
Bill Plympton
Biography
Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946) is an American animator, director, graphic designer, cartoonist, screenwriter and producer best known for his 1987 Academy Award-nominated animated short Your Face and his series of shorts Guard Dog, Guide Dog, Hot Dog and Horn Dog.
Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and the weekly newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon. His political cartoon strip Plympton, which began in 1975 in the SoHo Weekly News, eventually was syndicated and appeared in over 20 newspapers.
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In 1988, his animated short Your Face was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He also became known for other animated short films, including 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989) and Enemies (1991), the latter of which was part of the Animania series on MTV, where many of his other shorts were shown.
In 1992, his self-financed, first feature-length animated film, The Tune debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge. In 1993, he made his first live action film, J. Lyle. In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot. He also published a comic book in 2003, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels presented by Terry Gilliam, had no dialogue. Plympton directed the segment "On Eating and Drinking" in the 2014 animated film The Prophet, adapted from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. In 2020, Plympton released a Kickstarter for his new animated comedy western, Slide. The funding was successful and Plympton had planned on finishing the film by 2022.
Known for
ABCs of Death 2Director5.4
Kahlil Gibran's The ProphetDirector7.4
Idiots and AngelsDirector, Writer6.7
I Married a Strange Person!Director, Creator, Writer7.2
Your FaceWriter, Director6.7
Hair HighDirector, Screenplay6.4
Cheatin'Director, Writer6.6
The TuneDirector, Creator6.6
25 Ways to Quit SmokingNarrateur / Homme (voix) (Non crédité), Director, Writer6.4
Mutant AliensGuard (voice), Director, Screenplay6.2
Guard DogWriter, Director6.3
Sex & ViolenceWriter, Director5.9
Filmography
The 80 most recent of 117 credits.
- 2026u know i luv uFilm: Director
- 2025SlideFilm: Director, Screenplay
- 2025Whale 52Film: Director
- 2025DuckvilleFilm: Director
- 2022Lipstick of the BraveFilm: Director
- 2021Demi’s PanicFilm: Director
- 2020The One-Minute MemoirFilm: Writer, Director
- 2019Sex & Violence 3Film: Writer, Director
- 2018No Snow for ChristmasFilm: Writer, Director
- 2018The Modern LivesFilm: Director
- 2017Good AdviceFilm: Director, Screenplay
- 2017Cop DogFilm: Director
- 2016RevengeanceFilm: Director, Writer
- 2016Hitler's FollyFilm: Nazi Soldier, Director, Writer
- 2015The Loneliest StoplightFilm: Writer, Director
- 2015Bill Plympton's Revengeance Kickstarter ProjectFilm: Writer
- 2015The Gastronomic SharkFilm: Director, Writer
- 2014ABCs of Death 2Film: Director
- 2014Kahlil Gibran's The ProphetFilm: Director
- 2014Cheatin'Film: Director, Writer
- 2014FootprintsFilm: Director, Writer
- 2013The OrnamentsFilm: Ornament #1, Director, Writer
- 2013Drunker Than a SkunkFilm: Director
- 2012Tiffany the Whale: Death on the RunwayFilm: Director, Writer
- 2012Waiting for Her SailorFilm: Director
- 2012Bill Plympton's Cheatin' Kickstarter ProjectFilm: Writer
- 2012Summer BummerFilm: Director, Writer
- 2011The Winsor McCay Resurrection ProjectFilm: Writer
- 2011Guard Dog Global JamFilm: Director, Writer
- 2011The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2011: AnimationFilm: Director
- 2010The Cow Who Wanted To Be a HamburgerFilm: Writer, Director
- 2009Mexican StandoffFilm: Director, Writer
- 2009Horn DogFilm: Director
- 2008Random! CartoonsSeries: Director, Writer, Creator (1 episode)
- 2008Santa: The Fascist YearsFilm: Director, Writer
- 2008Tokyo OnlyPic 2008Film: Director
- 2008Idiots and AngelsFilm: Director, Writer
- 2008Hot DogFilm: Director, Writer
- 2008The Luv RaceFilm: Director, Writer
- 2007Gary GuitarFilm: Director, Writer
- 2007Shuteye HotelFilm: Director, Writer
- 2006Don't Download This SongFilm: Director
- 2006Guide DogFilm: Writer, Director
- 2005The Fan and the FlowerFilm: Director
- 2005SpiralFilm: Director, Writer
- 2004Guard DogFilm: Writer, Director
- 2004Hair HighFilm: Director, Screenplay
- 2003The Plympton DiariesFilm: Director
- 2003Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation: Full FrontalFilm: Director, Writer
- 2003For Reel?Film: Writer
- 2002Mutant AliensFilm: Guard (voice), Director, Screenplay
- 2002ParkingFilm: Director, Writer
- 2002An Early MovieFilm: Director
- 2002House of WeirdnessFilm: Director
- 200112 Tiny Christmas TalesFilm: Director, Writer
- 2001EatFilm: Director, Writer
- 2000Can't Drag Race with JesusFilm: Director, Writer
- 2000How to Grab a Woman's BreastFilm: Director
- 2000New Advances in MedicineFilm: Director
- 2000Happiness Is... Licking the FrostingFilm: Director
- 2000The Ultimate BlowjobFilm: Director
- 2000The Death of Jackson PollockFilm: Director
- 2000How to Tell a Woman's Sexual PreferenceFilm: Director
- 2000Pubic Hair TransplantsFilm: Director
- 2000Rudolfo the Gay Lion TamerFilm: Director
- 1999Surprise CinemaFilm: Director, Writer
- 1999LifeFilm: Director
- 1999More Sex & ViolenceFilm: Director, Writer
- 1999The Exciting Life of a TreeFilm: Director
- 1998I Married a Strange Person!Film: Director, Creator, Writer
- 1998Cartoon SushiSeries: Director (3 episodes)
- 1998Helter ShelterFilm: Writer, Director
- 1998General Chaos: Uncensored AnimationFilm: Director
- 1997Boney DFilm: Writer, Director
- 1997Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation Sick & Twisted Volume 4Film: Director
- 1997Mondo PlymptonFilm: Director, Writer
- 1997Twisted ToonsFilm: Director
- 1997Sex & ViolenceFilm: Writer, Director
- 1997Walt Curtis: The Peckerneck PoetFilm: Director
- 1997The Animal LoverFilm: Director
Biography and credits from TMDB. This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.