Animator Bruce Smith gives blacks something to be proud of

Jet, Feb 9, 2004

Animator Bruce Smith is the creator/executive producer of the Disney Channel's hit cartoon series "The Proud Family," one of the few animated sitcoms to feature Blacks as lead characters.

Having worked on the modern-day classic animations The Emperor's New Groove, Tarzan and Space Jam, Smith, 42, is one of the leading artists in today's animation community.

A native of Los Angeles, Smith, married and the father of four, is cofounder of Jambalaya Studio, an animation company generating both racially and ethnically diverse projects for TV, movies and the Internet.

Smith says that after he was in the business for more than a decade, he was inspired to create the "Proud Family" because he did not see characters of color represented in animation.

"I was a cartoon fanatic when I was growing up, but there weren't any characters out there like me. I decided I wanted to make cartoons that emulated my experiences with characters that I could relate to."

"The Proud Family," nominated for an NAACP Image Award, follows the teenage adventures of 14-year-old Penny Proud and her family, who together learn lessons about life.

Stars lending their voices to the cartoon characters include Kyla Pratt, Tommy Davidson, Paula Jai Parker, Jo Marie Payton, Tara Strong and Cedric the Entertainer, who won an Image Award last year for his guest appearance. This year both Pratt and Davidson are Image Award nominees for Outstanding Performance in a Youth/Children's Program.