Michael Hirsh (born April 7, 1948) is a Belgian-born Canadian producer. He has been a significant figure in the Canadian television industry, or more specifically children's programming, since the 1980s. Some of his most known productions include Committed, Blaster's Universe, Clone High, Franklin, Rolie Polie Olie, Johnny Test, Arthur, Caillou, Will and Dewitt, Spider Riders, World of Quest, Magi-Nation, Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures, Strawberry Shortcake, The Doodlebops, Donkey Kong Country, and The Magic School Bus. Personal life Born in Belgium in 1948, Michael's family emigrated to North America when he was a child; he was raised primarily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and New York City. After high school, Michael attended York University in Toronto where he would meet his future business partner, Patrick Loubert. Hirsh abandoned his post-secondary education after three years to pursue his filmmaking ambitions. Career Nelvana In 1971, Hirsh co-founded Nelvana with Patrick Loubert and British-born animation artist Clive A. Smith. Under co-CEO Hirsh's leadership, the studio was responsible for many of its animated phenomena. During this period, he co-directed the satirical live-action/animated 1972 feature Voulez-vous coucher avec God? In the 1980s, Hirsh saved Nelvana from more than one brush with bankruptcy. After the failure of their initial feature film, Rock & Rule (in which he also worked as a storyboard artist for the film), the original distributor of their live-action show, T. and T., went out of business. Defying advice to fold the company, Michael found a replacement distributor within six weeks. In late 1996, amid Golden Books negotiations to buy Nelvana, Hirsh went against his co-founders' advice and declined the offer. This led to a now infamous argument with the then COO of the company, Eleanor Olmstead, in which the normally mild-mannered Hirsh and Olmstead were reportedly heard "swearing up and down the hallway at one another". After remaining unaware for some time, Golden Books eventually walked out of the C$140 million deal in light of the internal discord. In 1997, Hirsh and Nelvana helped found Teletoon along with fellow Canadian children's television production company Cinar. In September 2000, Hirsh sold the Nelvana holdings to Corus Entertainment for C$540 million. Two years later, he was the last of the original founders to leave the studio, though the Corus press release stated that he had decided to take on an advisory role in the company. Cookie Jar Group In 2004, Hirsh reestablished himself in the