Andrew B. Heyward (born February 19, 1949) is the former Chairman and CEO of

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...

, an animation production company. He is currently CEO of Genius Brands International.

Early life

Heyward was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, New York, the son of Sylvia (née Block) and Louis M. "Deke" Heyward, who was vice president of development at leading entertainment companies such as

Four Star International Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was insp ...

and Barry & Enright Productions, as well as senior vice president for leading cartoon company,

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

Professional life

Andy Heyward's upbringing was robust with access to the entertainment elite, including his first start as an assistant for legendary animator

Joe Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian i ...

on ''

Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-Lympics ''Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics'' is a two-hour Saturday morning animated program block produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on ABC from September 10, 1977, until October 28, 1978. The block featured five Hanna-Barbera series ...

''. In 1986, Heyward took the lead of DIC Enterprises after he and other investors performed a buyout of majority shares owned by

Radio-Television Luxembourg RTL (from '), formerly RTL plus and RTL Television, is a German-language free-to-air television channel owned by the RTL Group, headquartered in Cologne. Founded as an offshoot of the German-language radio programme '' ,'' RTL is consider ...

(now

RTL Group RTL Group (for "Radio Television Luxembourg") is a Luxembourg-based international media conglomerate, with another corporate centre in Cologne, Germany. The company operates 68 television channels and 31 radio stations in Germany, France an ...

, owned by

Bertelsmann Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...

). He subsequently bought the remaining shares owned by

Jean Chalopin Jean Chalopin (born 31 May 1950) is a French bank executive. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he produced a range of successful animated series, first as the founder and president of the production company DIC, then at his newly created compa ...

, founder of the French company

DIC Audiovisuel DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

. Heyward eventually sold a majority interest in DIC to

Capital Cities/ABC Capital Cities/ABC Inc. was an American media company. It was founded in 1985 when Capital Cities Communications purchased the much larger American Broadcasting Company. It eventually proposed a merger of equals with The Walt Disney Company and ...

in 1993, forming a Limited Partnership company called DIC Entertainment L.P. CC/ABC would then be purchased by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in 1996. In 2000, with two venture capital firms, Heyward re-purchased DIC Entertainment. On June 20, 2008, Heyward announced that he was selling DIC Entertainment to

Cookie Jar Group Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group and originally known as CINAR; renamed as DHX Cookie Jar Inc. from 2012 until 2014, or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian media production and distribution company owned by DHX ...

. In 2009, he founded A Squared Entertainment (A2) with his wife, Amy. In 2013, the company merged with

Genius Brands Genius Brands International (GBI) is an entertainment company headed by Andy Heyward. The company was formed from the merger of Genius Brands International and A Squared Entertainment. History 2014–2015 Genius Brands International (GBI) was f ...

to form Genius Brands International, with Heyward serving as CEO.

References

External links

*
Genius Brands International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyward, Andy 1949 births American male television writers American television writers Hanna-Barbera people Living people Screenwriters from New York (state) Television producers from New York City American voice directors