Ross Truman Bagdasarian Jr. (born May 6, 1949) is an American actor, animator and producer, known for his work on the ''

Alvin and the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

'' franchise. He is the son of the franchise's creator,

Ross Bagdasarian Ross S. Bagdasarian (; January 27, 1919 – January 16, 1972), known professionally by his stage name David Seville, was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor, best known for creating the cartoon band Alvin and the Chipmun ...

Early life

Bagdasarian was born in Fresno, California, the son of Armenian-American parents Armenuhi Bagdasarian (née Kulhanjian) and

(1919–1972). As a child, he worked with his father on ''

The Alvin Show ''The Alvin Show'' is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. ''The Alvin Show'' aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, ...

'' by helping edit and coordinate the soundtracks and falsetto voice-overs of

the Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

Career

Bagdasarian graduated from law school. He succeeded his father as president of

Bagdasarian Productions Bagdasarian Productions (also credited as Bagdasarian Company) is an American production company founded by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (also known as David Seville) on February 20, 1961. The company holds the rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks and rela ...

in 1972 after the death of the elder Bagdasarian. The company had fallen into obscurity after significant success between 1958 and the late 1960s. Bagdasarian was also admitted to the California bar as an attorney in 1975. Under Bagdasarian's supervision, new Chipmunks records were created shortly after his marriage to Karman, including ''

Chipmunk Punk ''Chipmunk Punk'' is an album by the Chipmunks, as well as being the first album released by Ross Bagdasarian, Jr., after he took over the voices of the Chipmunks after the death of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., his father in 1972. Despite the title of ...

''. In 1981, the Chipmunks returned to television in the cartoon special ''

A Chipmunk Christmas ''A Chipmunk Christmas'' is a 1981 animated Christmas by medium#Television specials and episodes, Christmas television special based on characters from ''Alvin and the Chipmunks''. Produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Chuck Jo ...

''. Two years later,

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

' ''

Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

series debuted on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. Based on that series, a feature film, ''

The Chipmunk Adventure ''The Chipmunk Adventure'' is a 1987 American animated musical-comedy film based on the Saturday-morning cartoon series ''Alvin and the Chipmunks''. Directed by Janice Karman and written by Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr., it stars the voices of ...

'' was released in 1987. Bagdasarian voices Alvin, Simon, and Dave Seville, and Karman voices Theodore and

the Chipettes The Chipettes are a group of three female anthropomorphic chipmunk singers: Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor who first appeared on the cartoon series '' Alvin and the Chipmunks'' in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as fe ...

(Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor). Bagdasarian and Karman hold tight creative and financial control over the ''Chipmunk'' franchise, reviewing each and every business contract in great detail. In the mid-90s, Bagdasarian bought out his brother's and sister's portions of the ''Chipmunk'' rights, to take complete control of the franchise.

Universal Pictures lawsuit

Bagdasarian licensed the rights to the Chipmunk characters to

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

in 1996, resulting in a string of Universal-produced

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

films. Four years later, he and Karman sued them for

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other party ...

, claiming that Universal failed to properly utilize, market, and merchandise the characters and hence resulting in a loss of royalties to Bagdasarian. The case was decided in Bagdasarian's favor. "For us, it was a custody battle", Karman said. "They finally realized 'OK, these two are really fighting for their kids'."

Personal life

Bagdasarian married

Janice Karman Janice Felice Karman is an American actress, producer, writer, and director. She is the co-owner of Bagdasarian Productions with her husband Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Early life Karman was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father was psycholog ...

in 1980, she is co-president of Bagdasarian Productions.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

History at Chipmunks.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagdasarian, Ross Jr. Living people Alvin and the Chipmunks American film producers American male voice actors American people of Armenian descent Animators from California Male actors from Fresno, California Record producers from California 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American screenwriters 1949 births