Phelan Morkel (born October 25, 1980) is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, musician, and voice actor best known for creating Mole Miner, Morten, Trisha's Way and Storm Raiders, and co-creating Wonderbeaver. He is also known for creating The Two Investigators, and writing the parody films Every Adult Comedy Ever and Black Pope.
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Biography
Phelan was born on October 25, 1980 at Burbank Hospital in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He is the son of Nicholas H. Morkel (a Bozeman, Montana native; born August 16, 1931) of German and South African descent and Argentine-born Cassandra Morkel (née Bergamo; May 2, 1930-February 11, 2014) of Italian and Spanish descent. His mother, born in Buenos Aires, immigrated to Boston at the age of 10. His uncle is the Bostonian writer Charles Siemons (born August 5, 1925).
He wrote his first work at the age of 15 in 1996, a comic named Darren The Mole Miner, for the school paper of Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School.
Personal Life
Phelan resides in Leominster, Massachusetts with his wife Gabrielle Morkel. Gabrielle was a Mole Miner fan artist who later began dating Phelan, they married in 2016. Previously, he had dated voice actress Candence Dyal in high school and had been married to Aliza Engelen from 2004-2010. He is a centrist and egalitarian.
Phelan converted to Christianity, the religion his aunt and grandfather followed, in 1997, despite his mother being a card-carrying member of the American Atheists and his father being "vaguely agnostic". He identifies as part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and authored a children's book based off the Ninety-five Theses in 2005 for Augsburg Fortress Press. Phelan stated that his atheist mother, in her final years, had "grown sick and tired of the "one of us!" attitude that most atheists give to ex-faithful who joyously declare how and why they de-converted."
His mother Cassandra died in 2014 due to complications from a botched liver transplant. She was 83 years old.
Phelan had planned to attend the Great White show at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island on February 20, 2003, but had to leave during the opening act to pick up a friend. When they came back, the building had burst into flames. Ironically, his uncle Charles Siemons, at 16 years of age, had survived the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire.
Trivia
- Phelan Morkel owns some mascot costumes in his collection:
- A Latikuu Edacra/Fuse Special Effects-built Darren the Mole Miner mascot costume
- One of the Mechanimation Darren suits from Mole Miner Live!
- He also has an actual Baby Bop costume, which was sent to him by Jocelyn Stevenson, a previous executive producer for Barney & Friends.
- Phelan owns a Rock-afire Explosion 3-Stage and some Chuck E. Cheese's CU mods intended for the 3-Stage, as well as the Billy Bob, Looney Bird and Hannah Banana animatronics from Hannah Banana, he also owns the original San Jose Crusty the Cat animatronic via an auction, which he paid $800,000 for it.
- Phelan programmed several animatronic shows for Carwardine Parks in the early 2000s.
- Phelan is the creator of the WBJK Rude Awakening with Chaz & Ernie segment "The Great New England Songbook".
