The Folks behind the Toons
Alexander Robert Hirsch was born on June 18, 1985, in Piedmont, California.ย During his childhood, Hirsch and his twin sister Ariel would go stay with their great-aunt (or โGrauntyโ) Lois, at her cabin in the woods during the summer. These experiences later served as Hirsch's inspiration for Gravity Falls.ย Hirsch graduated from Piedmont High School where, as a junior, he won the school's annual Bird Calling Contest (leading to an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman). ย
Hirsch went on to attend the California Institute of the Arts where he created a variety of projects and short films including his senior film, Off The Wall, which combined animation and live action and โCuddle Bee Hugs NโSuch' with Adrian Molina, which was chosen by Nicktoons Network for their original series Shorts in a Bunch.ย While at CalArts, Hirsch became friends with a number of classmates who would also go on to have successful careers in animation.ย This included J. G. Quintel, Pendleton Ward and Patrick McHale. ย
Following his graduation from CalArts, Hirsch landed a job as a writer and storyboard artist for Cartoon Networkโs The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.ย Following his work on Flapjack, Hirsch teamed up with Maxwell Atoms and Justin Roiland to create the pilot episodes for the Disney Channel series, Fish Hooks.ย The series centered on a fun-loving teenage fish named Milo, his anxious brother Oscar, and their histrionic best friend Bea Goldfishberg. They attend Freshwater High School, submerged in an aquarium in a pet store named Bud's Pets.ย
Fish Hooks ran for three seasons with Hirsch writing many of the episodes as well as voice acting for a recurring character named Clamantha. ย
In 2012, Hirsch created the series Gravity Falls for Disney Channel. Set in the fictional town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, the series followed the adventures of twin siblings Dipper and Mabel as they investigate the strange events while spending the summer with he great uncle (or โGrunkleโ) Stan.ย
Along with writing and directing much of the episodes, Hirsch additionally provided the voices for the characters of Grunkle Stan, Soos Ramirez, Old Man McGucket, and the villainous Bill Cipher.
Gravity Falls was moved to Disney XD in 2014 and went on to win a BAFTA Children's Award and an Annie Award in 2015.ย The series ended after two seasons, concluding not because of cancellation but rather because Hirsch felt the story had come to its completion.ย Although the lore of the series has been expanded on in numerous books, comics and young adult novels.ย Hirsch wrote some of these, including Gravity Falls: Journal 3, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, and Gravity Falls: The Book of Bill.ย All three were New York Times bestsellers.ย ย
The characters and setting of Gravity Falls are largely autobiographical, reminiscent of Hirsch's childhood summers with Graunty Lois. Dipper Pines is based on Hirsch himself with Mabel Pines a mirthful homage to his twin sister, Ariel.ย Whereas the character of Grunkle Stan is based on Hirschโs tall-tale-telling grandfather, Stan.
Outside of Gravity Falls, Hirsch has done voice work for a number of cartoons, such as Phineas and Ferb, The Owl House, Rick and Morty, Amphibia, We Bare Bears, The Simpsons, The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.ย He has also loaned his vocal talents to the video games Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, Disney Infinity 3.0 and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe.
In 2021, Hirsch co-produced the Netflix animated series Inside Job alongside the seriesโ creator and show-runner Shion Takeuchi.ย He additionally helped write episodes of Inside Job and voiced the character of the aged assassin โGrassyโ Noel Atkinson.ย
Additional writing credits include an episode of Kid Cosmic and story-contribution to the animated feature, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.ย ย
Hirsch had been in a romantic relationship with fellow artist Dana Terrace and he worked on her series, The Owl House for HBOMax, voicing the characters of King Clawthorne and Hooty.ย Seeing the creative freedom Terrace was offered to explore LGBTQ+ in Owl House led Hirsch to speak up against Disney, detailing the ways in which queer content was so significantly censored out of Gravity Falls (although not even Disney could deny the eternal love between Blubs and Durland). ย
In early 2025, Hirsch organized and hosted an online draw-a-thon to raise charity funds to help those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires.ย Guest included Jason Ritter (the voice of Dipper Pines) and Kristen Schaal (voice of Mabel Pines) and artists Joe Pitt and Matt Braly.ย The event raised a final total of over $260000.ย ย
