Creator
Matt Groening (Born Matthew Abram Groening, February 15, 1954 in Portland, OR)

Characters
Homer J. Simpson (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Marge Simpson (Voiced by Julie Kavner; Born Julie Deborah Kavner, September 7, 1950 in Los Angeles, CA)
Bart Simpson (Voiced by Nancy Cartwright; Born Nancy Campbell Cartwright, October 25, 1957 in Kettering, OH)
Lisa Simpson (Voiced by Yeardley Smith; Born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith July 3, 1964 in Paris, France)
Maggie Simpson (Voiced by Yeardley Smith; Born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith July 3, 1964 in Paris, France &/or Nancy Cartwright; Born Nancy Campbell Cartwright, October 25, 1957 in Kettering, OH)
Patty Bouvier (Voiced by Julie Kavner; Born Julie Deborah Kavner, September 7, 1950 in Los Angeles, CA)
Selma Bouvier (Voiced by Julie Kavner; Born Julie Deborah Kavner, September 7, 1950 in Los Angeles, CA)
Grampa Simpson (A.K.A. Abe Simpson) (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Snowball I (Voiced by Frank Welker; Born Franklin W. Welker, March 12, 1946 Denver, CO & Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Snowball II
Santa's Little Helper (Voiced by Frank Welker (Born Franklin W. Welker, March 12, 1946 Denver, CO) & Dan Castellaneta (Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL))
Otto Mann (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Edna Krabappel (Voiced by Marcia Wallace; Born Marcia Joan Wallace, November 1, 1942 in Creston, IA)
Principal Seymour Skinner (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Groundskeeper Willie (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Waylon Smithers (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Monty Burns (A.K.A. Charles Montgomery Burns) (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Barney Gumble (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Moe (Voiced by Hank Azaria; Born Hank Albert Azaria, April 25, 1964 in Forest Hills, Queens, NY)
Ned Flanders (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Maude Flanders (Voiced by Maggie Roswell (Born Mary Margaret Nena Roswell, November 14, 1952 in Los Angeles, CA) & Marcia Mitzman Gaven (Born February 28, 1959 in New York, NY))
Rod Flanders (Voiced by Pamela Hayden; Born November 27, 1953)
Todd Flanders (Voiced by Nancy Cartwright; Born Nancy Campbell Cartwright, October 25, 1957 in Kettering, OH)
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (Voiced by Hank Azaria; Born Hank Albert Azaria, April 25, 1964 in Forest Hills, Queens, NY)
Chief Clancy Wiggum (Voiced by Hank Azaria; Born Hank Albert Azaria, April 25, 1964 in Forest Hills, Queens, NY)
Dr. Julius Hibbert (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)
Krusty The Clown (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Sideshow Bob (Voiced by Kelsey Grammer; Born Allen Kelsey Grammer, February 21, 1955 in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands)
Sideshow Mel (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Itchy (Voiced by Dan Castellaneta; Born Daniel Louis Castellaneta, October 29, 1957 in Oak Park, IL)
Scratchy (Voiced by Harry Shearer; Born Harry Julius Shearer, December 23, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA)

See Also: South Park, Family Guy, The Boondocks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force & Ren & Stimpy

Albums
The Simpsons Movie

Also Featured On...
Merry Fucking Christmas 4: It's All About Poo (Thug Radio Mixtape)
Merry Fucking Christmas 6: The Miracles Of Christmas (Thug Radio Mixtape)

Bio From AllMovie.Com
Premiering with a full-length animated Christmas special in 1989, The Simpsons went on to become one of the most daring network television series of the 1990s, skewering pop culture, politics, and society in general at every opportunity. Anchored by the tales of its five-member, four-fingered, dysfunctional nuclear family, the series grew to provide more and more story lines for its wealth of rich supporting characters. - Michael Hastings

Homer's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Can life get any better for Homer J. Simpson? He juggles the roles of husband, father, safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, bowler, beer drinker, astronaut, small business owner and dreamer, and makes it all look easy. But it wasn't always so easy for Homer J. Raised by his father, Abe, who tried to compensate for the absence of Homer's radical hippie mother, Homer graduated at the bottom of his high school class and managed to earn the distinction of being the longest-term entry-level employee at the plant. Together with his high school sweetheart, Marge Bouvier, Homer settled down in Evergreen Terrace, the nicest upper-lower-middle class section of Springfield, to raise his three precious children. Homer is fond of Duff Beer, donuts, Marge's pork chops and watching the Bee Guy on the Spanish channel. His dislikes include his boss, Mr. Burns, yard work and his neighbor, Ned Flanders.

Marge's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Marge Simpson is a happy homemaker and mother of three. Her prides and joys are Bart (her "special little guy"), Lisa and Maggie. She's also very proud of her husband, Homer, even though he frequently loses his keys and needs her to find them. Marge also has strong relationships with her sisters, Patty and Selma, and with her father-in-law, Abe Simpson. But she also has secrets: She has been tempted to stray from her husband by a charming bowler and was nearly seduced into a life of crime by her one-time neighbor, Ruth Powers. Aside from her duties at home, Marge has flirted briefly with a number of careers ranging from police officer to anti-violence activist.

