David Silverman (1957, USA) was born on Long Island, New York, and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. He began drawing at age four, and he’s never found a good reason to stop. Winning several student film awards during his academic career helped him to focus on developing his abilities. Attending the UCLA Animation Workshop brought his talent to the attention of others in the animation community. Much of David’s career has revolved around The Simpsons. After receiving his M.F.A from UCLA in 1983, he freelanced in illustration and animation. In 1987, he landed a job animating on The Tracey Ullman Show – where The Simpsons got their start, as short segments. Animating on all 48 shorts led to David directing many of the first episodes when The Simpsons became a series, including The Simpsons Christmas Special in December, 1989, and the premiere episode a month later. David became Supervising Animation Director as well as a producer on the show. To date, he has directed 22 episodes of The Simpsons, winning 4 Emmys along the way. In the midst of his success with The Simpsons, David was wooed away first to DreamWorks (The Road to El Dorado, co-director), and then to Pixar (Monsters, Inc, co-director), and Blue Sky (Ice Age, Robots, writing and storyboarding). He returned to the series at the end of 2003, and was chosen to direct the much-anticipated film, The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007. Presently, David has a number of projects in development, including directing a live-action feature.