Tab Murphy was raised in Olympia, Washington. He attended Washington State University, where he studied forestry and wildlife biology before having an existential crisis and transferring to the USC Film School, where he studied directing and screenwriting. His major breakthrough as a screenwriter came with a writing credit on Gorillas in the Mist (1988), the story of Dian Fossey’s crusade to protect the endangered mountain gorillas of Rwanda. Tab received an Academy Award nomination for his effort, which he admits he didn’t fully appreciate at the time, choosing to eschew the awards ceremony in favor of yellowtail fishing in Baja. Tab went on to spend nearly ten years in the Disney machine, writing such feature length animated movies as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Tarzan (1999), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Brother Bear (2003), which was nominated for an Academy Award Best Animated Feature. During that time Tab also wrote and directed Last of the Dogmen (1995), a western fantasy starring Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey. Tab has written several Warner Bros DC animated screenplays, including Green Arrow (2010), Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010) and Batman: Year One (2011), based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. In 2010 he wrote a thriller, Dark Country (2009), that was directed by Thomas Jane (Hung (2009), The Punisher (2004)), who also starred. The movie was shot in 3-D for a division of Sony. Tab has worked extensively in television animation, writing episodes of Thundercats, Scooby Do and Teen Titans Go! Tab divides his time between Los Angeles and the Canadian Rockies.
