Trey Parker

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Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969 in Conifer, Colorado) is one of the creators of the animated series South Park.

Contents

Biography

Randolph Severn Parker III (hence the nickname "Trey") is the youngest child of Randy and Sharon and has an older sister Shelley. Parker attended West Jefferson Junior High and Evergreen High in Colorado, where he was voted class clown.

Parker went to Berklee College of Music in Boston before transferring to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he met Matt Stone. He was majoring in music, and with a goal to someday score films, and took classes to learn more about the film process. He made several animated shorts including American History which won a Student Academy Award, and The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Frosty with Stone.

Parker's first film was a feature length film about Alfred Packer, a Colorado miner who was the only person convicted of cannibalism in America. A trailer was shot over the summer, and was used to help raise enough funds to shoot the film. Alferd Packer, The Musical (it was renamed Cannibal! The Musical when picked up in 1996 for distribution by Troma) began filming during spring break in 1993. Family, friends and fellow students all took part in the film. Students who participated received intern credit, except for Parker, who was kicked out of the university due to excessive absences from working on the film.

Parker's college film caught the eye of Brian Graden, a then Fox executive. In 1995, Graden commissioned Trey and Matt to create a video Christmas card based on their animated college short. The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs. Santa was the result -- a five minute short that featured an uncensored Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick watching Jesus and Santa battle it out for ownership of the Yule holiday. One of the recipients of the video (rumored to be George Clooney) made several hundred copies, and the animation became a must-see passed around Hollywood and the Internet.

That same year, Parker created a pilot for Fox called "Time Warped" -- a "musical romp through time" featuring a story about Aaron and Moses. FoxLab felt the idea would work better as a children's show so a new pilot, "Rom & Jul" was made for Fox Kids -- a Romeo and Juliet-esque story about a Homo erectus and Australopithecus who fall in love despite the conflict between their species. FoxKids passed on the show.

Parker wrote, directed and starred in his second feature film Orgazmo in 1997, about a wholesome Mormon who becomes a celebrity in Los Angeles' adult film world. Due to the NC-17 rating given by the MPAA, it did not have a wide release.

Parker and Stone were hired by Comedy Central to create a show based on the animated characters they created in college. Though it didn't test well with audiences, Comedy Central decided to pick it up for six episodes anyway. South Park made its debut on August 13, 1997, and has since gone on to be the highest rated original series in the network's history.

In 1998, Parker starred with Stone and Dian Bachar in BASEketball, directed by David Zucker of Airplane! and Naked Gun fame. The story follows a group of friends who take their homemade game from neighborhood driveways to the professional sports world.

In the summer of 1999, Parker and Stone released their critically acclaimed feature length film, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which was, naturally, a musical. "Blame Canada", a song written by Parker and Marc Shaiman, was nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards. The award was lost to Phil Collins, which was spoofed in a later episode of South Park.

After a contract renegotiation in 2000, three more seasons were added to South Park and Parker and Stone had a deal to create a live action sitcom. In 2001, That's My Bush! premiered (it was a sitcom that portrayed the Commander in Chief as the lovable main character). It was not brought back for a second season due to its high costs (reportedly $700,000 per episode) and meager ratings. Another contract negotiation in 2003 picked up South Park for a ninth season, with an option to pick up a tenth.

Team America: World Police, the most recent creation from the duo, is a puppet movie about a special police force dedicated to saving the world from terrorists, and was released in October 2004.

Parker and his creative partner, Matt Stone, have received criticism and acclaim from both sides of the political spectrum, making them hard to pin down politically, except that they display irreverence for almost any authority figure. The term South Park Republican has been coined to refer to those who claim that South Park reflects a Republican, although non-traditional, viewpoint. Historically, though, Parker has described himself as "middle-ground", and he is a registered member of the United States Libertarian Party.

On September 9, 2005 Comedy Central struck a deal with Parker and Stone for three more seasons of the show. The network has committed to 42 episodes (including those of the second half of season 9), or three more seasons, of South Park over the next three years, which means that the show will run till 2009. Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct and edit every episode of the show. The order brings the series total to 182 episodes. A sanitized version of the South Park bowed in syndication on September 19.

In addition to currently working on the ninth season of South Park, there is talk that they are creating a stage musical with Avenue Q creators Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Trey and Matt also have plans to form a production company, possibly with Paramount.

As for the prospect of making more films, Parker is not enthuiastic, for the time being: "Team America almost killed us. We'd like to figure out a way to do our own movies, but not die doing them, and maybe help some other people produce their movies, like graduate to the next level because we are getting up there in age." [1]

Trey resides in Bel Air and is engaged to be married to Emma Sugiyama.

Miscellaneous facts

  • Has blue eyes.
  • Is left-handed.
  • Loves musicals.
  • Stands 6'1.
  • Talented pianist.
  • Denver Broncos fan.
  • Has a cat named Jake.
  • Lived in Japan for a period.
  • Speaks fluent Japanese.
  • Registered Libertarian.
  • Member of the band DVDA .
  • A big fan of The Cure.
  • Also credited as Juan Schwartz.
  • Has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
  • Owns additional homes in Seattle and Kappa, Hawaii.
  • Lived in Tennessee and Wyoming for a short time as a child
  • Formerly engaged to Liane Adamo, who dated Cannibal! The Musical co-star Toddy Walters, and has been linked with actress Lisa Faulkner and model/actress Nichole Robinson.
  • Named for the River Severn in Shrewsbury, England, UK.

Filmography

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Collaborations with Matt Stone

  • Princess (2003): co-writer, voices, producer, director. Created for shockwave.com which refused to show it as it was not 'work safe'. It is now available on many websites.
  • Team America: World Police (2004): co-writer, voices, producer, director
  • That's My Bush! (TV series, 2001): co-creator, writer, executive producer, theme composer and performer
  • South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999): voices, additional music and lyrics, co-writer, director
  • BASEketball (1998): actor
  • South Park (TV series, 1997-present): co-creator, voices, writer, additional music, director, executive producer
  • Orgazmo (1997): actor, co-writer, director
  • The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs. Santa, 1996; Frosty vs. Santa, 1992)
  • Cannibal! The Musical (1994): actor (as Juan Schwartz), composer, co-writer, director

Miscellaneous

  • American History, 1991 college animated short, winner of a Student Academy Award
  • "Even If You Don't" by Ween (music video, 2000)
  • The Giant Beaver of Southern Sri Lanka, during the making of which he met Stone (also notable for inspiring the South Park episode "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka").
  • Princess, a two episode cartoon for Shockwave.com that was deemed so offensive that Shockwave refused to show it on their website. [2]

Voices on South Park

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Trey_Parker.html"


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