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Dan Castellaneta

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Daniel Louis Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an American actor best known for providing the voice of Homer Simpson and other characters on the animated series The Simpsons. Castellaneta has guest-starred as himself on The Simpsons twice and has also written some episodes. He was also the voice of the Genie in Disney's The Return of Jafar, the animated series Aladdin, House of Mouse, and the Kingdom Hearts Series. He was a cast member on The Tracey Ullman Show where The Simpsons first appeared on TV.

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[edit] Biography

Born in Chicago, Castellaneta was educated at the Oak Park and River Forest High School and Northern Illinois University. After graduation, Castellaneta went on to work at Chicago's Second City, which he later recalled on Inside the Actors Studio as "a place that, if you're not funny going in, will train you on how to be funny when going out."

He is married to writer Deb Lacusta. He lives in Los Angeles where he occasionally performs alongside a branch of The Second City.

[edit] Voices and roles

On The Simpsons, Castellaneta provides the voices for Homer Simpson (he has to tilt his chin into his neck to do Homer's voice correctly [1]), Grandpa Abraham Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Joe Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, Arnie Pie, Scott Christian and other characters. Along with Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer, he is a dominant voice on the series. For his work on the series, he won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. He has also written a few episodes with his wife.

He also played Grandpa on the Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!, Doctor Emmett L. Brown in the animated series Back to the Future, the Things in Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat and Robot Devil in Futurama. In 1999 he played as the comedic Nordom the anti-Modron in the computer game Planescape: Torment.

Castellaneta voiced the lead character in the animated series Earthworm Jim and narrated the movie Super Mario Bros. In 2005, he appeared on Arrested Development as a deadpan incompetent doctor who misdiagnosed Jason Bateman's character (and left tools inside him after surgery, causing him to exclaim "D'oh!") and in the movie The War of the Roses he seeks a divorce at the beginning of the movie. He also appeared in episodes of Frasier, Friends, Married with Children, Yes, Dear, Reba, Everybody Loves Raymond, ALF, That '70s Show,and Stargate SG-1.

On February 22, 2000, his first music CD Two Lips was published. 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. (For example, on the first track, "AM Therapy", his wife plays a radio-show psychotherapist and he plays several characters who call in for help.) Both CDs were published by Oglio Records. I Am Not Homer is a parody of Leonard Nimoy's first autobiography, I Am Not Spock. Dan is shown doing the Vulcan Salute on the cover with an image of Homer's face between his fingers.

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.

Castelleneta was also the voice of Megavolt on Darkwing Duck and the Genie in Aladdin's sequel Return of Jafar.

Castellaneta guest starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Citizen Joe". This was a humorous indirect connection between The Simpsons and Stargate, as Castellaneta voices Homer and The Simpsons is Jack O'Neill's (Stargate's main character) favorite TV show and Homer is deep in Jack's mind (in "Beneath the Surface" O'Neill's memory is erased but he still remembers a bald man and it turns out to be Homer, not Jack's commanding officer). The connection is deepened further by the fact that Castellaneta, along with his wife, wrote the Simpsons episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore", which guest-starred Richard Dean Anderson, the actor who plays O'Neill on SG-1.

He made cameo appearances on the Simpsons episodes "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" and "I Am Furious Yellow".

Castellaneta cameoed on a third season episode of Veronica Mars as a sociology professor, conducting an experiment on Logan and Wallace. Rider Strong also guest starred.

Dan can be seen in the upcoming Will Smith drama The Pursuit of Happyness.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

[edit] Television

[edit] Other

[edit] External links

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