Nancy Cartwright

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Birth name Nancy Campbell Cartwright
Nationality USA
Birth 25 october 1957 (67 years) at Dayton (USA)
Awards Primetime Emmy Award, Annie Award

Nancy Jean Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American voice actress, film and television actress, and comedienne. She is known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons. Cartwright also voices other characters for the show, including Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Kearney, and Database.

Cartwright was born in Dayton, Ohio. Cartwright moved to Hollywood in 1978 and trained alongside voice actor Daws Butler. Her first professional role was voicing Gloria in the animated series Richie Rich, which she followed with a starring role in the television movie Marian Rose White (1982) and her first feature film, Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983).

After continuing to search for acting work, in 1987 Cartwright auditioned for a role in a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family that was to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show. Cartwright intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the middle child; when she arrived at the audition, she found the role of Bart—Lisa's brother—to be more interesting. Matt Groening, the series' creator, allowed her to audition for Bart and offered her the role on the spot. She voiced Bart for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989, the shorts were spun off into a half-hour show called The Simpsons. For her subsequent work as Bart, Cartwright received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992 and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation in 1995.

Cartwright has voiced numerous animated characters, including Chuckie Finster in Rugrats and All Grown Up! (the former of which was previously held by Christine Cavanaugh), Rufus in Kim Possible, Mindy in Animaniacs, Margo Sherman in The Critic and Chip in The Kellys. In 2000, she published her autobiography, My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, and four years later adapted it into a one-woman play.

Biography

Cartwright met writer Warren Murphy on her birthday in 1988 and married him two months later. In her book, she describes Murphy as her "personal laugh track". The couple had two children, Lucy and Jack, before divorcing in 2002.

Cartwright was raised a Roman Catholic but joined the Church of Scientology in 1991. She has said that before becoming involved with the church she was depressed that she did not have a "committed relationship", and wanted to get married and have children. She "thought that maybe [she] could find a relationship by going to a church". Cartwright attended a barbecue at a friend's house and noticed that all of the attendees were Scientologists with "thriving careers". Cartwright began reading the works of L. Ron Hubbard and found solace in a chapter about shedding the pain of loss. She said later, "I felt he was talking directly to me, I said to myself, 'I want to stop that feeling.'" Cartwright was awarded Scientology's Patron Laureate Award after she donated $10 million, almost twice her annual salary, to the Church in 2007.

Cartwright actively supports many nonprofit organizations, including Famous Fone Friends, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Scientology-related The Way to Happiness Foundation. She is co-founder of "Happy House", a non-profit organization dedicated to building 'better' families and distributing Scientology-based literature, based on The Way to Happiness Foundation and is a contributor to ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Archive Project. In September 2007, Cartwright received the Make-a-Wish Foundation's Wish Icon Award "for her tremendous dedication to the Foundation's fundraising and wish-fulfillment efforts". In 2005, Cartwright created a scholarship at Fairmont High School "designed to aid Fairmont [graduates] who dream of following in her footsteps and studying speech, debate, drama or music" at Ohio University. In 2005, Cartwright was given the title of Honorary Mayor of Northridge, California (a neighborhood of Los Angeles) by the Northridge Chamber of Commerce.

In 2007, Cartwright was in a relationship with contractor Stephen Brackett. They planned to get married in spring 2008. Brackett was the President and Treasurer of Brackett Construction in Hollywood, California; the construction company was founded in 1987 and had $8.5 million in sales in 2009. He was a fellow member of Scientology, reaching the Operating Thetan level of OT V in Scientology, in 1989. He died in May 2009. According to The Monterey County Herald, Brackett leaped off the Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, California. Law enforcement stated, "friends and relatives of Brackett said he was despondent because of financial troubles with his business". In September 2010, it was announced Cartwright was being sued by the executives of American Safety Casualty Insurance Company over a policy covering refurbishment work Stephen Brackett failed to finish before his death. The lawsuit sought $260,000 from Cartwright, who the company claims was guarantor for the policy but has refused to cover the expenses. The lawsuit also alleges Brackett diverted contract funds to the Church of Scientology.

In January 2009, Cartwright used Bart's voice in an automated telephone message to Scientologists, inviting them to an event in Hollywood, California. She opened the message in Bart's voice, saying "Yo, what's happenin' man, this is Bart Simpson [laugh]", then used her normal voice in most of the remaining message. In a 2000 interview, Cartwright explained that a character's voice is copyrighted and she can use Bart's voice in public but cannot record original dialogue without approval. Al Jean, executive producer of The Simpsons, said that the calls had not been "authorized by us", while The Simpsons creator Matt Groening commented that the issue had been "blown up beyond what was intended".