Arthur's family •
David Leonard Read (voiced by
Bruce Dinsmore) is Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Baby Kate's father and husband of Jane Read. His mother is Grandma Thora, and he has three sisters: Loretta, who is older, Bonnie, who is younger, and Minnie, who lives in France. Mr. Read runs a
catering business from home and is frequently shown garnishing trays of
hors d'œuvres either in the family kitchen or in a custom-designed workshop behind the garage. He delivers his food in a dedicated
commercial vehicle. Many of his recipes are questionable at first glance, and Arthur and D.W. often refuse to eat them, but at times they genuinely appreciate his cooking. He usually wears a white sweater with blue accents and khaki pants, and sometimes has an apron and
chef's hat on. His paternal family is originally from
Ohio and still owns a
llama breeding farm there, where David spent his summers as a boy. •
Jane Read (née Story; voiced by Sonja Ball) is Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Baby Kate's mother and wife of David Read. She has a younger sister, Lucy, an older sister, Jessica, and an older brother, Fred. Her father is Grandpa Dave. Mrs. Read is a work-at-home
tax accountant. She has short, shaggy brown hair and wears a pink sweater, a white collared shirt, and blue jeans. In the books, she generally wears different clothes. She is from the
Pittsburgh area and knew
Fred Rogers as a child. •
Grandma Thora Read (voiced by Joanna Noyes) is Arthur's, D.W.'s, Mo's, Ricky's, George's, and Kate's apparently widowed (her husband's sole mention implies he died when Arthur's father was around his age) paternal grandmother. In the episode "The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur", it is mentioned that she spent summers at the Read family farm in Ohio when she was a girl. Grandma Thora is a
columnist. In a flashback in "Clarissa is Cracked", Thora had three brothers. Grandma Thora is David, Loretta, Bonnie and Minnie's mother. It is revealed in "April 9th" that she was in a car accident (but was not hurt) when David was Arthur's age. Grandma Thora is based on Marc Brown's own grandmother Thora, who encouraged him by saving his childhood drawings in a bottom drawer. • Thora's mother is David Read's maternal grandmother, and Arthur's, D.W.'s, Mo's, Ricky's, George's, and Kate's paternal great-grandmother. She is seen as a young woman in "Clarissa is Cracked" and as an elderly grandmother in "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe", where she wins the
egg and spoon race. •
Grandpa Dave (voiced by A.J. Henderson) is Arthur's, D.W.'s, Cora's, and Kate's apparently widowed (his wife is never seen nor mentioned) maternal grandfather and the father of Fred, Jessica, Jane, and Lucy. He lives on the family farm in the country, which has been in the family for over 150 years. In "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album", he is revealed to be in the early stages of
Alzheimer's disease which he forgot Arthur's name until it was revealed. •
Uncle Bud and
Aunt Loretta are Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Kate's paternal uncle and aunt; they are the parents of
Monique, Ricky, and an unnamed daughter. •
Uncle Sean and
Aunt Bonnie are Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Kate's paternal uncle and aunt; they are mother and father of George. •
Uncle Fred is Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Kate's maternal uncle, and Jane's, Jessica's, and Lucy's brother. He is known throughout the family to be very clumsy. Fred has a
Labrador Retriever named Rory, who is awkward like him. •
Aunt Jessica and
Uncle Richard are the maternal aunt and uncle of Arthur, D.W., and Kate, and the parents of Cousin Cora. They appear in "D.W. Thinks Big" during Aunt Lucy's wedding. Jessica spoils her daughter Cora and takes her side even when she's wrong. •
Aunt Lucy is Arthur's, D.W.'s, and Kate's aunt. She is an aardvark with blonde hair. She appears in the episode "D.W. Thinks Big", where D.W. saves her
wedding ring on her wedding day. In the episodes "Go to Your Room, D.W.", "D.W.'s Perfect Wish", "D.W. Unties the Knot", and "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album", Arthur and D.W. mistakenly refer to Lucy as their cousin instead of their aunt. • Additional Read family members: • In the episode "The Rhythm and Roots of Arthur", the family celebrates the 85th birthday of Theodore Read (known as Theo), who is the brother of Grandma Thora's father. Everyone considers him to be the family patriarch. His long-deceased sister was named Dora Winifred and was D.W.'s namesake. Theo lives on the family farm in rural Ohio, along with Chrissy, the mother of Ryder and Laurie. • An "'Uncle John", serving in the military overseas but who earlier lived on the family farm, is mentioned. In the same episode, the farm is visited by Cousin Jimmy and Cousin Lorraine, as well as by Minnie, who is D.W.'s and Arthur's aunt. She has a sophisticated look with embroidered pants, suits, loafers, cat-eye eyeglasses, and a bob with severe bangs. She is a vegetarian and does not like the Read family's farm, where she spent some time as a girl.
