Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a
fictional character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, ...
in the American animated television series ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' and part of the
Simpson family
The Simpson family are the fictional characters featured in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Th ...
. He is voiced by
Nancy Cartwright
Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...
and first appeared on television in ''
The Tracey Ullman Show
''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...
''
short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
"
Good Night
Good Night or Goodnight may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Good Night'' (film), a 2008 short film from India
* '' The Good Night'', a 2007 film
* ''Good Night, and Good Luck'', a 2005 film
* ''Good Night'', one of five mini-episodes from th ...
" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...
' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip, ''
Life in Hell
''Life in Hell'' is a comic strip by Matt Groening, creator of ''The Simpsons'', ''Futurama'', and ''Disenchantment'', which was published weekly from 1977 to 2012. The strip features anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. The comic covers a w ...
'', but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name is an
anagram
An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
of the word ''brat''. After appearing on ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' for two years, the Simpson family received its own series on
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
, which debuted December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every ''Simpsons'' episode except "
Four Great Women and a Manicure
"Four Great Women and a Manicure" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. First broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 10, 2009, it is the sec ...
".
At ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
and
Marge
Marge is a feminine given name, a shortened form of Marjorie, Margot or Margaret (name), Margaret. Notable Marges include:
People
*Marge (cartoonist) (1904–1993), pen name of Marjorie Henderson Buell, American cartoonist
*Marge Anderson (1932 ...
, and the brother of
Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to:
People
People with the mononym
* Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam
* Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer
* Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...
and
Maggie
Maggie is a common short form of the name Magdalena, Magnolia, Margaret.
Maggie may refer to:
People
Women
* Maggie Adamson, Scottish musician
* Maggie Aderin-Pocock (born 1968), British scientist
* Maggie Alderson (born 1959), Aust ...
. Bart's most prominent and popular character traits are his mischievousness, rebelliousness and disrespect for authority.
Hallmarks
A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''hallmark'' can al ...
of the character include his
chalkboard gag
The opening sequence of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' is among the most popular opening sequences in television. It is accompanied by " ''The Simpsons'' Theme", one of television's most recognizable theme songs. The f ...
s in the opening sequence; his prank calls to
Moe; and his catchphrases "Eat my shorts", "''
¡Ay, caramba!
"''¡Ay, caramba!''" (), from the Spanish interjections (denoting surprise or pain) and (a minced oath for ), is an exclamation used in Portuguese (''Ai, caramba!'') and Spanish to denote surprise (usually positive).
In popular culture
The ex ...
''", "Don't have a cow, man!", and "I'm Bart Simpson. Who the hell are you?". However, with the exception of "''¡Ay, caramba!''", these hallmarks have been retired or are not often used. Bart has appeared in other media relating to ''The Simpsons'' – including
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
, ''
The Simpsons Movie
''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American Animation, animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman (animator), David Silverman and star ...
'',
''The Simpsons'' Ride, commercials, and
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
– and inspired an entire line of merchandise.
In casting, Cartwright originally planned to audition for the role of Lisa, while
Yeardley Smith
Martha Maria Yeardley Smith ( ; born July 3, 1964) is an American actress, artist and writer. She currently stars as the voice of Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series ''The Simpsons''.
Smith became an actress in 1982 afte ...
tried out for Bart. Smith's voice was considered too high for a boy, so she was given the role of Lisa. Cartwright found Lisa uninteresting, so she instead auditioned for Bart, which she thought was a better role.
During the first two seasons of ''The Simpsons'', Bart was the show's
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
and "Bartmania" ensued, spawning Bart Simpson-themed merchandise touting his rebellious attitude and pride at underachieving, which caused many parents and educators to cast him as a bad role model for children. Around the
third season, the role of the protagonist was taken over by his father, and series started to focus more on the family as a whole, though Bart still remains a prominent
breakout character
A breakout character is a character in serial fiction, especially a member of an ensemble cast, who becomes much more prominent, popular, discussed, or imitated than expected by the creators. A breakout character may equal or overtake the oth ...
. ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' named Bart one of the
100 most important people of the 20th century, and he was named "entertainer of the year" in 1990 by ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''. Cartwright has won several awards for voicing Bart, including a
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
in 1992 and an
Annie Award
The Annie Awards are accolades which the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, has presented each year since 1972 to recognize excellence in animation shown in cinema and television. Originally desi ...
in 1995. In 2000, Bart, along with the rest of his family, was awarded a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...
.
Role in ''The Simpsons''
''The Simpsons'' uses a
floating timeline
A floating timeline (also known as a sliding timescale) is a device used in fiction, particularly in long-running serials in comics and animation as well as other media, to explain why characters Ageless, age little or not at all over a period of t ...
in which the characters do not age or age very little, and as such, the show is always assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific times, though sometimes this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Bart's year of birth was stated in "
I Married Marge
"I Married Marge" is the twelfth episode of the The Simpsons (season 3), third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on December 26, ...
