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Iginio Straffi is an Italian artist and TV producer. He is the founder of the Rainbow animation studio, which he co-owns alongside Viacom (the American company that owns Nickelodeon).
In 1965, Straffi was born in the municipality of Gualdo, in the Province of Macerata. Gualdo is located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the city of Macerata. In 1973 his family moved to Macerata.
Straffi became interested in comic book illustration as a child, and started creating his own comics stories at the age of 7. As a teenager he participated in art competitions. He received his college education at the University of Macerata, where he studied literature and modern languages. He dated a foreign-born girl named Antonella, who was raised in Italy by foster parents. Antonella expressed a desire to someday meet her biological parents, and Straffi later used her story as an inspiration for the backstory of Bloom, Winx Club's lead character.
Straffi started his professional career as a comics artist in 1985, when his first story was published in "Tilt". His subsequent stories were published in the weekly magazines "Lanciostory" and "Skorpio",the monthly magazine "Comic Art", and the science fiction anthology magazine "Métal hurlant" (whose stories were republished in the United States under the title "Heavy Metal") .
In 1989, Straffi was recruited by veteran comics writer Claudio Nizzi (1938-) to work as an artist for the then-new detective series "Nick Raider" (1988-2005). The series was published by "Sergio Bonelli Editore", one of Italy's leading comic book publishers. From 1990 to 1992, Straffi served as the lead creative artist for Nick Raider.
Straffi was interested in joining the animation industry, and in 1992 accepted a job offer to work as a storyboard artist for the French animation studio "Telcima". He moved to France for his new job. He worked on a failed pilot for a television adaptation of the long-running science fiction series "Valérian and Laureline" (1967-2010). He also worked on a film adaptation of the medieval tales "Reynard the Fox", which ended in development hell.
By 1995, Straffi had become experienced with the many stages of work used in animation productions. He returned to Italy and secured financing to start his own animation studio, Rainbow S.p.A. He purchased computers and software for digital design.Rainbow at first offered its services to larger companies, producing commissioned work. The company first produced its own television series with the superhero tale Tommy and Oscar (2000-2002).
In 2004, Straffi created his most ambitious television series project, Winx Club. The series debuted on the Italian public television channel "Rai 2", and soon became one of the network's highest-rated programs. Winx Club became an international success, attracting the interest of the American company "Viacom", which owns the popular "Nickelodeon" brand. By the fourth season of Winx Club, Viacom began discussions with Straffi to become a co-owner of Rainbow.
In 2011, Viacom purchased a 30% share of Rainbow at the price of 83 million dollars. Viacom agreed to finance new seasons of Winx Club and other television projects by Rainbow, and to broadcast them on its Nickelodeon channels worldwide. Straffi retains the remaining 70% of Rainbow.
While Straffi has produced 3 animated films based on Winx Club, his first animated feature film based on an original story was the historical comedy "Gladiators of Rome" (2012). It cost about 80 million dollars to produce, becoming one of the most expensive Italian film productions. It performed poorly at the box office, grossing 10 million dollars in worldwide release.
Straffi served as a producer on the live-action television series Club 57 (2019-), which was a co-production with Viacom's Nickelodeon. He has stated that he plans to shift his focus from animated projects to live-action works. By 2020, he had signed off on a live-action adaptation of Winx Club, called "Fate: The Winx Saga".
