Creator / Julie Kavner

"When I was a kid I would get upset when people laughed at me when I didn't mean to be funny. I would always hear, 'We're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you.' But I would say, 'I'm not laughing.'"

Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress best known for her voice work.

Although she first became recognized for her role as Brenda Morgenstern on the sitcom Rhoda, Kavner is most famous as the voice of Marge Simpson on The Simpsons. On that show she also plays most of the women on Marge's side of the family, including her twin sisters Patty and Selma,^note or, as Homer calls them, "The Gruesome Twosome" her mother Jackie, her Great Aunt Gladys,^note the relative who died in "Selma's Choice" and several unnamed relatives with minor roles in the Season 6 episode "Fear of Flying".^note the one where Marge goes to therapy about her aerophobia while Homer gets banned from Moe's for playing a lame prank on him She has also appeared in six of Woody Allen's films.

Kavner has lived with television writer and producer David Davis since 1976.

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Selected Filmography:

• Rhoda (1974–78): Brenda Morgenstern
• Petrocelli (1 episode, 1975): Julie
• Lou Grant (1 episode, 1977): Alice Merrin
• Taxi (1 episode, 1980): Monica Banta Douglas
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986): Gail
• Radio Days (1987): Joe's Mother
• The Tracey Ullman Show (1987–90): Various characters
• New York Stories (1989): Treva
• The Simpsons (1989–present): Marge Simpson/Patty Bouvier/Selma Bouvier/Jacqueline Bouvier (voices)
  • The Simpsons Movie (2007): Marge/Patty/Selma (voices)
  • Family Guy (1 episode, 2014): Marge/Patty/Selma (voices)
• Awakenings (1990): Eleanor Costello
• Alice (1990): Decorator
• Shadows and Fog (1991): Alma
• Forget Paris (1995): Lucy
• Deconstructing Harry (1997): Grace
• Dr. Dolittle (1998): Female Pigeon (voice)
• A Walk on the Moon (1999): P.A. Announcer
• The Lion King 1 ½ (2004): Timon's Ma (voice)
• Click (2006): Trudy Newman

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Tropes:

• Enforced Method Acting: In order to make her sound properly emotionally drained in The Simpsons Movie, director David Silverman had Kavner record Marge's goodbye monologue to Homer close to one hundred times. The final take is the one that made it into the film.
• invokedHe Really Can Act: Kavner deserves special mention for her performance in The Simpsons Movie, during the tape Marge records over their wedding video, telling him they’re leaving him for good. Never has Marge sounded so tired and heartbroken at her husband’s stupidity.
• Reclusive Artist: Kavner is a very private person and does not allow herself to be photographed while working. She also has a clause in her Simpsons contract that says she does not have to promote the show, making the few times she agrees to do so very momentous occasions. Her relatively rare public appearances include an episode of Inside the Actors Studio (alongside her Simpsons co-stars)^note It was one of the few times she agreed to do the Marge voice in public, although she refused to let herself actually be shown doing it on TV (clips of Marge covered the segments where she was interviewed as the character). The episode is also notorious because Kavner suddenly disappears halfway through, without anyone mentioning it. It was because she had to catch a plane and they erroneously told her it would only take an hour to tape, when it was really more like two hours. and Woody Allen: A Documentary.
• Reviewer Stock Phrases: It's practically a requirement for anyone writing about her to use the phrase "honeyed gravel" to describe her unique voice.

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