Shane Keats
Shane Keats is creator of Heartwood USA. He started the show to help the environment and get revenge on school yard bullies everywhere. He lives in Cambridge with his wife Nyssa and their two daughters, Lily (age 10) and Charlotte (age 7). They like fart jokes. (At least, he and the kids do.) Shane's had a lot of cool jobs over the years, from an animation company called Oddcast to NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. A long time ago, Shane worked on political campaigns, including the 1992 Clinton/Gore race. He went to Rutgers and MIT's Sloan School.

Dave Schlafman Studio
Dave Schlafman directed Cow-a-Dunga, Heartwood USA's teaser. Dave specializes in creating fun characters and stories that entertain and educate. You've seen his work if you've ever watched Word Girl, the Uh-Oh's, or his animated web series, The Idiotic Adventures of Philippe and Pierre. Oh yeah. Al Gore is his pal...Well, kind of. Al Gore uses Dave's award winning short The Sky is Falling when he gives speeches on Climate Change these days. That's pretty cool.

Abby Rose (Carson)
Abby Rose attends Emerson College in Boston, studying for her BFA in Musical Theater. According to her mom, she has been a "drama queen" since birth, and has been dancing and singing her way through life ever since. Abby experienced her first national tour at age 13 when she played a spoiled Amaryllis in The Music Man and has continued her theatrical career playing at numerous professional theater venues along the East Coast. She's very excited to lend her naturally squeaky speaking voice to Carson for Heartwood USA. And more importantly, she hopes that Carson's determination to protect our planet's environment will speak to others as well.

Jan Munroe (Shamus, Eugene)
Jan Munroe is a veteran of stage and screen and was a founding member of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. He drives a converted vegetable oil fueled Mercedes diesel that smells like a fish fry, making it much easier to catch the myriad Echo Park street cats that his wife then cleans up and domesticates. This is the first time he's been in a cartoon. And he likes it.

Cyrus Brooks (Hugo)
Cyrus Brooks is a well known krump and hip hop instructor in Boston. Also known as "Optimus Rhymes" aka "H.R. Paper Stacks" aka "Captin Luvnone," Cyrus has given lecture-demonstrations on the History of Tap at Berklee College of Music, Yale University, and Harvard University. His lives with his partner in Mattapan, Massachusetts. He hopes Heartwood USA has a long life as a series so their newborn son can grow up to watch it.