Matt Groening
Groening at Comic-Con, July 24, 2010
Born	(1954-02-15) February 15, 1954 (age 58) Portland, Oregon, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Cartoonist
Known for	The Simpsons Futurama Life in Hell Bongo Comics
Political party	Democrat
Spouse	Deborah Caplan (1986–1999) Agustina Picasso (2011–present)
Children	Homer, Abe, Camille (stepdaughter)
Signature

Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening ( /ˈɡreɪnɪŋ/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954)^[1] is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell (1978–present) as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons (1989–present) and Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–present)

Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers. Life in Hell caught the attention of James L. Brooks. In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening decided to create something new and came up with a cartoon family, The Simpsons, and named the members after his own parents and sisters — while Bart was an anagram of the word brat. The shorts would be spun off into their own series: The Simpsons, which has since aired 508 episodes. In 1997, Groening and former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999. After four years on the air, the show was canceled by Fox in 2003, but Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes from four direct-to-DVD movies in 2008. Then, in June 2009, Comedy Central ordered 26 new episodes of Futurama, to be aired over two seasons.

Groening has won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, ten for The Simpsons and two for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.

Early life[link]

Groening was born on February 15, 1954^[2] in Portland, Oregon,^[3] the middle of five children. His Norwegian-American mother, Margaret Ruth (née Wiggum), was once a teacher, and his German American father, Homer Philip Groening (December 30, 1919 – March 15, 1996),^[4] was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist.^[5][6] Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Mennonite, Plautdietsch-speaking family. He has Dutch Mennonite ancestors^[7], and the Dutch IPA transcription of his surname is [ˈɣru.nɪŋ].

Matt's grandfather Abram Groening was a professor at Tabor College, a Mennonite Brethren liberal arts college in Hillsboro, Kansas before moving to Albany College (now known as Lewis and Clark College) in Oregon in 1930.^[8]

Groening grew up in Portland, and attended Ainsworth Elementary School and Lincoln High School.^[9] From 1972^[10] to 1977, Groening attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington,^[11] a liberal arts school that he described as "a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every weirdo in the Northwest."^[12] He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons.^[10] He befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry after discovering that she had written a fan letter to Joseph Heller, one of Groening's favorite authors, and had received a reply.^[13] Groening has credited Barry with being "probably [his] biggest inspiration."^[14] He has also cited the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians as what got him interested in cartoons,^[15] as well as Peanuts and its creator Charles M. Schulz as inspirations.^[16]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

In 1977, at the age of 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer. He went through what he described as "a series of lousy jobs," including being an extra in the television movie When Every Day Was the Fourth of July,^[17] busing tables,^[18] washing dishes at a nursing home, landscaping in a sewage treatment plant,^[19] and chauffeuring and ghostwriting for a retired Western director.^[20][21]

[edit] Life in Hell

Groening described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of the self-published comic book Life in Hell, which was loosely inspired by the chapter "How to Go to Hell" in Walter Kaufmann's book Critique of Religion and Philosophy.^[22] Groening distributed the comic book in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, a record store in which he worked. He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978.^[22] The strip, titled "Forbidden Words," appeared in the September/October issue of that year.^[18][23]

Groening gained employment at the Los Angeles Reader, a newly formed alternative newspaper, delivering papers,^[10] typesetting, editing and answering phones.^[19] He showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed and eventually gave him a spot in the paper.^[10] Life in Hell made its official debut as a comic strip in the Reader on April 25, 1980.^[18][24] Vowell also gave Groening his own weekly music column, "Sound Mix," in 1982. However, the column would rarely actually be about music, as he would often write about his "various enthusiasms, obsessions, pet peeves and problems" instead.^[12] In an effort to add more music to the column, he "just made stuff up,"^[17] concocting and reviewing fictional bands and non-existent records. In the following week's column, he would confess to fabricating everything in the previous column and swear that everything in the new column was true. Eventually, he was finally asked to give up the "music" column.^[25] Amongst the fans of the column was Harry Shearer, who would later become a voice on The Simpsons.^[26]

