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Henry Albert Azaria (born April 25, 1964, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City) is a three-time Emmy Award-winning American actor, comedian and voice artist.

Azaria is perhaps best known for his voice work on the animated television show The Simpsons. He has provided the voices for over 160 characters on the show including those of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, Duffman, Professor Frink, Lou and Snake. He also provided the voice of Eddie Brock/Venom in the Spider-Man animated series of the mid-1990s.

He has also appeared in movies such as Godzilla, The Birdcage, Mystery Men, America's Sweethearts and Heat and on television starring as psychiatrist Craig "Huff" Huffstodt in Huff, which was broadcast on Showtime in the US and FX in the UK. Earlier in his career, he appeared in Herman's Head as Jay Nichols, in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, where he appeared in a season one episode as cop Jerry and on Friends where he played the recurring character David, one of Phoebe's boyfriends. He also had a recurring role on Mad About You as Nat, the dogwalker. In 2002, he was given his own sitcom, Imagine That. It was cancelled after only two episodes had aired.

Azaria has also shown his talents on stage. In 2003 he appeared in London's West End as Bernard in Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing in Friends) and Minnie Driver also starred. Other movies he has played minor characters in include Along Came Polly and Dodgeball.

He also appeared as Sir Lancelot, the French Taunter, and other characters in the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail entitled Spamalot which opened in Chicago, Illinois in December 2004 and has since moved to Broadway. He took a break from the show in June of 2005 to work on Huff and The Simpsons (his role was filled by Alan Tudyk), and returned in December 2005. In 2005, he was nominated for the Tony Award for "Best Actor in a Musical" for his work in Spamalot.

Biography

Personal life

Azaria was born in Queens, New York, to Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jewish parents from Thessaloniki, Greece. He graduated from The Kew Forest School in Forest Hills, NY. He studied drama at Tufts University. After several years of living together, Azaria married actress Helen Hunt on July 18, 1999. The couple divorced on December 18, 2000. Current rumors indicate that he is dating Rock Star: INXS contestant Suzie McNeil.

Awards

Hank Azaria has been nominated for numerous awards during his career including Emmys and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Emmy awards

Trivia

• Azaria says he based Moe Szyslak's voice on Al Pacino, who has the same birthday as Azaria. Officer Lou sounds like Sylvester Stallone, Chief Wiggum is based on Edward G. Robinson, Apu is based on Peter Sellers' character in The Party, and Dr. Nick Riviera is "a bad Ricky Ricardo impression". The voice of Snake Jailbird is based on an old roomate from college who would speak in the same style as the character (integrating "woah" and "like" into every sentence) when describing his drug experiences. Hank based one of his geekier characters, Comic Book Guy, on another college roomate who was called F and spoke a manner similar to Comic Book Guy.
• Hank guest-starred on Futurama, another Matt Groening animated series, as Dr. Zoidberg's uncle, Harold Zoid.
• Moe Szyslak was the first character Hank voiced on The Simpsons, although he is not the first person to do the voice for that character.
• Hank was invited to Celebrity Poker, being the first one to leave. He says that if he is reinvited it would not happen again. In the next season, however, he was the first to be sent to "the losers' lounge" yet again. Azaria also played himself in an episode of HBO's Unscripted, playing a poker game alongside Richard Kind.
• In a news interview, Hank admitted that, during his performances of Spamalot, he has a hard time holding in laughter on stage throughout the show. His secret is to carry keys in his costume and painfully jab himself (unnoticeable to the audience) to stop from breaking character mid-performance. "It really hurts..." he jokes in the interview.
• Azaria has volunteered as an actor with the Young Storytellers Program.

List of characters voiced in The Simpsons

• Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
• Moe Szyslak
• Clancy Wiggum
• Comic Book Guy
• Lou
• Carl Carlson
• Dr. Nick Riviera
• Snake Jailbird
• Kirk Van Houten
• Bumblebee Man
• Superintendent Chalmers
• Professor Johnathan I. Q. Frink, Jr.
• Cletus Del Roy/Spuckler, the slack-jawed yokel
• Johnny Tightlips
• Luigi Risotto
• Legs
• Frank "Grimey" Grimes
• Frank Grimes, Jr.
• Knightboat
• Old Jewish Man
• Akira (first voiced by Star Trek's George Takei, but from then on voiced by Azaria)
• Drederick Tatum
• Congressman Bob Arnold from the episode "Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington"
• Fritz from "Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk"
• Vet from "Dog of Death" and "So It's Come To This: A Simpsons Clip Show"
• 'House of Evil' Shopkeeper from "Treehouse of Horror III"
• Gabbo from "Krusty Gets Kancelled"
• Dean Bobby Peterson from "Homer Goes to College"
• Doug the nerd from "Homer Goes to College"
• G. I Joe from "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy"
• Malfunctioning Malibu Stacy Voice from "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy"
• Don Vittorio from "Homie the Clown"
• Bruno Drundridge from "Bart vs. Australia"
• Pet Store Man from "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds"
• Jericho from "The Springfield Connection"
• Shelbyville Milhouse from "Lemon of Troy"
• Ox from "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish""
• Iggy Wiggum from "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish""
• Rick from "Summer of 4 Ft. 2"
• Jimbo's Father from "The Homer They Fall"
• Dr. Foster from "Hurricane Neddy"
• Ranger from "Mountain of Madness"
• Hippie from "The Old Man and the Lisa"
• Auction man from "Homers Enemy"
• Azaria also has numerous generic voices which he uses for multiple characters, including a surly New Jersey accent (used on the balding, mustached clerk-about-town, later named Raphael). This voice, however, has been lent to more than just this character (for example, one of Springfield's bowling store owning Nicks has this voice).

Partial filmography

• The Simpsons Movie (in progress) (voice) (2007)
• Nobody's Perfect (2004)
• Along Came Polly (2004)
• Eulogy (2004)
• Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
• Shattered Glass (2003)
• America's Sweethearts (2001)
• Uprising (2002)
• Fail Safe (made for TV) (2000)
• Tuesdays With Morrie (made for TV) (1999)
• Mystery, Alaska (1999)
• Mystery Men (1999)
• Cradle Will Rock (1999)
• Celebrity (1998)
• Homegrown (1998)
• Godzilla (1998)
• Anastasia (voice) (1997)
• Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
• Mad About You (TV series, joined cast in 1996)
• The Birdcage (1996)
• Heat (1995)
• Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voice) (1994-1998)
• Friends (TV series, appearances in 1994, 2001 & 2003)
• Quiz Show (1994)
• Cool Blue (1993)
• Herman's Head (TV series) (1991)
• Pretty Woman (1990)
• The Simpsons (TV series) (1989-present)

External links

• Fresh Air interview with Terry Gross
• Hank Azaria 1999 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment

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