Other recurring adults •
Mr. Armstrong (voiced by Tony Robinow) is Sue Ellen's father, a retired diplomat. His job has required him to move all across the world. However, he and his family enjoy the travel opportunities that come with it. •
Mrs. Armstrong is Sue Ellen's mother, a homemaker with a penchant for exotic clothes. She enjoys making clay pottery and sculptures. •
Bailey Carson Belvedere III (voiced by
Bruce Dinsmore) is Muffy's
chauffeur and sometimes the Crosswire family butler. He is a grey bloodhound in a dark grey suit, and is often seen carrying several bags of luggage. He follows Muffy's orders without question, even when her instructions are extreme, such as driving the limo dangerously or towing Muffy while on her bicycle. In the episode "The Butler Did What?", it is revealed that he plays the trumpet, went to the same elementary school as Mr. Ratburn (where the two played in the school band), and is a jazz fan. He has a notable talent for creating
kinetic art. He was initially called James; the name Bailey is based on the show director of
Arthur, Greg Bailey. •
Becky is an aardvark and a Meadowcroak camp counselor and librarian. •
Ed Billings is the neighbor of Grandpa Dave. He always offers to help aging Dave around his farm, but Dave is too proud to accept, until his grandchildren show him the value of accepting help from others, after which Dave asks Ed what he knows about tractor engines. •
Bubby (voiced by
Joan Rivers) is Francine's and Catherine's maternal grandmother who was first seen in "Arthur's Perfect Christmas". She later dies offscreen in the Season 25 episode "Listen Up", due to Joan Rivers' death in 2014. In "
The Great McGrady", Francine told Muffy that her grandfather died from cancer. Although, it is unclear if that was Bubby's husband or paternal grandfather. •
Mr. Barnes (John Moore; Peter Cugno) is Binky's father. He is revealed to work in a copy shop in the game "Arthur's 2nd Grade". •
Mrs. Barnes (Jane Wheeler; Liz MacRae) is Binky's mother, a nurse. She is protective of her son, especially in the episode "Binky Goes Nuts". •
Bitzi Lynne Baxter (voiced by
Ellen David) is Buster's mom, who is divorced. She is the editor of the Elwood City Times. In early episodes, she was frantic and over-protective of Buster, but calmed in later seasons. In the early
Arthur books, she had blonde hair, although the last books and TV show depict her with auburn hair. The episode "Fright Night" reveals that she had the surname Baxter even before she married Bo Baxter. •
Bo Baxter is Buster's father, who is divorced. He is a pilot. Buster flies with him around the United States in the spin-off
Postcards from Buster series. In
Postcards from Buster, he is shown with short brown hair and glasses. However, his physical appearance has changed several times. In early appearances, he was partially concealed by various methods, such as reading a newspaper, Buster covering his eyes while on his shoulders, or dressing as
Santa Claus when meeting Buster. • '''Buster's Grandmother''' is Buster's maternal grandmother. She is seen briefly in "Arthur Cleans Up", "Buster Makes the Grade", and the
Postcards from Buster episode "Among the Hmong". •
Miss Blank is a past
substitute teacher for Mr. Ratburn's class. She was the class's favorite substitute teacher because she never showed up, and the class had to be taught by Miss Sweetwater, who let them do coloring and gave them snacks. •
Coach Bumpus is a rabbit gym coach from earlier episodes. He often argues with Coach Grimsled over petty things like the last line of the nursery rhyme "
Itsy Bitsy Spider". •
Mrs. Bofini is a past substitute teacher for Mr. Ratburn's class. The class disliked her because she chewed with her mouth open and sucked her teeth in front of the class. •
Ms. Bryan is the Lakewood Elementary School art teacher. •
Mrs. Cardigan is Arthur's former piano teacher who eventually retires and suggests he take lessons from Dr. Fugue. She, like Miss Sweetwater and Mrs. Fink, offered each student cookies for having a wonderful lesson. •
Mrs. Grouse is one of Arthur's and D.W.'s babysitters who always make them do dances. •
Edward Edsel "Ed" Crosswire (voiced by A.J. Henderson) is a very wealthy man who is Muffy's and Chip's father and the owner of a large car dealership called "Crosswire Motors". He is an obese, stereotypical
