Difference between revisions of "Hank Azaria"

Revision as of 14:49, June 8, 2009

Hank Azaria (born April 25, 1964 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, United States) is an actor and regular cast member on The Simpsons. He performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Baby Gerald and numerous other characters.

He became better known through his appearances in films such as The Birdcage, Godzilla and Along Came Polly. He starred in the drama Huff, playing the titular character, to critical acclaim, as well as appearing in the popular stage musical Spamalot. Originally more of a comic actor, in recent years Azaria has taken on more dramatic roles including Tuesdays With Morrie and Uprising. Married to Helen Hunt from 1999 until 2000, he has won four Emmys and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

The Simpsons

He became most famous for his voice work on The Simpsons, a show that continues to the present. He joined the show aged 22, having previously performed only one voice over, as an animated dog in the Fox pilot Hollywood Dog.^[1] The first voice he performed was that of town bartender Moe Szyslak, replacing Christopher Collins who had voiced the character in several previous episodes. Having known him from the failed pilot, casting director Bonnie Pietila called Azaria and asked to audition for the voice of Moe. At the time he was doing a play, in which he performed the role of a drug dealer, basing his voice on Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon. He used that voice in the audition, and was told by Matt Groening and Sam Simon to make it more gravelly, with it becoming the voice of Moe. Groening and Simon thought it was perfect and took Azaria over to the Fox recording studio. Before he had even seen a script, he recorded several lines of dialogue as Moe for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening". Azaria had expected not hear from the show again but kept being called back, firstly to perform the voice of Chief Wiggum, and then Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, until eventually during the second season he was doing numerous voices. At that point he was given a contract and made a permanent member of the cast.

Characters

• Moe Szyslak
• Chief Wiggum
• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
• Baby Gerald
• Comic Book Guy
• Carl Carlson
• Cletus Spuckler
• Professor Frink
• Dr. Nick Riviera
• Lou
• Snake
• Kirk Van Houten
• Sea Captain
• Superintendent Chalmers
• Duffman
• Wiseguy
• BumbleBee Man
• Drederick Tatum
• Male EPA Worker
• Rich Depot Announcer
• Carnival Barker
• Counter Man
• EPA Passenger
• Robot

Credits

Also Starring

Staring

See also

Category:Characters voiced by Hank Azaria

External links

• Hank Azaria at Wikipedia