The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002)

Defined by twin commitments to artistic integrity and creative responsibility, Kiasky Csupo, Inc. has emerged in the last decade as the leading independent animation company in the industry. A boldly eccentric and privately owned entity founded by graphic designer Arlene Klasky and Hungarian-born animator Gabor Csupo, the studio is staffed by a who’s who of creative and production professionals and is much more than a 21st century cartoon factory. With divisions devoted to music, film, TV, video, the Internet, publishing and commercial production, Klasky Csupo is a multi-media enterprise at the forefront of entertainment.

The story behind Klasky Csupo is as fascinating and lively as the creations that have come out of this innovative pair. World-renowned animation artist Gabor Csupo was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied music for eight years and attended art school for four years, before commencing his professional training in animation at Hungary’s famed Pannonia Studios in 1971. Leaving Communist Hungary (with nothing but his record collection) in 1975 for artistic opportunities in the West, Csupo and four fellow artists and musicians escaped into Austria resources and no passport. he traveled first to West Germany, then to Denmark and ultimately to Stockholm, Sweden, where a friend employed him in an animation studio and where he helped create Sweden’s first animated feature.

In 1978, Csupo met and fell in love with an American graphic designer by the name of Arlene Klasky, who was vacationing in Sweden. Having learned English in order to understand the lyrics of Frank Zappa, his favorite musician, Csupo moved to Hollywood in 1979, where he and Klasky were married.

In 1981, Csupo and Klasky formed their own animation company in a spare room of their apartment. Combining their respective talents in graphic design and character animation proved to be a long-lasting successful formula. During nearly 20 years of operation. Klasky Csupo has created, developed, animated and produced era-defining television programming such as Nickelodeon’s "Rugrats," "The Wild Thornberrys," "Rocket Power," "As Told By Ginger," along with "The Simpsons," "Duckman," "Stressed Eric" and the Lily Tomlin-voiced "Edith Ann."

As a natural offshoot of television. Klasky Csupo moved into feature films in 1998, making a big splash with "The Rugrats Movie" and following with another hit, "Rugrats in Paris: The Movie," just two years later. Today, with "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," scheduled for release December 20, 2002, the company has grown to house more than 400 artists and creative workers in its state-of-the-art animation facility located in the heart of Hollywood.

For its many contributions to the animation industry and to quality, albeit off-kilter children’s television, Klasky Csupo has received five Emmy awards and two Cable Ace trophies along with honors in commercial, art, production and humanitarian arenas too numerous to list.

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