Hank Azaria

The Man of a Thousand Voices

Hank Azaria arrived at the audition for The Simpsons in 1989 to replace an actor who never quite fit the role of Moe Szyslak. He was 25 years old. He had no idea that those few minutes of recording would earn him a lifetime paycheck.

And it worked.

In Springfield, he has voiced more than 160 characters. But his work isn't just about vocal cords. Azaria builds from the physical. For Chief Wiggum, he drew inspiration from a slightly distorted version of Edward G. Robinson. For the comic book shop guy, he used the cadence of a college roommate who went days without showering.

In 2020, he announced that he would stop voicing Apu Nahasapeemapetilon after years of social debate about racial stereotypes on American television. It was a considered decision. He didn't want to be part of a product that caused pain to a specific community.

The Supporting Actor Who Stole Scenes

His leap into live-action film was a turning point in 1996 with The Birdcage. Mike Nichols asked him to play Agador Spartacus, the Guatemalan butler who couldn't wear shoes because they made him lose his balance. Azaria improvised much of his dialogue and ended up stealing the spotlight from Robin Williams in several scenes.

That talent for controlled histrionics allowed him to work on big-budget productions such as Godzilla in 1998 or Mystery Men in 1999. But Azaria has always preferred characters with obvious cracks.

Because humor, for him, has always had a tragic side.

In 2004, he starred in Huff. The series cast him as a psychiatrist in the middle of an existential crisis. Critics applauded his change of pace, but audiences never quite connected with such a bitter show at the time, and the network canceled it after two seasons.

The redemption of a baseball narrator

The most personal project of his later career started as a comedy sketch for a web platform. In 2017, he premiered Brockmire. He played a disgraced baseball broadcaster trying to revive his career in the minor leagues while battling his addictions.

The series ran for four seasons and ended in 2020 with a time jump to a dystopian future. It's his most well-rounded work outside of animation, thanks to the mix of cynicism and humanity he brought to the character.

In 2023, he appeared in the series The Idol as Chaim, the protagonist's manager. That same year, he joined the cast of Hello Tomorrow! for Apple TV+.

Azaria spends much of his free time playing professional poker. In 2021, he took part in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He was eliminated on the second day of competition after losing a hand to a amateur player from Texas.