Thurop Van Orman

Thurop Van Orman
Born
Mark Ashton Van Orman

(1976-04-26) April 26, 1976 (age 48)
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Alma materCalifornia Institute of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations
  • Animator
  • voice actor
  • television producer
  • director
  • writer
Years active2000–present
Known forThe Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh
The Angry Birds Movie 2
North Woods
Spouse
Sherri Van Orman
​
(m. 1999)​
Children2

Mark "Thurop" Ashton Van Orman (born April 26, 1976) is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, producer, director, and voice actor. He worked with Cartoon Network to create and produce the animated series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008–2010), in which he voices the titular character. He made his directorial debut with The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019).

Life and career

Van Orman was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia.

Van Orman worked for the video game company Xantera before going on to study character animation at the California Institute of the Arts.[1] He was the storyboard artist and co-writer for Camp Lazlo, The Powerpuff Girls, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He was also the supervising producer for Adventure Time and served as one for Sanjay and Craig only in its first season.

Van Orman has a brother named Jonny, from whom he took inspiration to start his animation career at Cartoon Network for Flapjack. He has been married to Sherri Van Orman since 1999 and has two daughters: Blossom[2] and Hazel.

Since 2013, Van Orman has been working on a animated series under the title North Woods. The project was initially pitched to Nickelodeon the same year; after it was passed, the project was developed as a potential stop-motion animated film named Black Forest. Three years later the project was pitched to Disney Television Animation for Disney XD. The project'd development was paused by Disney in 2018 but revived in 2021 for Disney Channel.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Van Orman is known for responding to fan art through the website DeviantArt.

Upcoming films

Van Orman provided concept art for the film adaptation of The Little Prince. He has also announced via Twitter that he will be writing a film about Vikings. In June 2024, it was announced that Van Orman will serve as executive producer and screenwriter for The Angry Birds Movie 3.[10]

Inspirations

Artists who have influenced Van Orman include Joe Murray, Gary Larson, Jim Henson, Stephen Hillenburg, Craig McCracken, E. H. Shepard, Richard Scarry, Maurice Sendak, Mercer Mayer, Ronald Searle, Robert Crumb, Sergio Aragonés and the animators at Fleischer Studios.[11]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role
2015 The Little Prince Concept artist
2019 The Angry Birds Movie 2 Director
TBA The Angry Birds Movie 3 Screenwriter[10]
TBA Untitled Vikings film Screenwriter

Television

As Crew

Year Title Role
2004 The Powerpuff Girls Story, storyboard artist, and writer
2004–05 The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Story, storyboard artist, storyboard revisionist
2005–07 Camp Lazlo Writer, storyboard artist, and storyboard director
2008–10 The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack Creator, executive producer, story, writer, storyboard artist, director
2010–11 Adventure Time Supervising producer, story (season 2)
2013–14 Sanjay and Craig Supervising producer, creative consultant
2016–18 Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh Co-developer, story, writer, executive producer
2019, 2022 Amphibia Voice actor, Special thanks
TBA North Woods Creator

As actor

Year Title Role Notes
2008–10 The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack Flapjack / Background Singer / Additional voices 46 episodes
2011–18 Adventure Time Tree Witch / Kent / Wishy 3 episodes
2011 Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL Flapjack Video game
2012–16 Gravity Falls Gideon Gleeful 9 episodes
2013, 2014 Sanjay and Craig Additional voices 8 episodes
2016 The Magnificent Menagerie of Melvin McMelanie Short film
Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh 1 episode
Amphibia Sprig Plantar Pilot only
2018–20 Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Todd Capybara 7 episodes
2019 The Angry Birds Movie 2 Duck / Seal Film
2022 Battle Kitty Memory Monster 1 episode
2023 Kiff Louis 1 episode

References

  1. ^ Strike, Joe (October 23, 2008). "A Boy and His Whale: The Marvelous Making of 'Flapjack'". Animation World Network.
  2. ^ https://twitter.com/littlethurop/status/1649860376597762048
  3. ^ "My cute wifey needle-felted this for my new show... NORTH WOODS". Twitter. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  4. ^ "@peytonwaldera @cartoonnetwork Nickelodeon... Which is abut to be really good again!". Twitter. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  5. ^ "Yes! It's called North Woods now and is happening at DISNEY✨". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  6. ^ "I'm working at Disney now. But apparently I'm not allowed to say what I'm working on... #itsasecret". Twitter. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  7. ^ "Nikolas Ilic - NorthWoods". March 3, 2021. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  8. ^ "North Woods (TBA)". FRANCESCA NATALE. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  9. ^ "Demo for Disney Animated Show". SoundCloud. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Rovio, SEGA, and Prime Focus Studios Announce The Angry Birds Movie 3 Is In Production At DNEG Animation". Rovio. June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  11. ^ "Frederator Studios Blogs | Channel Frederator Blog | Flippin' Flapjacks: The Thurop Van Orman Interview!". Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
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