" (
season three
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, 1991) as being in the early 1980s.
In "
Simpsorama" (
season 26
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, 2014) Bart states his birthday as February 23.
[ "February 23rd." "Ha! February has no 23rd!" "Yes it does!"] He lived with his parents in the Lower East Side of Springfield until the Simpsons bought
their first house. When Lisa was born, Bart was at first jealous of the attention she received, but he soon warmed to her when he discovered that "Bart" was her first word. Bart's first day of school was in the early 1990s. His initial enthusiasm was crushed by an uncaring teacher and Marge became worried that something was truly wrong with Bart. One day during recess, Bart met
Milhouse
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a recurring character in the Fox animated television series ''The Simpsons'' voiced by Pamela Hayden and created by Matt Groening. Milhouse is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class ...
and started entertaining him and other students with various gestures and rude words.
Principal Skinner
Principal Seymour Skinner (born Armin Tamzarian) is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'', who is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the principal of Springfield Elementary School, which he struggles to control, an ...
told him "you've just started school, and the path you choose now may be the one you follow for the rest of your life! Now, what do you say?" In his moment of truth, Bart responded, "eat my shorts". The episode "
That '90s Show
''That '90s Show'' is an upcoming American television period teen sitcom set during the summer of 1995, featuring characters and locales which debuted in its predecessor, ''That '70s Show.'' It is set to premiere on Netflix on January 19, 2023 ...
" (
season nineteen, 2008) contradicted much of the backstory's time frame; for example, it was revealed that Homer and Marge were childless in the early 1990s.
Bart's hobbies include skateboarding, watching television (especially ''The
Krusty the Clown
Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky (; ) better known by his stage name Krusty the Clown (sometimes spelled as Krusty the Klown), is a recurring character on the List of animated television series, animated television series ''The Si ...
Show'' which includes ''
The Itchy & Scratchy Show
''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' (often shortened as ''Itchy & Scratchy'') is a fictional animated television series featured on ''The Simpsons''.
Description
The show depicts a blue mouse named Itchy who repeatedly and violently maims or kills a ...
''), reading comic books (especially
Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to:
*Radioactive Man (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe
*Radioactive Man (The Simpsons), a fictional comic book superhero in ''The Simpsons''
:*''List_of_The_Simpsons_comics#Radioactive_Man, Radio ...
), playing video games and generally causing mischief. His favorite movies are ''
Jaws
Jaws or Jaw may refer to:
Anatomy
* Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth
** Mandible, the lower jaw
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker''
* ...
'' and the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' Trilogy. For the duration of the series, Bart has attended
Springfield Elementary School
Springfield is the primary fictional setting of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' and related media. It is an average-sized, fictional city within an indeterminate state in the United States. The fictional city's geography, surroundi ...
and has been in
Edna Krabappel
Edna Krabappel-Flanders ( Krabappel; ) is a fictional character from the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'', voiced by Marcia Wallace from 1990 until her death in October 2013. She was a 4th-grade teacher, who taught Bart Simpson's class a ...
's fourth grade class. While he is too young to hold a full-time job, he has had occasional part-time jobs. He works as a bartender at
Fat Tony's social club in "
Bart the Murderer
"Bart the Murderer" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 10, 1991. In the episode, Bart stumbles upon a Mafia ...
" (
season three
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, 1991); as Krusty the Clown's assistant in "
Bart Gets Famous
"Bart Gets Famous" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 3, 1994. In the episode, Bart gets a job as Krusty ...
" (
season five, 1994); as a doorman in Springfield's
burlesque house
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. , the Maison Derrière, in "
Bart After Dark" (
season eight, 1996); and briefly owns his own factory in "
Homer's Enemy
"Homer's Enemy" is the twenty-third episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on May 4, 1997. "Homer's Enemy" was directed by Jim Reard ...
" (
season eight, 1997).
Character
Creation
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
first conceived of Bart and the rest of the Simpson family in 1987, while waiting in the lobby of producer
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks (born May 9, 1940) is an American director, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of Gracie Films. His television and film work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Taxi'', ''The Simpsons'', '' Broadcast News'', ''As G ...
' office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', and had intended to present an adaptation of his ''Life in Hell'' comic strip. When he realized that animating ''Life in Hell'' would require him to rescind publication rights, Groening decided to go in another direction.
He hurriedly sketched out his version of a
dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate suc ...
, naming the characters after members of his own family. For the rebellious son, he substituted "Bart", an anagram of the word ''brat'', for his own name,
as he decided it would have been too obvious for him to have named the character 'Matt'.
Bart's middle initial ''J'' is a "tribute" to animated characters such as
Bullwinkle J. Moose and
Rocket J. Squirrel from ''
The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'', who received their middle initial from
Jay Ward
Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bul ...
. According to the book ''
Bart Simpson's Guide to Life
''Bart Simpson's Guide to Life'' is a humorous book published in the United States in 1993 by HarperCollins (imprint HarperPerennial). It includes advice from the ''Simpsons'' character Bart Simpson on how to deal with life. The book was written ...
