List of guest stars on The Simpsons

This is a list of guest stars who appeared on The Simpsons. Many episodes of animated series The Simpsons feature celebrity guests contributing their voices to the show, whether as themselves or as fictional characters. This list does not include those celebrities whose voices have merely been impersonated.

There are several non-regular voices who make appearances but are credited as "also starring" and not guest voices. These voices are not mentioned here. As well, Marcia Wallace has made many de facto appearances and has always been credited as a guest star. Only the episodes in which her character Edna Krabappel plays a significant role are mentioned here.

The show currently holds the Guinness World Record for Most Celebrities Featured in an Animation series.[1]

Contents

Season 1

Season 1's episode "Krusty Gets Busted" marked Kelsey Grammer's first appearance on the show as Sideshow Bob.

Season 2

Tony Bennett was the first person to guest star as himself.

Season 3

NOTE: Michael Jackson was credited as John Jay Smith for this appearance. Although he provided his own voice for the dialogue, Kipp Lennon, a Jackson impersonator, did all the singing.[3]

Aerosmith were the first band to guest star as themselves, in "Flaming Moe's".
Sting guest starred as himself in episode "Radio Bart".

NOTE: Catherine O'Hara originally agreed to do the voice of the waitress in "Flaming Moe's" and she actually went into the studio and recorded her part for the character. However, the producers felt that her voice did not fit the role and instead had Jo Ann Harris do the part.[4]

Ken Griffey, Jr. was one of several baseballers to guest star in "Homer at the Bat".

Season 4

Leonard Nimoy's first of two guest appearances was in "Marge vs. the Monorail".

NOTE: Anthony Perkins agreed to voice Dr. Wolfe in "Last Exit to Springfield" but unfortunately fell ill and could not record the part. Clint Eastwood and Anthony Hopkins had also been asked to provide a voice, but both declined[5]

Red Hot Chili Peppers were the second band to guest star when they appeared in "Krusty Gets Kancelled".

Season 5

After Ringo Starr, George Harrison was the second member of The Beatles to guest star.
Conan O'Brien worked as a writer on the show before he guest starred.
Buzz Aldrin guest starred in "Deep Space Homer".

Season 6

Dr. Demento guest starred as himself in episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts".
Meryl Streep guest starred as Jessica Lovejoy.
Patrick Stewart guest starred in "Homer the Great".

Season 7

Sir Paul McCartney guest starred alongside his wife Linda.

NOTE: Glenn Close makes an appearance in this episode in a deleted scene that was originally intended for Mother Simpson. So, although it was not recorded specifically for this episode, her appearance is noted here. The same is true for Phil Hartman as Lionel Hutz.

Actor Donald Sutherland appeared as Hollis Hurlbut.
Billy Corgan appeared with the rest of The Smashing Pumpkins.

Season 8

Gillian Anderson appeared with The X-Files co-star David Duchovny as their characters Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
Filmmaker John Waters guest starred in "Homer's Phobia".
Bret Hart is the only professional wrestler to guest star in The Simpsons, so far.

Season 9

Martin Sheen provided the voice of the "real Principal Seymour Skinner".
Jay Leno appeared as himself in episode The Last Temptation of Krust.
U2, minus Larry Mullen, guest starred in "Trash of the Titans".

NOTE: In this episode, the individual members are not credited and only "U2" is listed. Larry Mullen does not have any lines in the episode and thus is not credited here.

Season 10

Actress Lisa Kudrow voiced Alex Whitney.
News Corp owner Rupert Murdoch voiced himself in "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday".
Season 10 saw the first of Stephen Hawking's three appearances on the show.

Season 11

Mel Gibson appeared in the season premiere
Magicians Penn & Teller appeared in "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder"

Season 12

Author Stephen King appeared in the season's third episode.

NOTE: The episode "A Tale of Two Springfields" featured John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey of The Who, but for unknown reasons, Pete Townshend did not lend his voice. Pete did appear in the episode but was voiced by his brother Paul Townshend. In the actual episode, all three were simply credited as "The Who". In a normal episode the group name plus all the voices are listed, but it was not done in this case likely to avoid confusion.[6]

NOTE: In the end credits, Jay Mohr is actually credited with the voice of Christopher Walken, the credit says "Jay Mohr as Christopher Walken". This is the first time this has ever been done.

Andre Agassi appeared as himself.

Season 13

Pierce Brosnan guest starred in "Treehouse of Horror XII".
Reese Witherspoon provided the voice of Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter Greta.
Comic book writer Stan Lee voiced himself in "I Am Furious Yellow".

Season 14

Keith Richards appeared with several musicians in "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation".
"Weird Al" Yankovic appeared as himself in the episode "Three Gays of the Condo".

Season 15

Filmmaker Michael Moore.
Tony Blair became the first sitting head of government to record his own guest part.
The show's creator Matt Groening appeared in "My Big Fat Geek Wedding".

