Jorge R. Gutierrez
Jorge Ramirez Gutierrez, also known as Super Macho is a Mexican animator, writer, producer, director, and voice actor. He co-created the Nickelodeon animated series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera with his wife Sandra Equihua, and co-wrote and directed the film The Book of Life and the television miniseries Maya and the Three. He and Equihua founded the production studio Mexopolis in 1994.
Biography
Jorge Ramirez Gutierrez was born on January 25, 1975 in Mexico City and raised in Tijuana. As a child, he adopted the nickname “Super Macho” after his grandfather told him “there are two types of Mexicans: Macho and Super Macho’”.Gutierrez attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he received his BFA & MFA in Experimental Animation under Jules Engel, and was mentored by Maureen Selwood. There he created the 3D short Carmelo, which won the 2001 Student Emmy Award in animation and was screened at Kodak's Emerging Filmmakers Program at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. In 2000, Gutierrez worked under animator Maurice Noble, for the art direction of Chuck Jones' Timberwolf for Warner Bros. In 2001, he began creating Jorge Gutierrez' El Macho, an animated web series for Sony Pictures.
Gutierrez has also done character design on many animated series including Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, as well as Kids' WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!, Cartoon Network's Class of 3000, and Disney's The Buzz on Maggie for which he was nominated for a 2006 Annie Award in character design. As a writer, he's worked on Scholastic's Maya & Miguel as well as Disney's Brandy & Mr. Whiskers and Vampirina.
In 2008, Gutierrez won two Annie awards and one Emmy working on his passion project for Nickelodeon, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, along with his co-creator and wife, Sandra Equihua who also won an Emmy for her character designs.
In 2010, he created some of the sketches in Cartoon Network's Mad including "Dear Reaper...", "Dog vs Mailman", "Video Game Cheats", "Arcade Boy" and "Dog vs Fire Hydrant".
In 2012, Gutierrez directed and co-wrote an animated adventure feature film with a Romeo and Juliet style love story set against a Mexican "Day of the Dead" backdrop. The film, with the official title The Book of Life, was co-produced with 20th Century Fox Animation and was released on October 17, 2014. He earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film in 2014. He was also nominated for three Annie awards.
In February 2015, Reel FX and Gutierrez announced a multi-year, multi-picture deal which included Kung Fu Space Punch and The Book of Life 2.
In 2016 Gutierrez designed, voiced, wrote and directed the Annie and Emmy nominated Son of Jaguar VR short for Google Spotlight Stories.
In 2016, Gutierrez was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his “Outstanding Direction in a Motion Picture”.
On August 2, 2017, it was reported that Gutierrez would write and direct The Billion Brick Race, a spin-off of The Lego Movie, for Warner Animation Group. However, on February 8, 2018, it was reported that Gutierrez had permanently cancelled the project.
In October 2020, he signed an over-all-deal with Netflix Animation. He directed the Immigration music video for the Emmy Award-winning series We the People, and wrote and directed the Annie and Emmy Award-winning Maya and the Three, a nine episode animated limited series for Netflix Animation. He had been developing a follow-up series to Maya set in the same universe for Netflix titled Kung Fu Space Punch, however, it was scrapped in 2022 along with many other planned animated series. He was also set to direct an original animated film titled I, Chihuahua from a script he wrote with Gabriel Iglesias. However, the film was cancelled in April 2024, due to creative differences.
In December 2024 and February 2025, Gutierrez hinted that he and Equihua had meetings with The Walt Disney Company on a potential new project.
On June 20, 2025, it was announced that Gutierrez was developing an original animated independent film La Venganza Rodríguez at Spanish animation studio Hampa Studio.
On July 4, 2025, Gutierrez announced El Guapo vs. the Narco Vampires, an adult animated pilot in collaboration with Ánima Estudios who will be shopped to streamers and studios. The pilot debuted in January 2026.
In December 2025, Gutierrez teased that he was developing a Speedy Gonzales film at Warner Bros Pictures. Animation. The project will be greenlit at Warner Bros, in January 16, 2026.