Arthur Read

The tensions between Arthur and his four-year-old sister, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, are a common theme in the Arthur series. Arthur is constantly pestered by D.W., and she usually tries to get Arthur into trouble, which occasionally causes Arthur to retaliate. Despite that, Arthur tries his best to ignore D.W.'s annoying antics most of the time and often does her favors - sometimes at his parents' request and against his will. D.W. also make frequent attempts to hang out with Arthur's 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. His mother is from the Pittsburgh area and knew Fred Rogers as a child, while most of his father's relatives are from Ohio. He also has a baby sister named Kate and a pet dog named Pal.

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 on a farm he claims has been in the family for 150 years.

Buster Baxter is regarded as Arthur's best friend who has the habit of eating junk foods. He lives with his mom due to his family being divorced and travels around the world.

Muffy is popular and rich due to her dad's successful used automobile business, Crosswire Motors.

The Brain's true name is Alan, but his friends call him Brain due to his high intelligence and habit of correcting others' mistakes in many subjects.

George is a ventriloquist and has a wooden giraffe ventriloquist dummy named Wally. George also has dyslexia, but he doesn't let that get in his way.

Binky is a bulldog who usually wears an orange shirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes. He is a member of the Tough Customers, which are a group of bullies, but has a soft side. He plays the clarinet, catches butterflies, and enjoys ballet.

Francine Frensky is a tomboy who has short brown hair tied with a barrette, wears blue jeans, and a maroon sweater. She enjoys soccer, playing the drums, and horseback riding. She is also a talented singer.

Sue Ellen Armstrong officially moved to Elwood City in the winter of the third grade school year. She also has a deep interest in World culture, and is skilled in the martial arts. She practices karate and plays the saxophone. She is an only child but keeps in touch with her pen-pal Tenzin in Tibet.

Fern Walters is a quiet girl with a love of poetry and mysteries. Fern is well known as a talented and realistic raconteur, especially when it comes to horror and mystery stories. Because of her shy personality, her mother often signs her up for various activities to get her involved in social gatherings with peers.

Ladonna moved to Elwood City from New Orleans in the episode "Based on a True Story". She was a third grader in Mr. Ratburn's class until her family moved to Oregon in "When Duty Calls". She is known for telling many interesting stories about her family and is very outgoing and adventurous.

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 America)
• Diego Larrea (1st voice), and José Leonardo (2nd voice) (Brazil)
• Matko Knešaurek (Season 1–4) (Croatia)
• Olli Parviainen (Finland)
• Lawrence Arcouette (Season 1–3), Kim Jalabert (Season 4–6) (First dub in Quebec French), Vincent de Bouard (Season 7–15), and Emilie Guillaume (Season 16–present) (2nd dub in European French) (French-speaking countries) * Argiris Pavlidis, Andria Rapti, Vasia Lakoumenta (Greece)
• Baráth István (Hungary)
• 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)
• Keiko Toda (Season 1-25) (Japan)
• Iman Bitar (1st voice) and Iman Hale (2nd voice) (Middle East)
• Fariba Shahin Moghadam (Persian)
• Teresa Chaves (1st voice), Carlso Martins (2nd voice) (Portugal)
• Petre Ghimbăşan (Romania)
• Elisabet Bargalló (Spain)
• Leo Hallerstam (Sweden)