During early recording sessions, he recorded a new version of Barney's loud trademark belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to belch each time a script called for it. 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. Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan." Ĭastellaneta with fellow Simpsons voice actors Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Julie Kavner in 2009Ĭastellaneta 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, Arnie Pye, the Squeaky Voiced Teen and Gil Gunderson. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest, and is said to "let his IQ go." Ĭastellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, and tries to visualize a scene in his mind so that he can give the proper voice to it. Castellaneta's normal speaking voice has no similarity to Homer's. 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. 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. 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 respectively, rather than hire more actors. The Tracey Ullman Show included a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. The Simpsons Ĭastellaneta is most famous for his roles on the longest-running American animated television show The Simpsons, most notably as Homer Simpson. She was impressed and Castellaneta was hired. 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. Ullman decided to fly to Chicago to watch Castellaneta perform. He auditioned for a role in The Tracey Ullman Show and his first meeting underwhelmed Tracey Ullman and the other producers. During this period, he did voice-over work with his wife for various radio stations. He started to work at The Second City, an improvisational theatre in Chicago, in 1983 and continued to work there until 1987. He began taking improvisation classes, where he met his future wife Deb Lacusta. He decided that if his career went nowhere he would still have a chance to try something else. A classmate first thought Castellaneta would "fall on his face with improvisation" but soon "was churning out material faster than could make it work." Career Early career Ĭastellaneta began his acting career after his graduation from Northern Illinois University in 1979. It was the fact that we got a chance to do it and write our own material." He took a play-writing class and auditioned for an improvisational show. The show was just barely audible, but we didn't care. He recalled "We did parodies and sketches, we would double up on, so you learned to switch between voices. The show helped Castellaneta hone his skills as a voice-over actor. Castellaneta was a regular participant in The Ron Petke and His Dead Uncle Show, a radio show at NIU. He became a student teacher and would entertain his students with his impressions. Ĭastellaneta studied art education, with the goal of becoming an art teacher. He attended Oak Park and River Forest High School and upon graduation, started attending Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the fall of 1975. He was a "devotee" of the works of many performers, including Alan Arkin and Barbara Harris and directors Mike Nichols and Elaine May. He would listen to his father's comedy records and do impressions of the artists. Ĭastellaneta became adept at impressions at a young age and his mother enrolled him in an acting class when he was 16 years old. He is of Italian descent, born to Elsie ( née Lagorio 1926–2008) and Louis Castellaneta (1915–2014), an amateur actor who worked for a printing company. Daniel Louis Castellaneta was born on October 29, 1957, at Roseland Community Hospital on Chicago's south side and was raised in River Forest and Oak Park, Illinois.
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