Bart's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Bart Simpson is misunderstood. Wrongly pegged as an underachiever and troublemaker, Bart would like to remind the world of some of his decent qualities: He looks out for his sister, Lisa; he's befriended outcasts and misfits like Milhouse Van Houten and Ralph Wiggum; he's injected romance into the life of his teacher, Edna Krabappel; and he brought down an illegal French winery during his brief semester abroad. So what if he's also befouled the Springfield Community Church with phony hymns or prank-called Moe's Tavern several times a day for the last few years? It all balances out, right? At age 10, Bart has managed to live out a number of dreams: He has starred in his own short-lived TV series (with his idol, Krusty the Clown), spotted and named a deadly comet that nearly destroyed his town, and almost snagged the role of Fallout Boy in the Radioactive Man movie. He couldn't have done any of those things without the help and support of his best friend, Santa's Little Helper.

Lisa's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Lisa Simpson can't wait for college. She's only 8 and already reads at a 14th grade level, and has written a number of application-quality essays, one of which won her family a free trip to Washington, D.C. Her favorite activities include playing her saxophone, attending school and reading Non-Threatening Boys Magazine. A fan of Malibu Stacy, Lisa tried unsuccessfully to create her own talking doll, Lisa Lionheart. Unfortunately, no one wanted to buy a talking doll that was as judgmental as Lisa. Lisa wants everyone to know that she is a vegetarian and that if she could have one thing (besides world peace), it would be a pony.

Maggie's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Maggie Simpson has done a lot in her one year of life. She's learned to spell her own name with an Etch A Sketch, she's wandered the town of Springfield all by herself, and she's shot Springfield's richest man because he attempted to steal her lollipop. Eventually, she'd like to learn how to speak and walk without falling down.

Patty Bouvier's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Patty Bouvier resents the suggestion that her life is empty and boring. First, she has her sisters Selma and Marge, but foremost, she has Richard Dean Anderson, aka MacGyver. She passes her days as a clerk at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles, administering eye exams and approving people for driver's licenses. She spends her nights at home, watching MacGyver and smoking cigarettes. Many, many cigarettes. Patty prides herself on being less desperate than her twin sister, Selma, who has been married and divorced twice.

Selma Bouvier's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
The only thing Selma Bouvier hates more than her brother-in-law, Homer Simpson, is being single. She has been married twice and, as luck would have it, divorced twice as well. First, she married Sideshow Bob shortly after he served his prison term for framing Krusty the Clown. The marriage ended amicably after Bob tried to blow Selma up during their honeymoon. Her second marriage was to Troy McClure, whom you might remember from such films as The Greatest Story Ever Hula-ed and They Came to Burgle Carnegie Hall. She married Troy in order to restore his reputation after a scandal involving underage fish nearly ended the thespian's career. Their marriage ended after Selma and Troy realized they neither loved nor felt particularly attracted to one another. For now, Selma's most enduring relationship is with Jub Jub, her pet iguana.

Grampa Simpson's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Not many people know that Abe Simpson is a highly decorated veteran of the Second World War. Even fewer people know that he is the inventor of the toilet and the man who made cats and dogs hate one another. No one knows these things about Abe because no one listens to him. In fact, they usually leave the room when he starts to speak. Father of Homer Simpson, grandfather of Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, Abe, aka Grampa, lives in the Springfield Retirement Castle where he enjoys soft foods and company of his friends. Abe was lucky enough to briefly find success in his retirement as a writer for the award-winning Itchy & Scratchy cartoon series. That career came to an end when he publicly scolded the entire cartoon industry at an awards show. He has won no awards since then.

Snowball I's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
A young Lisa Simpson cried and cried when her beloved first cat Snowball died. Homer and Marge tried to fool her by replacing the deceased feline with an identical one (thankfully, it was alive), but Snowball II could never fill the void left in Lisa's heart. Like most cats, Snowball enjoyed playing with yarn, petting, and coughing up large chunks of her own fur. While cause of death is unknown, foul play has been strongly ruled out.

Snowball II's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Snowball II is the scrappier, livelier replacement for the Simpson family's first cat (may she rest in peace). Snowball II has been known to dance upon a ball and perform minor tricks, almost never within the sights of any family member. She has a comfortably familiar relationship with Santa's Little Helper, the Simpsons' pet greyhound. So comfortable, in fact, that the two of them have been known to cuddle and pet one another when no one is watching. Like her namesake, Snowball II enjoys yarn, petting sessions and, as ever, coughing up large chunks of her own fur.

Santa's Little Helper's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Santa's Little Helper may not have been lucky for Homer Simpson at the racetrack one Christmas Eve, but he sure has turned out to be one fortunate dog. Loved and doted on by his owner, Bart Simpson, Santa's Little Helper enjoys the sort of life that most dogs can only dream about: He belongs to a tolerant family who let him tear up the furniture and eat from the table, he enjoyed a brief but fruitful relationship with a lovely greyhound (together they had 25 puppies, all of whom escaped being killed by Mr. Burns) and he earned a degree from one of Springfield's most prestigious canine academies. Of course, life hasn't been all milkbones for Santa's Little Helper: His legs were broken by Mr. Burns, he was abandoned by the Simpson family for Laddie, a better-bred dog Bart bought from a catalog, and he was forced to eat several pounds of fried bacon when Homer briefly flirted with a career in grease harnessing. Santa's Little Helper enjoys long walks with Bart, burying things in the backyard and begging for food.

Otto's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
If you look up "burnt-out" in the dictionary you might find a picture of Otto. Though frequently involved in random collisions, Otto remains true the Bus Driver's Pledge: "never crash the bus on purpose," and stands proudly by his record of fifteen crashes without a single fatality. But Otto is not just a schoolbus driver. His wide-ranging career includes stints as the Springfield Bloodmobile driver, Springfield Seniors Gambling Junket Bus driver, and operator of the Springfield Poolmobile.

