Trivia: When the decision was made in 1974 to transform Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper) from frumpy kvetcher to desirable bachelorette on the TV series Rhoda, somebody had to inherit all those self-deprecating jokes told by Rhoda on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The decision was made to create a new character: Rhoda's pudgy, insecure younger sister, Brenda. The actress chosen for the role sounded as though she'd been a New Yorker since the womb, but in fact Julie Kavner was born and raised in California. A theatre student at USC-San Francisco, Kavner came to Rhoda with no professional experience, but before the series ran its course, she had won an Emmy for her portrayal. With her performance in the 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, Kavner became one of the most prominent members of director Woody Allen's stock company, essaying very un-Brendalike roles in Radio Days (1987), the "Oedipus Wrecks" segment of New York Stories (1989), Alice (1990) and Shadows and Fog (1992). Kavner's regular stint as an ensemble player on the Fox TV network's Tracy Ullman Show led to her long-running assignment as the gravelly voice of Marge Simpson on the weekly animated series The Simpsons. Even as she continued to work on The Simpsons for the nex twenty years, she would make occasional big-screen appearances in projects as diverse as I'll Do Anything, Forget Paris, Judy Berlin, and Click.She also maintained an ongoing working relationship with Woody Allen appearing in Deconstructing Harry and in the 1994 made-for TV adaptation of the famous director's play Don't Drink the Water.

Trivia: Yeardley Smith is unarguably the keeper of one of Hollywood's most distinctive-sounding and instantly recognizable set of vocal chords; the Emmy-winning actress' most famous role is without question that of level-headed, suburban schoolgirl Lisa Simpson on the long-running animated television series The Simpsons. Though most of her live-action roles would come during the mid-'80s with such guilty pleasures as The Legend of Billie Jean and Maximum Overdrive, Smith remained active in front of the camera well into the new millennium with roles in such features as As Good As It Gets and such popular television series as Dharma & Greg. Born in Paris, France, Smith kicked off her acting career at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage before making the move to Broadway in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing in 1984. A role in the after-school special Mom's on Strike marked the actress' first foray into television, and after graduating to features with a supporting role in the 1985 comedy Heaven Help Us, she gained notable exposure later that same year in the teen drama The Legend of Billie Jean. If the film failed to live up to the hype, Smith's performance (as a somewhat shy teen who discovers her own self-confidence after joining a teenage outlaw on the road) offered a scene-stealing turn that would overflow into the following year's much-maligned horror film Maximum Overdrive. A small supporting role in the 1987 teen comedy Three O'Clock High was quick to follow, and that same year, Smith would step behind the microphone for the role that would change her life. Originally conceived as a series of shorts made to run during The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons proved so popular that it was soon given its very own series. Beginning in 1989, The Simpsons quickly became nothing less than a cultural phenomenon, with brother Bart's rebellious antics quickly making "Don't have a cow, man" the national catch phrase. As popular as the series was initially, few could have foreseen that it would go on to surpass The Flintstones as the longest-running animated prime-time series in the history of television. In the years that followed, Lisa would move to the forefront in many episodes, endearing her to a nation of television viewers. Though Smith would still make the occasional foray into features, with bit roles in City Slickers, Toys, Just Write, and As Good As It Gets, it was her role on The Simpsons that kept her busy throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium.Aside from voicing Lisa Simpson she didn't appear on-screen in the first decade of the 21st century, but she returned with bit parts in movies like HIGH School and New Year's Eve in 2010 and 2011.

Trivia: Supporting actress, onscreen from the '70s.

Trivia: He put the "d'oh!" in the Oxford English Dictionary, the Canyonero on the road, and he's put The Simpsons in your living room every week. Born February 25th, 1954, Matt Groening has managed to capture a realistically outrageous family dynamic in one of television history's longest-running shows that had been awarded 18 Emmy Awards by 2003. Born February 15, 1954, the Portland, OR, native was encouraged to draw by his father, who was also a cartoonist. He doodled his way through school, working for the newspaper and also forming a political party called Teens for Decency. With the slogan of "If You're Against Decency, What Are You For?," he mischievously won the student body presidency. After graduating from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, in 1977, he headed out to L.A. To keep friends and relatives informed on how his life was progressing -- or actually, was not -- his letters home detailed his jobs at a sewage treatment plant and as a chauffeur in comic strip form. And thus, Life in Hell was born. The adventures of lead character Binky, his wife Sheba, and Akbar and Jeff, among others, made their way into the Los Angeles Reader in 1980 and can now be found in 250 newspapers worldwide. His next venture would also prove to be long lasting. What started out as animated segments aired during Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987, The Simpsons got its own timeslot in December 1989. Groening and his team of writers and producers crafted the not-so-atypical family and their friends and neighbors in a comedic light, keeping them all just on the edge of ridiculousness. One episode captures America's favorite under-achieving dad Homer in one of his many schemes as he gains enough weight to be considered medically obese, thus excusing him from having to actually go to work. He instead stays home wearing a muumuu hollering at local kids who come by for a laugh at his expense. As is common, yet trivial Simpsons knowledge, the characters on the series have been named after Groening's family members, as Homer and Marge truly are his parents' names, and so on. As one to pay homage to his beginnings, Groening has the littlest Simpson, Maggie, lugging around a rabbit stuffed animal, which is one of his Life in Hell characters. Creating the sarcastic landscape that is Springfield, he infused his witty outlook on life and said when people watch The Simpsons, they are rewarded for paying attention with inside and/or well-placed jokes. Case in point, Homer decries cartoon writers for their unrealistic story lines; meanwhile, another Homer walks by the window in quite an unfathomable manner. Such humor is lost on some, but has been impressed on enough hearts and minds to keep people tuning in every Sunday night. Groening also dabbled in album cover art design, which can be found on the 1987 self-titled album from Crazy Backwards Alphabet. In 1993, he formed Bongo Comics, which publishes Simpsons-related Itchy & Scratchy, Radioactive Man, Lisa, and Krusty comics. He also started Zongo Comics in 1995. Books and guides giving detailed information on The Simpsons series have been published, including The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family. Games, both board and video, have also been produced involving the famous inhabitants of 742 Evergreen Terrace and Groening has also written books featuring his Life in Hell characters, including Childhood Is Hell, Love Is Hell, School Is Hell, and The Big Book of Hell. His next venture was into the future with the appropriately titled Futurama. Premiering in March 1999 and featuring the voice of Ren and Stimpy, Billy West, the sci-fi cartoon series started with the main character, Fry, delivering a pizza to a cryogenics lab. He ends up being frozen and when he wakes up in the year 3000, he's stuck marveling at the future while lamenting about his lost past with the likes of a one-eyed love interest, a robotic best friend, and a crab as a doctor. In 2000, he helped produce the animated adaptation of the book Olive, the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh. The film's main character, Olive, is the voice of Drew Barrymore and also features Simpsons' regular Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer, Krusty the Clown, and other Springfieldians), and former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows. July 2007 finally saw the release of a long-awaited Simpsons' movie (cleverly titled as such). The collaborative effort includes direction by David Silverman and writing credits for Groening and James L. Brooks, among many others. Futurama began airing new episodes on Comedy Central in 2010, nearly 7 years after its initial cancellation.

