Background
Stamatopoulos was born into a Greek-American family and raised in Norridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Stamatopoulos was born into a Greek-American family and raised in Norridge, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
He attended Ridgewood High School in Norridge where he wrote for his school variety show and was astounded he could get laughs with the material he had written.
He has worked on television programs such as Mr. Show, television Funhouse, Mad television, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O"Brien. He has also created multiple animated television shows such as Moral Orel, Mary Shelley"s Frankenhole, and High School United States of America!.
As an actor, Stamatopoulos is best known for his recurring role as the character Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne on the National Broadcasting Company comedy series Community, on which he also worked behind the scenes as a producer and consulting writer
While attending Columbia College Chicago he performed a duo act with comedian Andy Dick, in which Stamatopoulos played a ventriloquist and Dick played a dummy under the influence of sleeping pills. Stamatopoulos had written a spec script for a Simpsons episode, just out of love for the show, and Andy Dick convinced him to submit it to The Ben Stiller Show, which got him hired.
He met and worked with Bob Odenkirk. After Stiller"s show was canceled, he moved to New York City, where he wrote during the "90s for The Dana Carvey Show, Late Night with Conan O"Brien (also with Odenkirk), Late Show with David Letterman, Mr.
Show with Bob and David.
In 2000 Stamatopoulos and Robert Smigel pitched Comedy Central a spin-off of Smigel"s television Funhouse cartoons (which were appearing singly as animated shorts on Saturday Night Live episodes) as a half-hour sketch comedy show. The standalone television Funhouse show premiered on 2000 but was canceled after one season. He later joined the writing staff on Mad television Stamatopoulos worked as a creative consultant and contributing writer on the first season of Tom Goes to the Mayor, with Tim & Eric and Bob Odenkirk.
He also provided the voice of Drinky Crow on The Drinky Crow Show, which aired for one season on Cartoon Network"s Adult Swim.
His stop motion animated series Moral Orel premiered on Adult Swim on Christmas 2005 and aired for three seasons, airing its final episode in December 2008. A followup special aired in 2012.
Following Moral Orel, Stamatopoulos created Mary Shelley"s Frankenhole, a stop motion series, for Adult Swim. lieutenant ran for two seasons from 2010 to 2012.
Stamatopoulos was a writer and producer on the National Broadcasting Company sitcom Community.
He also played the recurring role of Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne, a character whose nickname derived from large star-shaped sideburns. A long-time fan of radio personality Steve Dahl, Stamatopoulos hosted a podcast, Sorry About Everything, from May 2012 until June 2013 on Dahl"s Steve Dahl Network.
