José "Zé" Carioca (; ) is a cartoon

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

created by the Brazilian cartoonist José Carlos de Brito (J. Carlos) and shown to Walt Disney on his trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1941.

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

then incorporated the idea, being introduced in the 1942 film ''

Saludos Amigos ''Saludos Amigos'' (Spanish for "Greetings, Friends") is a 1942 American live-action/animated anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Set in Latin America, it is made up of four different segments; Donald Duck ...

'' as a friend of

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

, described by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' as "a dapper Brazilian

, who is as superior to Donald Duck as the Duck was to Mickey Mouse." He speaks Portuguese. He returned in the 1944 film ''

The Three Caballeros ''The Three Caballeros'' is a 1944 American live-action and animated musical propaganda anthology film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film premiered in Mexico City on December 21, 1944. It was released in the ...

'' along with Donald and a Mexican rooster named Panchito Pistoles. José is from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil (thus the name "

Carioca Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to residents of the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil and their culture. Like other Brazilians, ''Cariocas'' speak Portuguese. The ''carioca'' accent and sociolect (also simply called "''carioca''", ...

", which is a term used for a person born in Rio).

Appearances

Animation

In addition to ''

'' and ''

'' (the Latin American film pair), José appeared with Donald and the Aracuan Bird in the "Blame It on the Samba" segment of the 1948 anthology feature ''

Melody Time ''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action and animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney. It was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular music and folk music, the f ...

''. He also appeared in the segment "Two Happy Amigos" in a 1960 episode of the anthology television series '' Walt Disney Presents''. Much later, he was seen in the

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

series '' Mickey Mouse Works'' and ''

House of Mouse ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (or simply ''House of Mouse'') is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC and Toon Disney from January 13, 2001 ...

'', as well as in two episodes of '' Mickey and the Roadster Racers'' ("Mickey's Perfecto Day!" and "Super-Charged: Daisy's Grande Goal") and two episodes of '' Mickey Mouse Funhouse'' ("Día de Muertos" and "Nochebuena no Funhouse") alongside Panchito. He also made a brief cameo in the 1988 film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

''. In the ''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

'' short "O Futebol Clássico", José is seen as the announcer of a Brazilian soccer game. He later appears with Donald and Panchito in "¡Feliz Cumpleaños!" as performers at Mickey's birthday and in "Carnaval" as a performer in the parade. José starred in the main role of ''

Legend of the Three Caballeros ''Legend of the Three Caballeros'' is a 2018 animated television series based on the 1944 animated Disney film '' The Three Caballeros'', but depicted as a spin-off of the 2017 '' DuckTales'' reboot. As with the original film, the series features ...

'', alongside Panchito Pistoles and

, which was released on the Disney Life app. José's cigar was removed in this series. He is voiced by

Eric Bauza Eric Bauza (born December 7, 1979) is a Canadian voice actor based in the United States. He is mostly known for voicing several ''Looney Tunes'' characters, for which he won three Emmy Awards for his performances in '' Looney Tunes Cartoons'' (20 ...

in this version. He also appeared in a recurring role in the 2017 ''DuckTales'' series, voiced by Bernardo de Paula, where he and Panchito used to be Donald's old college bandmates who return to kickstart their band again. He's revealed to work as a flight attendant and uses his umbrella as a weapon against enemies. José also has a cameo appearance in the 2023 short film '' Once Upon a Studio'', as part of the

Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...

characters that take a group photo.

Comics

In the early 1940s, the Sunday-only ''Silly Symphony'' comic strip featured José Carioca, in a series running from October 11, 1942 to October 1, 1944. This was replaced by a Panchito strip, which ran for another year. José is quite popular in Brazil, appearing alongside

and Donald Duck in the local

Disney comics Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with t ...

. In Brazil, he is known as Zé Carioca ("Zé" being a familiar form for Portuguese name "José", in much the same way "Joe" is a familiar form for the English name "Joseph"). Between 1961 and 2018, he had his Brazilian

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s, in which he is portrayed as living with his friends Nestor (an anthropomorphic crow), Afonsinho (an anthropomorphic duck), and Pedrão (an anthropomorphic dog), along with other characters: his nephews ''Zico'' and ''Zeca'' (also parrots), his girlfriend Maria Vaz (Portuguese: ''Rosinha Vaz'', another anthropomorphic parrot), daughter of rich entrepreneur Rocha Vaz (an anthropomorphic toucan), and his romantic rival ''Zé Galo'' (an anthropomorphic rooster). Local production ended in 2001, but was restarted in 2012. José now has a pet, Old Tom, an alligator originated from the 1960s Studio Program duck stories. Since September 2020, new José stories are published by Culturama in the comic book ''Aventuras Disney''. Comics featuring Joe Carioca, as he is called in the Netherlands, appear occasionally in the Dutch ''

