This is a list of characters featured in the PBS Kids television show Arthur, based on the book series by Marc Brown.
Arthur Read is the main character and protagonist of the series. Other major characters include D.W., Buster, Muffy, Francine, Binky, the Brain, Sue Ellen, Mr. Ratburn, Kate, and Arthur's parents. Minor characters—such as Fern, George, Prunella, the Tibble Twins, Emily, and Jenna—have been gradually expanded upon throughout the series. Over the years, character roles and relationships have changed and expanded as episodes have developed the secondary and supporting characters.
Children
The Read Family Arthur Read (voiced by Michael Yarmush 1996–2000, 2022; Justin Bradley 2001; Mark Rendall 2002–2003; Cameron Ansell 2004–2007; Dallas Jokic 2008–2012; Drew Adkins 2012–2014; William Healy 2014–2016; Jacob Ursomarzo 2016–2018; Roman Lutterotti 2019–2022) is an 8-year-old aardvark. He is the eldest child of the Read family and attends third grade at Lakewood Elementary School in Elwood City. He has two younger sisters, D.W. and Kate, and a dog named Pal. He plays the piano, wears a yellow sweater with a white collared shirt underneath, blue jeans, and round brown glasses. He is shown to love Bionic Bunny, Dark Bunny, comics and Love Ducks. (voiced by Michael Caloz 1996–1999; Oliver Grainger 1999–2001; Jason Szwimer 2002–2006; Luciano Rauso 2006; Ryan Ehrenworth 2007; Robert Naylor 2007–2012; Jake Beale 2012–2014; Andrew Dayton 2014–2016; Christian Distefano 2016–2018; Ethan Pugiotto 2019–2022; Nissae Isen 2022) is the middle child of the Read family and Arthur's younger sister. She is 4 years old and a preschooler who is also the older sister of Kate. She has light brown, slightly curled/waved hair in the form of a bob cut, as well as bangs.
(voiced by Tracy Braunstein) is the youngest child of the Read family and Arthur and D.W.'s younger sister. As a baby, she can communicate with animals such as Pal, Killer, Toady, Mr. Toad, Amigo, Nemo, and Pepe the Flea, as well as other babies such as Mei-Lin Barnes. As she grows up, she loses communication with some of these characters. However, she comes to understand her family's speech better.
Arthur's friends (voiced by Daniel Brochu; credited as Conway Bruce in Arthur's Missing Pal) is Arthur's best friend. He is a white rabbit who wears a turquoise long-sleeve polo shirt and jeans. He loves eating and keeps expired food in his room and school desk. He has asthma, is quite obsessed with aliens, loves telling jokes, is an amateur detective, practices gardening, and plays the tuba. He is an only child whose parents divorced when he was a little kid.Arthur, Season 4, episode 8, "1001 Dads" He created and celebrates a no-frills holiday called "Baxter Day" with his mother. His father travels the world as a pilot; Buster features his travels with his father on the spin-off series Postcards from Buster. (voiced by Melissa Altro) is a monkey who usually has long red hair, which she usually wears in two braids adorned with purple bows that usually match her purple and white dress. She was firstly drawn with two front buck-teeth in the books and early episodes, though this was soon changed through time. She and her older brother, Chip, are the two children of Ed Crosswire, the owner of the used car dealership Crosswire Motors, and his wife, Millicent. Muffy is the quintessential daddy's girl, with Ed believing that his daughter can do no wrong and constantly buying expensive, trendy items such as cell phones and designer clothing.
(voiced by Jodie Lynn Resther, credited as Jodie Resther in earlier seasons) is a monkey who has short brown hair clipped with two yellow barrettes on both sides and usually wears blue jeans and a maroon sweater. She is a tomboy, and enjoys playing sports, horseback riding, playing the drums, and singing. Her family is Jewish and in some episodes is seen observing Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, and attending a cousin's Bar Mitzvah. Francine's best friend is Muffy, with both sharing the same middle name. In earlier seasons, Francine teased on Arthur—such as when he got glasses, and when his baby tooth would not come out. However, they became good friends afterwards. She has an older sister named Catherine.
(voiced by Luke Reid 1996–1999; Steven Crowder 2000–2001; Alex Hood 2002–2005; Paul-Stuart Brown 2004–2007; James Buckholder 2006; Lyle O'Donohue 2008–2012; Siam Yu 2012–2014; Max Friedman Cole 2014–2018; Evan Blaylock 2019–2022) is a bear of Senegalese descentArthur, Season 14, episode 9, "In My Africa" who usually wears a grey sweater. He is highly academic and well-educated in many subjects, especially science and math, and has an "A" grade average. His classmates call him "Brain" or, when referring to him in third-person, "The Brain".In "Arthur," season 6, episode 8, "Rhyme for Your Life," Arthur says, "Good thing he Binky didn't run into The Brain. There are lots of things that rhyme with his name!" In season 7, episode 4, "Waiting to Go," Binky asks, "Brain, what's an amoeba?" His family celebrates Kwanzaa and owns an ice cream parlor, where his classmates frequently visit after school and on weekends. He was held back in kindergarten for crying a lot and being afraid of swimming, but can be seen swimming in some episodes. He revealed that his uncle has Asperger's syndrome in "When Carl Met George".
