Richard Sakai

Richard Sakai is an producer on The Simpsons.

He began his career as a helper for James L. Brooks in 1977. In 1984, Brooks invited Sakai to become a producer in his new film production company Gracie Films. As a film producer, he has produced many of James L. Brooks’ later films, such as Spanglish, As Good as It Gets and Jerry Maguire (for which he received an Academy Award nomination). He also produced Riding in Cars with Boys and Bottle Rocket. He is also a producer for The Simpsons Movie.

On The Simpsons, he has been animated several times, most notably, as a karaoke singer in the episode “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish” (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), as one of the escaping prisoners in the commercial about “revolving door prisons” in “Sideshow Bob Roberts” and as a Jazz vibraphone player in “Jazzy and the Pussycats.”