Otto has trouble with authority, beginning with his father, "the Admiral," and continuing to this day. Otto doesn't flout authority so much as unwittingly bump into it, which results in his feeling constantly hassled by "the man." Yet Otto has a warm rapport with the school kids.

Edna Krabappel's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Edna Krabappel performs her job as adequately as possible, doing her best to supply her students with the minimal educational and experiential stimulus legally required by the Springfield Board of Education. Despite Edna's effort to streamline the amount of work required of her, she still finds it nearly impossible to carve out enough time for a cigarette break, and is usually reduced to smoking in the back of her classroom during the showing of educational films.

Divorced and bitter, Edna is never one to refuse a possible "encounter" with the opposite sex. Her desperation has led to more than a few unlikely relationships, including one with the fictional "Woodrow," a character invented by Bart Simpson in response to a personal ad Mrs. Krabappel took out in the classifieds. Another relationship was with Principal Skinner. Please don't ask Edna about it.

Principal Skinner's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Also known as "Spanky" and "Skinny Boy," Principal Skinner rules the hallowed halls of Springfield Elementary with an iron fist, if only in his mind. In reality, he is the frequent butt of jokes in the teachers' lounge, a constant target for Bart Simpson's schoolyard pranks.

When not conducting fire drills, augmenting the school lunches with shredded newspaper, polishing the statue of the school mascot, or calculating detention time for Bart, Skinner can be found at his desk, reliving, through vivid flashbacks, the more horrific moments of his experience as a Green Beret in 'Nam.

Though he still lives at home with overly-protective mother, and purportedly wears a toupee, Seymour has managed to eke out a meager romantic life. On one occasion he became enmeshed in a scandalous affair with Edna Krabappel, while on another he proposed to Patty Bouvier. When Patty, turned him down, the broken-hearted Skinner remained steadfastly optimistic, declaring, "Tomorrow is another school day!"

Groundskeeper Willie's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
On the surface, Groundskeeper Willie is a surly, gruff, hot-tempered sort of a fella, and what you see is what you get. As far as this shaggy-haired, thickly-accented Scotsman is concerned, manners are for bath-taking, underpants-wearing, lily-huggers. Willie would rather wrestle a wild Alaskan timber wolf than set down to a high tea. At the faintest sign of trouble, Willie rips off his shirt and hurls his rippling muscular body into the fray. Crediting his remarkable build in part to his diet, Willie vigorously promotes the eating of haggis.

While Willie regards Principal Skinner as nothing more than a "silk-wearin' croquet-playin' buttercup," he takes pride in performing the tasks Skinner sets for him. In addition to his regular groundskeeping at Springfield Elementary, these include chasing stray dogs through the air vents, watering down the orange drink for extra profits at school functions, and substitute-teaching French class in his own sensitive way: "Bonjour, you cheese-eatin' surrender-monkeys."

Willie's personal life is as rocky and desolate as his native land. While it is true that his was once engaged to magical British nanny, Shary Bobbins, she dumped him immediately when her eyesight returned. Since then, he has spent the bulk of his private time secretly videotaping couples in their cars.

Waylon Smithers' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
How many people can say they love their jobs as much as Waylon Smithers? As the personal assistant to C. Montgomery Burns, Smithers enjoys an intimacy with power that most people will never experience. His responsibilities include driving Mr. Burns, peddling him on a tandem bike, cleaning and maintaining his denture collection (including Burns' prized fang dentures) and calling employees into Burns' office to be fired. Outside of work, Smithers spends his time collecting Malibu Stacy dolls, using his computer (with its Mr. Burns screensaver) and going on vacation at men's singles resorts. His greatest ambition is for Mr. Burns to respond to his loving devotion; short of that, he'd like to own the latest life-size Malibu Stacy outfit.

C. Montgomery Burns' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
C. Montgomery Burns, Springfield's richest man, built his atomic energy fortune from the ground up after inheriting his father's atom-splitting factory. As owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he has been able to control local elections, manage a championship-winning baseball team, hold a chair on the board of Springfield University and build a contraption large enough to block out the sun and plunge the town into complete darkness. After a near-fatal shooting by Maggie Simpson and a brief bankruptcy almost ended his empire, Mr. Burns returned to the seat of power where he resides to this day. More misunderstood than evil, Mr. Burns may possess unparalleled power in Springfield, but he can barely lift a baseball bat. His hobbies include money fights with his assistant, Waylon Smithers, cultivating a wardrobe made entirely of innocent animals' pelts and courting some of Springfield's most eligible seniors like Jacqueline Bouvier (otherwise known as Marge Simpson's mother).

Barney Gumble's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Barney Gumble could've been somebody. A prodigious student with his sights set on Harvard, he could've been a contender instead of a bum, which is what he is. But say what you will about Barney, he's a man who knows love--love for beer. Barney has been known to drink beer directly from the tap, out of used ashtrays and from other places you probably don't want to know more about. He also knows success: In between lengthy sits on his regular bar stool at Moe's Tavern, Barney sang for the Be Sharp a-capella group, directed and starred in an award-winning film shown at the Springfield Film Festival, owned and operated his own snow-plowing business, became an astronaut and, during one of his few lucid periods, dated Linda Ronstadt. In addition to these exciting jobs, Barney has also worked as a leaflet-distributing big baby and sold his sperm to the Springfield Sperm Bank. Oh, and he drank beer. Lots of beer.

