Born in Australia on January 1, 1974, Aaron Blabey is an author and illustrator, best known for his graphic novel series The Bad Guys.
Aaron and his family moved a lot when he was a kid, but his most formative years were once he entered high school. He recalls writing short stories that he would give to one of his teachers, who genuinely enjoyed them and found them funny. Aaron cited these memories as a major confidence booster.
Being an only child, Aaron would spend his free time cooking up story ideas and reading. He was specifically fond of the TinTin books by Georges Remi.
Between the 1990s and mid 2000s, Aaron was a successful actor who appeared as a regular on numerous television shows and in several motion pictures. Although he’s quoted saying he wasn't very good, in 1994, he won an award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama for his appearance on The Damnation of Harvey McHugh (1994) and was nominated again in 2000 for his guest appearance on the series Stingers.
After that, Aaron spent a couple of years painting, but he finally found his preferred artistic outlet when he began writing and illustrating children’s books.
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley, his first picture book, was published in 2007. By 2008, it had several nominations and won the Children's Book Council of Australia Award.
He published several other children’s books before signing a deal with Scholastic in 2014. This led to the creation of Pig the Pug, a story following a spoiled pug that teaches kids how not to behave. The popularity of the character sparked the creation of a series, and sequels to Pig the Pug have been released as recently as 2021.
His next bestseller was Thelma the Unicorn, which was about a normal pony who wants to become a unicorn. This book also had a sequel, The Return of Thelma the Unicorn, and in 2019, Netflix revealed they are working on a musical adaptation of the book.
In 2015, Aaron released his graphic novel series, The Bad Guys. The books focus on intimidating animals, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr, Snake, Mr. Piranha, and Mr. Tarantula, who no longer want to be viewed as criminals by the public. They decide to start helping their city by doing good deeds in an effort to be seen differently.
There are currently 16 installments in The Bad Guys series. In April 2022, the animated movie adaptation of the graphic novel arrived in theaters and was an immediate hit. The Dreamworks film signed Aaron on as an executive producer to integrate the humor and charm from the source material. The movie stars Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, and Anthony Ramos.
Aaron has a book series he is working on called Cat On The Run, focusing on a cat going on the run after being falsely accused of a crime. Pig the Pug will also have its own TV show in the foreseeable future.
Aaron is married to Kirstie Hutton, a speech pathologist. They have two sons. ~Claudia Minardi