Danny Antonucci

Antonucci's parents were Italian immigrants to Canada. His experiences as a child in an immigrant family deeply influenced his later work, such as Lupo the Butcher.

Growing up, he originally got into animation from watching Popeye the Sailor cartoons, along many other 1950's and 1960's cartoons like Tex Avery, Quick Draw McGraw, and Huckleberry Hound. Antonucci was a whistler as a boy, whistling "Big Noise from Winnetka" often, a personal favorite song of his. Antonucci also provided the whistle for the composed intro music for Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

Antonucci attended the Sheridan College of Visual Arts, which at the time, was the only college in Canada that had Animation for a major. He later dropped out to take a job as an animator at Canimage Production, a division of Hanna-Barbera.

Starting his career as an animator, Antonucci worked on numerous shows, including The Flintstone Comedy Show, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The Smurfs, and Richie Rich.

Intending to move to Los Angeles in 1984 to find more work, Antonucci landed in Vancouver, British Columbia. He landed a job at International Rocketship Limited, animating short films and television commercials. His first effort was on the short film Hooray for Sandbox Land.

Ed, Edd n Eddy

Feeling confined to "gross" and "edgy" work, such as his series The Brothers Grunt, Antonucci decided to produce an animated children's television show again with his company a.k.a. Cartoon. However, he resolved to ensure that the series was produced in a way similar to the cartoon styles from the 1940s to the 1970s. Antonucci spent months designing the show, before trying to sell it to Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon told him that they would take the show, if they also obtained creative control. Antonucci refused to give it, and instead took the show to Cartoon Network. A deal was ultimately made for Cartoon Network to commission the show, after they agreed to let Antonucci go in his own direction. During a visit to the network's headquarters, Antonucci revealed he met with Ted Turner, Ray Liotta, Charles Durning and Burt Reynolds all in the same room where his pitch was very supportive by the four men.

Antonucci is a strong advocate of hand-drawn animation. The wobbling animation in Ed, Edd n Eddy is an homage to the hand-drawn cartoons with a style that harkens back to cartoons of the 1940s to the 1970s. To give the impression of movement, Ed, Edd n Eddy uses shimmering character outlines similar to Squigglevision. The crawling lines are not nearly as active as those in Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, but are still visible, and Antonucci likens it to cartoons of the 1930s.

According to Antonucci, the characters were based on real people in his life. The personalities of Ed, Edd, and Eddy are based on personal traits of himself, and the activities of his two sons. The Eds also possess personality traits similar to The Three Stooges, whose money-making schemes and antics also invariably backfire. The cul-de-sac children and the Kanker Sisters were all based on children he grew up with. Antonucci also stated that he believed it was important to add Plank, a board of wood, to the show, stating that he "thought it would be really cool to do the show with Plank taking on a character of his own" and to cause Jonny to do things he would usually never do. He also stated that Rolf is strongly based on himself and his cousins, since he was part of an immigrant family, and grew up in a first-generation foreign household with different customs and ways of living.

Ed, Edd n Eddy is the only a.k.a. Cartoon show to have a movie based on the animated television series. The series' finale movie, Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show, aired on November 8, 2009, officially ending the series.

Antonucci has two children named Tex and Marlowe who were named after animator Tex Avery and the fictional character Philip Marlowe respectively.

International Rocketship Limited, foundation of a.k.a. Cartoon, and MTV work

Antonucci's first solo work was Lupo the Butcher, produced by International Rocketship Limited, about a short-tempered butcher who swears at the meat he is cutting and gets extremely mad at the smallest mistakes. Antonucci explains the short arose out of his own frustration at having to work in children's film for so long, and to try his hand at creating a full-fledged character on film. The short animated film screened at several film festivals, including Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in the United States.

The 'Lupo' character was eventually licensed by the Converse athletic shoe company. This led to additional work, including animated commercials for Levi Strauss & Co. ESPN, Converse, and MTV. He also originally created a mascot for Cartoon Network, known as the jester, as well as the mascot's bumpers.

On April 1, 1994, Antonucci started an animation company named a.k.a. Cartoon, which produced the short-lived MTV series The Brothers Grunt, which began airing in 1994 and ended its run in 1995. Antonucci went on to work on MTV's Cartoon Sushi show in 1997, directing, writing and providing voices, in addition to being responsible for the title sequence of the show.