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Featured Article
Bartholomew "Bart" Jojo Simpson, voiced by Nancy Cartwright, is the ten year old child of Homer and Marge, and is the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Bart's most prominent character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness, disrespect for authority and sharp tongue. During the first two seasons of The Simpsons, Bart was the show's main character; while later episodes started to focus more on Homer, Bart remains one of the most enduring characters on the series, and has proven to be one of the most iconic characters in the history of American television animation.
Bart is a self-proclaimed underachiever who begins each show in detention writing lines on the blackboard. He is considerably motivated in disrupting the routine at Springfield Elementary, and his pranks are often elaborately complex, while his actions and speech frequently show considerable mental agility, street-smarts, and understanding. Due to Bart's mischievousness and Homer's often uncaring and incompetent behavior, the two have a turbulent relationship. Bart will often address Homer by his given name instead of "Dad", while Homer in turn often refers to him as "the boy". Whenever Homer finds out that Bart has said or done something stupid or bad, he yells "Why you little–!" (and then strangling him) or simply "BART!". Bart shares a sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Lisa, but has a buddy-like relationship with his youngest sister Maggie (due to her infant state).
Bart was created by Matt Groening and the name "Bart" is an anagram of the word "brat". Bart then made his debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night". Groening's older brother Mark provided most of the inspiration for Bart. Nancy Cartwright originally auditioned for the role of Lisa, but soon thought that her voice would be better suited voicing Bart. Matt Groening let her try out for the part, and upon hearing her read, gave her the job on the spot; thus the yellow-skinned orange-shirted boy was born.
