The Simpsons: The 10 Best Characters Voiced By Dan Castellaneta, Ranked

While the double whammy of Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer are known for doing the bulk of the voices on The Simpsons, Dan Castellaneta is responsible for almost as many beloved supporting characters as either of them. He’s even played a version of himself on the show. The end credits of The Simpsons Movie show off just how many different roles Castellaneta plays in addition to Homer.

The one downside of being the voice of Homer Simpson is that, when it comes to Castellaneta’s legacy, Homer’s iconic status as possibly the greatest TV character of all time overshadows almost all the supporting characters that Castellaneta plays as well as voicing the Simpson patriarch. But some of The Simpsons’ best characters besides Homer are played by Castellaneta, too.

10 Blue-Haired Lawyer

Whereas Lionel Hutz is The Simpsons’ caricature of a woefully incompetent lawyer, the Blue-Haired Lawyer is its caricature of the kind of hypercompetent attorney hired by big corporations and billionaires like Mr. Burns. The Blue-Haired Lawyer is a master of swaying juries’ opinions and finding loopholes in legislation.

He represents Disney in addition to Mr. Burns, but when he tried to bring up Principal Skinner on copyright infringement charges at a school fair dubbed “The Happiest Place on Earth,” he got his butt handed to him.

9 Mayor Quimby

Conceived as a parody of John F. Kennedy, Springfield’s Mayor “Diamond Joe” Quimby is a deceitful politician who takes kickbacks from the local mob and constantly cheats on his wife.

Castellaneta came up with a great voice for the character. It’s close enough to Kennedy’s voice to make the satire work, but not enough of a full-on impression to prevent Quimby from standing as his own character.

8 Groundskeeper Willie

Some of The Simpsons’ funniest characters work at Springfield Elementary, from the gleefully miserable Mrs. Krabappel to Principal Skinner, a Vietnam veteran with mommy issues.

That list also includes Willie, the Scottish groundskeeper who lives in a shed just off the schoolyard and has to deal with unfathomably disgusting messes on a daily basis.

7 Hans Moleman

There’s a theory among The Simpsons’ fan base that Hans Moleman isn’t just one man; there’s a race of mole-men living underneath Springfield. They’re plotting to take over the surface world, but keep dying when they come up to the streets.

While this theory hasn’t been confirmed, it would make a lot of sense. Every time Moleman appears on-screen, he ends up dying a horrible, fiery death.

6 Barney Gumble

Homer would be the town drunk if it wasn’t for his best friend Barney, who manages to drink even more beer than the Simpson breadwinner. Homer and Barney have been friends since they were schoolkids, and have stuck by each other through thick and thin ever since.

There was a stretch in the middle of The Simpsons’ run where Barney sobered up and learned how to fly a helicopter, but that was unsurprisingly short-lived.

5 Martin Prince

“My geode must be acknowledged!” While no one is beating Lisa’s academic ventures, Martin Prince is one of her closest rivals for the title of smartest kid at Springfield Elementary.

Unlike other dorky Springfieldians like Milhouse, Martin has no shame about being a nerd. He’ll proudly wear a t-shirt that says “Wang Computers” and often tries to make friends with Nelson.

4 Lenny Leonard

In stark contrast with the unbridled insanity of Homer Simpson, fellow power plant employee Lenny Leonard is a mild-mannered everyman. He doesn’t take center stage in a lot of storylines, but it’s always a joy when he does show up.

There’s a hilarious running gag that Lenny always gets stuff in his eye: “Ow, my eye! I’m not supposed to get pudding in it!”

3 Krusty The Clown

A pitch-perfect lampoon of every aging comedian who doesn’t care about their craft anymore, Krusty the Clown has paid as few taxes as he can get away with, phoned in all his performances for decades, and put his face on as much shoddy merchandise as he could sell.

There was originally going to be a twist that revealed Krusty to be Homer in disguise in a double life as a TV clown – with the joke being that Bart’s idol is actually his dad, who he doesn’t respect – but the writers dropped the idea when Krusty developed into a character of his own (which was probably for the best).

2 Grampa Simpson

In addition to voicing Homer, Dan Castellaneta voices Grampa. Since Abe is essentially an older version of Homer, Castellaneta’s voice for him is basically an older-sounding version of his Homer voice.

Grampa is a hilarious caricature of grumpy old people who love to complain about everything. In one episode, the newspaper reports that Grampa was yelling at a cloud.

1 Homer Simpson

Homer isn’t just Dan Castellaneta’s best character on The Simpsons. He might be the greatest character in the history of television. He’s certainly one of the most iconic, ranking alongside Tony Soprano, Eric Cartman, and Leslie Knope. Homer’s particular brand of idiocy has been incredibly influential on the world of comedy.

What sets Homer apart from imitators like Family Guy‘s Peter Griffin is that, for all his drinking, negligence, and poor decision-making, Homer consistently proves himself to be a loving father who really cares about his kids.

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Ben Sherlock
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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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