Dan Castellaneta

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Dan Castellaneta

Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta
October 29, 1957 (1957-10-29) (age 50)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Occupation Voice actor, Actor, Comedian
Spouse(s) Deb Lacusta

Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta (born October 29, 1957) is an Italian-American voice actor, actor and comedian, best known for providing the voice of Homer Simpson and other characters on the FOX animated series The Simpsons.[1]

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[edit] Early life and education

Castellaneta was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was educated at the Oak Park and River Forest High School and Northern Illinois University. He was raised on the south east side of Oak Park in a modest home on Humphrey Avenue. While at Oak Park and River Forest High School, he played on the baseball team. Years later, Assistant Coach Dick Trout would recall, "Dan was funny but he threw like a girl".[citation needed] After graduation, he went on to work at Chicago's Second City, which he later recalled as "a place that, if you're not good going in you'll come out good. If you're pretty good going in, then you'll come out very good".[1]

[edit] Career

[edit] The Simpsons

Main article: The Simpsons

On The Simpsons, Castellaneta provides the voices for Homer Simpson, Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Joe Quimby, Hans Moleman, Sideshow Mel, Itchy, Kodos, Arnie Pie, Scott Christian, Squeaky Voiced Teen and other characters.[1] 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 and appeared as himself on the Simpsons episodes "I Am Furious Yellow", "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife", and "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs".

He guest starred in an episode of the U.S. legal drama L.A. Law, in which - employed as a walking, talking Homer Simpson character at a California theme park - he is dismissed for inappropriate (or perhaps all too appropriate) behavior while in costume. (The episode was LA Lawless in 1992.)

Up until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. Castellaneta and the five other main Simpsons voice actors were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they were given $125,000 per episode. In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several table reads, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode.[2] The strike was resolved a month later[3] and Castellaneta's salary was increased to $250,000 per episode.[4] Another contract renegotiation in 2008 saw his salary rise to $400,000 per episode. He was also made a consulting producer.[5]

As of April 20, 2007, Castellaneta has beaten James Arness and Kelsey Grammer for the longest running portrayal of a fictional character on prime-time American television. He has portrayed Homer Simpson on The Tracey Ullman Show and The Simpsons from 1987 onwards, beating the twenty-year record held by Arness and Grammer.

[edit] Other work

He also played Grandpa and the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver known as "The Jolly-Olly Man" (among others) on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!, Jonathan in All Grown Up! (as well as parent show, Rugrats), the Things in The Cat in the Hat, and the Robot Devil in Futurama. In 1999 he played 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 does not talk in that role. He also appeared in episodes of Frasier, Friends, Scrubs, Married... with Children (in the episode "The Dance Show", Castellaneta played the gay partner of a handsome man Peg dances with every night and he ends up cooking for Al), 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. Castellaneta was also the voice of Megavolt on Darkwing Duck, Genie in the Aladdin sequel Return of Jafar and on the Aladdin TV series and Dr. Zibaldo in the Talespin episode "The Incredible Shrinking Molly".

In the early 1980s, Castellaneta briefly appeared as Detective Farblonget, an absent-minded private investigator, on the local Chicago Jewish children's show, Beyond the Magic Door.

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. Homer is apparently very important to Jack (in "Beneath the Surface" O'Neill's memory is erased but he still remembers a bald man in a short-sleeved shirt, which 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 Stargate SG-1 and Angus MacGyver on MacGyver.

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

Castellaneta has a role in the Will Smith drama The Pursuit of Happyness, in which he asks Will Smith for a donut. Castellaneta also voices Batman villain Scarface in the animated series, The Batman.

Dan also appeared in an episode of Friends as the janitor at the zoo where Ross goes to look for Marcel.

In 2007 he appeared in The Bicycle Men at The King's Head Theatre in London.

[edit] Personal life

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

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

[edit] Television

[edit] Other

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio
  2. ^ Dan Glaister. "Simpsons actors demand bigger share", The Age, 2004-04-03. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 
  3. ^ "'Simpsons' Cast Goes Back To Work", CBS News, 2004-05-01. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 
  4. ^ Peter Sheridan. "Meet the Simpsons", Daily Express, 2004-05-06. Retrieved on 2008-02-09. 
  5. ^ Andreeva, Nellie. "'Simpsons' voice actors reach deal", The Hollywood Reporter, 2008-06-02. Retrieved on 2008-06-03. 

[edit] External links

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The Simpsons cast members
Main cast
Recurring cast
Recurring guest stars
Former cast
v • d • e
The Simpsons writers
Current writers
Former recurring writers
One or two-time writers
Persondata
NAME Castellaneta, Dan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Castellaneta, Daniel Louis
SHORT DESCRIPTION Voice actor, Actor, Comedian
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH