Owen Dennis

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 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 a 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]