Alex Hirsch

American voice actor, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and producerTemplate:SHORTDESC:American voice actor, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and producer[[Category:**Script error: No such module "pagetype".** with short description]]**Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".****Expression error: Unexpected < operator.****Script error: No such module "SDcat".**

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**Alexander Robert Hirsch** (born June 18, 1985) is an American voice actor, animator, 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 (or "graunty") 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 (CalArts) where he created a variety of projects and short films including his senior film, *Off The Wall*, which combined animation and live action and "Cuddle Bee Hugs N'Such" with Adrian Molina, which was chosen by Nicktoons Network for their original series Shorts in a Bunch. 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 (who was his writing partner on the show), 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 (including a Peabody Award in 2016). Hirsch ended *Gravity Falls* in February 2016 to pursue other projects.

In July 2016, Hirsch threw a global treasure hunt (known as "Cipher 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* film, *Detective Pikachu*, 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, *Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* (2018).

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. The show is scheduled to premiere on October 22, 2021 with a first season of 20 episodes.

He is currently the voice of King, Hooty, and additional voices in the Disney Channel animated series *The Owl House*, created by Dana Terrace (Hirsch's longtime partner). 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 [him]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 is dating *The Owl House* creator, Dana Terrace. Hirsch and Terrace have done multiple charity live streams together, in which they draw cartoons to raise money for various organizations including Planned Parenthood, The American Civil Liberties Union, The Southern Poverty Law Center, The Natural Resources Defense Council (with Ninja Sex Party and Arin Hanson), Direct Relief (with Justin Roiland and Ethan Klein), The Trevor Project (with Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey), and RAICES (with Daron Nefcy and Eden Sher). All together totaling over $270,000 raised.

### Political and religious views

Hirsch is generally outspoken about his political beliefs on social media. He strongly opposes Donald Trump, calling him "a lying, self centered, woman-hating sociopath".

Hirsch supports abortion rights, LGBT rights, immigration, raising taxes on the wealthy, and gun restrictions.

In May 2019, Hirsch criticized Alabama and Missouri for attempting to criminalize abortion, saying "This is a full on assault on women’s rights from a fanatical religious fringe trying to turn back the clock 50 years," and "Women will die. This is medieval cruelty and ignorance".

In August 2020, Hirsch praised Dana Terrace's *The Owl House* for its LGBT representation, saying "Back when I made [*Gravity Falls*], Disney forbade me from having any explicit LGBTQ+ [representation in the show]. But as of today, thanks to [Terrace] and [her] team there are explicitly queer animated main characters on Disney TV. I'm so proud and happy to say that."

On September 18, 2020, Hirsch stated on Twitter that the U.S. Left cannot afford a "noble defeat" and that the 2020 election was extremely important. In the same thread, he said that what it means is "leftists, libs & moderates" coming together to defeat "the far right fringe cult in power" in a "blue wave," and using "every lever of power possible" to push for a better world once Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump are defeated. He criticized Doug Collins for his anti-reproductive rights stance, and called for people to donate to "all downballot blue candidates" because of "the danger America is in right now." He also called for more justices on the U.S. Supreme Court with a Democratic President, pushing the Democratic Party leftward, said that "we simply don't have the luxury of letting Trump win to make an abstract point," and described voting for a third party in the 2020 election as a "suicidally terrible idea...as useful as thoughts & prayers to shootings" and throwing away your vote. Additionally, he called for voting "straight blue" in the election, adding that there is a choice between science and "a conspiracy cult" and that Joe Biden was not his first choice but that he would still support him.

In November 2020, Hirsch prank-called Rudy Giuliani's voter fraud hotline set up by the Donald Trump campaign, by using the voices of multiple *Gravity Falls* characters to report "Hamburglar-like theft" in order "to troll the Trump supporters manning the phone lines."

In regards to religion, Hirsch supports the separation of church and state. Additionally, Hirsch opposes The Church of Scientology, calling them a "cult" that "target the economically disadvantaged & emotionally troubled."

## Notes

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## References

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2. ↑ According to the State of California. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Searchable at http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/39461 **Script error: No such module "webarchive".**
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38. ↑ Chelsea Peretti: One of the Greats (2014 TV Special) – Full Cast & Crew. IMDb.
39. ↑ Chitwood, Adam (August 16, 2016). 'Pokemon' Movie Lands Marvel Vet Nicole Perlman, Alex Hirsch as Writers.
40. ↑ Pedersen, Erik (December 14, 2016). Legendary Taps Herbert W. Gains As EVP Physical Production, Hires Two SVPs. *Deadline*.
41. ↑ Hirsch, Alex (November 12, 2018). Haha nope. I was asked to be involved in very early brainstorming conversations, but I left early on to pursue other projects. Never wrote a page of script. Hollywood baby!https://twitter.com/ExoPLeis/status/1062034582105657347 ….
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47. ↑ New Fall TV 2021 Calendar: Your Guide to All Fresh Shows & Movies (September 4, 2021).
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62. ↑ NRDC charity stream with Alex Hirsch, Dana Terrace, Game Grumps and Ghost Satellite (January 28, 2017).
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64. ↑ H3 Podcast (September 7, 2017). H3 Podcast #26 - Justin Roiland & Alex Hirsch Charity Special.
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99. ↑ William Hughes (November 6, 2020). Alex Hirsch trolling Trump's voter fraud hotline as Gravity Falls characters is keeping us alive.
100. ↑ Bruce Haring (November 8, 2020). 'Gravity Falls' Creator Alex Hirsch Calls Voter Fraud Hotline, Reports Hamburglar-Like Theft In His Characters' Voices.
101. ↑ Alex Hirsch pranks Trump's voter fraud hotline as his Gravity Falls characters. *EW* (November 7, 2020).
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105. ↑ Disney Channel Medianet.
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## External links

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* **Script error: No such module "String".** on Instagram**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**

Template:Gravity Falls
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