Voltaire is often referred to as a modern day renaissance man having achieved success in the fields of animation, toy design, comics, books and music. Voltaire (full name, Aurelio Voltaire Hernandez) emigrated to the United States from Cuba as a small child. His family eventually settled in New Jersey. As a child, Voltaire was enthralled by the films of Ray Harryhausen ( Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and set out to become a stop-motion animator. At the age of ten, he bought a super 8 camera with a single frame function and began making stop-motion films in the basement of his childhood home. Seven years later, disagreements with his family regarding his increasingly alternative appearance and a general dissatisfaction with what he saw as the "narrow-minded views" that permeated the small town he lived in, Voltaire ran away from home and went to New York City where he has resided ever since. Aurelio Voltaire started his career as a stop-motion animator and director in the eighties, at a handful of New York City animation houses, During those years, a teen-aged Voltaire animated stop-motion commercials for Budweiser, Ikea, RC cola, Hess, Parker Brothers, Kellogg's, Arm and Hammer, Marvel and many others. He made his mark as a director shortly thereafter creating award winning station IDs for MTV including the now classic "MTV Bosch". Based on the work of Hieronymus Bosch, the 15th century, Flemish painter, this station ID brought to life the hell panel of his famous "Garden of Earthly Delights" triptych via stop-motion animation. The spot took home a handful of awards and was included in a time capsule of 20th century programming that was shot into space. Moreover, it established Voltaire's unique style of whimsically dark animation and surreal storytelling. Voltaire then went on to direct a handful of horror, sci-fi and Halloween oriented station IDs for SyFy Channel, USA Networks, Discovery, The Learning Channel, Fangoria and others . Eventually, feeling he had long-form stories of his own to tell, Voltaire created several comic book series including the cult classics; Oh My Goth!, Human Suck, Chi-Chian (which went on to become a 14-episode animated web-series for the SyFy Channel's website. The series was written and directed by Voltaire and starred Bai Ling as the voice of Chi-Chian. The property has recently been optioned to be developed into a live action feature film. ) and most recently Deady, the tale of an extraterrestrial, evil teddy bear. The latter featured collaborations with some of the biggest names in macabre comics including Neil Gaiman, Clive Barker, James O'Barr, Roman Dirge, Gris Grimly, Junko Mizuno, David Mack and many others. Read less