Animator Spotlight: Genndy Tartakofsky

He created and animated Dexter's Laboratory, which would be enough to get anyone into the animator spotlight. If that wasn't enough, his next full-on project was the love-letter to Kurasawa: Samurai Jack. I'm paraphrasing when I say I've heard him say in an interview about Samurai Jack that cartoons... "Never had enough action." Not until you came along, Genndy.
He worked for Hanna Barberra, which doesn't get any points in my book, except that he worked in a trailer in the parking lot there, where he developed Dexter, which he created in college. Between Dexter and Samurai Jack, he co-directed and co-wrote for The Powerpuff Girls and the Dexter spin-off Dial M for Monkey.
Then came the best Star Wars since "Empire".
The Clone Wars illustrated the brothers-in-arms relationship between the master Kenobi and an up-an-comming Aniken Skywalker. Action packed, lovingly written and animated with excellent stylization, Genddy took the reigns and made an superb, 2D version of what Episode 2 should have been. IMHO, it's better than all three Star Wars Prequels, certainly better written. Clones die pointlessly while Obiwan and Aniken kick robot ass.

It seems that the biggest theme in Genndy's animation is fighting robots. I don't know if I can name a single thing that Genndy worked on that didn't involve fighting robots in one way or another (like Dexter, Powerpuff and Dial M), if not had it as the main McGuffin (like Jack and Clone Wars.)
Currently, Genndy is working on a mixed-media prequel of The Dark Crystal called The Power of the Dark Crystal. The Jim Henson Company is producing and it's slated to be released in 2009. When I say "mixed media" I mean that it's going to be a composite of animation and animatronic muppetry. Judging by what I've seen previously from Genndy, it's going to be sweet. Henson's are huge shoes to fill, but Genndy's never let me down before.

Here's to the Samurai animator.
Genndy's Wikipedia page