| Birth Name: | Robert James Alvarez |
| Birth Date: | 1948 1, mf=yes |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Animator, storyboard artist, animation director, director, writer |
| Education: | California Institute of the Arts |
| Awards: | 6 Primetime Emmy Awards |
| Years Active: | 1968–present |
Robert James Alvarez (born January 22, 1948) is an American animator, storyboard artist, television director, and writer. Alvarez studied at the Chouinard Art Institute, which later became the California Institute of the Arts, graduating in 1971. He began his career as an assistant animator for the 1968 film Yellow Submarine.
Throughout his five decades in the animation industry, Alvarez has developed an extensive resume. He has worked on hundreds of productions, mainly for television. He is best known for his work on multiple shows at Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios, and has also worked at other animation studios, such as Disney Television Animation, Nickelodeon, Frederator Studios, and Warner Bros. Animation. His studio credits include, in chronological order, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, DuckTales, , Animaniacs, Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Ben 10, Regular Show, and Adventure Time. He has been awarded six Primetime Emmy Awards and a total of 25 Emmy nominations for his achievements.
Alvarez began his career as an assistant animator for the 1968 film Yellow Submarine starring The Beatles.[1] Since then, he has worked on many animated television series, including Super Friends, The Smurfs, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, , Dexter's Laboratory, I Am Weasel, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Regular Show. He also created and wrote two animated pilots, Pizza Boy in "No Tip" and Tumbleweed Tex in "School Daze", for Hanna-Barbera's cartoon shorts showcase What a Cartoon! in 1996.
Alvarez has received 6 Primetime Emmy Awards, 9 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and 1 Daytime Emmy Award nomination. His first nomination came in 1994 in the category Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less) for directing The Town Santa Forgot.[2] In 2000 and 2001, he received two more nominations for his work on The Powerpuff Girls, also receiving one in 2004 for The Powerpuff Girls special "'Twas the Fight Before Christmas".[3] [4] Alvarez won two Primetime Emmys for his work on the Genndy Tartakovsky series Star Wars: Clone Wars and a third for Samurai Jack.[5] [6] [7] In 2006, he garnered one nomination for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and another for the My Life as a Teenage Robot special Escape from Cluster Prime.[8] [9] One more Foster's nomination followed in 2007 for the episode "Good Wilt Hunting" before he would win a Primetime Emmy for the show, which was for the special in 2009.[10] [11] In 2010, he was nominated for the animated short Uncle Grandpa in the category Outstanding Short-format Animated Program. Alvarez received a Primetime Emmy award for Regular Show in 2012, which he also was nominated for in 2011.[12] His Daytime Emmy nomination was in 2007 for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy in the category Outstanding Broadband Program — Children's.[13]
Alvarez attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, from 1962 to 1966. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in animation from the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts), which he completed in 1971.
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Winky Dink and You | background artist | |
| 1978 | Challenge of the Superfriends | animator | |
| Galaxy Goof-Ups | |||
| Yogi's Space Race | |||
| 1979 | Casper and the Angels | ||
| The New Shmoo | |||
| The Super Globetrotters | animator/layout artist | ||
| Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo | animator | ||
| 1980 | The Flintstone Comedy Show | ||
| The World's Greatest SuperFriends | |||
| 1980–1981 | The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang | ||
| 1981 | Super Friends | ||
| Trollkins | |||
| 1981–1988 | The Smurfs | animator/animation director | |
| 1982 | Pac-Man | animator | |
| 1983 | The Christmas Tree Train | lead animator | |
| He-Man and the Masters of the Universe | animator | ||
| The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show | |||
| The Smurfs Christmas Special | |||
| 1984 | Pole Position | sheet timer | |
| Snorks | animation director | ||
| 1985 | Galtar and the Golden Lance | ||
| The Jetsons | animator | ||
| Kidd Video | sheet timer | ||
| Pound Puppies | animation director | ||
| Rainbow Brite | sheet timer | ||
| Robotman & Friends | |||
| The Turkey Caper | animator | ||
| Yogi's Treasure Hunt | animation director | ||
| The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo | animator | ||
| 1985–1986 | Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling | sheet timer | |
| Paw Paws | animator | ||
| 1986 | Ghostbusters | ||
| G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero | sequence director | ||
| 1986–1987 | animator | ||
| 1986–1989 | |||
| 1987 | The Little Clowns of Happytown | sequence director | |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | |||
| sheet timer | |||
| 1987–1988 | BraveStarr | animator | |
| 1988 | The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley | animation director | |