fat cat, who almost always wears a suit and a tie. It was revealed that he never attended college; rather he received an honorary degree from Ivy University after his donation of a library. He is also the current coach of Lakewood's soccer team. He was first shown in Muffy's family portrait in the 1982 book
Arthur Goes to Camp and wasn't shown again until the first season of the cartoon show, where his appearance changed drastically. •
Millicent Crosswire (voiced by Jennifer Seguin) is Muffy's and Chip's aristocratic mother. She enjoys going to operas, as well as attending and hosting fancy parties. She was first shown in Muffy's family portrait in the 1982 book
Arthur Goes to Camp and wasn't shown again until the first season of the cartoon show, where her appearance changed drastically. •
Cisely Compson is Ladonna's and Bud's mother. According to Ladonna, she played in a band until she was 25, but got so broke she had to sell her trumpet; a soldier (whom she later married) then bought it back for her. She made Ladonna wear the snow hat her Aunt Bo gave her in "Based on a True Story". •
Mrs. Datillo is Marina's sighted mother. She was first seen in her daughter's second appearance in the Season 7 episode "Prunella Sees the Light". •
Wanda Deegan is Rubella's and Prunella's mother. She enjoys yoga. •
Ms. Featherfoffer is a journalist that once babysat for Arthur. She was the worst of his babysitters, as she spent all her time watching soap operas, and sent him to bed during the day simply for making noise during her show. •
Flossie is a hairdresser who owns and runs the Salon de Beauté, where Muffy gets her hair done. She also did Francine's hair in "Francine's Bad Hair Day". •
Mr. Elkin is a past substitute teacher for Mr. Ratburn's class. He was troublesome because his large antlers would accidentally knock students out of their seats. •
Mrs. Fink is one of the third-grade teachers at Lakewood Elementary School. She and Miss Sweetwater do fun things with their classes, in contrast to Mr. Ratburn, whose class is hard work. •
Nurse Flynn works at Lakewood Elementary. •
Oliver Frensky (voiced by
Mark Camacho) is Catherine's and Francine's dad, who works as a sanitation engineer for the local city dump. He states he was formerly a volunteer firefighter. He coaches the Lakewood baseball team. He is good-humored and sometimes childlike, but can be stern and authoritative when he needs to. •
Laverne Frensky (voiced by
Jane Woods) is Catherine's and Francine's mother. •
Grandpa Frensky is Oliver Frensky's father and Catherine's and Francine's grandfather who owns an unnamed "hamburger castle" (a paraody of
White Castle) with unique hamburgers that is still open in the episode "Background Blues". He also mentions Vingo Frensky, a barber for
Abraham Lincoln in the show. •
Dr. Frederique Fugue is Arthur's current piano teacher, after Mrs. Cardigan retired. He later filled in for Ms. Krasny to take Mr. Ratburn's class on a choir field trip to Crown City (the show's version of
New York City). He was a
chorister as a child and later sung with the
Whiffenpoofs, implying he attended
Yale University. He is an extremely strict teacher and "fires" many of his students. However, he shows a softer side during the Crown City trip, openly encouraging his students to have fun with their singing. He has a pet cat named
Für Elise. •
Ted Glass is the Lakewood Elementary Crossing Guard. In his first appearance in "Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard" he tried to fool Arthur and Brain into thinking there was a new $10 fee to cross the street and they believe him, becoming scared after he threatens to send goons to collect the money after they wait too long to pay up. After being told off by Grandma Thora he lets Arthur and Brain in on his joke and they join along in the fun. •
Coach Grimsled (voiced by Jeniffer Seguin) is a 4th grade gym coach at Lakewood. She has various debates with Coach Bumpus. •
Mrs. Gutter is one of Arthur's past babysitters. Arthur disliked her because she would play golf in the house. •
