"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 her mother Jackie, her Great Aunt Gladys,note and several unnamed relatives with minor roles in the Season 6 episode "Fear of Flying".note She has also appeared in six of Woody Allen's films.
Kavner has lived with television writer and producer David Davis since 1976.
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 1½ (2004): Timon's Ma (voice)
- Click (2006): Trudy Newman
Tropes:
- 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 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.
