Craig (Michael) Bartlett was born in Seattle on 18th October 1956. After he had finished school, he studied Fine Arts at the Museum Art School in Portland, Oregon from 1975 to 1978. After that he decided to spend an exchange year in the small village Siena in Italy.
Back in the States he gave up his original idea to become a painter and turned to animation films. It all started with the Tournees of Animation. Craig was impressed by the fusion of art and story telling. So in 1981 he enrolled for the animation program of the Evergreen State College. After his graduation he began to work for the Will Vinton Studios. There he helped with various claymation films.
When Pee-wee's Playhouse started on CBS in fall 1986, Craig thought: "That looks like the most fun show ever." and decided that he wanted to be a part of it. So he sent a tape with a few claymation shorts to the show's producers. Craig was accepted and from then on he was allowed to work at the Penny-Cartoons. These were about a blond girl which had pennies instead of eyes and told stories about her life. During his time with Pee-wee's Playhouse he got to know Bob Rogers, founder of the BRC Imagination Arts. After he had seen Craigs demo tape that had the Arnold shorts on it, Mr. Rogers invited him to make an IMAX film for the Expo '90 in Osaka. Craig accepted the offer. One and a half year later the seven minutes long Robo Show was finished.
After the Expo Craig Bartlett returned to the States. There he began to work for the Klasky Csupo Inc. which produced numerous Nicktoons like The Wild Thornberries and Rocket Power as well as the first four seasons of The Simpsons. Craig worked on the first season of the Rugrats - partly as storywriter and partly as director. There he already got to know some of the people who would later work with him on Hey Arnold!.
In 1992 Craig got a call to make another Expo film. This time it was for the Expo 92 in Sevilla. The short called Mi Pias Vasco was about a spanish boy who presents the nicest locations of the Basque Country to the audience. After that he directed Postcards which was sponsored by Korean Air for the Expo '93 in Taejon (Korea). With a budget of 4 million dollars he and his team toured seven countries within one year (USA, Canada, Brazil, France, South Africa, Bali and Korea) to shoot scenes for the film. After that he began to work on a project for the Californian amusement park Knott's Berry Farm. It was another shortfilm called Mystery Lodge. The theme of the film were American Indians and their history.
In the year 1994 Craig began to work on a pilot of Hey Arnold! and in 1995 the series' production started. There were five seasons with 20 episodes each and in 2001 Hey Arnold! - The Movie was made, which came to U.S. theaters in 2002. (You can read more about the history of Hey Arnold! here.)
Incidentally Craig had some ideas for a new cartoon. It was called Party Wagon and was about a band of misfits who - in the 19th century at the time of the Oregon Trail - got hold of a treasure map. Craig proposed the new series to the management of Cartoon Network and he was allowed to make a pilot. The main character was the 16 years old Randall P. McDuff who was voiced by Sean Astin, who also played Sam in the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Craig did the voice of the calm, violine playing casanova Romeo Jones. Party Wagon premiered on 27th February 2004. However, the idea of a series was discarded because the executives of Cartoon Network changed their plans and lowered budget they were willing to spend for the production of a show that would be on Adult Swim. Craig's next idea - a series about the two 8th graders Lenny and Nate and their crazy everyday life - was also rejected.
Early in 2007 Craig Bartlett finished making a film for the NASA which premiere atd the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.