Due to a hangover after the previous night’s celebrations at the Rhode Island, and an incorrect departure time by his travel agent, Seth arrived at Logan International Airport ten minutes late to board the flight, as the gates were closed by then.

• Fortunately, he was unable to board the flight that was hijacked and later deliberately crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in New York.

• Recalling the entire incident, Seth was quoted saying in an interview that
  

  The only reason it hasn’t really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn’t really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. I really can’t let it affect me because I’m a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head.”

• In 2005, Seth created an American animated sitcom TV series titled ‘American Dad!’ for the Fox Broadcasting Company and he also voiced a few characters of the series.

• Being an active supporter of the Democratic political party, Seth donated over $200,000 to various Democratic committees during the 2008 presidential campaign of then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama.

• In 2007, Seth MacFarlane actively participated in the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. The strike ended on 12 February 2008.

  

• In 2009, he appeared as a vocalist at an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral named ‘BBC Proms’ with the John Wilson Orchestra in Prom 22 titled ‘A Celebration of Classic MGM Film Musicals.’

• In 2010, Seth signed a record deal with the American record label company ‘Universal Republic Records.’

• In the same year, he lent his voice to the character of ‘I.S.R.A.E.L’ in the American adult animated parody musical black comedy film titled ‘The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!,’ which was based on the Comedy Central animated sitcom titled ‘Drawn Together.’

• In 2011, Seth MacFarlane stepped away from the series ‘Family Guy’ to work on the American fantasy comedy film titled ‘Ted’ and other projects, and he has only been associated with the show as a voice actor since then.

• In the same year, Seth MacFarlane was named the Harvard Humanist of the Year (2011) for “his active, passionate commitment to humanist values, and his fearless support of equal marriage rights and other social justice issues.”

• During an appearance on a TV talk show in 2015, Seth admitted to having smoked cannabis. He was quoted saying that
  

  There was one Thanksgiving…my sister and I were wondering if we, in this modern era, brought some pot into the house on Thanksgiving, if they would smoke it, and so we all did.”

• He is also a supporter of legalising cannabis in the United States.

• In 2012, he became the world’s highest-paid television writer.

• In the early 2000s, Seth took part in a series of celebrity roast specials titled ‘Comedy Central Roast,’ which was telecast on the Comedy Central TV channel. He was the only person to serve as roastmaster for more than one roast.

• In 2012, Seth, along with the American actress Emma Stone, hosted the 85th Academy Awards, which were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

• In 2012, Seth MacFarlane co-produced, directed, wrote, and acted in the American fantasy comedy film titled ‘Ted,’ and the film was Seth’s feature-length directorial debut. Seth played the character of Ted (voice and motion capture) in the film.

• In the same year, Seth donated money to create ‘The Seth MacFarlane Collection of the Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive’ at the Library of Congress. The collection opened on 12 November 2013. He was quoted as saying in an interview about this project that
  

  The work of Carl Sagan has been a profound influence in my life, and the life of every individual who recognises the importance of humanity’s ongoing commitment to the exploration of our universe. The continuance of our journey outward into space should always occupy some part of our collective attention.”

• In 2012, he was nominated for an Oscar for his film titled ‘Ted.’ Seth found out about the Oscar nomination while announcing the 85th Academy Award nominations with Emma Stone.

• In 2014, the International Astronomers Union (IAU) renamed an asteroid 1999-UL46 to ‘70713 SethMcFarlane,’ stating his role as a founding member of the Board of Advisors to the Science and Entertainment Exchange, which was a Los Angeles branch office of the National Academy of Sciences.

• In 2015, Seth endorsed Bernie Sanders for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

• In the sixteenth season of ‘Family Guy’ (2017-2018), Seth made an episode titled ‘Boy (Dog) Meets Girl (Dog),’ which was entirely based on his experience of missing the American Airlines Flight 11, which was crashed in the 9/11 attack.

• In 2017, Seth MacFarlane was cast in the American heist comedy film titled ‘Logan Lucky,’ in which he played the character of a pretentious British businessman named Max Chilblain.

• In 2019, he supported Pete Buttigieg in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In the same year, he signed a $200 million deal with American multinational mass media and entertainment company NBCUniversal to develop television projects for both internal and external networks, including the company’s then-developing streaming service Peacock.

• In the same year, he was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Television at 6259 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

• Seth considers many people as his comedy influences, and some of them include Woody Allen, Jackie Gleason, Matt Groening, and Norman Lear.

• During the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Seth MacFarlane donated $1 million to The Entertainment Community Fund to support film and television workers during strikes.

• He endorsed Joe Biden again for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. After Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy, Seth MacFarlane endorsed Kamala Harris.

• In 2024, Seth MacFarlane partnered up with the American Filmmaker Martin Scorsese to showcase ‘Back from the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts,’ which was the first ever curated restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1930s to 1940s.

• Seth MacFarlane has been the executive producer for a few American sitcoms and some of them are ‘The Winner’ (2007), ‘Dads’ (2013), ‘Blunt Talk’ (2015), and ‘Good Times: Black Again’ (2024).

• In the same year, Seth lent his voice to the character of Stewie Griffin in the American animated short film titled ‘May the 12th Be with You,’ which was based on the television series titled ‘The Simpsons.’

• Seth MacFarlane and Martin Scorsese funded the restoration of ‘Back from the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts,’ and worked in collaboration with the UCLA Film and Television Archive and The Film Foundation, with Paramount Pictures Archives.

• Seth MacFarlane is a supporter of Gay rights.
  

  I’m incredibly passionate about my support for the gay community and what they’re dealing with at this current point in time.”

• He is a frequent speaking guest on college campuses and has spoken at many prestigious universities, including Harvard University, George Washington University, University of Texas at Austin, Bowling Green State University, and University of California, Los Angeles.

• Seth MacFarlane has lent his voice to many films and some of them include ‘Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story’ (2005), ‘The Negotiating Table’ (2008), ‘Hellboy II: The Golden Army’ (2008), ‘Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder’ (2009), and ‘Sing’ (2016).

• In an interview, Seth states some of his similarities with the character Brian Griffin from his animated sitcom ‘Family Guy,’ and he was quoted saying that
  

  I have some Brian type issues from time to time, looking for the right person, but I date as much as the next guy.”

• Seth has been part of many films and some of them include ‘Tooth Fairy’ (2010) and ‘Movie 43’ (2013).

• Seth MacFarlane has produced, acted, and directed many American films and some of them are ‘The Life of Larry’ (1995), ‘Inside the CIA’ (2005), ‘A Million Ways to Die in the West’ (2014), and ‘Ted 2’ (2015).

  

• Seth has written and lent his voice in many TV series and some of them include ‘What a Cartoon!’ (1997), ‘Cow and Chicken’ (1997), ‘The Cleveland Show’ (2009-2013), ‘Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump’ (2011), and ‘The Orville’ (2017).

• He has been the host of many award ceremonies and some of them include ’59th Primetime Emmy Awards’ (2007), ’85th Academy Awards’ (2013), ‘2015 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony’ (2014), and ‘2016 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony’ (2015).

• He took the inspiration of the character Peter Griffin’s voice of ‘Family Guy’ from a loud-mouthed security guard who worked on the campus where he attended college (Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)).

• Seth MacFarlane got inspired by the American sitcom TV series titled ‘All in the Family’ (1971) to start writing for television. American screenwriter Norman Lear was his mentor.

• He always uses the kitchen counter for writing scripts.

• He occasionally consumes alcohol, and he didn’t drink his first beer until he was 23.

  

• Seth MacFarlane has released many studio albums titled ‘No One Ever Tells You’ (2015), ‘Once in a While’ (2019). ‘Great Songs from Stage & Screen’ (2020), ‘Blue Skies’ (2022), and ‘We Wish You the Merriest’ (2023).