Imagine having a superpower you didn’t know was special: the ability to instantly, flawlessly copy any voice you hear. That talent made Hank Azaria one of the most recognizable voices on the planet while his actual face stayed almost entirely anonymous to the public.

This episode tracks Azaria from a kid mimicking movies in Queens to the voice behind a generation’s defining animated characters. It’s a master class in character creation and a study of the psychological toll of building a livelihood on slipping into other people’s skin, plus the cultural reckonings that followed.

• How a Ladino-speaking household wired his ear for the musicality of speech and made instant mimicry feel like breathing
• The Dog Day Afternoon-inspired audition that landed him Moe, and the real-life inspirations behind Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, and others
• His Simpsons pay journey from $30,000 per episode to $400,000, and the leverage of being an invisible superstar
• How playing his grandmother shaped Agador in The Birdcage, and the depression triggered by the wartime drama Uprising
• Winning a lawsuit to copyright a voice while voluntarily retiring Apu after The Problem with Apu reshaped his perspective