Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( ; born October 29, 1957) He is of Italian descent, born to Elsie (; 1926–2008) and Louis Castellaneta (1915–2014), an amateur actor who worked for a printing company. and upon graduation, started attending Northern Illinois University (NIU) in the fall of 1975.
Castellaneta studied art education, with the goal of becoming an art teacher. Homer's voice began as a loose impression of Walter Matthau, but Castellaneta could not "get enough power behind that voice" and could not sustain his Matthau impression for the nine- to ten-hour recording sessions.
He tried to find something easier, so he "dropped the voice down", and developed it into a more versatile and humorous voice during the second and third season of the half-hour show. To perform Homer's voice, Castellaneta lowers his chin to his chest,
Castellaneta likes to stay in character during recording sessions, Despite Homer's fame, Castellaneta claims he is rarely recognized in public, "except, maybe, by a die-hard fan."
thumb|left|Castellaneta with fellow Simpsons voice actors [[Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Julie Kavner in 2009]]
Castellaneta also provides the voices for numerous other characters, including Grampa Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, During early recording sessions, he recorded a new version of Barney's loud trademark belch for every episode but discovered that it was not easy for him to belch each time a script called for it. Castellaneta chose a recording of what he believed was his best belch and told the producers to make that the standard.
Groundskeeper Willie's first appearance was in the season two episode "Principal Charming". The character was written as an angry janitor, and Castellaneta was assigned to perform the voice. He did not know what voice to use and Sam Simon, who was directing at the time, suggested he use an accent. Castellaneta first tried using Hispanic voicing, which Simon felt was too clichéd. He then tried a "big dumb Swede", which was also rejected. For his third try, he used the voice of a grumpy Scotsman, which was deemed appropriate enough and was used in the episode. The voice was based partially on Angus Crock, a kilt-wearing chef from the sketch comedy show Second City Television, who was portrayed by Dave Thomas.
Mayor Quimby, who first appeared in "Bart Gets an 'F', is a parody of various members of the Kennedy family. The episode script did not call for Quimby to be a parody of them, and Castellaneta improvised the accent. Sideshow Mel's voice is Castellaneta's impression of Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Sideshow Bob. Hapless Gil Gunderson is a spoof of actor Jack Lemmon's portrayal of Shelley Levene in the 1992 film adaptation of the play Glengarry Glen Ross. Showrunner Mike Scully thought that Gil would be "a one-shot thing" but "Dan Castellaneta was so funny at the table read doing the character, we kept making up excuses in subsequent episodes to put him in."
Castellaneta has won several awards for voicing Homer, including four Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa's Pony", 1993 for "Mr. Plow", 2004 for voicing several characters in "Today I Am a Clown", and 2009 for voicing Homer in "Father Knows Worst".
In 1993, Castellaneta was given a special Annie Award, "Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation", for his work as Homer on The Simpsons.
In 2004, Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (the voice of Marge) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". Homer was placed second on TV Guides 2002 Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters, and in 2000, Homer and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Until 1998, Castellaneta was paid $30,000 per episode. The issue was resolved a month later, with Castellaneta starting to earn $250,000 per episode. Following salary negotiations in 2008, the cast received approximately $400,000 per episode. In 2011, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, the cast accepted a pay cut to around $300,000 per episode.
In the early 1990s, Castellaneta and his wife Deb Lacusta wrote a script for an episode in which Barney becomes sober, and pitched it to showrunner Al Jean. He liked the story but turned it down because he felt that it was too similar to "Duffless", an episode that the writers were already working on. The two waited for nearly a decade and offered an updated version of the script to later showrunner Mike Scully, who liked it and had them make a few changes. Their script became the episode "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses". Castellaneta and his wife have also written the episodes "Gump Roast", "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and "The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". Castellaneta is also credited as a consulting producer.
Further career
thumb|Castellaneta in 2002
Castellaneta has been a regular cast member in several other television series. In 1991, he played Warren Morris in the short-lived ABC live-action sitcom Sibs. Heide Perlman, creator of Sibs, wrote the part with Castellaneta in mind.
He provided the voice of the eponymous character in The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, Megavolt in Darkwing Duck, "Doc" Emmett Brown in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, and several characters, including Grandpa Phil and the Jolly Olly Man, the mentally unstable ice cream truck driver, on Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!. He guest starred as The Robot Devil in five episodes of Futurama, as well as the Futurama film The Beast with a Billion Backs.
