The comic characters of The Simpsons have long been an integral part of popular culture. And since the image of the hero forms not only the appearance, but also the manner of conversation, the voice actors have become a kind of stars. The audience knows them not by sight, but by their voices, and often protest against changing the timbre of their favorite characters.
Stars in the shadow of the cartoon
In the original voiceover, the Simpsons characters speak in the voices of six actors. Their names were indicated in the credits only once, but this did not prevent them from achieving serious recognition. Five members of the team were even awarded Emmy awards for their work.
Actor Dan Castellaneta gave Homer Simpson the opportunity to speak. He came up with the idea of pressing his chin to his chest to create the right tone for a funny fat man. Dan also speaks for Krusty the clown, the gardener, the mayor, and many other key characters. By the way, in a couple of seasons, Castellaneta even appears in the role of himself. Of course, also like an animated pop-eyed man. The Simpson women were taught to speak by actress Julia Kavner. She is voiced by Marjd, as well as her two sisters and her mother. Those who are interested in Julia's appearance can find the old American TV series "Rhoda" (in which the actress played the main role) or watch Woody Allen's tapes.
Julia's colleague Nancy Cartwright also started out as an actress. But it was not her usual roles that brought her fame and reward, but the voice acting of Bart Simpson and other minor characters in the series. She was assigned, among other things, to gag for little Maggie.
Nancy even wrote a book about the story of her years of voicing an animated boy.
It's funny that during the casting, she applied for the role of Lisa. But the creator of the cartoon suggested that Nancy swap with Yardley Smith, who tried to recite the phrases of Bart's sister. And the exchange was successful. Yardley, by the way, is the only actress whose voice speaks only one character in "The Simpsons".
For exotic characters of the series (Mo, Apu and others - about 160 characters in total), Hank Azaria always gives the lines. In his luggage there are many vivid minor characters of television series, but three "Emmy" Hank got the "Simpsons". Finally, the unpleasant characters in the cartoon (Burns, Ned Flanders, the school principal) are voiced by Harry Shearer. He was the only one to be passed by the award-winning critics. But "The Simpsons" became the pinnacle of his career for him.
The creators invite some actors to voice only a few episodes and try to follow a funny principle: when invited celebrities appear in the cartoon, they speak with their own voices.
To different voices
In Russia, there are other traditions of dubbing "The Simsons". First, the series was broadcast by the REN-TV channel. A small group of actors was invited for the translation: Irina Savina, Vyacheslav Baranov, Alexander Ryzhkov, Vadim Andreev and Boris Bystrov. Replacing each other in some episodes, they safely voiced the cartoon until the sixteenth season. In the seventeenth, Lyudmila Gnilova and Oleg Forostenko suddenly started talking for The Simpsons. This caused objections from the audience, who for a long time got used to the previous voices. The following season, the duo was replaced by another pair - Alexander Kotov and Nina Luneva. And it sparked an even sharper outcry from the Simpsons fans. Since the 19th season, the series has been broadcast on the 2x2 channel, returning the timbres of Irina Savina and Boris Bystrov to the characters. Later they were joined by Denis Nekrasov and Daniil Eldarov.
All these actors are little known to the modern viewer from their films. But the older generation remembers that Irina Savina (nee Popova) played Katya in Moscow - Cassiopeia and Youths in the Universe, and Vyacheslav Baranov played the mischievous Kvakin in the Timur and His Team. Vadim Andreev at the beginning of his career gained fame as the star of the films "Balamut", and Boris Bystrov starred in "The Magic Lamp of Aladdin".
Boris Bystrov also became the Russian voice of Marlon Brando.
The rest of their colleagues are known in the world of cinema as talented dubbing artists.
