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A thin, balding man sits in the corner of the trendy Villa Sorriso restaurant in Los Angeles. He is one of the guests at a party being thrown by the Fox Network. Stars from all of the network's shows are there.
The man, who goes almost unnoticed, is actually one of the network's biggest stars. Since 1989, Dan Castellaneta has provided the voice for Homer Simpson and a host of other characters on The Simpsons.
The animated story of the family from a town named Springfield has been a top-rated Fox show for years. And now, in case you didn't know already, the clan has made the leap to the big screen in The Simpsons Movie.
Castellaneta's talent to create voices for animated characters began to emerge when he was growing up in Chicago in the 60s.
"When I would watch cartoons, I was able to do some of the voices," Castellaneta says. "My father was a bit of an amateur actor and he could do accents. I would watch movies and try to do the accents."
The show has tested his ability to do a variety of voices. Along with his work as Homer, Castellaneta also provides the voices for many other Simpsons characters: Krusty the Clown, Grampa Simpson, Santa's Little Helper, Barney Gumble, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Sideshow Mel and Itchy.
In the early years, the show's cast would be asked to audition to provide new voices. Now, says Castellaneta, the producers know what the cast members can do and assign them the characters.
"There are times where some voices have been slotted for a guest star and then they couldn't do it. They wind up using our voices," Castellaneta says.
Inspiration for the voices comes from a variety of sources. For instance, Krusty's raspy voice was inspired by Bozo the Clown which aired on Chicago television when Castellaneta was young.
The voice actor says the only real difference for actors between their regular small-screen duties and work for the movie was that more time was taken to record the vocals.
Castellaneta says he always knew a movie would be made when the time was right.
"The excitement about doing the movie is the challenge of doing it and raising things up a notch for a film audience in terms of the acting," Castellaneta says.
