Jeffrey Townsend started freelancing in New York City as a graphic designer, but his love of movies led him to meet with production designer Philip Rosenberg to ask him how to prepare for a career in film. Two weeks later, Townsend started working as Rosenberg's assistant on All That Jazz, which went on to net Rosenberg an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. After assisting designers Pato Guzman and Santo Loquasto on projects, Townsend began working on his own as a production designer. His first five features were:

• Dear Mr. Wonderful, directed by Peter Lilienthal, with Joe Pesci (Raging Bull) and Evan Handler (Sex in the City).
• Baby, It's You, directed by John Sayles, with Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction) and Vincent Spano (City of Hope).
• Reckless, directed by James Foley, with Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall) and Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill: Volumes 1 & 2).
• Old Enough, directed by Marisa Silver, with Alyssa Milano (Charmed) and Danny Aiello (2 Days in the Valley).
• After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese, with Griffin Dunne (40 Days and 40 Nights) and Teri Garr (Dumb & Dumber).

Townsend had an opportunity to try his hand at directing at this point, and adapted a one-act play called Landscape with Waitress for PBS. The resulting film won a Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival and garnered positive reviews:

"Highly enjoyable...Very funny stuff with an air of tension throughout." (Variety)
"Neat...The freshest breath of air I've smelled from PBS in a while. Grade: A-" (People)
"Probing, insistent...Touchingly articulates the most interior of emotions." (Vogue)
"Polished...There's more drama in this short film than in a whole season from Hollywood." (New Video)

After directing his first series of commercials (which earned him a Clio Award), Townsend designed another feature, Maid To Order, directed by Amy Jones, with Ally Sheedy (Short Circuit) and Beverly D'Angelo (Coal Miner's Daughter).

Townsend then took a break from production design to join the team being assembled by writer-producer-director James L. Brooks for the first season of The Tracey Ullman Show. One of Townsend's tasks as associate producer of the show was to develop a series of animated "bumpers" (short segments that appear before and after commercial breaks) with cartoonist Matt Groening. The result was The Simpsons, although no one could foresee the cultural impact these characters were destined to make.

Working closely with Groening, then-production assistant Paul Germain (who went on to co-create Rugrats and Recess), casting director Bonita Pietila and animators Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo at Klasky/Csupo, Townsend cast the Simpson family voices still used on the prime-time series, selected the signature yellow for the 'toon family's skin color, and directed the dialogue recording for many early episodes.

Townsend is also the composer of the brief music cue that is used at the end of all Gracie Films television productions, including The Simpsons. He has composed music for commercials, television show title themes and background scores, and music cues for live theater productions. He also supervised the production of the music for all of Tracey Ullman's musical numbers performed on the show during his tenure.

When the first season was in the can, Townsend left the show to return to feature films and production design. His next projects included:

• The Fabulous Baker Boys, directed by Steve Kloves, with Jeff Bridges (Seabiscuit), Michelle Pfeiffer (White Oleander) and Beau Bridges (Jerry Maguire). The film was nominated for four Academy Awards.
• Pacific Heights, directed by John Schlesinger, with Michael Keaton (Batman), Melanie Griffith (Working Girl) and Matthew Modine (Any Given Sunday), designing this time for a visual consultant credit.

Townsend returned to animation briefly, writing episodes for the first and third seasons of Rugrats for his old friend Paul Germain. His "Slumber Party" episode contained the "Angelica" character's first appearance, including her first utterance of that oft-repeated "dumb babies" line. Townsend and the entire writing team won an Emmy Award for their work on the first season. More production design work on features followed:

• Straight Talk, directed by Barnet Kellman, with Dolly Parton (9 to 5) and James Woods (Be Cool).
• Sleepless In Seattle, directed by Nora Ephron, with Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) and Meg Ryan (When Harry Met Sally).
• Faithful, directed by Paul Mazursky, with Cher (Moonstruck) and Chazz Palminteri (The Usual Suspects).
• Reach The Rock, directed by William Ryan, with Alessandro Nivola (Jurassic Park III) and Brooke Langton (The Replacements).
• Finding Graceland, directed by David Winkler, with Harvey Keitel (National Treasure) and Bridget Fonda (Monkeybone).

Townsend bid farewell to Hollywood at that point, moving his family to the Pacific Northwest, eager to pursue two areas of increasing passion for him: teaching and producing digital video. He lives in Walla Walla, Washington, with his wife Patrice; his son, Wiley; and his daughter, Sadie.

He developed an immersion-style program called the Filmmakers Boot Camp, in which six college students team up to produce six fully-realized short films in a single three-week period.  Whitman College was the first institution to offer the program, and Walla Walla College hosted the program in June of this year.  Visit www.filmmakersbootcamp.net for more information.

Townsend also created an in-house video production capability for custom health care publisher Coffey Communications, Inc.

When his schedule permits, Townsend teaches film and filmmaking classes at Walla Walla College and Walla Walla Community College, and lectures on the impact of digital video technology on business and education. He also provides consulting services for organizations exploring the viability of creating an in-house digital video production capability.

Recent projects include directing and producing the television series Inside the Music and developing a pilot script with writer Joseph Long for a new series. Called The Neruda Triangle, that script is currently being produced by students at Walla Walla College as a short film.

Another series in development, (your life here), would put local students behind the cameras for a weekly community-service program offering those in Walla Walla's struggling areas an opportunity to articulate their neighborhoods' needs.

During a recent month Fancy Logo had seven different 30-second spots airing concurrently, as well as Inside the Music. And a tongue-in-cheek debate show called Walla Walla Unleashed: Cats vs. Dogs aired for a week during prime time in the Walla Walla Valley as part of a fundraising campaign for the Blue Mountain Humane Society.

Townsend's passion for the enormous potential of kinetic media has been called contagious, and he shares it with clients, students of all ages, corporate professionals, actors and crew members.