Arthur Timothy[2] Read is the titular protagonist of both the book series and the PBS children's television series Arthur, created by Marc Brown.[3] In the series, he is an 8-year-old anthropomorphic aardvark in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class and lives in the fictional city of Elwood City.[4]

Arthur Read
Arthur character
First appearance	Arthur's Nose (1976)
Created by	Marc Brown
Voiced by	Duncan Wold (Living Books: 1992–1994) Michael Yarmush (1996–2000; 2022) Kye Sones (Living Books, UK versions) Ben Ellis (Living Books: 1997–2001, Arthur's 1st Grade) Pamela Segall (Arthur's Math Carnival, Arthur's Thinking Games, Arthur's Reading Games) Philip Penalosa (singing voice in Arthur's Perfect Christmas) Justin Bradley (2001, original broadcast) Mark Rendall (season 6 redub, 2002–2003) Cameron Ansell (2004–2007) Carr Thompson (2006, Arthur's Missing Pal) Dallas Jokic (2008–2012) Drew Adkins (2012–2014) William Healy (2014–2016) Jacob Ursomarzo (2016–2019) Roman Lutterotti (2019–2022)
In-universe information
Species	Aardvark[1]
Gender	Male
Family	David Read (father) Jane Read (mother) Dora Winifred "D.W." Read (sister) Kate Read (baby) Pal Read dog
Relatives	Thora Read (paternal grandmother) Grandpa Dave (maternal grandfather) Unnamed Paternal Grandfather Unnamed Maternal Grandmother Bud (uncle) Loretta (aunt) Ricky (cousin) Monique "Mo" (cousin) Bonnie (aunt) Sean (uncle) George (cousin) Lucy (aunt) Jessica (aunt) Richard (uncle) Cora (cousin) Fred (uncle) Theodore "Theo" Read (grand-uncle) Dora Winfred Read (paternal grand-aunt) Gustav (great-great grandfather) Matthew (great-great-great uncle) Minnie Read (aunt) Jimmy (cousin) Lorain Chrissy (aunt) Ryder (cousin) Laurie (cousin) Miles (extended family)
Religion	Christianity
Nationality	American
Birthday	May 25
Best friend	Buster Baxter

Physical appearance

Arthur is an anthropomorphic aardvark.[5] In Brown's first Arthur book, Arthur's Nose (1976), Arthur is shown with a long nose and resembles an actual aardvark, though as the books progressed (as seen in the first season of Reading Rainbow in its 13th episode, Arthur's Eyes) and eventually became an animated TV series. The character's most recognizable form is a light brown, slanted face with small ears and nostrils with signature round brown-rimmed eyeglasses.[6] Arthur wears a yellow V-neck sweater over a white dress shirt, blue jeans, and red and white sneakers. He also occasionally wears a red rugby-style sweater. In the series finale "All Grown Up", Arthur's 28-year-old appearance features him with straight hair, slight facial hair, a green vest with a hood, and a red and yellow shirt with a Dark Bunny insignia.

Arthur's relationships

Family

The tensions between Arthur and his 4-year-old sister, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, are a common theme in the Arthur series. Arthur is constantly pestered by D.W., who goes out of her way to get Arthur into trouble, which often causes Arthur to retaliate, by getting into quarrels with his friends.

Arthur's parents are his mother, Jane Read, who is a work-at-home accountant, and his father, David L. Read, who runs a catering business.

Appearances from Arthur's extended family include Grandma Thora (David's mother), Grandpa Dave (Jane's father), Uncle Fred (Jane's brother), Uncle Richard, Uncle Bud, Uncle Sean, Aunt Jessica, Aunt Loretta, Aunt Lucy, and his cousins Cora, Monique, Ricky, George, and other unnamed relatives. However, the only two members of Arthur's extended family who have appeared more than once are Grandma Thora and Grandpa Dave.

Grandma Thora lives in a house not too far from Arthur's in Elwood City and is known to be a bad cook, but a loving grandmother and a world-class marbles player. She loves to play bingo every Friday night, and in some episodes has to watch over Arthur and D.W. She is good friends with Mrs. McGrady, the school cafeteria monitor. Grandpa Dave lives in a convalescent home and has a roommate who was a ship captain.

Voice actors

These are the people who have been the voice actor for Arthur in the TV series:

• Michael Yarmush (Seasons 1–5; "All Grown Up") (1996-2000, 2022)
• Justin Bradley (Season 6) (2001)
• Mark Rendall (Season 6 (U.S. reruns only), Seasons 7–8) (2002-2003)
• Cameron Ansell (Seasons 9–11) (2004-2007)
• Dallas Jokic (Season 12–15) (2008-2012)
• Drew Adkins (Season 16–17) (2012-2014)
• William Healy (Season 18–19) (2014-2016)
• Jacob Ursomarzo (Season 20–Season 21) (2016-2019)
• Roman Lutterotti (Season 22–Season 25) (2019-2022)

Arthur was originally voiced by Michael Yarmush for the first five seasons. Due to reaching puberty, Yarmush was replaced with Justin Bradley for the 6th Season. After that, he was replaced with Mark Rendall who started voicing Arthur in Season 7. After Season 8 ended, Rendall redubbed all of Bradley's dialogue in Season 6. Starting with the 9th Season until the 11th Season, he was replaced with Cameron Ansell. Soon after, Ansell was replaced by Dallas Jokic starting with Season 12 and ending with Season 15. From Seasons 16–17, Drew Adkins replaced Jokic for the role of Arthur. After Adkins got too old to play the character, William Healy replaced him for the role for Season 18 and Season 19. Healy was later replaced by Jacob Ursomarzo in the 20th Season. After Ursomarzo ended his role of Arthur after the 21st Season, Roman Lutterotti replaced him for the last four seasons. Michael Yarmush reprised his role in the series finale "All Grown Up", voicing the adult Arthur.

International voice actors

Since Arthur is shown in more than 80 countries, Arthur is dubbed by these voice actors shown here:

• Alfredo Leal (Season 1–2), Hector Emmanuel Gómez (Season 3–5), Kalimba Marichal (singing voice) (Latin American Spanish)
• Diego Larrea (Brazil)
• Matko Knešaurek (Season 1–4) (Croatian)
• Olli Parviainen (Finnish)
• Lawrence Arcouette (Season 1–3), Kim Jalabert (Season 4–6) (First dub in Quebec French), Vincent de Bouard (Season 7–15), and Émilie Guillaume (Season 16–present) (2nd dub in European French) (French)
• Argiris Pavlidis, Andria Rapti, Vasia Lakoumenta, Nektarios Theodorou (Greek)
• Baráth István (Hungarian)
• Debbi Besserglick and Shiri Gadni (Besserglick voiced Arthur from its first run until her death from cancer in 2005. After her death, she was replaced by Shiri Gadni as the voice of Arthur in the following seasons.) (Hebrew)
• Simone D'Andrea (Italian)
• Lee Mi-ja (Daekyo) and Jeong Ok-joo (EBS) (Korean)
• Iman Bitar (1st voice) and Eman Hayel (2nd voice) (Arabic)
• Fariba Shahin Moghadam (Persian)
• Håvard Bakke (Norwegian)
• Teresa Chaves (1st voice) and Carlso Martins (2nd voice) (Portugal)
• Petre Ghimbăşan (Romanian)
• Elisabet Bargalló (Spain)
• Leo Hallerstam (Swedish)

Reception

Arthur Read was listed as number 26 in the TV Guide article, 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time.[7]

References

External links

• Arthur | PBS Kids