Yeardley Smith
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Offbeat comic actress and voice specialist Yeardley Smith has made a virtue out
of her distinctive looks, small figure, and child-like nasal tones.
Lending vocal life to the animated role of "Lisa Simpson," the
intelligent, caring, saxophone-droning, vegetarian member of the
Simpson family, has been her bread-and-butter job for over a remarkable 30 years.
While Yeardley is American, she was born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith on July 3, 1964, in Paris, France where her father served
as a correspondent with UPI. By the time she was two, she and her
family had moved to Washington, D.C., where she was raised. A shy,
introverted child, she started her pixie-like young career as a
teenager at a nearby dinner theater where she played "Tinkerbell" in a
musical adaptation of "Peter Pan". After receiving her high school
diploma, she apprenticed for a time at the famed Arena Stage, then
headed off to New York and bigger things.
Yeardley understudied the role of "Debbie" on Broadway in
Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing", starring
Jeremy Irons and
Glenn Close, then took over the part for
eight months. Small film offers started coming her way with
Heaven Help Us (1985) and
The Legend of Billie Jean (1985),
so in 1986, she headed West and settled. After some work on the LA
stage with "Boys and Girls/Men and Women" (1987) and "How the Other
Half Loves" (1988) and a recurring role on the ground-breaking gay
comedy, Brothers (1984), Yeardley
won the part of daughter "Lisa Simpson". The animated character was
launched on the sketch TV comedy series,
The Tracey Ullman Show (1987).
Two years later, she spun off into
The Simpsons (1989) and still
going strong after 20 years.
Yeardley has made the TV rounds on-camera as well with amusing guest
appearances on
Dharma & Greg (1997) (recurring), "Murphy Brown," "Empty Next" and "Mama's Family." She also had
regular role for three seasons as "Louise" on
Herman's Head (1991). Other
film supports during that time included roles in
City Slickers (1991),
Jingle All the Way (1996) and
As Good as It Gets (1997).
Yeardley continues to be quite active well into the millennium. In 2004, Yeardley performed front-and-center in her own one-woman autobiographical show entitled "More" in New York. Other comedic and occasional dramatic film parts include the Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back by Midnight (2004), an animated full-length The Simpsons Movie (2007), Waiting for Ophelia (2009), High School (2010), Tug (2010), Virginia (2010), The Chaperone (2011), Miles (2016), All Square (2018), Love & Debt (2019) and Gossamer Folds (2020). On TV, Yeardley appeared as a guest on "Becker," "The Big Bang Theory," "Hot in Cleveland" and "Mom."
Married and divorced twice, Yeardley's first husband was actor Christopher Grove.
of her distinctive looks, small figure, and child-like nasal tones.
Lending vocal life to the animated role of "Lisa Simpson," the
intelligent, caring, saxophone-droning, vegetarian member of the
Simpson family, has been her bread-and-butter job for over a remarkable 30 years.
While Yeardley is American, she was born Martha Maria Yeardley Smith on July 3, 1964, in Paris, France where her father served
as a correspondent with UPI. By the time she was two, she and her
family had moved to Washington, D.C., where she was raised. A shy,
introverted child, she started her pixie-like young career as a
teenager at a nearby dinner theater where she played "Tinkerbell" in a
musical adaptation of "Peter Pan". After receiving her high school
diploma, she apprenticed for a time at the famed Arena Stage, then
headed off to New York and bigger things.
Yeardley understudied the role of "Debbie" on Broadway in
Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing", starring
Jeremy Irons and
Glenn Close, then took over the part for
eight months. Small film offers started coming her way with
Heaven Help Us (1985) and
The Legend of Billie Jean (1985),
so in 1986, she headed West and settled. After some work on the LA
stage with "Boys and Girls/Men and Women" (1987) and "How the Other
Half Loves" (1988) and a recurring role on the ground-breaking gay
comedy, Brothers (1984), Yeardley
won the part of daughter "Lisa Simpson". The animated character was
launched on the sketch TV comedy series,
The Tracey Ullman Show (1987).
Two years later, she spun off into
The Simpsons (1989) and still
going strong after 20 years.
Yeardley has made the TV rounds on-camera as well with amusing guest
appearances on
Dharma & Greg (1997) (recurring), "Murphy Brown," "Empty Next" and "Mama's Family." She also had
regular role for three seasons as "Louise" on
Herman's Head (1991). Other
film supports during that time included roles in
City Slickers (1991),
Jingle All the Way (1996) and
As Good as It Gets (1997).
Yeardley continues to be quite active well into the millennium. In 2004, Yeardley performed front-and-center in her own one-woman autobiographical show entitled "More" in New York. Other comedic and occasional dramatic film parts include the Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back by Midnight (2004), an animated full-length The Simpsons Movie (2007), Waiting for Ophelia (2009), High School (2010), Tug (2010), Virginia (2010), The Chaperone (2011), Miles (2016), All Square (2018), Love & Debt (2019) and Gossamer Folds (2020). On TV, Yeardley appeared as a guest on "Becker," "The Big Bang Theory," "Hot in Cleveland" and "Mom."
Married and divorced twice, Yeardley's first husband was actor Christopher Grove.