Yeardley Smith Biography

Fast Facts

• Was born in Paris, but raised in Washington, DC; her father, Joseph Yeardley Smith, was the first official editor for the Washington Post's obituary desk
• Got her big break in 1984 when, as an understudy, she took over Cynthia Nixon's role on Broadway in The Real Thing
• Made her TV debut in the 1984 ABC Afterschool Specials production Mom's on Strike
• The Simpsons producer Bonnie Pietila wanted Smith for the series after seeing her play a knife-wielding tomboy in the play Livin' on Salvation Street in Los Angeles
• Originally read for the role of Bart Simpson, with co-star Nancy Cartwright reading the part of Lisa, who eventually became Smith's character
• In 2004, performed a one-woman show titled More, in which she candidly discussed her lonely childhood, plastic surgeries and decades of battling bulimia
• Published a children's book titled I, Loreli, in 2009
• Launched her own shoe line, Marchez Vous, in 2011