Thurop Van Orman
Mark Ashton "Thurop" Van Orman is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, producer, director, and voice actor. He worked with Cartoon Network to create and produce the animated series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. He voiced the titular character. He made his directorial debut with The Angry Birds Movie 2.
Life and career
Van Orman was born in Norfolk, Virginia and grew up in Panama City, Florida. As a child, he wanted to live closer to the docks and would always love to adventure. He read plenty of adventure novels including from Jules Verne. He and his family moved to Salt Lake City when he was 12. He dreamed about being self-sustaining and wanting to build a hut. He later got a job as a janitor and moved to Shell Island at St. Andrews State Park. He spent a summer living in the jungles of Mexico.In 2001, he made a pitch pilot for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
Van Orman worked for the video game company Zantaro before going on to study character animation at the California Institute of the Arts. He interned for The Powerpuff Girls during his attendance. Van Orman was a storyboard artist and co-writer for Camp Lazlo, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He was also the supervising producer for both Adventure Time and Sanjay and Craig, but left the latter show after one season.
In 2015, Van Orman provided concept art for the film adaptation of The Little Prince.
Upcoming projects
In 2013, Van Orman announced on Twitter that he was creating a new series titled North Woods. This was confirmed in a 2014 BuzzFeed article.In June 2024, Rovio Entertainment announced that Van Orman will serve as executive producer and screenwriter for The Angry Birds Movie 3.