Hank Azaria

Hank Azaria, born Henry Albert Azaria on April 25, 1964, is an American actor and producer whose career spans stage, film, and television. Though he grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens, New York, he was born in Manhattan. His paternal grandparents were Greek Saloniki Smyrna Sephardic Jews, with his grandfather originating from Salonika in what was then the Ottoman Empire and his grandmother born in Bergama, in present-day Turkey. The family spoke Ladino, a Judaeo-Spanish dialect written in Hebrew characters. His father operated dress-manufacturing businesses, while his mother, who had previously worked as a publicist for Columbia Pictures promoting films across Latin America, raised Azaria and his two older sisters, Stephanie and Elise.

Azaria attended The Kew-Forest School in Queens, where a school play at age 16 set him on the path to acting. He studied drama at Tufts University from 1981 to 1985, where he befriended actor Oliver Platt and appeared alongside him in productions including The Merchant of Venice. He subsequently trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue television work, he and Platt founded a theater company called Big Theatre, which produced a single performance of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter. His first professional acting job had come earlier, at age 17, when he appeared in an advertisement for Italian television.

Azaria made his television debut in 1986 in the ABC comedy-drama series Joe Bash, though his one-line role as Officer Maldonado was edited out before broadcast. The role nonetheless secured his admission to the Screen Actors Guild. He subsequently appeared in the TV film Nitti: The Enforcer and took small roles in episodes of Family Ties in 1988 and Growing Pains the following year. Between acting engagements he worked as a stand-up comedian and as a bartender for a catering firm, and he trained under Los Angeles acting coach Roy London.

In 1989, Azaria joined the cast of the animated television series The Simpsons, initially with little voice acting experience. His first role on the show was town bartender Moe Szyslak, a voice he developed from Al Pacino's performance in Dog Day Afternoon and refined at the direction of executive producers Matt Groening and Sam Simon. He was subsequently called back to voice Chief Wiggum and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, and by the show's second season he had become a permanent member of the main cast. Over the course of the series he voiced numerous characters, including Comic Book Guy, Snake, Professor Frink, Kirk Van Houten, Duffman, Lou, Carl Carlson, and Superintendent Chalmers, among others. His work on The Simpsons earned him four Primetime Emmy Awards.

Alongside his voice work, Azaria built a substantial live-action career in film. His supporting appearances in Quiz Show (1994), Heat (1995), The Birdcage (1996), and Godzilla (1998) brought him wider recognition, and his performance in The Birdcage earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award. He appeared in further films including Mystery Men (1999), America's Sweethearts (2001), Shattered Glass (2003), Along Came Polly (2004), Run Fatboy Run (2007), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), and The Smurfs (2011) and its 2013 sequel. His voice work extended to animation features as well, including Anastasia (1997), for which he received an Annie Award.

On television, Azaria held recurring roles on the sitcoms Mad About You and Friends. He starred as writer Mitch Albom in the 1999 TV film Tuesdays with Morrie, a performance that earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He also portrayed Jewish resistance leader Mordechai Anielewicz in the 2001 TV film Uprising. He starred in the title role of the Showtime drama series Huff from 2004 to 2006 and later led the IFC sitcom Brockmire from 2017 to 2020. A recurring role on the drama Ray Donovan brought him a sixth Primetime Emmy Award in 2016.

Azaria's Broadway career spans 2005 to 2024. He made his Broadway debut as Lancelot in Spamalot, a performance that earned him both a Theatre World Award in 2005 and a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway in 2007 to play David Sarnoff in The Farnsworth Invention. He also appeared on Broadway in All In: Comedy About Love.