Harry Mills works at Bitzi Baxter's newspaper as a sportswriter. Bitzi started dating him for a couple of seasons, but then broke off because she wanted more time to pursue other interests. Despite the break-up, he remained good friends with Buster and his mother. • '''''' (voiced by
Walter Massey in 1996–2014, before his death) is the lovable yet absentminded principal of Arthur's school. Like George, he has dyslexia. He also seems to have bad luck: something goes wrong almost everywhere he goes. A running gag in early episodes was a random item falling on his head, usually unintentionally caused by another character, such as Francine throwing a baseball way off course in "Arthur Makes the Team" and Loretta flipping the burgers too high in "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe". In the Season 20 episode "The Hallway Minotaur", he was revealed to have moved away to
Tanzania to build a school. •
Mr. Higgins is an Elwood City mail carrier. •
Dr. Iris is an eye doctor who suggested that Arthur needed glasses in the first episode "Arthur's Eyes". She is a cat. •
Mr. Kone (voiced by Marc Graue) is the owner of an ice cream factory appearing in "
Arthur's Missing Pal". He helps Pal escape from the ice cream factory, while also avoiding two ferocious dogs named Sugar and Spice. •
Ms. Krasny is the Lakewood Elementary School music teacher. Her last name is named after Marc Brown's wife's maiden name. •
Fritz Langley is the caretaker of the Elwood City Community Garden who sometimes has arthritis in his hands while working. He eventually moves to a retirement community. •
Mr. Leduc is Emily's father who is only seen during the episodes "Emily Swallows a Horse" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Binky". In the former episode, he is in bed, and his head is turned away, hiding his face. In a later episode, it is revealed that unlike his daughter and wife who are rabbits, he is a monkey. Emily is seen with her French nanny Marie-Hélène more than her parents, which shows that they do not have much time for her. •
Mrs. Leduc is Emily's mother, who looks very different from her daughter. She makes many brief appearances, and in "Emily Swallows a Horse" she is seen adorning herself in a gown, suggesting that she enjoys formal events. She is also seen in "The Good, the Bad, and the Binky". •
Neal Lundgren is the father of George Lundgren, and a carpenter who runs a private wood repair shop in his garage. He also teaches a shop class that his son sometimes attends. •
Mrs. Lundgren is George's mother who is seen much less than her husband; in fact, she only appears in the episode "Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto" and briefly in "April 9". •
Leah MacGrady (Sara MacGrady before Season 13) is in charge of the cafeteria at Lakewood Elementary school. She is full of unconventional wisdom, and is Grandma Thora's bingo buddy. She commonly wears a pink shirt and white pants. Like Prunella, she enjoys fortune telling. In "The Great MacGrady", she was diagnosed with cancer, but has since continued to work at Lakewood, suggesting that she ultimately recovered. She was also a member of the band U Stink in the movie special "
Arthur, It's Only Rock' N' Roll", a clip of which is seen while Francine writes a letter asking for advice to help her cope with MacGrady having cancer. •
Mr. Marco is Arthur's second-grade teacher. He is often seen during the series, but Arthur is only seen in his class through flashbacks. He was a moose in the books, but an aardvark like Arthur in the show. He is slightly stern, has zero tolerance for cheating, and is friends with Mr. Ratburn. •
Marie-Hélène is Emily's French nanny, who takes care of Emily more than her parents and teaches her some French words. •
Herman Merkle (voiced by
Andrew Sabiston) is a bear and is W.D.'s father. He is friends with David Read, and the two go canoe fishing together. •
Ursa Merkle (voiced by
Tracey Hoyt) is a bear and is W.D.'s mother. She is friends with Jane Read, who helps her with tax papers. Ursa performs biology and geology research for fun. •
Ramon Molina is Arthur's new
Ecuadorian neighbor, who moves in Mr. Sipple's old house with his family. He is revealed to own and run an
Ecuadorian cuisine restaurant. •
Mrs. Molina (voiced by Dawn Ford) is the wife of Ramon Molina, and mother of Vicita and Alberto. In "Dancing Fools", she teaches a children's dance class. •
