Nancy Cartwright

Nancy Cartwright Bio

Nancy Jean Cartwright (born 25 October 1957) is an American actress and voice actress best known for voicing Bart Simpson on the long-running animated series The Simpsons, a role she has held since the show’s 1989 debut. Across more than four decades in the entertainment industry, she has built a versatile career spanning television, film, theatre, writing, and production. She has earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (1992) and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation (1995).

Beyond her iconic work as Bart, Cartwright voices several other characters on The Simpsons, including Maggie Simpson, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and Nelson Muntz. She also originated the voice of Chuckie Finster in Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, succeeding Christine Cavanaugh. In 2017, she expanded her creative range by writing and producing the film In Search of Fellini, drawn from her own life journey.

Early Life and Background

Nancy Jean Cartwright was born on 25 October 1957 in Dayton, Ohio. She was the fourth of six children born to Frank Cartwright and Miriam Cartwright. She grew up in nearby Kettering, Ohio, and discovered her talent for voices at an early age. While in the fourth grade at the school of St. Charles Borromeo, she won a school-wide speech competition with her performance of Rudyard Kipling’s How the Camel Got His Hump.

Cartwright attended Fairmont West High School, where she participated in theatre and the marching band. She regularly entered public speaking competitions, placing first in the “Humorous Interpretation” category at the National District Tournament two years running. The judges often suggested to her that she should perform cartoon voices. Cartwright graduated from high school in 1976 and accepted a scholarship from Ohio University, where she continued competing in public speaking tournaments during her freshman year.

In 1976, Cartwright landed a part-time job doing voice-overs for commercials on WING radio in Dayton. A representative from Warner Bros. Records visited the station and later sent Cartwright a list of contacts in the animation industry. One of these was Daws Butler, the legendary voice actor known for characters such as Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Yogi Bear, and Elroy Jetson. Cartwright called Butler and left a message in a Cockney accent on his answering machine. Butler immediately called her back and agreed to be her mentor, mailing her a script and asking her to send tape recordings for critique.

Path to Celebrity

After one year of remote study with Butler, Cartwright transferred from Ohio University to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) so she could be closer to Hollywood and her mentor. Her mother, Miriam, died late in the summer of 1978. Cartwright nearly changed her relocation plans but, on 17 September 1978, left for Westwood, Los Angeles. While attending UCLA, she continued training with Butler, taking a 20-minute bus ride to his home in Beverly Hills each Sunday for lessons that often lasted four hours.

Butler introduced Cartwright to many of the voice actors and directors at Hanna-Barbera. Through that network, she met director Gordon Hunt, who asked her to audition for a recurring role as Gloria in the animated series Richie Rich. She received the part, which marked her first professional voice role. After graduating from UCLA in 1981 with a degree in theatre, Cartwright signed with a talent agency and began building a steady career in voice-over and on-camera work across television and film.

Nancy Cartwright Career

Early Career (1980-1986)

At the end of 1980, Cartwright signed with a talent agency and landed a lead role in a pilot for a sitcom called In Trouble, which she described as “forgettable, but it jump-started my on-camera career.” In 1982, she won the lead role in the television film Marian Rose White, a performance that New York Times critic Janet Maslin described as natural and impactful. Cartwright then auditioned for the role of Ethel in the third segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), meeting director Joe Dante, who cast her based on her voice acting background.

Throughout the early 1980s, Cartwright continued doing voice work for projects including Pound Puppies, Popeye and Son, Snorks, My Little Pony, and Saturday Supercade. She joined a “loop group” and recorded vocals for characters in the background of films such as Sixteen Candles (1984), Silverado (1985), The Color Purple (1985), and Back to the Future Part II. She also voiced a shoe that was “dipped” in acid in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), later describing it as her first “off-screen death scene.”

Breakthrough (1987-1992)

On 13 March 1987, Cartwright auditioned for a series of animated shorts about a dysfunctional family that was to appear on The Tracey Ullman Show. Cartwright had intended to audition for the role of Lisa Simpson, the elder daughter, but upon arriving she found that Lisa had little defined personality and became more interested in Bart, described as “devious, underachieving, school-hating, irreverent, and clever.” Series creator Matt Groening allowed her to audition for Bart and offered her the role on the spot.

Cartwright voiced Bart for three seasons on The Tracey Ullman Show, and in 1989 the shorts were spun off into a half-hour show on the Fox network called The Simpsons. Bart quickly became the show’s breakout personality and one of the most celebrated characters on television, sparking the phenomenon known as “Bartmania” in 1990 and 1991. Bart was named 1990’s “entertainer of the year” by Entertainment Weekly. In 1992, Cartwright received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her work as Bart in the episode “Separate Vocations.”

On The Simpsons, Cartwright also voices Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, Kearney, and Database. She first voiced Nelson in the episode “Bart the General” (season one, 1990), developed the voice on the spot when original choice Dana Hill missed the recording session. She took over as the voice of Ralph Wiggum beginning with “Bart the Murderer” (season three, 1991). In 2000, Bart and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.

Notable Works and Milestones

Beyond The Simpsons, Cartwright has voiced numerous other animated characters, including Chuckie Finster in Rugrats and All Grown Up!, Margo Sherman in The Critic, Mindy in Animaniacs, and Rufus the naked mole-rat in Kim Possible. For the role of Rufus, she researched mole-rats extensively. She received a 2004 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for Kim Possible. She won an Annie Award in 1995 for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation for her work on The Simpsons, and in 2017 she released In Search of Fellini, her first feature film as a screenwriter and producer.

Nancy Cartwright Award Nominations

Throughout her career, Nancy Cartwright has received recognition from major industry organizations for her voice acting work. Her verified nominations include a 2004 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her performance as Rufus in Kim Possible. These nominations reflect her sustained excellence in animation voice work across multiple beloved series.

Nancy Cartwright Awards Won

Nancy Cartwright has earned two major career awards for her voice acting. In 1992, she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her work as Bart Simpson in the episode “Separate Vocations” on The Simpsons. In 1995, she won an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in the Field of Animation for her continuing performance on The Simpsons. Together, these honors cement her reputation as one of the most accomplished voice actresses in American animation.

Nancy Cartwright Family

Nancy Cartwright was born to Frank Cartwright and Miriam Cartwright and was the fourth of six children. She has a stepbrother, David Carpenter, who is the father of singer and actress Sabrina Carpenter. Cartwright married real-estate agent Warren Murphy, who was 24 years her senior, in 1988. The couple had two children together before divorcing in 2002. In 2005, Cartwright established a scholarship at Fairmont West High School to help graduates study speech, debate, drama, or music at Ohio University.

Personal Life

Cartwright was raised a Roman Catholic and joined the Church of Scientology in 1991. In 2007, she received Scientology’s Patron Laureate Award after donating to the Church. She has also been active as a painter, sculptor, and philanthropist, and co-founded the Know More About Drugs alliance. In 2007, she was in a relationship with contractor Stephen Brackett, with plans to marry that were halted by his death in May 2009. In 2012, Cartwright received an honorary doctorate degree in communication from Ohio University.