Moe's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
One of the most closely guarded secrets in Springfield is Moe the bartender's last name. It's Szyslak, he'll tell you, but why the hell are you asking? Even more closely guarded are details of Moe's personal life. Outside of pulling taps at Moe's Tavern, the bartender seems to spend at least part of his time at the shooting range (he's a charter member of the Springfield Gun Club) and bowling with his league team, the Pin Pals. No one knows how Moe has managed to keep his bar open all these years--most nights there are only three or four regulars, and his efforts to change the place into a family restaurant failed on account of his uncontrollable rage. But many suspect that he is still receiving residual checks from his stint as a child actor on the Our Gang show back in the '40s. Moe was the ugly kid.

Ned Flanders' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
The Good Lord has been very good to Ned Flanders, thank you very much. Not only was he blessed with his lovely wife, Maude, but together they raised two special little Christian Soldiers, Rod and Todd. Sadly, the Lord took Maude from Ned in a tragic NASCAR accident and now Ned must raise his boys alone. He lives in one of the best-kept houses in Evergreen Terrace, and the Leftorium, his left-handed-only retail business, is booming. There isn't much for Ned to complain about. Except for his neighbor, Homer Simpson, and all of his swearing on the other side of the fence. Oh, and there's Reverend Lovejoy, who's devout but, well sir, not quite pious. And, well, there's always the traumatic memories of Ned's childhood, during which he was raised by overly tolerant beatnik parents who fostered creativity and independence in their boy. Other than that, Ned can't really complain. Everything is pretty okilly-dokilly.

Maude Flanders' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Maude was a woman of many gifts: faith, chastity, charity and the most come-hither eyelashes in the town of Springfield. Happily married to Ned Flanders, she was the proud mother of Rod and Todd, in whom she had instilled her unwavering piety. While she did not work, Maude was a busy homemaker and a tireless advocate for the children of Springfield, whose innocence is so often soiled by the evils of cartoon violence, liberal education and the insidious influences of popular culture. Even though she spent much of her free time in prayer and reading the Bible, Maude was known to let her hair (and her neckline) down for the occasional dinner party at the home of her neighbors, the Simpsons. Then she died in a terrible accident.

Rod Flanders' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Rod prays. He prays first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. He prays for God to watch over him and his little brother, Todd. He prays for the success of his father's business. He also prays for all of the naughty little boys and girls, like his neighbor Bart Simpson, who are too bad to pray for themselves. Aside from praying, Rod enjoys playing wholesomely with his brother and eating lots of nachos, Flanders-style ("That's cucumbers with cottage cheese!"). His one regret is that he cannot pray at school.

Todd Flanders' Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Todd is the youngest and most impressionable member of the happy Flanders clan. When exposed to profanity (for example, from over the fence as Homer Simpson curses his way through mowing the lawn), little Todd starts to curse a blue streak himself. Chalk it up to immaturity, or relentless sheltering by his parents, Ned and Maude--whenever Todd comes into contact with anything outside of his family and their pious ways (like the time he was tricked into eating a Pixie Stick by Bart Simpson), he seems to get nasty. Todd's proudest moments have been when he tied Bart in the mini-golf championship and when he played Jesus in the Springfield Christmas Pageant.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Apu seems to work at the Kwik-E-Mart 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But please don't be thinking it's only work that Apu is having on his mind, my goodness, no! He manages to spend some of his free time with his wife Manjula and his brother Sanjay. Apu peddles the usual Kwik-E-Mart fare (at remarkably high prices): luscious heat-lamp dogs, chewy frozen microwave burritos, and the ever popular squishee. Apu himself doesn't eat any of this stuff himself since, in keeping with his Hindu beliefs, he is a strict vegan. To Apu's great disappointment, his attempt to bridge the gap between East and West with tofu dogs, curry crullers, and chutney Squishees met with resounding disinterest from customers.

Chief Clancy Wiggum's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Clancy Wiggum is the chief of the Springfield Police Department, the long, pudgy arm of the law. After battling acne and asthma during his childhood and adolescence, Chief Wiggum grew (and grew and grew) into the imposing man that he is today. His two greatest successes as a crime fighter were solving the attempted murder of C. Montgomery Burns by Maggie Simpson (a dream led Wiggum to the main clue), and the capture and arrest of Sideshow Bob after he kidnapped the Simpson family and crashed their houseboat. Wiggum's greatest success as a man is his son Ralph Wiggum, a special little boy who plays with special little friends, none of whom are visible to anyone else. Other than that, Wiggum considers it a success if he can even get out of bed in the morning. If that doesn't tire him out too much, he might even fight some crime.

Dr. Julius Hibbert's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Dr. Julius Hibbert likes to laugh. He has a sweet, infectious giggle that wafts through the examining rooms of his private practice and through the halls of Springfield Hospital. He usually laughs when offering his diagnoses to patients, which leads some people to think him a bit insensitive. But he's just a happy guy. A very happy guy. Dr. Hibbert has two kids and supportive wife. He is known throughout Springfield as the best doctor money can buy. Unless you have no money, in which case you'll be seeing Dr. Nick Riviera.

Krusty The Clown's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Hershel "Krusty the Clown" Krustofski has experienced a number of very high highs and very low lows in his long career as one of Springfield's most beloved performers. He has won awards, the acclaim of legions of young fans and millions of dollars through lucrative Krusty Brand products and endorsements. But these successes have come at a great cost: Krusty has been arrested for armed robbery (he was acquitted when it was proven that he was framed by a disgruntled sidekick), he's filed for Chapter 11 and seen his estate sold at auction, and he's had to experience a painful estrangement from his father, who wanted Krusty to be a rabbi. Perhaps it's no surprise then that on his way to the top (and to the bottom and to the top again) Krusty suffered a heart attack that forced him to wear a pacemaker. Through good times and bad, Krusty has approached life with his wide, engaging smile. Mostly because the smile is painted on.

