Dan Castellaneta

The voice of cartoon icon Homer Simpson, actor/singer Dan Castellaneta was born in Oak Park, IL in 1958; after studying art at Northern Illinois University, he turned his attention to acting, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew before joining Chicago's famed Second City comedy improv troupe in 1983. Four years later, he joined the cast of the FOX television sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show; when cartoonist Matt Groening created his animated dysfunctional family the Simpsons to appear in brief "bumper" segments around the show's commercials, Castellaneta was cast to lend the voice of dad Homer, and when the characters were later spun off into their own long-running and hugely popular series, an icon was born. In addition to Homer, Castellaneta also voiced Simpsons regulars including Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble and Groundskeeper Willy; apart from the show, he appeared in a number of films, and in 2000 released a pop album, Two Lips. The album consisted of psychedelic pop songs performed humorously, but it wasn't until 2002 that he officially released a comedy CD, the sketch-intensive I Am Not Homer. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide