Tom McGrath (animator)

Thomas McGrath (born August 7, 1964) is an American voice actor, animator and film director. He is known for co-directing (with Eric Darnell) the 2005 comedy Madagascar and its sequels, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in 2008 and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted in 2012, also providing the voice of Skipper in all films, short films and The Penguins of Madagascar television series. He has also worked as a voice actor on other DreamWorks Animation features like Flushed Away in 2006 and Shrek the Third in 2007. He also stepped in on Flushed Away to help make improvements prior to its release. He has also directed the DreamWorks films Megamind and The Boss Baby, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for the latter.
== Life and career ==
McGrath was born and raised in Lynnwood, Washington. He studied Industrial Design at the University of Washington and graduated from the Character Animation program at Cal Arts.[1] McGrath's experience in both television and feature animation includes work as an animator on Ralph Bakshi's film Cool World (starring Brad Pitt), storyboard artist and director for the popular series The Ren and Stimpy Show, animator on the Joe Pytka-directed Space Jam (starring Michael Jordan), and storyboard artist on the live action film Cats & Dogs and worked as storyboard artist and concept artist/prop and set designer for How the Grinch Stole Christmas (directed by Ron Howard).
McGrath made his film directing debut as the co-director, writer and co-creator of Madagascar[2] (along with Eric Darnell), where he also created the memorable squad of penguin characters and voiced their leader, Skipper. He also reprised his role as Skipper and co-directed and co-wrote the sequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. He worked on The Penguins of Madagascar, a Madagascar spin-off TV series, as the voice of Skipper, and directed the DreamWorks animated feature Megamind (starring Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey and David Cross), released in November 2010.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Director	Writer	Animator	Storyboard
artist	Role 	Notes
1988	The Thing What Lurked in the Tub 	 	 	Yes 	 	 	
1992	Cool World 	 	 	Yes 	 	 	Also animation designer
Layout artist
1996	Space Jam 	 	 	Yes 	 	 	
1998	Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus	 	 	Yes 	 	 	Also layout artist
1999	Herd 	 	 	 	 	Fed No. 5	
2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas 	 	 	 	Yes	 	
2001	Cats & Dogs 	 	 	 	Yes	 	
2005	Madagascar 	Yes 	Yes 	 	 	Skipper 	
2006	Flushed Away 	 	 	 	 	Action figure
artist	Also creative consultant
2007	Shrek the Third 	 	 	 	 	Gary 	
2008	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa 	Yes 	Yes 	 	 	Skipper 	
2009	Monsters vs. Aliens 	 	 	 	 	Wilson 	
2010	Megamind 	Yes 	 	 	 	Lord Scott
Prison Guard	
2011	Puss in Boots 	 	 	 	 	Bartender	
2012	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted 	Yes 	 	 	 	Skipper 	
2014	Mr. Peabody & Sherman 	 	 	 	 	Odysseus 	
2014	Penguins of Madagascar[3] 	 	Yes 	 	 	Skipper 	Also executive producer
2017	The Boss Baby[4][5] 	Yes 	 	 	 	TV chef 	
2017	Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie 	 	 	 	 	 	Special thanks
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1994–96	The Ren & Stimpy Show 	 	Director
Storyboard artist
Layout artist
Background designer
1996 	KaBlam! 	 	Director, Storyboard artist
2008–15	The Penguins of Madagascar	Skipper	Creator
Writer
Creative consultant
2009 	Merry Madagascar 	Skipper
additional voices	writer
2013 	Madly Madagascar 	Skipper