Sideshow Bob's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
You might not be able to tell it from his narrow frame, but "Sideshow" Bob Terwilliger has one huge chip on his shoulder. After years of being Krusty the Clown's sidekick and foil for his sadistic antics, Sideshow Bob finally snapped and attempted--unsuccessfully--to frame his tormentor. After a stint in prison, Bob tried to reform by marrying Selma Bouvier (they divorced after he tried to explode her), murdering the Simpson family, running for mayor of Springfield and blowing up the town. One possible reason for Bob's hostility may be displeasure with his early career choices. An erudite, urbane scholar-type, Bob was never really cut out for Krusty's foolish gags and bits. He currently resides in prison, where he shares a cell with his equally brilliant and evil brother, Cecil.

Sideshow Mel's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
Not much is known about Sideshow Mel outside of his fondness for bones (worn in his hair) and his long-running career as Krusty the Clown's sidekick. Mel rose to prominence on The Krusty the Clown Show after Sideshow Bob was arrested for robbing the Kwik-E-Mart. (Sideshow Bob, back in the day, got his job after Sideshow Raheem left the show for undisclosed reasons.) Mel's talents include playing the slide whistle and taking pies in the face.

Itchy & Scratchy's Bio From TheSimpsons.Com
It's difficult to put your finger on the exact formula for Itchy & Scratchy's success. Perhaps it's the unbreakable bond that keeps these two together week after week on their award-winning, highly-rated animated series. Perhaps it's the ingenuity of their interactions, the brilliance of their improvisational dealings. Or maybe it's the carnage: the violent, bloody, nasty ways they've figured out to hurt one another. Whatever it is, it's kept an entire generation of Springfield's children in stitches while causing a few to induce stitches from emulating their violent routines. Bane of concerned parents everywhere, the Itchy & Scratchy Show is required viewing for all children who love mice that hate cats.

Dan Castellaneta's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Forever associated with his ongoing voice work as Homer J. Simpson on Matt Groening and James L. Brooks' long, long-running Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta is well-reputed for his modest, unassuming presence in real life and his paradoxical ability to spin characters — seemingly from out of nowhere — that instantly take on lives of their own. Groening once famously remarked that "Dan can do everything, and he practically does....You might never notice him, but then he opens his mouth and he completely creates one character after another.''

Born in 1957, Castellaneta grew up in the small town of Oak Grove, IL, in the northwestern corner of the state, near the Iowa border. As a self-described introvert who developed and honed a facility for slipping into the guise of characters to entertain and make social situations easier (read: class clown), Castellaneta nevertheless diverged from this path in college and worked toward a career as a high-school art teacher via his studies at Northern Illinois University. Then, one of Castellaneta's professors (perhaps sensing some dissatisfaction) wisely admonished him to only work at a field, and in a job, that he loved. Castellaneta reasoned that acting fit the bill, and auditioned for the infamous sketch comedy troupe Second City shortly after graduation. The troupe hired him, and in time, the skills that the actor projected led to his involvement on the then-fledgling Fox network's sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show, which premiered on Sunday, April 5, 1987. Castellaneta joined Ullman, Julie Kavner, Joe Malone, Sam McMurray, and for a time Anna Levine in live-action skits that parodied all aspects of Western culture.

As a most unusual aspect of her program, Ullman opted to feature crudely animated, offbeat segments as Monty Python-style transitions between the individual sketches. The episodes in question were drawn by Gabor Csupo and Groening (at that time, comic-strip artist of growing infamy known for his Life Is Hell series starring a buck-toothed, bug-eyed rabbit named Bucky). Although the subjects of the shorts initially varied, within a few months they began to focus exclusively on a hyper-dysfunctional blue-collar family called the Simpsons; Kavner and Castellaneta voiced parents Homer and Marge Simpson, respectively. Those segments gained such massive popularity that they eventually outshone that of the Ullman show itself (which wrapped in September 1990), and executive producer James L. Brooks, following this cue, decided to spin off the Simpsons into their own weekly animated series. Kavner and Castellaneta, of course, followed Brooks to the new program, joined in time by longtime Brooks acquaintance Harry Shearer, as well as Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and numerous others.

The Simpsons premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989, and became not simply a hit but a phenomenon. It shot up to instantly become one of the highest-rated series on television, and attained iconic status. The program scored as a cause célèbre not simply with children (as expected) but with adult viewers as well, who appreciated the show's ability to skewer all aspects of society and culture. (It generated a billion-dollar marketing boom as well — an onslaught of Bart Simpson-themed T-shirts, watches, dolls, beach towels, and everything else under the sun.) The program also drew an onslaught of celebrity guests — everyone from Larry King to Tony Bennett to Beverly D'Angelo and Linda Ronstadt.

Castellaneta himself will forever be tied to Homer Simpson — the lunkheaded, potbellied, beer-swilling, donut-loving nuclear-plant worker with not a whole lot upstairs, and a thoroughly crass lifestyle, but also a big, soft heart (a quality which Castellaneta's co-workers insist that he alone brought to the character). But hardcore Simpsons cultists and even its less attentive devotees will realize that Castellaneta voices not only Homer (as mentioned), but also the gravelly voiced, booze-swilling, womanizing clown Krusty; local drunk Barney Gumble; Scottish elementary-school groundskeeper Willie; the octogenarian family patriarch Grampa Simpson; and innumerable others. Certainly, it would be difficult to imagine a program that took fuller advantage of Castellaneta's versatility with characterizations.