Life in Hell became popular almost immediately.^[27] In November 1984, Deborah Caplan, Groening's then-girlfriend and co-worker at the Reader, offered to publish "Love is Hell", a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form.^[28] Released a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Work is Hell soon followed, also published by Caplan.^[10] Soon afterward, Caplan and Groening left and put together the Life in Hell Co., which handled merchandising for Life in Hell.^[18] Groening also started a syndicate, Acme Features Syndicate, which syndicated Life in Hell, Lynda Barry and John Callahan, but now only syndicates Life in Hell.^[10] Life in Hell is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, including School is Hell, Childhood is Hell, The Big Book of Hell and The Huge Book of Hell.^[9] Groening has stated, "I'll never give up the comic strip. It's my foundation."^[29]

[edit] The Simpsons

Creation[link]

Life in Hell caught the eye of Hollywood writer-producer and Gracie Films founder James L. Brooks, who had been shown the strip by fellow producer Polly Platt.^[27][30] In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation on an undefined future project,^[6] which would turn out to be developing a series of short animated skits, called "bumpers," for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show. Groening feared that he would have to give up his ownership rights, and that the show would fail and would take down his comic strip with it.^[31] Groening conceived of the idea for The Simpsons in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family: Homer, the overweight father; Marge, the slim mother; Bart, the bratty oldest child; Lisa, the intelligent middle child; and Maggie, the baby.^[31][32][33] Groening famously named the main Simpson characters after members of his own family: his parents, Homer and Margaret (Marge or Marjorie in full), and his younger sisters, Lisa and Margaret (Maggie). Claiming that it was a bit too obvious to name a character after himself, he chose the name "Bart," an anagram of brat.^[31][34] However, he stresses that aside from some of the sibling rivalry, his family is nothing like the Simpsons.^[35] Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, and in a 1995 interview Groening divulged that Mark "is the actual inspiration for Bart."^[36]

Maggie Groening has co-written a few Simpsons books featuring her cartoon namesake.^[37]

[edit] The Tracey Ullman Show

The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.^[31] The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.^[38] When Groening originally designed Homer, he put his own initials into the character's hairline and ear: the hairline resembled an 'M', and the right ear resembled a 'G'. Groening decided that this would be too distracting though, and redesigned the ear to look normal. He still draws the ear as a 'G' when he draws pictures of Homer for fans.^[39] Marge's distinct beehive hairstyle was inspired by The Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue.^[5][40] Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size.^[41] At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that [Bart] would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes that appear to be an extension of his head.^[42] Lisa's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Maggie shares her hairline.^[43] While designing Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles".^[44] When designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".^[45] Groening storyboarded and scripted every short (now known as The Simpsons shorts), which were then animated by a team including David Silverman and Wes Archer, both of whom would later become directors on the series.^[46]

The Simpsons shorts first appeared in The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987.^[47] Another family member, Grampa Simpson, was introduced in the later shorts. Years later, during the early seasons of The Simpsons, when it came time to give Grampa a first name, Groening says he refused to name him after his own grandfather, Abraham Groening, leaving it to other writers to choose a name. By coincidence, they chose Abraham, unaware that it was the name of Groening's grandfather.^[48]

Half-hour[link]

Although The Tracey Ullman Show was not a big hit,^[49] the popularity of the shorts led to a half-hour spin-off in 1989. A team of production companies adapted The Simpsons into a half-hour series for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The team included what is now the Klasky Csupo animation house. James L. Brooks negotiated a provision in the contract with the Fox network that prevented Fox from interfering with the show's content.^[50] Groening said his goal in creating the show was to offer the audience an alternative to what he called "the mainstream trash" that they were watching.^[51] The half-hour series premiered on December 17, 1989 with "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", a Christmas special.^[9] "Some Enchanted Evening" was the first full-length episode produced, but it did not broadcast until May 1990, as the last episode of the first season, because of animation problems.^[52]

The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. Groening said: "Nobody thought The Simpsons was going to be a big hit. It sneaked up on everybody."^[12] The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. Groening and Simon, however, did not get along^[49] and were often in conflict over the show;^[18] Groening once described their relationship as "very contentious."^[32] Simon eventually left the show in 1993 over creative differences.^[53]

Like the main family members, several characters from the show have names that were inspired by people, locations or films. The name "Wiggum" for police chief Chief Wiggum is Groening's mother's maiden name.^[54] The names of a few other characters were taken from major street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, including Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby and Kearney.^[55] Despite common fan belief that Sideshow Bob Terwilliger was named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, he was actually named after the character Dr. Terwilliker from the film The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.^[56]

Although Groening has pitched a number of spin-offs from The Simpsons, those attempts have been unsuccessful. In 1994, Groening and other Simpsons producers pitched a live-action spin-off about Krusty the Clown (with Dan Castellaneta playing the lead role), but were unsuccessful in getting it off the ground.^[21][57] Groening has also pitched "Young Homer" and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield.^[58]

In 1995, Groening got into a major disagreement with Brooks and other Simpsons producers over "A Star Is Burns", a crossover episode with The Critic, an animated show also produced by Brooks and staffed with many former Simpsons crew members. Groening claimed that he feared viewers would "see it as nothing but a pathetic attempt to advertise The Critic at the expense of The Simpsons," and was concerned about the possible implication that he had created or produced The Critic.^[36] He requested his name be taken off the episode.^[59]

Groening is credited with writing or co-writing the episodes "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Telltale Head", "Colonel Homer" and "22 Short Films About Springfield", as well as The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007.^[60] He has had several cameo appearances in the show, with a speaking role in the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding". He currently serves at The Simpsons as an executive producer and creative consultant.

[edit] Futurama

After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with Simpsons writer/producer David X. Cohen (still known as David S. Cohen at the time) in 1997 and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000.^[14][61] By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and storylines; Groening claimed they had gone "overboard" in their discussions.^[61] Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of [his] grown-up life."^[14] The show premiered on March 28, 1999. Groening's writing credits for the show are for the premiere episode, "Space Pilot 3000" (co-written with Cohen), "Rebirth" (story) and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" (story).

David X. Cohen and Groening at the Futurama panel of Comic-Con 2009

After four years on the air, the show was canceled by Fox. In a situation similar to Family Guy, however, strong DVD sales and very stable ratings on Adult Swim brought Futurama back to life. When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four straight-to-DVD films—Bender's Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008) and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)—would be produced.^[62][63] Since no new Futurama projects were in production, the movie Into the Wild Green Yonder was designed to stand as the Futurama series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the Futurama franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.^[64] In an interview with CNN, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know...We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me."^[65] Comedy Central commissioned an initial 26 new episodes, and began airing them in 2010. They since renewed the show through to 2013.^[66][67]

Other pursuits[link]

In 1994, Groening formed Bongo Comics (named after the character Bongo from Life in Hell^[68]) with Steve Vance, Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison, which publishes comic books based on The Simpsons and Futurama (including Futurama Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis, a crossover between the two), as well as a few original titles. According to Groening, the goal with Bongo is to "[try] to bring humor into the fairly grim comic book market."^[36] He also formed Zongo Comics in 1995, an imprint of Bongo that published comics for more mature readers,^[36] which included three issues of Mary Fleener's Fleener^[69] and seven issues of his close friend Gary Panter's Jimbo comics.^[70]

Groening is known for his eclectic taste in music. His favorite band is Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and his favorite album is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (which was produced by Zappa).^[71] He guest-edited Da Capo Press's Best Music Writing 2003^[72] and curated a US All Tomorrow's Parties music festival in 2003.^[71][73] In May 2010, he curated another edition of All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, England. He also plays the drums in the all-author rock and roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders (although he is listed as the cowbell player), whose other members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry and Greg Iles.^[74]

Awards[link]

Groening has been nominated for 25 Emmy awards and has won twelve: ten for The Simpsons and two for Futurama in the "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or less)" category.^[75] Groening received the 2002 National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000.^[76] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.^[77] In 2007, he was ranked fourth (and highest American by birth) in a list of the "top 100 living geniuses", published by British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.^[78]

He received the 2,459th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.^[79]

Personal life[link]

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986^[19] and had two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe,^[34] both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. The couple divorced in 1999 after thirteen years of marriage.^[20] In 2011, Groening married Argentinian artist Agustina Picasso after a 4-year relationship, and became stepfather to her daughter Camille.^[80] He is the brother-in-law of Hey Arnold! creator, Craig Bartlett, who is married to Groening's sister, Lisa. Arnold used to appear in Simpsons Illustrated.^[81]

Groening identifies himself as agnostic^[82][83] and a liberal^[84] and has often made campaign contributions to Democratic Party candidates.^[85] His first cousin, Laurie Monnes Anderson, is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing eastern Multnomah County.^[86]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Animation portal
	Biography portal
	Comics portal
	The Simpsons portal
	Futurama portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Matt Groening

