Owen Dennis | |
|---|---|
 Dennis in 2025 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Minneapolis College of Art and Design |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2012–present |
Owen Dennis is an American director, animator, writer, producer, musician, and voice actor. A graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, he worked as a writer and storyboard artist on Cartoon Network's Regular Show , and is the creator of the Cartoon Network series Infinity Train and an upcoming animated series based on the video game Among Us.
Dennis was born in Iowa [1] and grew up in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. [2] According to Dennis, he planned to leave Minnesota to pursue a career in animation at age 12, when he finished in only third place in a local county fair’s computer computer generated imagery (CGI) art contest, despite the judges not awarding a first or second prize. [2] Dennis attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and graduated in 2009. [3]
After graduating, Dennis took a job as an English teacher in China. [3] [4] He spent three years teaching in China, [5] during which he created the virtual band Galactaron, [6] before returning to the United States, moving to Los Angeles to work as an storyboard artist on Cartoon Network's Regular Show . He was a storyboard artist and writer on 33 of the show's episodes [3] as well as 2015's Regular Show: The Movie . [7]
Dennis pitched the idea for his original show Infinity Train to Cartoon Network in 2012. [8] The pilot for the series was released in November 2016; the first season was released on August 2019 on Cartoon Network. Dennis described it as a "kids’ mystery-horror-comedy-science-fiction show" that deals with difficult themes, including divorce. [4] According to Dennis, the inspiration for the series came from a plane trip back from China in 2010. [4] A concept for a Galactaron show was also pitched alongside Infinity Train , but Dennis did not want to change its premise to suit executive tastes. [9] In 2020, Dennis was an instructor at the Storyboard Artist Training Program at Cartoon Network Studios. [10] Dennis had written a script for an Infinity Train movie and additional seasons, as well as a video game, but the show was cancelled due to the merger between AT&T and WarnerMedia. [11] The fourth and final season of Infinity Train was released in 2021; [12] the series had been at risk of cancellation before that. [13]
After Infinity Train and other animated shows were removed from streaming platforms in 2022, Dennis criticized Warner Bros. Discovery for removing the show [14] [15] and noted the series can now only be seen through piracy. [16] Dennis said the decision was made against the advice of Cartoon Network, [14] and that neither he or anyone else involved in the production of Infinity Train had been told it would be removed. [17]
In June 2023, Variety reported that Dennis would be executive producer and creator of an animated adaptation of the video game Among Us at CBS Studios. [18] Dennis said that he was interested in the challenge of animating emotion in faceless, featureless characters. [19] Later that year, Variety listed Dennis as one of ten animators to watch in 2023. [20] In October 2024, Dennis said production of the show has been completed. [19] Dennis supported a petition by workers in The Animation Guild to put "guardrails" on the use of generative AI in animation. [21]
| Year | Title | Creator | Executive Producer | Writer | Voice actor | Other | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Galactaron - First Contact | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Singer | Creator [22] Animator [23] |
| 2013–2017 | Regular Show | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Storyboard artist [18] | |
| 2015 | Regular Show: The Movie | No | No | Yes | No | No | [7] | |
| 2019–2021 | Infinity Train | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | One-One / One, Toad / Terrance | Creator [18] |
| 2020 | Close Enough | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Storyboard artist [24] | |
| TBA | Among Us | Yes | Yes | — | No | No | Creator [18] | |
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