Hank Azaria models a very realistic staircase to success. His path on the entertainment business didn’t consist of stories of overnight success or lucky first breaks. A bit of a late bloomer to the acting world, he wasn’t one who knew since childhood that he wanted to be an actor. It wasn’t until he was 16 and performed in his first stage production that he decided he’d shoot for an occupation as a performer. He had, however, been mimicking and memorizing various parts from his favorite shows and movies since he was a young boy. In that regard he was training himself very early on.
Hank attended Tufts University in Massachusetts where he studied drama. While attending the college he became good friends with actor Oliver Platt, so much so that Hank eventually became the godfather of Oliver’s son. Together the two attempted to start up their own theatre and named it “Big Theatre.” This venture, like many ahead on his winding path, turned out to be a flop. They only put on one production: The Dumb Waiter. After his time at Tufts he moved on to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Hank was offered representation by an agent in LA and, after realizing that the television world may prove a more fruitful endeavor than stage, packed up his stuff and moved to the west coast.
Once again his path proved to be a very gradual, not-so-glammery rise to success as he worked on small job after small job, performing stand up, and serving as a bartender for a catering company. (That’s right, Moe- I mean Hank Azaria, was actually a bartender when he was younger!) He starred in some commercials and had very small roles in several shows. He was in a few pilots that went absolutely no where. And even the bigger shows he was privileged to be in he only had a line or two, like Family Ties and Growing Pains.
The first, and no doubt biggest break for Hank came in the form of a “cattle call” for several characters on a new show: The Simpsons.
The actor who had played Moe the bartender for the majority of season 1 had recently left the show and they were looking to dub and fill in his part. Hank only had one voice over credit to his name when he went in to audition. He’d played the dog in a failed pilot: Hollywood Dog. But the casting director for The Simpsons knew Hank from that one role and asked him to audition for Moe. Pressed for a voice, he thought of a character he was currently playing in a play. The character was a drug dealer and Hank had given him a “bad Al Pacino impression from his performance in Dog Day Afternoon”. He pitched it down and used it for Moe and the producers thought it was perfect. He dubbed in the character’s lines and was sure he’d never hear from them again.
He was continually shocked as they brought him in for more and more characters. Each time he’d leave the studio he was once again sure he’d never be back. He thought he did a terrible job, having to be led through “the ABC’s of comedy” from the producer. Whatever the case, the request kept coming. Finally, in Season 2, Hank signed a contract and became an official part of the cast.
The origins of a large base of Hank’s voices come directly from impressions, (and sometimes bad impressions), of famous celebrities. He cites the inspiration for many of the characters:
– Moe = Al Pacino
– Chief Wiggum = Edward G. Robinson
– Officer Lou = Sylvester Stallone
– Dr. Nick = Ricky Ricardo (an admittedly bad one)
– Wise Guy = Charles Bronson
– Professor Frink = Jerry Lewis (specifically from The Nutty Professor)
– Sea Captain = Robert Newton (as a pirate)
This gig set Hank up for the rest of his career. He did continue with more work in both the voice over realm and on camera realm playing Eddie Brock/Venom in the 90’s Spider-Man show, Gargamel in later iterations of The Smurfs (including both movies), and had roles in the ’98 Godzilla movie, a role on Friends, and performed in Monty Python’s theatrical musical Spamalot.
The Simpsons though, without a doubt, gave him the most steady and collectively highest salary of his life. The story of the cast’s pay is kind of crazy. When Hank first signed on, the actors were being paid $30,000 per episode. But in 1998, a rumble went down in Fox about pay rate. Fox threatened to replace the entire cast and even lined up their chosen actors, ready to pull a switch-a-roo. The dispute was settled and the payment landed on a meaty $125,000 per episode. That lasted until 2004, when the actors decided once again that they weren’t being paid enough. Several of them purposefully skipped out on table-reads as a protest. They wished for the amount to be heightened to $360,000. In the end the pay for each actor went up, with Hank’s coming to somewhere between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. BUT THEN production for the 20th season was put on hold when, you guessed it, the cast demanded higher pay. It turned out in their favor and the payment for each episode was hiked to a whopping $400,000 per episode! However three years later Fox threatened to cancel the entire show if budget cuts weren’t made and the payment dropped to $300,000 per. (Oh no, whatever will they do.)
Hank continues to enjoy a very fruitful career, recently performing on camera for the show Ray Donovan, appearing on Talk Shows such as Conan, and touring with a live show making use of his various voices. Check out a video of a bit he does as Chief Wiggum singing “Let It Go”.
Hank is a grounding reminder that success can, and most likely will, come at a gradual and realistic rate. Hang in there! Hank did, and look at him now!
NEXT EDITION’S FEATURED VOICE ACTOR: We’ll be exploring the Uncharted world of this voice actor’s world. Don’t speak poorly of this guy or he might take you out with a hidden blade. It’s Nolan North!
Chrispoiriervo 