Michael Cera Will Guest-Star on 'The Simpsons'

By Tara Ariano, The Set | Friday, June 3, 2011, 1:55 PM

This guy's deadpan voice is coming to
"The Simpsons."

Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage.com

It seems that Michael Cera has a little time on his hands while he waits for the "Arrested Development" movie to come together,* so he's decided to do something productive in the meantime: He'll pop up in a guest-voice role on "The Simpsons."

Dan Snierson of EW.com spoke to "Simpsons" showrunner Al Jean, who says that Cera has already recorded his performance for the show's upcoming 23rd season. Cera will play Nick, an intriguing new student at Springfield Elementary who catches the eye of Lisa Simpsons (voice of Yeardley Smith); thus, Cera joins an impressive pool of actors who've guest-voiced Lisa's love interests, including Daniel Radcliffe, Joshua Jackson, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and (in a flash-forward) Mandy Patinkin.

The "Simpsons" role takes Cera back to his roots: As a kid, the actor paid his dues as a kid voicing animated characters on series like "The Berenstain Bears," "Rolie Polie Olie," and "Braceface." More recently, Cera played the voice-only role of PA operator Sal Viscuso on Adult Swim's "Childrens Hospital."

Though Cera had mostly moved on from his earlier voice work in animated TV, we probably should have seen the "Simpsons" guest gig coming: When your performance style is as energetic and dynamic as Cera's, you're going to get asked to bring that kind of vitality to a variety of voice roles that allow it to shine through. As for the specifics of this Nick character, I'm going on the record right now and predicting that the kid is going to be drawn with a hoodie.

*Just kidding! That movie is never happening.