Jorge R. Gutierrez

Jorge Ramirez Gutierrez^[4] was born on January 25, 1975^[5] in Mexico City and raised in Tijuana.^[6] As a child, he adopted the nickname "Super Macho" after his grandfather told him "there are two types of Mexicans: Macho and Super Macho".^[7]

Gutierrez attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he received his BFA (1997) & MFA (2000) in Experimental Animation under Jules Engel, and was mentored by Maureen Selwood.^[8] There he created the 3D short Carmelo, which won the 2001 Student Emmy Award in animation and was screened at Kodak's Emerging Filmmakers Program at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.^[9] In 2000, Gutierrez worked under animator Maurice Noble, for the art direction of Chuck Jones' Timberwolf for Warner Bros. In 2001, he began creating Jorge Gutierrez' El Macho, an animated web series for Sony Pictures.

Gutierrez has also done character design on many animated series including Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, as well as Kids' WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!, Cartoon Network's Class of 3000, and Disney's The Buzz on Maggie for which he was nominated for a 2006 Annie Award in character design. As a writer, he's worked on Scholastic's Maya & Miguel as well as Disney's Brandy & Mr. Whiskers and Vampirina.

In 2008, Gutierrez won two Annie awards (Best TV Animated Show & Best TV Character Design) and one Emmy (Best TV Character Design) working on his passion project for Nickelodeon, El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, along with his co-creator and wife, Sandra Equihua who also won an Emmy for her character designs.

In 2010, he created some of the sketches in Cartoon Network's Mad including "Dear Reaper...", "Dog vs Mailman" (part 1, 2 and 3), "Video Game Cheats", "Arcade Boy" and "Dog vs Fire Hydrant".

In 2012, Gutierrez directed and co-wrote an animated adventure feature film with a Romeo and Juliet style love story set against a Mexican "Day of the Dead" backdrop.^[10] The film, with the official title The Book of Life, was co-produced with 20th Century Fox Animation and was released on October 17, 2014.^[11][12] He earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Animated Feature Film in 2014. He was also nominated for three Annie awards (Best Film, Best Director & Best Character Design).

In February 2015, Reel FX and Gutierrez announced a multi-year, multi-picture deal which included Kung Fu Space Punch and The Book of Life 2.^[13][14]

In 2016 Gutierrez designed, voiced, wrote and directed the Annie and Emmy nominated Son of Jaguar VR short for Google Spotlight Stories.

In 2016, Gutierrez was awarded an Impact Award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition for his "Outstanding Direction in a Motion Picture".^[15]

On August 2, 2017, it was reported that Gutierrez would write and direct The Billion Brick Race, a spin-off of The Lego Movie, for Warner Animation Group.^[16] However, on February 8, 2018, it was reported that Gutierrez had permanently cancelled the project.^[17]

In October 2020, he signed an over-all-deal with Netflix.^[18] He directed the Immigration music video for the Emmy Award-winning series We the People, and wrote and directed the Annie (Best TV Animated Show & Best TV Music) and Emmy (Best Writing, Best Promo, Best Sound and Individual Achievement for Color) Award-winning Maya and the Three, a nine episode animated limited series for Netflix Animation. He had been developing a follow-up series to Maya set in the same universe for Netflix titled Kung Fu Space Punch, however, it was scrapped in 2022 along with many other planned animated series.^[19] He was also set to direct an original animated film titled I, Chihuahua from a script he wrote with Gabriel Iglesias.^[20] However, the film was cancelled in April 2024, due to creative differences.^[21] In February 2026, it was announced that the film got revived by United Kingdom studio Snafu Pictures.^[22] In May 2026, it was announced that the film distribution rights would be shopped to different studios during the Marché du Film 2026.^[23]

In December 2024 and February 2025, Gutierrez hinted that he and Equihua had meetings with The Walt Disney Company on a potential new project.^{[24][25][26][27]} In April 2026, Gutierrez confirmed that he was developing a new animated project for Disney hinting that it is "based on an IP they own".^[28]

On June 20, 2025, it was announced that Gutierrez was developing an original animated independent film La Venganza Rodríguez at Spanish animation studio Hampa Studio.^[29]

On July 4, 2025, Gutierrez announced El Guapo vs. the Narco Vampires, an adult animated pilot in collaboration with Ánima Estudios that would be shopped to streamers and studios.^[30] The pilot debuted in January 2026.^[31]

In December 2025, Gutierrez teased that he was developing a Speedy Gonzales feature film at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.^[32][33] The project was greenlit at Warner Bros. Pictures Animation on January 16, 2026.^[34]

In May 2026, Gutierrez's Punky Duck was announced by Prime Video as part of its GenAI Creators’ Fund, an Amazon initiative for integrating artificial intelligence to professional animation pipelines including the use of generative AI tools.^[35] In a statement to Cartoon Brew, Gutierrez said that he will be cautious with artificial intelligence, saying, "artists driving tech, and not the other way around, is my goal."^[36] This announcement earned heavy backlash from fans, with many on social media denouncing him as a sell out after spending the last few years championing human creativity over artificial creativity. In response to the intense backlash, Gutierrez said on X: "I understand a lot of you are happy for me and a lot of you are really angry at me for experimenting with AI at Amazon. I’m going to leave the comments open so you can get it all out and hopefully feel better", saying that death threats to him or his family would be reported.^[37][38]

Gutierrez did not speak until the age of five. As an adult, he was diagnosed with autism following his son's diagnosis.^[39][40]