Carl Manino is the longtime owner of the Sugar Bowl. •
Mr. Morgan is Jenna's father who was seen and heard from in the episode "Jenna's Bedtime Blues". •
Mrs. Morgan is Jenna's mother who very briefly appears in "Muffy's New Best Friend" and "Elwood City Turns 100". She helps make costumes for the play using her sewing machine; it appears that she has a talent for sewing. •
Ms. Morgan is D.W.'s preschool teacher, and a gymnastics instructor. She is a bear, an indication that she is not related to Jenna's family, who are all cats. •
Mr. Morris (voiced by Al Gravelle) is the
beagle Lakewood Elementary School janitor, who moves to
Roswell, New Mexico to live with his daughter after breaking his leg during the Lakewood fire on "
April 9". He is seen in the
Postcards from Buster episode "Alien Adventure", where Buster visits
New Mexico, seeming to have recovered from his injury. Although he moved away, he is seen in the background of several episodes after "April 9". Like Buster, he has
asthma. He does it for free. •
Mrs. Pariso is Francine's next-door neighbor, who is very good at horseback riding and also won prizes at
Wimbledon. She appeared in the episode "Francine Goes to War" and in an episode of
Postcards from Buster. She banged on Francine's wall when she first moved into their apartment building, which made Francine think she was a spirit who scares others to death, starting a brief rivalry; luckily, the two became good friends in the end when they both discover they like soda and horseback riding. Francine later explained that the reason Mrs. Pariso was mean was because she was lonely. She ignored Francine and Prunella when they disturbed her. When Buster called her a witch, she didn't seem to mind it (unlike Francine) and told a story about when she once met a
warlock. •
Patrick Ratburn (voiced by Marcel Jeanin) is Mr. Ratburn's husband; the two are married in the episode "Mr. Ratburn & the Special Someone". He sells chocolate—including a particular chocolate that he refers to as a "
Frida Kahlo"—at Patrick's Chocolates in Elwood City. •
Signore Pelato is a clown barber who owns and runs the Signore Pelato Barber Shop in "D.W., Queen of the Comeback". In the same episode, he cuts D.W.'s hair too short, causing the Tibble Twins to nickname her "Dennis". •
Pickles is a local circus clown who does gigs in Elwood City, including birthday parties and Elwood City's annual Downtown Day. He's incredibly allergic to dogs. •
Mr. Powers (voiced by
Terrence Scammell) is Brain's father, who appears to have average intelligence compared to The Brain. Not much is known about him. •
Mrs. Powers (voiced by
Susan Glover) is Brain's mother, who owns and runs the ice cream shop. She was originally shown with a brown complexion and brown hair, but she is later seen with a light complexion and blonde cream-colored hair. •
Mr. Pryce-Jones is an extremely strict teacher at Glenbrook Academy, where knowledge (and classwork) is unlimited. He is Mr. Ratburn's favorite teacher. Mr. Pryce-Jones is "irreplaceable" as he hadn't retired by the time Arthur and his classmates attended the Medieval Fair; Pryce-Jones was teaching a class of seemingly unbeatable rival students. Mr. Haney was impressed by Glenbrook's performance and hired Pryce-Jones to be a tutor for his niece and nephew. • '''''' (Emil Ratburn in Season 1) (voiced by
Arthur Holden) is Arthur's third- and fourth-grade teacher. He attended Glenbrook Academy, where his passion for learning and teaching was guided by his teacher, Mr. Pryce-Jones. Various running gags involving Mr. Ratburn include his strictness and love of homework, food, and dessert (especially cake). While his students are often chagrined at his hefty homework assignments and rules, they respect him greatly and are fond of him. He usually drives a small red convertible but also bought a minivan and canoe online. He is a fanatic of the series "Spooky-Poo!", a spoof of "
Scooby-Doo". In the Season 22 episode "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone", Mr. Ratburn is revealed to be
gay when he marries his same-sex partner, Patrick, in a wedding attended by his students. The episode, which also had
lesbian actress