Alongside The Simpsons, Castellaneta has also pursued a career as a live-action film and television performer, and spent most of the late '80s, '90s, and 2000s vacillating between the two mediums. His career on the big screen began at least a year prior to his involvement with Ullman and co., when he debuted with a bit part as Brian in the now-forgotten Garry Marshall dramedy Nothing in Common (1986), starring Jackie Gleason, Tom Hanks, Eva Marie Saint, and Sela Ward. In 1989, Castellaneta landed bit parts in two wildly different films: one as a maître d’ in the Jim Belushi cop comedy K-9, and another (as one of Danny DeVito's clients) in the James L. Brooks-produced jet-black marital farce The War of the Roses. Castellaneta temporarily withdrew from live-action cinematic work in the early '90s, before returning to audiences as the narrator in Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Phil in Warren Beatty's Love Affair (1994).

As the Castellaneta's career continued, he then segued into cinematic animated voice-over work (doubtless encouraged by the ongoing success of The Simpsons), doing voices in such features as 2000's Rugrats in Paris (under the aegis of old colleague Gabor Csupo) and Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002). In 2007, Castellaneta extended his Homer characterization to the big screen with his work on The Simpsons Movie — the first cinematic appearance of Groening's famous animated family.

As for television, Castellaneta appeared as a supporting actor in numerous sitcoms during the 1990s. These included ALF (as Steve Michaels in the 1990 episode "Stayin' Alive"), Married...with Children (as Pete in the 1990 episode "The Dance Show"), Wings (as George Wexler in the 1994 episode "Moonlighting"), and Murphy Brown (as Tony Lucchesi in the 1995 episode "Specific Overtures.") He also voiced Genie (inheriting the role from Robin Williams) on the animated Aladdin TV series.

Of the Simpsons cast, Castellaneta is one of the only actors to regularly do on-stage comedic improvisation alongside his series work. He is married to Simpsons writer Deb Lacusta, whom he wed in 1987. - Nathan Southern

Julie Kavner's Bio From AllMovie.Com
When the decision was made in 1974 to transform Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) from frumpy kvetcher to desirable bachelorette on the TV series Rhoda, somebody had to inherit all those self-deprecating jokes told by Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The decision was made to create a new character: Rhoda's pudgy, insecure younger sister, Brenda. The actress chosen for the role sounded as though she'd been a New Yorker since the womb, but in fact Julie Kavner was born and raised in California. A theatre student at USC-San Francisco, Kavner came to Rhoda with no professional experience, but before the series ran its course, she had won an Emmy for her portrayal. With her performance in the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, Kavner became one of the most prominent members of director Woody Allen's stock company, essaying very un-Brendalike roles in Radio Days (1987), the "Oedipus Wrecks" segment of New York Stories (1989), Alice (1990) and Shadows and Fog (1992). Kavner's regular stint as an ensemble player on the Fox TV network's Tracy Ullman Show led to her long-running assignment as the gravelly voice of Marge Simpson on the weekly animated series The Simpsons. - Hal Erickson

Nancy Cartwright's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Eternally known as the voice of Bart Simpson, Nancy Cartwright is one of the most prolific voice actors of her time. Born in an Ohio suburb in the late '50s, she grew up doing community theater and watching cartoons. In her last year at Ohio University, she got a chance to meet Hanna-Barbara voice actor Daws Butler. Better known by his character names Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, and Quick Draw McGraw, Butler suggested she transfer to U.C.L.A. and start going to auditions. By 1980, Cartwright had her first professional job as the voice of Gloria on Richie Rich. With her new Screen Actors Guild card, she also got normal acting roles on the TV movie Marian Rose White, the feature film Twilight Zone: The Movie, and several television guest appearances. Her voice was heard as multiple characters on beloved '80s cartoons like My Little Pony & Friends, Pound Puppies, Space Ace, and Galaxy High School. Eventually Cartwright started to get singular roles like Kip on ShirtTales and Daphne on Snorks. In 1987, she auditioned for the role of Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons but she landed the role of Bart instead. After a few years of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons got its own time slot on FOX in 1990. Cartwright won an Emmy and an Annie award for her work, which has expanded to several other Springfield youths including Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Milhouse, Kearney, and Nelson. While still working on The Simpsons, she also did voices for Animaniacs, Goof Troop, and The Critic, as well as numerous short-lived cartoons (remember God, the Devil and Bob?). Cartwright has also found time to perform the one-woman play In Search of Fellini and write her autobiography My Life as a Ten-Year-Old Boy. In 2001 she took over for Christine Cavanaugh in the role of Chuckie on Rugrats while working on Kim Possible and launching her Internet animation company, SportsBlast. Her voice can also be heard on the web cartoons The Kellys and Timberwolf. - Andrea LeVasseur

Yeardley Smith's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Yeardley Smith is unarguably the keeper of one of Hollywood's most distinctive-sounding and instantly recognizable set of vocal chords; the Emmy-winning actress' most famous role is without question that of level-headed, suburban schoolgirl Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series The Simpsons. Though most of her live-action roles would come during the mid-'80s with such guilty pleasures as The Legend of Billie Jean and Maximum Overdrive, Smith remained active in front of the camera well into the new millennium with roles in such features as As Good As It Gets and such popular television series as Dharma & Greg.