Trivia: Looking more like the CEO of a law firm than a comedian, Canadian actor Phil Hartman has had a successful career playing against his physical appearance with an off-kilter sense of humor. He entered show business as a graphics designer; among his better-known artistic renderings was the official logo for the rock group Crosby, Stills and Nash. In the early '80s, Hartman was a member of a comedy troupe called the Groundlings, where he made the acquaintance of comedian Paul Reubens. In collaboration with Reubens, Hartman helped create the character of child/man Pee-wee Herman, cowriting the screenplay of Reubens' 1985 movie vehicle Pee-wee's Big Adventure and portraying the grimy Kap'n Karl on the Saturday-morning TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986-90). When asked later on if he was bitter over the way Reubens grabbed all the glory for the Pee-wee concept, Hartman characteristically made a self-deprecating joke, though it was decidedly at Reubens' expense. Before signing with NBC's Saturday Night Live, Hartman appeared as part of a comedy ensemble on the 1985 summer replacement series Our Time. Hartman's greatest comic strength lay in his celebrity impersonations, which he trotted out to maximum effect on both SNL and the Fox cartoon series The Simpsons. Hartman claimed that he had 99 celeb voices in his manifest, including a deadly funny impersonation of President Bill Clinton, which became an audience favorite on SNL and Jay Leno's Tonight Show where he often made guest appearances. Hartman remained with Saturday Night Live from 1986 through 1994, sharing a 1989 Emmy for "outstanding writing;" at the time he left the show (making pointed comments about the deteriorated quality of the writing staff), Hartman had set a record for the largest number of appearances (153) as an SNL regular. In 1995, Phil Hartman began a weekly assignment in the role of a pompous, self-centered (much like Ted Knight's character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) anchorman on the network sitcom Newsradio. When not appearing on the series, Hartman was a successful TVcommercial voiceover artist and pitchman and also occasionally acted in feature films, including Blind Date (1987), Jingle All the Way (1996) and The Second Civil War (1997). In his personal life, Hartman was totally unlike the characters he usually played and was loved and respected for his humbleness, his affability and his generosity; he frequently donated his time to charities. It was therefore a terrible shock when on May 28, 1998, he was shot to death while sleeping in the bedroom of his Encino, California home. His wife Brynn Hartman committed the murder and then shot herself shortly after police removed the couple's two small children from the premises. Later reports stated that despite putting on a good public face as a couple, the two had been trying for years to resolve their difficulties and that drug and alcohol use on the part of Brynn were a factor in the tragedy.

Trivia: Neil Patrick Harris made his first splash playing a 16-year-old doctor in the Steven Bochco television series Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989-1993). Following the series' demise, the young adult actor laid low for a few years, appearing in films like Starship Troopers and Shakespeare's Sister. Harris second act would come in 2004, however, when he played a hilariously insane, fictionalized version of himself for the stoner comedy Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Harris would follow this up with a starring role on the hugely popular, left of center sitcom How I Met Your Mother, playing beloved rake and ladies' man Barney.In addition to his film and television career, Harris has also had a successful career on-stage. In 1997, he wowed California audiences playing the lead in the popular off-Broadway musical Rent.

Trivia: Actress and comedian Marcia Wallace began her career as a stage actress, appearing with the improv troupe The Fourth Wall and in off-Broadway plays in the late '60s. After a guest appearance on the Merv Griffin Show, Wallace began a thriving TV career playing secretary Carol Kester Bondurant on The Bob Newhart Show and making countless appearances over the coming decades on game shows like Hollywood Squares and To Tell the Truth, as well as shows like Full House and The Young and the Restless. In 1990, she began voicing Edna Krabappel, Bart's jaded 4th grade teacher, on The Simpsons, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992. Wallace continued to appear on the show in a recurring role up until her death in 2013.