Jane Lynch voice Mr. Ratburn's older sister and wedding planner Patty, was praised by LGBTQ groups as helping to normalize
same-sex marriage, but attracted some controversy from conservative groups for displaying a same-sex wedding on a children's TV show. The episode was withheld from airing by
Alabama Public Television (APT) and
Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) as it showcased same-sex marriage. •
Rodentia Ratburn is Mr. Ratburn's sister, who once was a substitute teacher for Mr. Ratburn when he had
laryngitis. The students initially liked the simplicity of her methods, but they proved way too childish for their age and were actually happy to have Mr. Ratburn back. In the later episode "Desk Wars", it is implied that she gave birth to a child, since Mr. Ratburn left for a phone call in which his sister told him he was an uncle. •
Mrs. Robertson is a Lakewood Elementary School Kindergarten teacher who is now retired. Her retirement diorama risked exposing Brain's secret that he was held back in kindergarten. •
Mr. Sanders is the grumpy
building superintendent who works for the apartment building where the Frensky family lives. •
Mrs. Shmigaedy is one of Arthur's old babysitters, a moose who makes great cookies but is rather clumsy because of her large horns. •
Mr. Sipple (voiced by Mark Camacho) is Arthur's next-door neighbor from Seasons 1–6, who enjoys grilling fish late at night and comes from a place where making faces on a bike means "bring me a cabbage". When he first appears, he was mowing his lawn and almost killed Toady Wartface. His name is revealed when D.W. learns to ride a bicycle. He moves out of the neighborhood in Season 6, and the Molinas move into his home. •
Dr. Sozio is the Read family dentist. A running gag involves parents forbidding children from putting their hands in his "mouth" (a plastic model displaying
teeth). He is a bear and wears glasses. •
Miss Sweetwater is another third-grade teacher at Lakewood Elementary School. She does fun things with her students like singing songs (especially "I Like Fudge") while playing her guitar. In the early
Arthur books, she was depicted as a cat, but in later books and the cartoon she was a rabbit. •
Mrs. Terracini is a grandmother to one of the children in D.W.'s class. She is very old and can neither see nor remember names very well, as she called the "Tibble Twins" the "Toggle Twins". •
Mrs. Tibble is the grandmother of Tommy and Timmy Tibble. She lives with the twins and has gray hair tied in a high bun. In early
Arthur books, Mrs. Tibble is a human; however, many newer books and the cartoon depict her as a bear. •
Miss Tingley is Principal Haney's secretary and the
assistant principal of Lakewood Elementary School. One time she was afraid of Miss Sweetwater's singing and Mr. Haney's sawing-in-half magic trick. She is an excellent public speaker compared to Mr. Haney, and sometimes rephrases and concludes his long, confusing speeches. In Season 20, she becomes the temporary principal after Mr. Haney resigned. •
Mrs. Tremello is a past substitute teacher of Mr. Ratburn's class. She was disliked by the class because she mumbled everything she said. •
Paige Turner (voiced by Katie Hutchinson) is the librarian in charge of the Elwood City Library (thus, her name is a
pun). She is a rabbit who wears glasses and has numerous watches. Her hair color has changed from dark brown to light brown throughout the show's run. She is friendly, polite, and calm to library patrons. Nonetheless, a running gag is the widespread fear of her by library patrons due to worrying about their responsibilities with books and behaviors in the library. •
Mr. Walters is Fern's father. He appears much less frequently than Fern's mother and is first seen in the episode "Phony Fern", plus in the episode "Fernlets by Fern". He is a brown dog in a blue jacket. He teaches Fern about computers. •
Doria Walters is Fern's mother. She works for a real estate company. Her hair, which hides her ears, is a noticeably different style than Fern's. She has an outgoing personality and is very confident and encouraging to her daughter (who would prefer if she wasn't). •
Mrs. Wood is Perky's owner. Her grouchy dog, Perky (also known as "Jaws"), is Pal's mother. == Guest stars ==