Hank Azaria

HANK AZARIA

Date of Birth: April 25, 1964

Years ago, if you were in New York and stopped by at a place called the Arcadia for a drink, the guy serving you from behind the bar may have been Azaria.

Born in Queens, New York, he trained for the stage at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts in the early '80s, but didn't receive his B.A. until he completed the courses in Los Angeles a few years later. In 1992, he had a guest appearance on TV's Mad About You and later married Helen Hunt, one of the sitcom's stars, in 1999, but they divorced just over a year later.

In fact, it's on TV that Azaria has his biggest fame, even though you never see him. You see, he's also Apu Nahasapeemapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Dr. Nick Riviera, Bumblebee Man and a host of other character voices on The Simpsons, for which he has won several Emmys so far for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance." In film he has voiced the comical character Bartok the white bat in Anastasia. Although a minor role, Bartok became so popular among younger audiences that a movie starring the winged rodent was soon released on video. He also reprised his voice over characters in The Simpsons Movie (2007).

He has also played supporting roles in a number of live films including Mystery Men playing the Blue Raja, America's Sweethearts (2001), playing Hector and Along Came Polly (2004), playing Claude. Also in 2004, he directed and wrote his first short, Nobody's Perfect, which won a Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Short at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Other film credits include Run, Fat Boy, Run (2007), Year One (2009) and Love & Other Drugs (2010) and Happy Feet Two (2011). He will next be seen lending his voice for the animated film The Smurfs 2 (2013).

Azardia and his girlfriend Katie Wright had their first child, a boy, on June 6, 2009.