Hank Azaria

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Hank Azaria

Birth name	Henry Albert Azaria
Born	April 25, 1964 (age 42) Queens, New York, USA
Height	5' 11" (180 cm)^{[citation needed]}

Henry Albert Azaria (born April 25, 1964, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City) is a three-time Emmy Award-winning American actor, comedian and voice artist.

Azaria is perhaps best known for his voice work on the animated television show The Simpsons. He has provided the voices for over 160 characters on the show including those of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, Duffman, Professor Frink, Lou and Snake. He also provided the voice of Eddie Brock/Venom in the Spider-Man animated series of the mid-1990s.

He has also appeared in movies such as Godzilla, The Birdcage, Mystery Men, America's Sweethearts and Heat and on television starring as psychiatrist Craig "Huff" Huffstodt in Huff, which was broadcast on Showtime in the US and FX in the UK. Earlier in his career, he appeared in Herman's Head as Jay Nichols, in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, where he appeared in a season one episode as cop Jerry and on Friends where he played the recurring character David, one of Phoebe's boyfriends. He also had a recurring role on Mad About You as Nat, the dogwalker. In 2002, he was given his own sitcom, Imagine That. It was cancelled after only two episodes had aired.

Azaria has also shown his talents on stage. In 2003 he appeared in London's West End as Bernard in Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing in Friends) and Minnie Driver also starred. Other movies he has played minor characters in include Along Came Polly and Dodgeball.

He also appeared as Sir Lancelot, the French Taunter, and other characters in the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail entitled Spamalot which opened in Chicago, Illinois in December 2004 and has since moved to Broadway. He took a break from the show in June of 2005 to work on Huff and The Simpsons (his role was filled by Alan Tudyk), and returned in December 2005. In 2005, he was nominated for the Tony Award for "Best Actor in a Musical" for his work in Spamalot.

1 Biography
2 Trivia
3 List of characters voiced in The Simpsons
4 Partial filmography
5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Azaria was born in Queens, New York, to Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jewish parents from Thessaloniki, Greece. He graduated from The Kew Forest School in Forest Hills, NY. He studied drama at Tufts University. After several years of living together, Azaria married actress Helen Hunt on July 18, 1999. The couple divorced on December 18, 2000. Current rumors indicate that he is dating Rock Star: INXS contestant Suzie McNeil.

[edit] Awards

Hank Azaria has been nominated for numerous awards during his career including Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

[edit] Emmy awards

Year	Award	Result
2005	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Nomination - Dr. Craig 'Huff' Huffstodt in Huff
2003	Outstanding Voice-Over Performance	Won - for characters in The Simpsons (Moe Baby Blues)
2003	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Nomination - David in Friends
2001	Outstanding Voice-Over Performance	Won - for characters in The Simpsons (Worst Episode Ever)
2000	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Won - for Tuesdays with Morrie
1998	Outstanding Voice-Over Performance	Won - for Apu in The Simpsons
1998	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Nomination - Nat in Mad About You

[edit] Trivia

Azaria says he based Moe Szyslak's voice on Al Pacino, who has the same birthday as Azaria. Officer Lou sounds like Sylvester Stallone, Chief Wiggum is based on Edward G. Robinson, Apu is based on Peter Sellers' character in The Party, and Dr. Nick Riviera is "a bad Ricky Ricardo impression". The voice of Snake Jailbird is based on an old roomate from college who would speak in the same style as the character (integrating "woah" and "like" into every sentence) when describing his drug experiences. Hank based one of his geekier characters, Comic Book Guy, on another college roomate who was called F and spoke a manner similar to Comic Book Guy.
Hank guest-starred on Futurama, another Matt Groening animated series, as Dr. Zoidberg's uncle, Harold Zoid.
Moe Szyslak was the first character Hank voiced on The Simpsons, although he is not the first person to do the voice for that character.
Hank was invited to Celebrity Poker, being the first one to leave. He says that if he is reinvited it would not happen again. In the next season, however, he was the first to be sent to "the losers' lounge" yet again. Azaria also played himself in an episode of HBO's Unscripted, playing a poker game alongside Richard Kind.
In a news interview, Hank admitted that, during his performances of Spamalot, he has a hard time holding in laughter on stage throughout the show. His secret is to carry keys in his costume and painfully jab himself (unnoticeable to the audience) to stop from breaking character mid-performance. "It really hurts..." he jokes in the interview.
Azaria has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.