Cast of "The Simpsons" Gets a Pay Raise
June 3, 2008

Who knew animated characters would eventually become some of the highest paid personalities on television? Well, the voice actors at least. After months of discussions and talks between the voice actors of The Simpsons and Fox, the cast of the long running animated hit series have finally gotten a pay raise. As Hollywood Reporter reports, under the new four-year deal the premiere voice actors on The Simpsons will make upwards of $400,000 per episode, which will give Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, and Hank Azaria sizeable increases from their current $300,000 per episode paychecks.

While the series gets underway on Tuesday for the upcoming and shortened 20 episode season, the status of Harry Shearer remains ambiguous since Shearer’s deal wasn’t finalized with the other cast members. While it was back to business as usual for the other Simpsons regulars, it was unclear whether Shearer would be showing up for work on Tuesday.

Given the rising price of gas due to the exploding value of oil, we’re willing to bet that by the end of the year the pay increase will probably cover the cost of driving to work each day.