Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series
The Simpsons. She is the middle child and most intelligent of the
Simpson family. Voiced by
Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in
The Tracey Ullman Show short "
Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist
Matt Groening created and designed her while waiting to meet
James L. Brooks. Groening had been invited to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic
Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He named the elder Simpson daughter after his younger sister Lisa Groening. After appearing on
The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family were moved to their own series on
Fox, which debuted on December 17, 1989.