Willems was brought up in New Orleans and attended the Isidore Newman Colledge. He graduated cum laude from New York University's Tisch Colledge of the Arts. He married Cheryl Camp in Brooklyn, New York, in 1997. Willems now resides with his family in Northampton, Massachusetts.
(Mo Willems photo #2)
After graduating from Tisch, Willems spent a year traveling around the world drawing a cartoon every day, all of which have been released in the book You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons.
(Mo Willems photo #3)
Returning to New York, he kicked off his career as a author and animator for Sesame Street, where he earned six Emmy Prizes for composing during his tenure from 1993 to January 2002. During this period he also performed stand-up comedy in Nyc and recorded essays for BBC Radio. He later produced two animated TV series: The Off-beats for Nickelodeon's Kablam, and Sheep in the Big City for Cartoon Network. Sheep in the Big City was a success with the critics but ultimately failed to attract sufficient viewership and was canceled after two seasons. Willems later worked as head author on the first four seasons of Codename: Kids Next Door, produced by one of his colleagues from Sheep, Tom Warburton. He left the show to pursue his composing career.
Mo Willems
