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Seth MacFarlane is a Actor, Director, Scriptwriter, Producer, Editor and Creator American born on 26 october 1973 at Kent (USA)

Seth MacFarlane

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Birth name Seth Woodbury MacFarlane
Nationality USA
Birth 26 october 1973 (51 years) at Kent (USA)
Creator of Fuzzy Door Productions
Awards Primetime Emmy Award, Annie Award

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (/ˈsɛθ ˈwʊdbɛri məkˈfɑrlɪn/; born October 26, 1973) is an American television producer, screenwriter, actor, film director, voice actor and singer-songwriter, working primarily in animation and comedy, as well as live-action and other genres. He is the creator of the TV series Family Guy (1999–2003, 2005–present), co-creator of the TV series American Dad! (2005–present) and The Cleveland Show (2009–13), and writer-director of the films Ted (2012), its sequel Ted 2 (2015), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).

MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation. Recruited to Hollywood, he was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television series, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, I Am Weasel, and his own Family Guy-like "prequel", Larry & Steve.

As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows, such as Gilmore Girls, The War at Home and FlashForward. In 2008, he created his own YouTube series titled Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. He won several awards for his work on Family Guy, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Annie Award. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year. He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and he is a supporter of gay rights.

His first feature-length comedy film Ted also features MacFarlane's voice acting and performance-capture as the titular walking and talking teddy bear, and became the highest-grossing original R-rated comedy.

As a singer MacFarlane has performed at several venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. MacFarlane has released three studio albums, in the same vein of his musical idol Frank Sinatra, beginning with Music Is Better Than Words in 2011. He wrote the lyrics for the Academy Award-nominated song "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" for Ted.

MacFarlane served as executive producer of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, an update of the 1980s Carl Sagan–hosted Cosmos series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. MacFarlane was instrumental in providing funding for the series, as well as securing studio support for it from other entertainment executives.

Biography

In a 2004 interview with The Daily Princetonian, MacFarlane noted his similarities to Brian Griffin from Family Guy, revealing, "I have some Brian type issues from time to time – looking for the right person – but I date as much as the next guy".

On July 16, 2010, MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry Sager, died after a long battle with cancer. Her death was reported by Larry King on his show Larry King Live, who acknowledged a conversation he had with her during an interview with her son in May 2010.

In September 2012, MacFarlane was reported to be dating Emilia Clarke. In March 2013, it was reported that he and Clarke had ended their relationship.

September 11, 2001 experience
On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston. Suffering from a hangover after the previous night's celebrations that followed his speech at his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design, and with an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent, he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight as the gates had been closed. Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked, and at 8:46 a.m. it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board.

MacFarlane told TVShowsOnDVD.com 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. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you're crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car..... this one just happened to be related to something massive. 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."

Lawsuits
On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing Family Guy of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish upon a Star", through a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, and Walter Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages. Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.

In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy". MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox, Steve Callaghan, and Alex Borstein were all named in the suit. In July 2009, a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved—"purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work", and "amount and substantiality of the taking"—counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth—"economic impact"—had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers—not Metrano or his act. The case was settled out of court in 2010 with undisclosed terms.

On July 16, 2014, MacFarlane was hit with a lawsuit from the production company of a series of Internet videos called Charlie the Abusive Teddy Bear claiming that Ted infringes on the copyright of its videos due to the Ted bear largely matching the background story, persona, voice tone, attitude, and dialogue of the Charlie bear. The case was settled out of court on March 23, 2015, with undisclosed terms.