Season 15, Episode 7; "What's in a Name?" "Binky" Barnes (voiced by Bruce Dinsmore) is a bulldog who usually wears an orange shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes. He is in third grade for the second time after failing and having to retake it.Arthur, season 8, episode 4, "D.W., Dancing Queen" He plays the clarinet, catches butterflies, loves art, and enjoys ballet. In "Binky Goes Nuts", it is revealed that he has a severe allergy to peanuts. Binky has an adopted baby sister from China named Mei-Lin. He is a bully and a member of the Tough Customers, a group of thugs and bullies, but has a soft side and is close with Arthur and his friends. In the episode "Binky Barnes, Art Expert", he tries to help Arthur and Buster. In the episode "Big Horns George", he compliments George's guitar by saying, "Woah, nice guitar! Can I see?" and after returning the guitar, says he likes the chord George plays. Despite not being very good at school, in "Binky's A Game", he reads his assigned book and receives an A on the test.
(voiced by Patricia Rodriguez, or "Rodrigues" in early credits, 1996–2003; Jessica Kardos, 2004–2022) is a third-grader cat and one of Arthur's classmates at Lakewood Elementary School. She is usually depicted wearing a teal dress, a cream vest with red buttons, red high-top shoes with a lime green "slouch" socks, and curly orange hair bound up in pigtails by lime green scrunchies. She officially moved to Elwood City in the winter of her third-grade school year (but has appeared in Mr. Marco's second-grade class). Her father is a diplomat, so her family has lived in various spots around the world. Unlike Emily, Tommy, and Timmy, she traveled with her parents. She is also deeply interested in world culture and is skilled in martial arts. She practices karate (taekwondo in earlier seasons) and plays the saxophone. Sue Ellen was born as an only child and kept in touch with her brother-like pen pal, Tenzin Wangdu, in Tibet. She is very close to nature and becomes a vegetarian in Season 16.
(voiced by Holly Gauthier-Frankel) is a light brown dog and one of Arthur's classmates. She usually wears a purple long-sleeved blouse with yellow collars and cuffs, yellow pants, and a red ribbon on her head. Fern is usually a very timid and nervous girl, but when pushed far enough can be assertive enough to stand up for herself. She enjoys reading poetry and novels (especially "Sherlock Holmes" and "Frankenstein's Monster") and is particularly interested in gothic and horror themes. She writes poems and stories, holds group poetry readings at the library, and is an amateur detective. Her close friend is George, as they both have similar personalities and sometimes act like detectives.
(George Nordgren before season 11) (voiced by Mitchell Rothpan 1996–2002; Evan Smirnow 2003; Samantha Reynolds 2008–2010; Eleanor Noble 2004–2007, 2010–2022) is a moose of Norwegian and Swedish descent who wears an orange shirt with khaki pants and green sneakers. It is revealed in Season 6 that he has dyslexia. He is very adept at building and construction, as his father is a woodworker, and constantly wins school's creation contests. George likes to practice ventriloquism with his giraffe dummy “Wally” that his father gifted him one Christmas. Wally acts as his much more sassy, outgoing alter ego. George is usually a very timid and introverted boy, but as the series goes on, the others gradually accept him. Finally, in Season 20, he is appointed as Lakewood Elementary's hall monitor.
(voiced by Tamar Kozlov) is a poodle. In 2011, however, PBS said that she was a rat, but in 2013, Marc Brown confirmed that she is actually a poodle. She is a fourth grader who usually wears a blue dress with a white collar and a purple bow in her hair. She initially was characterized as something of a know-it-all, but that trait was toned down in following seasons. She is interested in yoga, fortune telling, and paranormal phenomena. She loves the fictional Henry Skreever books (based on Harry Potter) and has studied braille. Prunella struggled with hoarding, as outlined in the episode "Prunella the Packrat".
are identical twin bear brothers who are four years old and routinely exasperate others with their destructive antics. Tommy wears a red scarf, and Timmy wears a blue scarf. They stay with their grandmother while their parents work overseas and travel around the world, giving them souvenirs and gifts.Arthur, season 6, episode 6, "D.W.'s Backpack Mishap" The twins torment D.W. and occasionally manipulate her into doing silly and unusual things that only get her into trouble, even though D.W. has acknowledged many times that they always lie. Tommy: voiced by Jonathan Koensgen (1996–2002), Aaron Grunfeld (2002–2003), Tyler Brody-Stein (2004–2005), Madison Danielle (2006), Ryan Tilson (2006–2007), Jake Rosemaan (2008–2010), Jake Sim (2010–2016), Devan Cohen (2016–2022), Benjamin Hum (2019) Timmy: voiced by Ricky Mabe (1996–2000), Samuel Holden (2001–2005), Max Henry Wolf (2006), Tyler Brody-Stein (2006–2007), Chris Lortie (2008–2010), Dakota Goyo (2010–2012), Jacob Ewaniuk (2012–2016), Samuel Faraci (2016–2022), Matthew Mucci (2019)
(voiced by Vanessa Lengies Season 1–7 1996–2002; Sally Taylor-Isherwood 2003–2022) is a white rabbit with blonde hair, wearing a pink dress before Season 6, and a blue dress since Season 6. She is D.W.'s best friend in preschool. She is an expert in gymnastics and is knowledgeable in French culture. She has a French nanny named Marie Hélène.
Maria Pappas (voiced by Stacey DePass, credited as Stacey Depasse) is a rabbit with brown hair in Mr. Ratburn's class. Her clothing usually consists of a striped shirt with a blue dress; Maria's original character design included glasses. Maria participates in many clubs and activities but never is the center of attention. She appears in many episodes in the background, except for "Francine Goes To War", in which Francine insults her a lot, and her breakout episode, "Maria Speaks", which reveals that she talks with a stutter when she is chosen to be the reporter for the school's news program. Her best friend is Jenna Morgan.