David Silverman

David Silverman (born March 15, 1957) is an American animator best known for directing numerous episodes of the animated TV series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie. Silverman was involved with the series from the very beginning, animating all of the original short Simpsons cartoons that aired on The Tracey Ullman Show. He went on to serve as director of animation for several years. He also did the animation for the 2016 film, The Edge of Seventeen, which was produced by Gracie Films.

Early life and career
Silverman was born to a Jewish family[1] on Long Island, New York.[2] He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and started his education at the University of Maryland, College Park for two years,[2] focusing on art. Then he attended UCLAand majored in animation.[3]

Early in his career with The Simpsons, he was a subject on the December 26, 1990 episode (#83) of To Tell the Truth.[4]

The Simpsons
Silverman is largely credited with creating most of the "rules" for drawing The Simpsons. He is frequently called upon to animate difficult or especially important scenes, becoming go-to in Season 2 when he animated the first of Homer's many "rants, freak-outs, and heart attacks".[5] He appeared during the end credits of the Simpsons episode "Goo Goo Gai Pan" giving a quick method of drawing Bart, and is a frequent participant on the Simpsons DVD audio commentaries. A cartoon rendering of him can be seen in "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", where he is the animator who draws Poochie (along with renderings of other Simpsons staffers). He was credited as Pound Foolish as the director of the episodes "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" and "Another Simpsons Clip Show."[6]

Silverman is also the director of The Simpsons Movie, which was released July 27, 2007. He originally left The Simpsons to direct additional sequences in The Road to El Dorado for DreamWorks Animation. Some of his other film work includes Monsters, Inc. for Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar, for which he was a co-director. He is currently a consulting producer and occasional director. He also appeared in animated films Ice Age, Robots and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

In 2012, Silverman directed the theatrical short The Longest Daycare starring Maggie Simpson, released in front of Ice Age: Continental Drift. The short was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

The Simpsons episodes directed by Silverman

 * "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire"
 * "Bart the Genius"
 * "Bart the General"
 * "Life on the Fast Lane"
 * "Some Enchanted Evening"
 * "Bart Gets an F"
 * "Treehouse of Horror" (The Raven segment only)
 * "Bart vs. Thanksgiving"
 * "The Way We Was"
 * "Old Money"
 * "Blood Feud"
 * "Black Widower"
 * "Homer's Triple Bypass"
 * "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
 * "Treehouse of Horror IV"
 * "Another Simpsons Clip Show" (as Pound Foolish)
 * "Homie the Clown"
 * "Mother Simpson"
 * "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" (as Pound Foolish)
 * "Treehouse of Horror XIII"
 * "Treehouse of Horror XV" (as "The Tell-Tale Silverman")
 * "Treehouse of Horror XVI" (as "Godzilla vs. Silverman")
 * "Treehouse of Horror XVII" (with Matthew Faughnan) (as David "Tubatron" Silverman)
 * "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner"

Style
Silverman's direction and animation is known for its energy, sharp timing, adventurous use of design elements and often complex acting, involving expressions and poses which are often quixotic, emotionally specific or highly exaggerated. It frequently recalls the works of Ward Kimball, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones. His most prolific period of work on The Simpsonscan be roughly categorized as beginning with the "Tracey Ullman" episodes and ending in or around season eight of the series, for which he animated Homer's psychedelic dream in "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)". Other representative examples of Silverman's work on The Simpsons include the Homer's histrionic, spasmodic heart attack in "Homer's Triple Bypass", Homer's demented hysterics over the iconic painting of poker-playing canines in "Treehouse of Horror IV" and subsequent turn as an even-more-deranged appropriation of Jack Nicholson's character from "The Shining" in "Treehouse of Horror V", and Homer's archetypically cartoonish reaction to Bart's prescription of Focusyn in "Brother's Little Helper".

Non-Simpsons works

 * Tom Waits for No One (1979) (animator)
 * The Strange Case of Mr. Donnybrook's Boredom (1982) (director, animator, background artist, ink artist, and layout artist)
 * Mister T (1983) (layout artist) uncredited
 * Turbo Teen (1984) (animator)
 * One Crazy Summer (1986) (animator)
 * Propagandance (1987) (assistant animator)
 * The Tracey Ullman Show (1987-1989) (animator)
 * The Dark Backward (1991) (creator: Blumps concept)
 * RoboCop 3 (1993) (director: "Johnny Rehab" commercial)
 * The Critic (1994-1995) (visual designer)
 * Teen Angel (1997) (creative consultant)
 * The Road to El Dorado (2000) (additional sequences)
 * Rugrats (2001) (animator)
 * Monsters, Inc. (2001) (co-director, CDA, additional story material)
 * Ice Age (2002) story consultant
 * Mike's New Car (2002) (special thanks)
 * Confessions of a Burning Man (2003) (additional cinematographer)
 * Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (animation consultant)
 * Robots (2005) (storyboard artist)
 * House of Lies (2015) as himself
 * Love (grateful thanks)
 * The Edge of Seventeen (2016) (animation)