My guest today is Emmy Award-winning actress and voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeardley Smith. Yeardley has been the voice of Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons for 32 seasons since 1987. She’s appeared in movies including As Good As it Gets, City Slickers, and TV shows like The Big Bang Theory and Mad Men. Yeardley co-founded the Paperclip Production company and co-costs and co-produces the Small Town Dicks podcast. We talk about her life growing up and her experience in Hollywood during this podcast episode.

The 5 questions I ask in this episode:

1. How did coming from a family who worked in the arts inspire you to become an actress and what keeps you motivated to develop new projects?
2. You were teased for your “unusual voice” in your childhood yet that voice is now part of TV history and has amounted to wealth and fame. How did you handle this teasing during childhood and start to appreciate your unique voice as you aged?
3. How are you like Lisa Simpson and why do you think she has resonated with people for the past 30 years?
4. An analysis of 2,000 movies by Polygraph found that women get less dialogue in Hollywood films the older they get. In your experience why do you believe older women are still underrepresented and what can we do to change that?
5. What’s your best piece of career advice?

Video interview

Follow Yeardley’s journey:

• Podcast
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Instagram