Nancy Cartwright: The voice behind Bart Simpson

Dan Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Yeardley Smith, Julie Kavner and Nancy Cartwright - who do the characters' voices - will also get a $1m bonus.

The negotiations are said to have been more amicable than those in 1998, when stars voiced their displeasure at their fee for working on one of the world's most popular shows.

At the time, they were getting $25,000 each per episode and threatened to resign unless the fee was increased.

After a few weeks of negotiations, salaries were doubled to $50,000 an episode for the 10th series, $60,000 for series 11 and $70,000 for series 12.

Appeal

Castellaneta, who does the voice of Homer Simpson, will also get a production and development deal with the network as he has already co-written several episodes of the show.

Started in 1990, The Simpsons is currently the US Fox network's top comedy and has reportedly earned almost $1bn (�700m) for Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group.

It features a hapless, hopeless, dysfunctional - not to mention yellow - family in small-town America whose surreal-but-accessible lives that went slightly wrong appeal to viewers of all ages.

Its popularity spread across the globe after humble beginnings as a 15-minute filler on the Tracey Ullman Show in America.