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Matt Groening

• Matt Groening at the Internet Movie Database
• Incomplete list of Matt Groening appearances on The Simpsons at The Simpsons Archive
• The Story (1969) – Matt Groening tells a story to his sisters Lisa & Maggie in this film by father, Homer
• The Simpsons – a Norwegian/German success (in Norwegian)
• Forvo: Matt Groening Pronunciation
• Matt Groening on Charlie Rose
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Works by or about Matt Groening in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Dan Castellaneta
Castellaneta at a signing in 2004
Born	Daniel Louis Castellaneta (1957-10-29) October 29, 1957 (age 54) Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Oak Park and River Forest High School
Alma mater	Northern Illinois University
Occupation	Voice actor, writer, actor, comedian, singer
Years active	1986–present
Known for	The Tracy Ullman Show, The Simpsons
Spouse	Deb Lacusta (1987–present)
Signature

Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby and Hans Moleman.

Born in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Castellaneta started taking acting classes at a young age. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists. After graduating from Northern Illinois University, Castellaneta joined Chicago's Second City in 1983, and performed with the troupe until 1987. He was cast in The Tracey Ullman Show, which debuted in 1987. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta to voice Homer. His voice for the character started out as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but later evolved into a more robust voice. The shorts would eventually be spun off into The Simpsons. Castellaneta has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his work on the show as well as an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation in 1993. Castellaneta has co-written four episodes of The Simpsons with his wife Deb Lacusta.

Castellaneta has also had roles in several other television programs, including the live-action sitcom Sibs, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, and the animated series Darkwing Duck, Back to the Future: The Animated Series, Earthworm Jim, Aladdin and Hey Arnold!. In 1999, he appeared in the Christmas special Olive, the Other Reindeer and won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman. Castellaneta has also released a comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, and wrote and starred in a one-person show titled Where Did Vincent van Gogh?

Early life[link]

Castellaneta was born in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on October 29, 1957,^[1][2] to Elsie and Louis Castellaneta. His father was an amateur actor who worked for a printing company.^[3] Castellaneta became adept at impressions at a young age and his mother enrolled him in an acting class when he was sixteen years old. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists.^[3] He was a "devotee" of the works of many performers, including Alan Arkin and Barbara Harris and directors Mike Nichols and Elaine May.^[1] He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School^[4] and upon graduation, started attending Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the fall of 1975.^[5] He studied art education, with the goal of becoming an art teacher.^[3] He became a student teacher and would entertain his students with his impressions.^[1][3] Castellaneta was also a regular participant in The Ron Petke and His Dead Uncle Show, a radio show at NIU. The show helped Castellaneta hone his skills as a voice-over actor. He recalled "We did parodies and sketches, we would double up on (characters), so you learned to switch between voices. I got my feet wet doing voiceover. The show was just barely audible, but we didn't care. It was the fact that we got a chance to do it and write our own material."^[5] He took a play-writing class and auditioned for an improvisational show. A classmate first thought Castellaneta would "fall on his face with improvisation" but soon "was churning out material faster than [they] could make it work."^[5]

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Castellaneta started acting after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have a chance to try something else.^[3] He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta.^[1] Castellaneta started to work at The Second City, an improvisational theatre in Chicago, in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987.^[1] During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations.^[3] He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and the other producers. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. His performance that night was about a blind man who tries to become a comedian and Ullman later recalled that although there were flashier performances that night, Castellaneta made her cry. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired.^[1]

[edit] The Simpsons

Castellaneta is most famous for his role as Homer Simpson on the long-running animated television show The Simpsons. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Castellaneta and fellow cast member Julie Kavner to voice Homer and Marge Simpson rather than hire more actors.^[3][6] Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for the nine to ten hour long recording sessions.^[7] He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show.^[1] Castellaneta's normal speaking voice has no similarity to Homer's.^[8] To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest,^[3] and is said to "let his IQ go."^[9] Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions,^[10] and tries to visualize a scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it.^[11] Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan."^[10]

Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, the Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson. Krusty's voice is based on Chicago television's Bob Bell, who had a very raspy voice and portrayed WGN-TV's Bozo the Clown from 1960 to 1984.^[12] Barney's trademark is a loud belch. During early recording sessions for the show, he recorded a new version of the belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to do it every time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose a recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard.^[13] Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". The character was written as an angry janitor and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using a Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of an angry Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode.^[14] The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas.^[15] Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in "Bart Gets an F", is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family. The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent.^[16] Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob.^[17] Gil is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross.^[18] Show runner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing"^[19] but "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in."^[18] The Blue-Haired Lawyer's voice, as well as his demeanor, is based on lawyer Roy Cohn.^[20]

Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa's Pony", 1993 for "Mr. Plow",^[21] 2004 for voicing several characters in "Today I Am a Clown",^[22] and 2009 for voicing Homer in "Father Knows Worst".^[23] In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons.^[24][25] In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series".^[26] Homer was placed second on TV Guide's 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters,^[27] and in 2000, Homer and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.^[28]

Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode.^[29] During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices.^[29] However, the dispute was soon resolved and he received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid $360,000 an episode.^[29] The issue was resolved a month later,^[30] and Castellaneta earned $250,000 per episode.^[31] After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors received approximately $400,000 per episode.^[32] Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Castellaneta and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.^[33]

In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and Deb Lacusta wrote a script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober. They pitched their idea to show runner Al Jean. Jean liked the story, but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to "Duffless", an episode that the writers were already working on. They waited several years and offered their script, which they updated, to then-show runner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes.^[34] Their script became the eleventh season episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", which first aired April 9, 2000.^[35] Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes "Gump Roast", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and "The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore".^[36] Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer.^[37]

Further career[link]

Castellaneta has been a regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs.^[38] Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs, wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind.^[39] He also provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, Megavolt in Darkwing Duck, "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series,^[39] the lead character in Earthworm Jim^[40] and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!.^[41] He guest starred as The Robot Devil in three episodes of Futurama, as well as the film The Beast With a Billion Backs.^[42]

Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of the legal drama L.A. Law, as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume.^[43] In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor.^[44] In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 season eight episode "Citizen Joe".^[45] He also appeared in episodes of ALF, Campus Ladies, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Friends, Greek, How I Met Your Mother,^[46] Mad About You, Married... with Children, Murphy Brown, NYPD Blue, Reba, Reno 911!, That '70s Show, Veronica Mars, Yes, Dear,^[47] and Desperate Housewives.^[48]

He appeared as the Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin, and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?"^[8] Castellaneta portrayed Aaron Spelling in the 2004 NBC film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels, which followed the true story of how Spelling created the show. Other films in which Castellaneta has appeared include Nothing in Common, Say Anything..., Super Mario Bros., The Client, Space Jam, My Giant, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Recess: School's Out, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Cat in the Hat and The Pursuit of Happyness.^[47] In 2000, he won an Annie Award for his portrayal of the Postman in the animated Christmas television special Olive, the Other Reindeer.^[49] In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni.^[50]

On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published.^[51] It was followed on April 23, 2002 by his first comedy CD, I Am Not Homer, in which he and his wife perform several comedy skits. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since [he and Lacusta] don't perform them much anymore."^[52] Some came from their sketch series on a local radio station in Chicago and had to be lengthened from the "two-minute bits" that they were originally, while several others were stage sketches performed in a comedy club in Santa Monica.^[53] Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery.^[53] Castellaneta noted that "we already knew that these skits were funny, [but] some of them we polished and tightened."^[53] The skits were principally written by improvising from a basic point, transcribing the results and then editing them to the finished scene.^[53] Castellaneta chose the title I Am Not Homer as a parody of Leonard Nimoy's famous first autobiography I Am Not Spock, as well as to show that most of the comedy featured "is not the typical Homer comedy."^[52]

Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife.^[54] In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh?, a one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh.^[55] He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999.^[8] In 2007, he appeared in The Bicycle Men at The King's Head Theatre in London.^[56]

Personal life[link]

Castellaneta lives in Los Angeles with his wife Deb Lacusta. He is a vegetarian and teetotaler and exercises regularly.^[10] Castellaneta also practices T'ai Chi.^[57] His mother Elsie Castellaneta died in January 2008.^[58]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Also featured in:

• The Simpsons Sing the Blues (1990)
• Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)
• The Yellow Album (1998)
• Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999)
• The Simpsons: Testify (2007)

Awards[link]