Born in Paris, France, Smith kicked off her acting career at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage before making the move to Broadway in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing in 1984. A role in the after-school special Mom's on Strike marked the actress' first foray into television, and after graduating to features with a supporting role in the 1985 comedy Heaven Help Us, she gained notable exposure later that same year in the teen drama The Legend of Billie Jean. If the film failed to live up to the hype, Smith's performance (as a somewhat shy teen who discovers her own self-confidence after joining a teenage outlaw on the road) offered a scene-stealing turn that would overflow into the following year's much-maligned horror film Maximum Overdrive. A small supporting role in the 1987 teen comedy Three O'Clock High was quick to follow, and that same year, Smith would step behind the microphone for the role that would change her life.

Originally conceived as a series of shorts made to run during The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons proved so popular that it was soon given its very own series. Beginning in 1989, The Simpsons quickly became nothing less than a cultural phenomenon, with brother Bart's rebellious antics quickly making "Don't have a cow, man" the national catch phrase. As popular as the series was initially, few could have foreseen that it would go on to surpass The Flintstones as the longest-running animated prime-time series in the history of television. In the years that followed, Lisa would move to the forefront in many episodes, endearing her to a nation of television viewers. Though Smith would still make the occasional foray into features, with bit roles in City Slickers, Toys, Just Write, and As Good As It Gets, it was her role on The Simpsons that kept her busy throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium. - Jason Buchanan

Frank Welker's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Launching his career as a stand-up comedian in 1967, Frank Welker opened for such acts as the Righteous Brothers, Sergio Mendez and Brazil 66, The Fifth Dimension and Glen Campbell. Welker's TV credits include comedy-ensemble stints on The Don Knotts Show (1971) and the syndicated Laugh Trax (1982). Despite his occasional on-camera appearances, Welker is best known as one of the most versatile voiceover specialists in show business. His specialty is a dead-on impression of the Three Stooges' Curly Howard, which he utilized to peak effect in the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon weekly Jabberjaw (1976). To list all of his credits would take a couple of weeks at best: in Hal Erickson's encyclopedic 1995 volume Television Cartoon Shows, Welker is mentioned no fewer than 110 times! Some of his more memorable TV cartoon credits include Itsy Bitsy Spider (title character), Duck Tales, Captain Planet, Garfield and Friends, The Jetsons, Tiny Toon Adventures, Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Batman: The Animated Series. In theatrical features, Welker is most often heard as nonverbal "funny animals" (1993's Aladdin) and "enchanted" inanimate objects (in 1994's The Shadow, he "played" a magic dagger). - Hal Erickson

Harry Shearer's Bio From AllMovie.Com
California native Harry Shearer was one of the busier child actors of the 1950s. He appeared in such films as The Robe (1953) (as the boy David) and Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953); he could be heard on such radio programs as Suspense, Lux Radio Theatre, and the Jack Benny Show; and among his many TV guest roles was the character who would evolve into Eddie Haskell in the 1955 Leave It to Beaver pilot. After attending U.C.L.A., Shearer flourished as a standup comedian and comedy writer. He was frequently employed on the writing staff for such TV laughspinners as Laverne and Shirley and America 2Night; he also worked both sides of the camera in the 1984 rockumentary parody This Is Spinal Tap, co-starring as rock idol Derek Smalls and co-writing the script with director Rob Reiner and fellow cast members Christopher Guest and Michael McKean. In league with another top satirist, Albert Brooks, Shearer concocted the screenplay for another faux documentary, 1979's Real Lampoon. During the 1984-1985 TV season, Shearer joined the Not Ready for Prime Time Players on NBC's Saturday Night Live. The soft-spoken, saturnine Harry Shearer has recently supplied his voice to the Fox Network cartoon series The Simpsons, and since 1992 he has hosted and co-written a weekly syndicated radio comedy potpourri, Le Show. - Hal Erickson

Marcia Wallace's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Actress and comedian Marcia Wallace began her career as a stage actress, appearing with the improv troupe The Fourth Wall and in off-Broadway plays in the late '60s. After a guest appearance on the Merv Griffin Show, Wallace began a thriving TV career playing secretary Carol Kester Bondurant on The Bob Newhart Show and making countless appearances over the coming decades on game shows like Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth, as well as shows like Full House and The Young and the Restless. - Cammila Albertson

Hank Azaria's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Rubber-faced comic actor and vocal artist extraordinaire Hank Azaria initially plied his trade on the stand-up circuit, then subsequently landed stage appearances and tackled bit parts on television. Azaria scored his breakthrough in 1989 when he began providing a multitude of voices for the Fox network's groundbreaking animated series The Simpsons, an assignment that imparted the performer with an enviable degree of cult stardom. In 1991, Azaria nabbed a major role in the Fox live-action sitcom Herman's Head, which ran until 1994 and gave audiences a glimpse of the man responsible for the vocal intonations of some of the most famous characters to ever corrupt an animator's storyboard.

A native of Queens, NY, where he was born into a family of Sephardic Jews on April 25, 1964, Azaria commenced film roles in the late 1980s, coincident with his Simpsons stardom. Work on that program (which, after graduating from a series of crude sketches on The Tracey Ullmann Show to its own animated sitcom, quickly shot up to qualify as the Fox network's most popular enterprise) easily outstripped Azaria's screen work in popularity and visibility for many years. Recurring parts included Indian convenience store owner Apu, quack doctor Nick Riviera, dim-witted bartender Moe, and the idiotic, pig-nosed Springfield Chief of Police, Clancy Wiggum.