'', Bart's full middle name is "JoJo".
Bart had originally been envisioned as "a much milder, troubled youth given to existential angst who talks to himself", but the character was changed based on Cartwright's voice acting. Groening has credited several different figures with providing inspiration for Bart: Matt Groening's older brother Mark provided much of the motivation for Bart's attitude.
[Groening, Matt. (2006). Commentary for "]My Sister, My Sitter
"My Sister, My Sitter" is the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 2, 1997. In the episode, Marge and Homer leav ...
", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox.[Groening, Matt. (2006). Commentary for " Bart Carny", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' VD 20th Century Fox.] Bart was conceived as an extreme version of the typical misbehaving child character, merging all of the extreme traits of characters such as
Tom Sawyer
Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...
and
Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...
into one person.
[ Groening describes Bart as "what would happen if the son of ]Eddie Haskell
Edward Clark Haskell (also referred to as Edward W. Haskell) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957, to 1958 and on ABC from 1958 to 1963. He was played by Ken O ...
rom_'' rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''">Leave_It_to_Beaver.html"_;"title="rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver">rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''got_his_own_show"._Groening_has_also_said_that_he_found_the_premise_of_''Dennis_the_Menace_(1959_TV_series).html" ;"title="Leave_It_to_Beaver''.html" ;"title="Leave_It_to_Beaver.html" ;"title="rom ''rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''">Leave_It_to_Beaver.html"_;"title="rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver">rom_''Leave_It_to_Beaver''got_his_own_show"._Groening_has_also_said_that_he_found_the_premise_of_''Dennis_the_Menace_(1959_TV_series)">Dennis_the_Menace''_disappointing_and_was_inspired_to_create_a_character_who_was_actually_a_menace.
Bart_made_his_debut_with_the_rest_of_the_Simpson_family_on_April_19,_1987,_in_''The_Tracey_Ullman_Show''_
short_
Short_may_refer_to:
__Places_
*_Short_(crater),_a_lunar_impact_crater_on_the_near_side_of_the_Moon
*__Short,_Mississippi,_an_unincorporated_community
*_Short,_Oklahoma,_a_census-designated_place
_People
*__Short_(surname)
*_List_of_people_known_as_...
_"Good_Night_(The_Simpsons_short).html" "title="Leave It to Beaver">rom ''Leave It to Beaver''">Leave_It_to_Beaver.html" ;"title="rom ''Leave It to Beaver">rom ''Leave It to Beaver''got his own show". Groening has also said that he found the premise of ''Dennis the Menace (1959 TV series)">Dennis the Menace'' disappointing and was inspired to create a character who was actually a menace.
Bart made his debut with the rest of the Simpson family on April 19, 1987, in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' short
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
"Good Night (The Simpsons short)">Good Night
Good Night or Goodnight may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Good Night'' (film), a 2008 short film from India
* '' The Good Night'', a 2007 film
* ''Good Night, and Good Luck'', a 2005 film
* ''Good Night'', one of five mini-episodes from th ...
". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into ''The Simpsons'', a half-hour series airing on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Bart and the Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show.
The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.
Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. The number was later limited to nine spikes, all of the same size. At the time Groening was primarily drawing in black and "not thinking that
would eventually be drawn in color" gave him spikes which appear to be an extension of his head. The features of Bart's character design are generally not used in other characters; for example, no other characters in current episodes have Bart's spiky hairline, although several background characters in the first few seasons shared the trait.
The basic rectangular shape of Bart's head is described by director
as a coffee can. Homer's head is also rectangular (with a dome on top), while spheres are used for Marge, Lisa, and Maggie. Different animators have different methods of drawing Bart. Former director
starts off with a box, then adds the eyes, then the mouth, then the hair spikes, ear, and then the rest of the body. Matt Groening normally starts with the eyes, then the nose, and the rest of the outline of Bart's head. Many of the animators have trouble drawing Bart's spikes evenly; one trick they use is to draw one on the right, one on the left, one in the middle, then continue to add one in the middle of the blank space until there are nine. Originally, whenever Bart was to be drawn from an angle looking down so the top of his head was seen, Groening wanted there to be spikes along the outline of his head, and in the middle as well. Instead,
drew him so that there was an outline of the spikes, then just a smooth patch in the middle because "it worked graphically". In "
", Bart (along with Lisa and Maggie) finally questions why his hair has no visible border to separate head from hair.
In the
" segment of the episode. The computer animation was provided by
.
While designing the 3D model of the character, the animators did not know how they would show Bart's hair. They realized that there were vinyl Bart dolls in production and purchased one to use as a model.
. While the roles of Homer and Marge were given to
the producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart and Lisa.
had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart, but casting director
believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled, "I always sounded too much like a girl. I read two lines as Bart and they said, 'Thanks for coming!