Alexander Robert Hirsch (born June 18, 1985) is an American writer, animator, voice actor, and producer. He is best known as the creator of the Disney Channel/Disney XD animated television series Gravity Falls, for which he provided the voices of Grunkle Stan, Soos, and Bill Cipher, among others. He also earned BAFTA and Annie Awards for the series. In 2016, Hirsch co-authored Gravity Falls: Journal 3 which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for nearly a year.

Early life and education

Hirsch was born in Piedmont, California in 1985. He graduated from Piedmont High School where, as a junior, he won the school’s annual Bird Calling Contest in 2002 and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.

He went on to attend the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where he created a variety of projects and short films including his senior film, “Off The Wall,” which combined animation and live action. He also spent the summer of 2006 working in Portland, Oregon on a later-scrapped animated film for Laika. He graduated from the college in 2007.

Career

Hirsch’s first job after graduating from CalArts was as a writer and storyboard artist for The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack on Cartoon Network where he worked alongside fellow CalArts alumni, J. G. Quintel, Pendleton Ward (who was his writing partner on the show), and Patrick McHale. He would go on to develop the pilot for the Disney Channel series, Fish Hooks along with Maxwell Atoms and future Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland.

In 2012, Hirsch created the series Gravity Falls for the Disney Channel. The show, set in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, premiered in June 2012 with a voice cast including Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, and Hirsch himself. Over the course of the series, he provided the voices of Grunkle Stan, Soos, Old Man McGucket, Bill Cipher, and many other minor characters. The show was moved to Disney XD in 2014. It would go on to win a BAFTA Children’s Award and an Annie Award in 2015 and was nominated for several other awards (including a Peabody Award in 2016). Hirsch ended Gravity Falls in February 2016 to pursue other projects.

In July 2016, Hirsch threw a global treasure hunt (known as “Cipher Hunt”) for Gravity Falls fans with clues hidden throughout the world including in the United States, Japan, and Russia. The goal of the hunt was to find a statue of the Gravity Falls character, Bill Cipher. After two weeks, fans of the show discovered the statue in Reedsport, Oregon. The hunt coincided with the release of Hirsch’s tie-in book, Gravity Falls: Journal 3, which eventually appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list for nearly a year. A Gravity Falls graphic novel written by Hirsch was officially announced in July 2017.

Outside of Gravity Falls, Hirsch has done voice work for a number of projects including Phineas and Ferb, Rick and Morty, and as the announcer for the Chelsea Peretti special, One of the Greats. In August 2016, it was announced that Hirsch was co-writing the new live-action Pokémon movie, Detective Pikachu, alongside Guardians of the Galaxy and Captain Marvel writer Nicole Perlman. In February 2017, Hirsch was added as a story contributor to Sony’s animated Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In February 2018, Hirsch used his Twitter account to announce the new Gravity Falls graphic novel, through a series of puzzle pieces that he would release throughout the day. Put together the puzzle pieces revealed the cover of the graphic novel Gravity Falls: Lost Legends; 4 All-New Adventures which was written by Hirsch and is expected to be released on July 24, 2018.

On August 27, 2018, Hirsch signed a deal with American streaming company Netflix for a multi-year deal, according to Variety.

Personal life

Gravity Falls was inspired by Hirsch’s own childhood experiences with his twin sister during their summer vacations. He places many of his real-life experiences in the show, like living in Piedmont and trick-or-treating with his sister as kids. Mabel Pines, one of the lead characters of Gravity Falls, was inspired by his twin sister, Ariel Hirsch. In the series Mabel gets a pet pig, just like his sister had always wanted when she was a kid. In 2017, Hirsch, along with Justin Roiland and Ethan Klein, helped raise over $200,000 for Hurricane Harvey relief via a Twitch charity live stream.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Nominations and awards