Season 16

Eric Idle voiced Declan Desmond for a second time.
Rapper 50 Cent guest starred as himself.
Ray Romano voiced Ray Magini in episode "Don't Fear the Roofer".

Season 17

"Treehouse of Horror XVI" featured a guest appearance by Terry Bradshaw.
Ricky Gervais wrote "Homer Simpson, This is Your Wife", as well as guest starring in it.
Season 17 saw a guest appearance by Richard Dean Anderson.

Season 18

Dr. Phil McGraw appeared in "Treehouse of Horror XVII".
Ronaldo was the first soccer player to guest star.
Kiefer Sutherland appeared twice during the 18th season.

Season 19

Stephen Colbert appeared in the season premiere.
Jon Stewart guest starred in E. Pluribus Wiggum.
John C. Reilly guest starred in Any Given Sundance.

Season 20

Denis Leary guest starred as himself in Lost Verizon.

Upcoming Episodes

The Simpsons Movie

Tom Hanks appeared as himself in The Simpsons Movie.

Minnie Driver,[19] Isla Fisher,[20] Erin Brockovich[20] and Edward Norton[21] and all recorded parts for the film, only for them to be cut. Kelsey Grammer also recorded the part of Sideshow Bob for the film, which was eventually cut.[21]

Guest stars that have appeared multiple times

De facto guest star Marcia Wallace has played Edna Krabappel since season 1.

IGN's Top 25 Simpsons guest appearances

In September 2006, entertainment website IGN started doing several promotional features for the Simpsons season premiere and one of these features was the inclusion of a list of the 25 Greatest Simpsons guest stars. Kelsey Grammer, Phil Hartman, Marcia Wallace and Joe Mantegna were not considered for the list due to their numerous appearances, which caused many fans to disregard the list, especially since some recurring guests who appeared many times were on the list.[22]

Notes

  1. "Tony Blair a 'Simpsons' guest star". CNN.com (2003-11-24). Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  2. http://imdb.com/title/tt0701164/ IMDB.com page for "Lisa's Substitute"
  3. 3.0 3.1 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701217/ IMDB.com page for "Stark Raving Dad"
  4. Mentioned in DVD commentary for the episode "Flaming Moe's" by Matt Groening.
  5. Mentioned in DVD commentary for the episode "Last Exit to Springfield" by Al Jean.
  6. "THE WHO: PAGE'S BETTER, HOMER'S BEST | News | VH1.com". Vh1.com. Retrieved on 2008-10-06.
  7. Rose, Charlie (Host, Executive producer). Charlie Rose:A Conversation About The Simpsons Movie [Television production]. Charlie Rose, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-07-31. Event occurs at approx. 28 minutes in.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Fox unleashes a May sweeps to remember", FoxFlash (2008-04-15). Retrieved on 2008-04-15. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 Alynda Wheat (2008-07-26). "Comic-Con: 'The Simpsons'...coming to an end?", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-07-26. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Dan Snierson (2008-07-02). "'The Simpsons': Denis Leary, Julia Louis-Dreyfus among next season's guest stars", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-07-05. 
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Primetime Listings–September 28 - October 4", FoxFlash (2008-09-12). Retrieved on 2008-09-12. 
  12. "Official press release for "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble"", FoxFlash (2008-09-25). Retrieved on 2008-09-25. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "Primetime Listings (November 9 - November 15)", FoxFlash (2008-10-24). Retrieved on 2008-10-24. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 Dan Snierson (2008-09-03). "Exclusive: Jodie Foster, Anne Hathaway to guest on 'The Simpsons'", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-09-04. 
  15. Cindy White (2008-06-04). "Rogen and Goldberg Writing Simpsons Episode", IGN. Retrieved on 2008-06-04. 
  16. April MacIntyre (2008-09-25). "'The Simpsons' Al Jean interview, new season begins September 28", Monsters and Critics. Retrieved on 2008-09-25. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 Petr Vizina (2008-10-10). "Characters from Once to appear on The Simpsons", Prague Daily Monitor. 
  18. 18.0 18.1 Bill Keveney (2008-09-25). "'The Simpsons' hits a landmark", USA Today. Retrieved on 2008-09-25. 
  19. Shawn Adler; Larry Caroll (2007-05-02). "Movie File: 'Dark Knight,' Christian Bale, 'Simpsons Movie' & More", MTV. Retrieved on 2007-05-08. 
  20. 20.0 20.1 Dan Snierson. "Homer's Odyssey", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2007-07-20. 
  21. 21.0 21.1 Brooks, James L.; Groening, Matt; Jean, Al; Scully, Mike; Silverman, David; Castellaneta, Dan; Smith, Yeardley. (2007). Audio commentary [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  22. Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances IGN.com

References