Francine Frensky

This is a list of characters featured in the PBS Kids television show ''Arthur'', which is based on the book series by Marc Brown.

Arthur, the title character, is the chief protagonist in the anthropomorphism series. Buster, Francine, Muffy, Binky, the Brain, Sue Ellen, Mr. Ratburn, D.W., Kate, and Arthur's parents are the major characters. Over the years, the roles of each character have changed and expanded as more episodes have focused on other characters besides the notable and major ones. Minor characters such as Fern, George, Prunella, The Tibble Twins, Emily, and Jenna have gradually expanded roles in the series.

Children

* Arthur Timothy Read (voiced by Michael Yarmush 1996–2000, 2022; Justin Bradley 2001; Mark Rendall 2002–2003, 2001 redub; Kye Sones 2002–2012, 2001 redub; 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 aardvark who attends third grade at Lakewood Elementary 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.
* (usually known as D.W.) (voiced by Michael Caloz 1996–1998; Oliver Grainger 1999–2001; Jason Szwimer 2002–2006; Mariella Miller 2002–2012; 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 a four (later five)-year-old, brown-haired, middle child of the Read family who usually wears a long-sleeve white blouse underneath a sleeveless, knee-length, pink jumper dress. She attends preschool and enjoys watching the TV show "Mary Moo Cow" and listening to the song "Crazy Bus," much to Arthur's annoyance. Unlike most children her age, D.W. is fully literate and reads complex material in several episodes. The special episode, "''The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur''," reveals that D.W. was named after Grandma Thora's aunt Dora Winifred, who died before she was born. She can be bossy, selfish, arrogant, spiteful, and often downright wrathful, especially towards her brother. Despite this, she has a good heart. According to Marc Brown, D.W. is inspired by his own experiences with his own three little sisters (especially Kim Brown). When she is introduced as an adult in the series finale "''All Grown Up''," it is confirmed that she has taken up the profession of law enforcement. It is also confirmed in the episode "''Arthur's First Day''" that she hates the name Dora Winifred.
*Kate Read (voiced by Tracy Braunstein) is Arthur and D.W.'s baby sister. She can communicate with Pal, Mei-Lin Barnes, Killer, Toady, Mr. Toad, Amigo, Nemo and Pepe the Flea. As she grows up, she loses communication with some of these characters. However, she understands her family's speech better as the series progresses.
* (voiced by Daniel Brochu; Jonathan Morris 2002-2012, 2000 redub, under-credited as Conway Bruce) is Arthur's best friend. He is a white rabbit who wears a turquoise long-sleeve polo shirt and jeans. He has asthma, is obsessed with aliens, loves telling jokes, is an amateur detective, and plays the tuba. He loves eating, practices gardening, and keeps expired food in his room and school desk. He is an only child whose parents divorced when he was young. He created and celebrates a no-frills holiday called "Baxter Day" with his mother. His father travels the world as a pilot and Buster features his travels with his Dad on the spin-off series " ''Postcards from Buster''". Buster is a procrastinator, often preferring to have fun rather than study; one such instance nearly led to him flunking third grade before cramming at the last minute. Buster's character is based on Marc Brown's best friend when he was young.
*Francine Alice Frensky (voiced by Jodie Lynn Resther) is a tomboy, sporty monkey who has short brown hair clipped with two yellow barrettes on both sides and usually wears blue jeans and a maroon sweater. She enjoys playing sports, the drums, and horseback riding. Her family is Jewish and in some episodes the family 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 picked on Arthur, such as when he got glasses and his baby tooth would not come out, but later she became good friends with Arthur. She has an older sister named Catherine.
*Mary Alice "Muffy" Crosswire (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 and her older brother, Chip, are the two children born to 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. Because of her upbringing, Muffy is sometimes rude and arrogant; having lived in a mansion and waited on by servants her entire life, she has no sense of what it means to be lower or middle class. She is best friends with Francine Frensky, despite the two having similar strong-willed personalities. Often, Francine will rein Muffy in when her rudeness becomes unacceptable. She is seen with buck teeth in early episodes, though this was soon changed.
*Alan "The Brain" Powers (voiced by Luke Reid 1996–1999; Steven Crowder 2000–2001; Alex Hood 2002–2005; Bernadette Windsor 2002–2012; 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 descent who celebrates Kwanzaa. He usually wears a grey sweater. He is highly academic, has an "A" grade average, and is well educated in many subjects, especially science and math. His classmates call him "Brain" or, when referring to him in third-person, "The Brain." His family owns an ice cream parlor, where his classmates frequently visit after school and on weekends. He was held back in kindergarten for crying and being afraid of swimming but can be seen swimming in some episodes.
*Shelley "Binky" Barnes (voiced by Bruce Dinsmore) is a yellow bulldog boy who usually wears an orange shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes. He is in the third grade for a second time after failing third grade and having to retake it. He is a member of the Tough Customers, which are a group of bullies, but has a soft side and is one of Arthur's friends. He plays the clarinet, catches butterflies 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. Despite being a bully, he is close with Arthur and his friends, he loves art, and 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?" After giving the guitar back to George, he likes the chord George plays. Despite not being good at school, in "Binky's A Game," he reads his assigned book and receives an A on the test.
*Sue Ellen Armstrong (voiced by Patricia Rodriguez, or "Rodrigues" in early credits, 1996–2003; Jessica Kardos, 2004–2022) is a third-grader cat girl at Arthur's school, Lakewood Elementary. 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 very close to nature and becomes a vegetarian in Season 16. 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 usually depicted wearing a teal "T-shirt dress," a cream vest with red buttons, red high-top shoes with a lime green "slouch" socks, and curly orange hair bound up in "messy-buns" by lime green scrunchies.
*Fern Walters (voiced by Holly Gauthier-Frankel) is a light brown dog girl and one of Arthur's classmates. She enjoys reading poetry and novels (especially "Sherlock Holmes" and "Frankenstein's Monster") and is particularly interested in gothic and horror themes. She has written many poems and stories of her own, holds group poetry readings at the library and is an amateur detective. Fern is usually a timid and nervous girl. She usually wears a purple long-sleeved blouse with yellow collars and cuffs, yellow pants, and a red ribbon on her head. Her close friend is George, as they both have similar personalities and sometimes act like detectives.
*George Lundgren (George "Nordgren" before season 11, voiced by Mitchell Rothpan 1996–2002, Bob Marshall 2002–2012, Evan Smirnow 2003, Samantha Reynolds 2008–2010, Eleanor Noble 2004–2007; 2010–2022) is a moose boy of Norwegian and Swedish descent, and wears an orange shirt with khaki pants and green sneakers. It is revealed in season 6 that he has dyslexia. He is very clumsy but can build items such as marionettes and constantly wins the school's contests. He is also timid and introverted, but as the series goes on, it shows that the others generally accept George. Finally, in Season 20, he is appointed as Lakewood Elementary's hall monitor.
*Prunella Deegan (voiced by Tamar Kozlov) is a poodle girl. In 2011, PBS said that she was a rat, but in 2013, Marc Brown confirmed that she is a poodle. She is interested in yoga, fortune telling, and paranormal phenomena. She loves ''Henry Skreever'' (based on Harry Potter) and has studied Braille. One issue Prunella struggled with is hoarding, outlined in the episode "Prunella the Packrat." She is a fourth grader who usually wears a blue dress with a white collar and a purple bow in her hair.
*Tommy Tibble and Timmy Tibble are identical twin bear brothers who are four years old and routinely exasperate others with their destructive antics. For example, Tommy wears a red scarf, and Timmy wears a blue scarf. They stay with their grandmother. Their parents work overseas and travel the world, giving them souvenirs and gifts. The twins torment D.W. Occasionally, they manipulate her into doing silly and unusual things that only get her into trouble even though D.W. had acknowledged many times that they always lie.
**Tommy: voice actor is Jonathan Koensgen (1996–2002), Aaron Grunfeld (2002–2003), Tyler Brody-Stein (2004–2005), Madison Danielle (2006), Ryan Tilson (2006–2007), Jake Roseman (2008–2010), Jake Sim (2010–2016), Devan Cohen (2016–2022), Benjamin Hum (2019)
**Timmy: voice actor is 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)
*Emily Leduc (voiced by Vanessa Lengies Season 1–7 1996–2002, Sally Taylor-Isherwood 2003–2022) is a white rabbit girl 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 girl in Mr. Ratburn's class. Her clothing usually consists of a striped shirt with a blue dress. Her hair is brown. Maria's original character design included glasses. Maria participated in many clubs and activities but was never the center of attention. She appears in many episodes in the background, except for "Francine Goes To War," in which Francine insulted her, 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.
*Alex Davidson (voiced by Riley Moreau) is a gray rabbit boy usually wearing a tan collared sweater, long brown jeans, and blue and white sneakers. In the episode Buster's Dino Dilemma, Alex wore a white shirt that had purple on it, purple shorts with green on it, long green socks, and red and white sneakers as an example.
*Jenna Morgan (voiced by Brigid Tierney) is one of Arthur's classmates. She is a gray cat girl who usually wears a pink dress with yellow buttons. She is lactose intolerant, plays badminton, helps coach soccer, and received an "Athlete of the Year" award from Michelle Kwan. Jenna is rather shy, and in "Jenna's Bedtime Blues," it is revealed that she dislikes being the center of attention and dreaded an invitation to Muffy's slumber party due to her fear of children discovering that she had nocturnal enuresis.
* (voiced by Krystal Meadows) is Bud's sister who first appeared in season 16, in the episode "Based on a True Story." She is a new student at Lakewood Elementary. Ladonna is a rabbit girl with a brownish-tan complexion who speaks with a dominant southern accent, and is native to New Orleans, Louisiana. Ladonna and her family end up moving to Oregon when her father Rufus is transferred there with the Corps of Engineers in "When Duty Calls." After said episode, however, she still appeared in episodes that were prequels to that one.

