Matt Stone

Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and musician.

In 1992, Stone, Parker and Ian Hardin founded a production company named the Avenging Conscience.

The company was named after the D. W. Griffith film by the same title (which was actively disliked by the group.) Parker employed the cutout paper technique on Avenging Conscience's first production, Jesus vs. Frosty (1992), an animated short pitting the religious figure against Frosty the Snowman.

The quartet created a three-minute trailer for a fictional film titled Alferd Packer: The Musical.

The idea was based on an obsession Parker had with Alferd Packer, a real nineteenth-century prospector accused of cannibalism.

During this time, Parker had become engaged to long-time girlfriend Liane Adamo, but their relationship fell apart shortly before production on the trailer began.

"Horribly depressed", Parker funneled his frustrations with her into the project, naming Packer's "beloved but disloyal" horse after her.

The trailer became something of a sensation among students at the school, leading Virgil Grillo, the chairman and founder of the university's film department, to convince the quartet to expand it to a feature-length film.

Parker wrote the film's script, creating an Oklahoma!-style musical featuring ten original show tunes.

The group raised $125,000 from family and friends and began shooting the film.

The movie was shot on Loveland Pass as winter was ending, and the crew endured the freezing weather.

Parker – under the pseudonym Juan Schwartz – was the film's star, director and co-producer.

The two collaborated on various short films, and starred in the feature-length musical Cannibal! The Musical (1993).

Stone graduated with a double-major Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993.

Alferd Packer: The Musical premiered in Boulder in October 1993; "they rented a limousine that circled to ferry every member of the cast and crew from the back side of the block to the red carpet at the theater's entrance."

The group submitted the movie to the Sundance Film Festival, who did not respond.

Parker said he had a "vision" they needed to be at the festival, which resulted in the group renting out a conference room in a nearby hotel and putting on their own screenings.

MTV did a short news segment on The Big Picture regarding the film, and they made industry connections through the festival.

They intended to sell video rights to the film for $1 million and spend the remaining $900,000 to create another film.

The film was instead sold to Troma Entertainment in 1996 where it was retitled ''Cannibal!

The Musical'', and upon the duo's later success, it became their biggest-selling title.

It has since been labeled a "cult classic" and adapted into a stage play by community theater groups and even high schools nationwide.

Following the film's success, the group, without Hardin, moved to Los Angeles.

Upon arrival, they met a lawyer for the William Morris Agency who connected them with producer Scott Rudin.

As a result, the duo acquired a lawyer, an agent, and a script deal.

He is best known for co-creating South Park (since 1997) and The Book of Mormon (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker.

Stone was interested in film and music as a child and at high school, and attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where he met Parker.

Stone and Parker moved to Los Angeles and wrote their second film, Orgazmo (1997).

Before the premiere of the film, South Park premiered on Comedy Central in August 1997.

The duo possess full creative control of the show, and have produced music and video games based on it.

A film based on the series, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), received good reviews from both critics and fans.

Stone went on to write, produce, and star in the satirical action film Team America: World Police (2004), and, after several years of development, The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway to good reviews.

Stone has been the recipient of various awards over the course of his career, including five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on South Park, as well as three Tony Awards and one Grammy Award for The Book of Mormon.

Stone was born in Houston, Texas, to economics professor Gerald Whitney Stone and Sheila Lois (Belasco).

He is of Irish-American heritage from his father's side and Jewish heritage from his mother's side.

The South Park characters Gerald and Sheila Broflovski were named after them.

Stone and his younger sister Rachel were raised in Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, where they attended Heritage High School.

He attended the University of Colorado Boulder.

His father was worried he would "become a musician and a bum", so he insisted that his son major in something "practical".

They compromised on Matt's majoring in both mathematics and film.