| Denver, the Last Dinosaur | sheet timer | ||
| Dino-Riders | animation director | ||
| The Flintstone Kids' "Just Say No" Special | |||
| Gumby Adventures | |||
| The New Yogi Bear Show | |||
| A Pup Named Scooby-Doo | |||
| 1989 | Camp Candy | animation timer/storyboard timer | |
| Dixie's Diner | animation director | ||
| The Further Adventures of SuperTed | |||
| sheet timer | |||
| 1989–1990 | DuckTales | timing director | |
| The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | |||
| 1990 | Adventures of the Gummi Bears | animation director | |
| Gravedale High | |||
| Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures | |||
| Tom & Jerry Kids | |||
| 1990–1991 | The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda | ||
| Timeless Tales from Hallmark | |||
| 1991 | The Pirates of Dark Water | ||
| 1992 | The Addams Family | ||
| 1992–1995 | Capitol Critters | ||
| 1993 | The Addams Family | ||
| Droopy, Master Detective | |||
| 2 Stupid Dogs | |||
| 1993–1994 | Captain Planet and the Planeteers | ||
| 1995 | Dumb and Dumber | ||
| 1995–1997 | What a Cartoon! | ||
| 1995–1996 | The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat | ||
| 1996 | Animaniacs | sheet timer/slugging | |
| Pinky and the Brain | sheet timer | ||
| 1996–2003 | Dexter's Laboratory | animation director | |
| 1996–1997 | The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest | animation timer | |
| 1996–2000 | The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries | timing director | |
| 1997–2004 | Johnny Bravo | animation director | |
| 1998–1999 | Cow and Chicken | ||
| Histeria! | sheet timing | ||
| I Am Weasel | animation director | ||
| 1998–2004 | The Powerpuff Girls | ||
| 2000–2001 | Cartoon Cartoon Fridays | ||
| The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | |||
| 2001–2017 | Samurai Jack | animation director/sheet timer | |
| 2001 | Ferret and Parrot | sheet timer | |
| IMP, Inc. | |||
| 2002–2006 | My Life as a Teenage Robot | ||
| 2002 | Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? | ||
| 2002–2003 | Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law | director | |
| 2002–2007 | timing director | ||
| 2001–2003 | Evil Con Carne | animation director | |
| 2003–2005 | Alex Adventure | animation director | sheet timer |
| Star Wars: Clone Wars | sheet timer | ||
| 2004–2009 | Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends | animation director | |
| 2005 | Robotboy | sheet timer | |
| 2006 | Korgoth of Barbaria | ||
| Ben 10 | |||
| Legion of Super Heroes | |||
| 2006–2008 | My Gym Partner's a Monkey | ||
| 2007 | The Grim Adventures of the KND | ||
| Random! Cartoons | |||
| 2008 | |||
| The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! | |||
| 2008–2009 | Chowder | animation director/sheet timer | |
| 2008–2010 | The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack | sheet timer | |
| 2009 | |||
| 2010–2011 | The Mighty B! | ||
| 2010–2013 | Generator Rex | supervising animation director | |
| 2009–2017 | Regular Show | animation director | |
| 2010–2011 | Sym-Bionic Titan | animation director/sheet timer | |
| 2011–2012 | Secret Mountain Fort Awesome | animation director | |
| 2012–2014 | sheet timer | ||
| 2013–2017 | Uncle Grandpa | animation director | |
| 2013 | OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes | timing director (pilot only) | |
| Paranormal Roommates | timing director | ||
| 2013–2014 | Over the Garden Wall | ||
| 2014 | AJ's Infinite Summer | ||
| Back to Backspace | |||
| Clarence | |||
| The Team Unicorn Saturday Action Fun Hour! | |||
| 2014–2015 | Mixels | ||
| 2015–2019 | We Bare Bears | animation director | |
| 2015 | Long Live the Royals | timing director | |
| Ridin' with Burgess | |||
| Twelve Forever | timing director (pilot only) | ||
| 2016–2018 | The Powerpuff Girls | animation director | |
| 2016 | Bottom's Butte | ||
| Victor and Valentino | animation director (pilot only) | ||
| 2017 | Craig of the Creek | ||
| Summer Camp Island | |||
| Tiggle Winks | animation director | ||
| 2018 | Adventure Time | sheet timer | |
| 2019 | Infinity Train | supervising animation director |
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Yellow Submarine | assistant animator | |
| 1985 | Creature | animator | |
| 1987 | Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night | animator | |
| 1989 | sheet timer | ||
| 1990 | animator | ||
| slugging and timing director | |||
| 1993 | I Yabba-Dabba Do! | animation director | |
| The Halloween Tree | animation director | ||
| The Town Santa Forgot | director/animation director | ||
| 1994 | Yogi the Easter Bear | director/animation director | |
| 1995 | sheet timer | ||
| 1998 | Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island | animation director | |
| 2000 | Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders | animation timing director | |
| Tweety's High-Flying Adventure | timing director | ||
| 2001 | Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase | animation timing director | |
| animation director | |||
| 2002 | The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina | animation director (uncredited) | |
| The Powerpuff Girls Movie | additional animation direction | ||
| animation timing director | |||
| 2009 | Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword | animation timer | |
| animation timer | |||
| 2015 | animation director |