'' magazine. In these short stories, José occupies his time assuming false identities to impress girls (who usually see through him, leaving him brokenhearted), and wangling free dinners in expensive restaurants, a habit that often gets him into trouble. He appears extremely rarely in the German '' Micky Maus'' comics and , having appeared around 10 times since his 1980 debut. In the Brazilian comics, Zé is also part of his neighborhood

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team and runs a

samba school A samba school () is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square-Compound (enclosure), compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazili ...

. He has a secret identity as a superhero, ''Morcego Verde'' (''Green Bat'', a

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

spoof), although he is easily recognized by his neighbors. In recent years, José Carioca has been used alongside Panchito and Donald in two comics by American artist

Don Rosa Keno Don Hugo Rosa (), known as Don Rosa (born June 29, 1951), is an American comic book writer and illustrator known for his comics about Scrooge McDuck and other Disney comics, Disney characters. Many of his stories are built on characters an ...

, '' The Three Caballeros Ride Again'' (2000) and '' The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros'' (2005). The creation of a

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian animated character during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was part of a strategy called " Good Neighbor Policy" headed by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

government to improve relations and gather support amongst its neighbor countries. In 2023, Dutch stories introduced Parquita, José's new girlfriend.

Disney Parks

In April 2007, Disney re-introduced José Carioca (along with the third Caballero, Panchito) in the newly revamped ride at Epcot's Mexico Pavilion with entirely new animation and a new storyline. It has been dubbed " The Gran Fiesta Tour". After being reunited, The Three Caballeros are set to play a show in Mexico City. But Donald goes missing. José and Panchito must search throughout Mexico for Donald as he takes in various sights around Mexico. The character was previously voiced by

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...

, although in June 2020 Paulsen announced that, as a Caucasian voice actor, he will no longer play characters of color, including the Brazilian José. José can also be seen in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of

It's a Small World It's a Small World (stylized in all lowercase and in quotations or with exclamation mark) is an Old Mill boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks around the world. Versions of the ride are installed at Disney ...

, which opened on April 28, 2008, as well as the

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

(in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

) version of It's a Small World, installed during major refurbishments between January and November 2008, also as the

Tokyo Disneyland is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney park t ...

version of

, installed during major refurbishments between March 2017 and April 2018. José and Panchito's costumes were extinct at the Disneyland Resort by 2011, but were re-Imagineered for Mickey's Soundsational Parade in May 2011. They now appear with

and dancers with a float where Donald is trying to hit a Piñata. José and Panchito also regularly appear in the

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort is an destination resort, entertainment resort complex located about southwest of Orlando, Florida, United States. Opened on October 1, 1971, the resort is operated by Disney Experiences, a division of the Wa ...

Magic Kingdom Magic Kingdom Park is a Amusement park, theme park at the Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1971, and is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Disney Experiences, Expe ...

parade, "Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party", which debuted in 2014 and continues through 2020.

Television shows

In 1996, in

, José presented the talk show ''Disney Club'' within the children's program '' TV Colosso'', shown on Sundays on

TV Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto M ...

. The character's puppet was manipulated by voice actor Marco Antônio Costa.

Video games

In 2002, José Carioca appears in the games of the Disney Sports series produced by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

for

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

and

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

platforms, José is part of The TinyRockets teams alongside

Huey, Dewey, and Louie Huey, Dewey, and Louie are Multiple birth, triplet cartoon characters created by storyboard artist and screenwriter Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company from an idea proposed by cartoonist Al Taliaferro. They are the nephews of Donald Duck an ...

, the games are '' Disney Sports Soccer'' (

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

), '' Disney Sports Basketball'' (

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

) and '' Disney Sports Football'' (

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

References

External links

* * at Mickey Mouse Athletics. from the original on August 18, 2017
José Carioca
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on October 22, 2016.

in th

in

{{DuckTales

Ze Carioca Comic book digests

1942 comics debuts Comics based on films

Disney comic strips Comics about anthropomorphic parrots Comics about talking animals The Three Caballeros