Other recurring children

*Adil Akyuz (voiced by Aaron Grunfeld) is a brown bear and Arthur's Turkish pen pal, who was introduced in "Dear Adil."
*Alberto Molina is a teenage boy who is one of Arthur's neighbors. He is a dark brown cat. He and his family were first introduced during season six, following the departure of Mr. Sipple. Alberto and his family hail from Ecuador. He practices kendo in his spare time and is very good at golf. In a continuous storyline throughout the entire Season 14, his soccer ball, lost by Francine, makes a long journey around the world and can be spotted as it appears in every episode. He was voiced by Johnny Griffin in "Follow the Bouncing Ball," Benjamen Israel in "The Long Road Home," and was voiced most recently by Daniel DeSanto.
*Alouysious Zimmerplotz is a kid in D.W.'s preschool class who has trouble writing his long name. He is a cat with yellow square glasses and a white shirt with a red jacket.
*Billy Bittles and Bobby Bittles are two vegetarian fraternal twins designed as bear cubs in the preschool class with D.W. Read. They appeared in Season 3.
* (voiced by Julie Lemieux) is Ladonna's younger brother, who also first appeared in "Based on a True Story." He is a rabbit with a light brown complexion who usually wears black rain boots, blue jeans, a lime T-shirt, a blue vest, and a red hat. He has an imaginary friend named Rapty, who everyone else sees as his beloved stuffed T-Rex. Bud is assertive, rugged, and not afraid of the Tibble Twins. He attends the same preschool as D.W. Read.
*Carl Gould (voiced by Dwayne Hill 2009–2010, Dylan Hoerner 2010–2016) is a cream rabbit with brown hair and blue glasses. His favorite color is blue. He has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and his best friend is George Lundgren. He plays the accordion, flies kites, and is highly knowledgeable in locomotives (to the point where he can create detailed drawings of them from memory), lions, and space. He prefers to drink "apple juice from a box, not a bottle," to quote him.
*Catherine Frensky (voiced by Patricia Rodriguez 1997–2002, Alexina Cowan 2003–2012, Robyn Thaler Hickey 2012–2022) is Francine's older sister. She is in high school. Catherine is outgoing and skilled at horseback riding. She occasionally babysits for the Reads. She is embarrassed to tell people her father is a sanitation worker and likes to read teen magazines. She usually wears a white-sleeved jean jacket with a white oversized sweater/sweatshirt with black leggings, red slouchy socks, black and white shoes, and always wears her hair with bangs and a ponytail with a scrunchie.
*Cheikh (pronounced "Shake") (voiced by Thamela Mpumlwana) is Brain's cousin from Senegal who moves to Elwood City in the episode "In My Africa" and begins attending D.W.'s preschool. He and his parents become American citizens via naturalization in the episode "Citizen Cheikh."
*Chip Crosswire (voiced by Cory Doran) is Muffy's older brother, who is a college student at Tallahassee Tech, a fictional school. He was first shown in Muffy's family portrait in the book "Arthur Goes to Camp, " published in 1982. His name was first subtly revealed in "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" (there were separate Christmas stockings for Chip and Muffy side by side in their fireplace), but was later directly mentioned in the episode "Phony Fern." He wears a blue v-neck college sweater and a white turtleneck underneath. His first appearance was in "Matchmaker, Matchbreaker," where he comes home from college, where Muffy and Francine introduce him to Francine's sister Catherine.
*Cousin Cora is Arthur, D.W., and Kate's bratty cousin who appears in "D.W. Thinks Big." She acts like a brat when alone with D.W. but acts like a nice girl when adults are around. Her bratty nature is later exposed at their Aunt Lucy's wedding.
*
*Monique "Mo" (voiced by Melissa Pirrera) is Arthur, D.W., and Kate's oldest cousin, whom Arthur remembers when she had been awful to him in the past reunions and tried to avoid her until it is revealed that Mo isn't as bad as Arthur thought. She, like Arthur, plays the piano and says that Arthur is her favorite relative. Mo is the daughter of Loretta and has a younger athletic brother close to Arthur's age and an even younger sister close to D.W.'s age.
*Cousin Ricky is Mo's brother and Bud and Loretta's son. He is very athletic and somewhat bossy. His skin color changes in each episode he appears in.
*Cousin Ryder is Arthur's age and lives on the family farm in Ohio. While he and Arthur used to be close, they discover in "The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur" that they are pretty different and come to terms with their differences. Laurie is Ryder's baby sister. Cousin Miles grew up in Cleveland, but he has spent so many years living and working on the Read family farm that he has become a part of the family. He is the chief llama breeder on the farm.
*Isabella is a student at Mighty Mountain School who is a local chess master. She is known for tapping her fingernails during matches, which earned her the nickname "Los Dedos" (Spanish for "The Fingers"). At first, she has somewhat of a snobby personality as she is seen calling Brain an amateur after beating him in a game of chess on numerous occasions.
*James MacDonald (voiced by Robert Naylor 2003, Jesse Camacho

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