Milhouse Van Houten

Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional recurring character in the Fox animated television series The Simpsons voiced by Pamela Hayden and created by Matt Groening. Milhouse is Bart Simpson's childhood best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School. He is insecure, gullible, and is often led into trouble by Bart, who takes advantage of his friend's naivety. Milhouse is a regular target for school bully Nelson Muntz and his friends Jimbo Jones, Dolph Starbeam and Kearney Zzyzwicz. He has a crush on Bart's sister, Lisa, which is a common plot element.

Milhouse debuted in the 1988 commercial "The Butterfinger Group" while The Simpsons was still airing as a cartoon short series on the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. When The Simpsons was greenlit for a full series by Fox, Milhouse appeared in the first episode of the first season, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire," becoming one of the series' most prominent recurring characters. Groening chose the name Milhouse, also the middle name of President Richard Nixon, because it was the most "unfortunate name [he] could think of for a kid". Milhouse's appearance is based on that of Rob Cohen. In the wake of Pamela Hayden's retirement in November 2024, it was confirmed that her characters, including Milhouse, would be recast in the future. Following Hayden's appearance in The Simpsons Disney+ special O C'mon All Ye Faithful, Simpsons creator Matt Groening and writer Carolyn Omine revealed to Comic Book.com that Hayden would make a few more performances than initially announced.