Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane is an actor, born 1973.
MacFarlane studied animation at the Rhode Island School of Design and went to work at Hanna-Barbera on Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken and Dexter's Laboratory. Family Guy went to air in 1999 and he has voiced Peter Griffin and Brian ever since. American Dad! followed in 2005 and The Cleveland Show in 2009, with MacFarlane carrying a large share of the voice cast on all three.
Two things about him are genuinely unusual, and they have nothing to do with each other. The first is vocal range: three Emmys for character voice-over performance, and the ability to hold a whole scene between four characters he is also writing. The second is that he is a serious crooner who keeps building projects around orchestral scores and old Hollywood pastiche. The distance between those instincts explains most of the career. Family Guy runs on cutaway gags with no interest in story whatsoever, and the same man produced Cosmos and made a Star Trek homage, The Orville, that plays its bridge crew completely straight.
As a live-action filmmaker he is patchier. Ted works because a talking bear with a Boston accent is one joke executed with total commitment, and Ted 2 is that joke again. A Million Ways to Die in the West is the one where he cast himself as the romantic lead and the film cannot carry it. He is better used by other directors, as Steven Soderbergh proved in Logan Lucky, and better still when he is only a voice.
Movies (26)
- Ted (2012)
- Ted (2012)
- Ted 2 (2015)
- Ted 2 (2015)
- Sing (2016)
- Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
- A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
- A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014)
- Logan Lucky (2017)
- Tooth Fairy (2010)
- May the 12th Be with You (2024)
- Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
- Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side (2009)
- Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap! (2010)
- Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)
- Music by John Williams (2024)
- Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest (2007)
- The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! (2010)
- Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff (2010)
- Family Guy Presents: Stewie Kills Lois and Lois Kills Stewie (2009)
- TV's Funniest Animated Stars: A Paley Center for Media Special (2015)
- The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special - In 3D! On Ice! (2010)
- Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show (2009)
- A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas (2001)
- The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular (2024)
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (2010)
TV (24)
- Family Guy (1999)
- Family Guy (1999)
- American Dad! (2005)
- American Dad! (2005)
- Real Time with Bill Maher (2003)
- Robot Chicken (2005)
- The Orville (2017)
- The Orville (2017)
- ted (2024)
- ted (2024)
- The Cleveland Show (2009)
- The Cleveland Show (2009)
- Cosmos (2014)
- Yin Yang Yo! (2006)
- Carpool Karaoke: The Series (2017)
- StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson (2015)
- Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2008)
- Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy (2008)
- The Loudest Voice (2019)
- Too Late with Adam Carolla (2005)
- Talkshow with Spike Feresten (2006)
- Hart to Heart (2021)
- Delirium (2014)
- The Pitts (2003)
Where to start with Seth MacFarlane
Family Guy is the front door and a poor introduction, because the early seasons and the late ones are close to different shows. Pick a mid-run season and treat it as a sketch series, which is what it actually is. American Dad! is the better-written of the two and always has been, because it commits to its characters instead of cutting away from them.
The one that will surprise you is The Orville, a Star Trek homage that starts as a comedy and quietly stops being one. If you only want MacFarlane the performer, Ted is the sharpest use of his voice, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is the strangest, and Logan Lucky shows what a good director can get out of him that he cannot get out of himself. Cosmos is the producing credit, and it is the one he should be proudest of.
The animated shows
He created three of these and voices most of the main cast himself. Family Guy is the one that pays for everything, and American Dad is the better-written show and the one comedy writers tend to prefer when asked.
The films
Ted worked, the western did not, and the interesting credits are the ones where somebody else is directing him. Logan Lucky in particular shows he is a much better live-action comic actor than his own films suggest.
The straight face
The part of the career people miss. He produced the Cosmos reboot because he cares about science education, and The Orville started as a Star Trek parody and quietly turned into a Star Trek homage made with total sincerity.