Matt Stone

Matt Stone (born May 26, 1971, Houston, Texas, U.S.) is an American screenwriter, actor, and producer who was best known as the cocreator, with Trey Parker, of the subversive animated television series South Park (1997– ). Together with songwriter Robert Lopez, the pair also created the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, which won numerous Tony Awards.

At a young age, Stone moved with his family to Littleton, Colorado, where he spent his childhood. While pursuing a double major in art and math at the University of Colorado in Boulder (B.A., 1993), Stone met future collaborator Trey Parker. The duo began filming their first full-length project, the movie Cannibal!: The Musical (1993), while still enrolled in the university. In 1992 they created the short animated film The Spirit of Christmas, which introduced early versions of the four foulmouthed boys who would become the characters of South Park. Stone and Parker remade the short in 1995, and the second version became one of the Internet’s earliest viral videos, spurring television network Comedy Central to begin airing a half-hour program based on the short in 1997. South Park, named for the small-minded, perpetually wintry town in which it was set, brought Parker and Stone’s quartet of crudely animated grade-schoolers to a mainstream audience. Stone cowrote a number of the episodes with Parker, and both men voiced many of the characters.

Following its debut on August 13, 1997, South Park was an immediate sensation. Its emphasis on absurdist plot twists and casual profanity made it a huge critical and popular hit, though it also drew the censure of, for example, religious organizations. The show frequently lampooned celebrities, including Barbra Streisand, Britney Spears, and Kanye West. Within five months of being on the air, South Park was the highest-rated program on Comedy Central. The show’s first Emmy Award nomination recognized the season-one episode “Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride.”

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Stone’s film career included a small role in the comedy Orgazmo (1997), which Parker directed and cowrote. In 1998 he played opposite Parker in BASEketball, appearing as a star player of an invented sport. Two years after South Park’s debut, the feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut was released. It received an Academy Award nomination for best song. Its creators also collaborated on the short-lived sitcom That’s My Bush! (2001) and the movie Team America: World Police (2004).

Beginning in 2003, the pair began to craft the idea of an irreverent musical about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Together with Robert Lopez, one of the creators of the puppet-filled stage musical Avenue Q, they eventually created the satirical Broadway musical The Book of Mormon (2011). The hit production, about LDS missionaries in Uganda, captured numerous Tony Awards, including best musical. In addition, its original cast album won a Grammy Award in 2012.

Throughout its long run, South Park continued to draw large audiences and critical acclaim, receiving five Emmys for outstanding animated program (2005, 2007–09, 2013). Its creators also continued to court controversy. Longtime cast member Isaac Hayes, a Scientologist, left the show following a 2005 episode that mocked his belief system. The following year, Comedy Central’s discomfort with an episode initially intended to feature a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad—which many Muslims would have considered offensive—led Parker and Stone to run this message on a blank screen: “Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad on their network.” Four years later Parker and Stone depicted Muhammad wearing a bear suit that hid his appearance.