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Nancy Cartwright

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Nancy Cartwright is a distinguished American voice actress.

Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright

She is best known for providing the voice of Bart Simpson on the long-running animated series, The Simpsons. Her work in animation has earned her significant professional honors. These include a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation. Beyond the Simpson family, she has voiced characters like Chuckie Finster in the Nickelodeon series Rugrats. She also lends her voice to characters such as Maggie Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, and Nelson Muntz. Cartwright considers her role to be the best acting job in the world because her natural voice bears no obvious traces of the characters she portrays.

Cartwright’s journey into professional voice acting involved rigorous training and mentorship. She grew up in Kettering, Ohio, where she discovered a talent for performance early in life. In fourth grade, she won a school speech competition. She later placed first in the "Humorous Interpretation" category at the National District Tournament for two consecutive years. In 1976, she began performing voice-overs for radio commercials on WING radio in Dayton. This work eventually connected her to Daws Butler, a legendary voice actor known for roles like Yogi Bear.

Daws Butler (1976)
Daws Butler (1976)

Butler became her mentor through a long-distance training process. Every Sunday, Cartwright would take a 20-minute bus ride to his home in Beverly Hills for weekly lessons. They worked together for a year, completing a new script every few weeks as he provided detailed critiques.

Her transition to Hollywood was driven by her desire to be closer to the animation industry. After training with Butler, she moved to Los Angeles and attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She graduated from UCLA in 1981 with a degree in theater. Her early career included various roles, such as voicing Gloria in the animated series Richie Rich. She also appeared in the television movie Marian Rose White and had her first feature film role in Twilight Zone: The Movie. In this film, she played Ethel, a character trapped in a cartoon world. Her background with Butler helped her secure this role, as the director, Joe Dante, recognized her specialized training.

In 1987, Cartwright experienced a pivotal moment during an audition for The Tracey Ullman Show. The show featured a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family. Cartwright originally intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the middle child. However, upon arriving, she found the character of Bart Simpson more compelling. Bart was described as devious, clever, and irreverent. The series creator, Matt Groening, allowed her to audition for Bart and offered her the role on the spot. These shorts eventually spun off into the half-hour series The Simpsons in 1989.

The character of Bart Simpson achieved massive cultural success, a phenomenon known as "Bartmania" in 1990 and 1991. Bart was named the entertainer of the year by Entertainment Weekly during this period. In 2000, the character and the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Simpsons star
The Simpsons star

Interestingly, some of Bart's most famous traits were improvised by Cartwright. His catchphrase, "Eat My Shorts," was an ad-lib based on an incident from her high school days. During a marching band chant at Fairmont West High School, students had switched their usual cheer to that phrase. Cartwright brought that irreverent energy to the character, helping to define his personality.

Cartwright has also expanded her creative reach into writing and producing. In 2000, she published her autobiography, titled My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy. She later adapted this book into a one-woman play, which earned her a Drama-Logue Award in 1995. Her interest in cinema also led her to travel to Italy to study the work of director Federico Fellini. This journey inspired her to write and produce the film In Search of Fellini in 2017. This project grew from her efforts to study the 1956 Italian film La Strada.

Throughout her career, Cartwright has demonstrated how voice acting connects to broader theatrical disciplines. She has worked in various capacities, including joining "loop groups" to record background vocals for films. She has contributed to numerous projects, such as Snorks, Kim Possible, and Animaniacs. Her career illustrates the technical skill required to maintain distinct character identities through sound alone. By combining formal theater training with specialized voice instruction, she has helped shape the landscape of modern animation.

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