Though his Simpsons work continued unabated over the years, beginning in the mid-1990s Azaria branched out somewhat, placing a heavier emphasis on live-action portrayals. Even in that venue, however, his work tonally mirrored his animated contributions; he specialized in adroitly handling goofy, over-the-top character parts, often with an ethnic bent. The performer attained visibility and memorability, for example, as the klutzy and scantily-dressed gay houseboy Agador in The Birdcage (1995), Hector, a goofy Hispanic paramour with a permanent effeminate lisp, in Joe Roth's underrated showbiz comedy America's Sweethearts (2001), and Claude, a Gallic beach bum with no qualms about taking off with other men's wives, in John Hamburg's gross-out romantic comedy Along Came Polly (2004).

Azaria has also departed from the boundaries of screen comedy from time to time, doing memorable work across genre lines in such films as Great Expectations (1998) (which cast him as Gwyneth Paltrow's lackluster fiancé), Mystery Men (1999) (as the superhero Blue Raja), and Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock (1999), a historical drama about art and politics in 1930s New York that cast Azaria as leftist playwright Marc Blitzstein. In 2005, Azaria presided as one of the many off-color monologuists in Penn Jillette's stand-up comedy showcase film The Aristocrats; the performer subsequently provided at least seventeen voices (including his usual series roles) for The Simpsons Movie (2007) and voiced both Abbie Hoffmann and Allen Ginsberg in the animated sequences of Brett Morgen's offbeat documentary Chicago 10 (2007).

In July 1999, Azaria married actress Helen Hunt, with whom he co-starred in several episodes of the sitcom Mad About You. The two divorced within eighteen months. - Sandra Brennan

Kelsey Grammer's Bio From AllMovie.Com
Actor Kelsey Grammer is, of course, synonymous with the character of psychologist Dr. Frasier Crane, the pompous, effete snob he portrayed on the TV sitcom Cheers and later on its wildly successful spin-off Frasier. Grammer embodied Crane so well that the actor's frequently tumultuous personal life seemed almost incomprehensible to the public at large, and resulted in endless tabloid fascination. Although he eventually settled into a quieter life, the sad truth was that Grammer's life had been beset by difficulty -- and outright tragedy -- for quite some time. Born February 21, 1955, on the island of St. Thomas (in the Virgin Islands), Allen Kelsey Grammer grew up first in New Jersey with his mother and grandparents, who later moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL. In 1968, Grammer's father -- who had divorced his mother when he was two years old -- was killed by a deranged gunman who was found not guilty by reason of insanity; not long after, Grammer's grandfather, with whom he had a strong relationship, passed away. It was during these early teen years that Grammer discovered Shakespeare, and an accompanying ambition to become a stage actor; encouraged by his teachers, he spent two years after high school studying his craft at Juilliard. He then dropped out and moved on to San Diego, where he joined the Old Globe Theatre and performed in canonical dramas for three years. However, tragedy struck viciously again in 1975, when Grammer's younger sister Karen was abducted, raped, and murdered. Five years later, his two half-brothers both perished in a scuba-diving accident near St. Thomas. Grammer persevered, performing in theater productions across the country and scoring occasional roles on TV soap operas. In 1984, he landed the part of Frasier Crane on NBC's hit sitcom Cheers; Frasier was main character Sam Malone's insufferably pretentious rival for the affections of equally pretentious waitress Diane Chambers. Though Frasier was initially intended as a temporary role, Grammer's portrayal was so indelible -- and, somehow, likable -- that the series elected to keep him on as a regular cast member even after his original story line was wrapped up; the writers even created a new love interest for him. Despite his newfound fame, Grammer's personal life was far from orderly; he was arrested in 1988 for drunk driving and possession of cocaine, and two years later divorced his first wife and spent a month in jail for failing to show up at arraignments and community service requirements. (Somewhat ironically, he won Emmys as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in both of those years.) Cheers ended in 1993, and although Grammer's character was tabbed as the center of a spin-off, his private turmoil continued; he made allegations of assault against his second wife, whose failed suicide attempt in the wake of divorce threats resulted in the death of their unborn child. Happily, on the other side, Frasier was a hit, and in 1994 Grammer won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, a feat he repeated the following year. He also attracted notice for his vocal rendition of the series' cool, jazzy theme song, "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs." Tabloid fascination with Grammer's private life reached a crescendo during the mid-'90s; a taste for motorcycles that contrasted sharply with his stuffy character, an aborted marriage engagement, a scandal involving an underage babysitter (for which police could not find adequate supporting evidence), and a possibly alcohol-related one-car accident provided plenty of fodder. Following the latter incident, in 1996 Grammer checked himself into the Betty Ford Clinic. Flipping his sports car seemed to be the catalyst Grammer needed to get his life in order; in 1997, he found a stable relationship in his marriage to model Camille Donatacci, and in 1998, he won his third Best Actor Emmy. While his attempt to make the jump to the big screen hasn't yet paid dividends (his roles include the lead in the 1996 comedy Down Periscope and an unscrupulous newscaster in 2001's 15 Minutes), Grammer has signed with NBC to continue Frasier through 2004; if the deal holds up, Grammer would tie James "Marshal Dillon" Arness of Gunsmoke for the record of portraying the same television character 20 years in a row. - Steve Huey

Official Sites: The Simpsons & MySpace