Castellaneta has also made guest appearances in a number of television series episodes. In 1992, he guest-starred in an episode of the legal drama L.A. Law, as a Homer Simpson meetable character at a California amusement park who is dismissed for inappropriate behavior while in costume.
In 1996, he made a guest appearance as a Zoo Keeper in Season 2, Episode 12 "The One After the Superbowl" in Friends.
In 2005, he appeared in the episode "Sword of Destiny" in Arrested Development as Dr. Stein, a deadpan incompetent doctor.
In 2005, Castellaneta guest-starred as Joe Spencer in the Stargate SG-1 season eight episode "Citizen Joe". He also appeared in episodes of ALF, Campus Ladies, Castle, Entourage, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, Friends, Greek, How I Met Your Mother, Mad About You, Married... with Children, Murphy Brown, NYPD Blue, Parks and Recreation, Reba, Reno 911!, That '70s Show, Veronica Mars, Hot in Cleveland, Yes, Dear, and Desperate Housewives.
He appeared as the Genie in the Aladdin sequel The Return of Jafar and on the 1994 Aladdin television series. The Genie had been voiced by Robin Williams in Aladdin, and Castellaneta described replacing him as "sort of like stepping into Hamlet after Laurence Olivier did it, how can you win?" He also provided Genie's voice in the Kingdom Hearts video game series In 2006, he appeared in Jeff Garlin's independent film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With along with several other Second City alumni.
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. The majority of the sketches had been written and performed before the CD was recorded, and Castellaneta thought that it would be a good idea to preserve them "since [he and Lacusta] don't perform them much anymore." Additionally, "Citizen Kane", a sketch in which two people discuss the film Citizen Kane with different meanings, was something the pair had performed at an art gallery.
Alongside his television and film work, Castellaneta has appeared in a number of theatrical productions. In 1992, he starred in Deb & Dan's Show alongside his wife. In 1995, Castellaneta started writing Where Did Vincent van Gogh?, a one man play in which he portrays a dozen different characters, including artist Vincent van Gogh. He first officially performed the play at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles in 1999.
Castellaneta hosted the final of New York comedy show Thrills and Spills on December 31, 2015. The final was held in Montgomery, Alabama.
Personal life
In 1987, Castellaneta married writer and actress Deb Lacusta, whom he had met at an improv class in Chicago. They divide their time between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California.
Castellaneta is a vegetarian and does not drink alcohol. He enjoys exercising regularly.
|-
| I Am Not Homer
| April 23, 2002
| Oglio Records
| Comedy album released with Deb Lacusta
|}
Also featured in:
- The Simpsons Sing the Blues (1990)
- Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997)
- The Yellow Album (1998)
- Go Simpsonic with The Simpsons (1999)
- The Simpsons: Testify (2007)
Awards and nominations
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Year
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Award
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Category
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Role
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Series
!style="background-color: #B0C4DE;"| Result
|-
| 1992
| rowspan="2" | Emmy Award
| rowspan="2" | Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
| Homer Simpson, Grampa, various others
| The Simpsons: "Lisa's Pony"
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1993
| Homer Simpson
| The Simpsons: "Mr. Plow"
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Annie Award
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in the Field of Animation
| Various characters
| The Simpsons
|
|-
| 2000
| Outstanding Voice Acting by a Male Performer in a Television Series
| The Postman
| Olive, the Other Reindeer
|
|-
| rowspan="4" |2004
|Stinkers Bad Movie Award
|Most Annoying Non-Human Character
| rowspan="2" |Thing 1, Thing 2
| rowspan="2" |The Cat in the Hat
|
|-
|Golden Raspberry Award
|Worst Screen Couple
|
|-
| Emmy Award
| Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
| Various characters
| The Simpsons: "Today I Am A Clown"
|
|-
| Young Artist Award
|Most Popular Mom & Pop in a Television Series
| Homer Simpson
| rowspan="2" | The Simpsons
|
|-
| 2007
| WGA Award
| Animation
|
|
|-
| 2009
| rowspan="5" | Emmy Award
| Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
| Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson
| The Simpsons: "Thursdays with Abie"
|
|-
| 2011
| Outstanding Voice-Over Performance
| Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown, Louie
| The Simpsons: "Donnie Fatso"
|
|-
| 2015
| Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
| Homer Simpson/Krusty the Clown/Groundskeeper Willie and Sideshow Mel
| The Simpsons: "Fears of a Clown"
|
|}