About Mauricio de Sousa
Mauricio Araújo de Sousa (Brazilian Portuguese: [mawˈɾisju dʒi ˈsowzɐ]; born October 27, 1935), known artistically as Mauricio de Sousa or mononymously just as Mauricio, is a Brazilian cartoonist and businessman who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's comic books named Turma da Mônica (Monica and Friends). At 17 years of age, he worked for a daily newspaper called Folha da Manhã as a crime reporter. In 1959, Mauricio quit that job and began his comic book career, and created Monica and Friends. Mauricio's characters were inspired by children he knew from his childhood and by his own children. His later style is slightly reminiscent of that of Osamu Tezuka, a famous Japanese manga artist and personal friend. Mauricio's work has garnered recogniation both in his home country and abroad, which includes a number of international awards. In 2011, he was honored in the seventh edition of the Festival Internacional de Quadrinhos, at Belo Horizonte. Mauricio de Sousa began drawing comics on July 18, 1959, when a story about the dog Bidu (which would later come to be known as Blu in official English translations), his first character, was approved by the newspaper. Around this time, he also founded Bidulândia Serviços de Imprensa, later renamed Maurício de Sousa Produções, which operated as a syndicate for distributing newspaper strips. In 1962, he was hired by the Rio de Janeiro newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa, for which he created the character Pitheco and his gang.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.