List of characters in the Family Guy franchise
Family Guy is an American animated comedy multimedia franchise originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company, primarily based on the animated series Family Guy (1999–present), its spin-off series The Cleveland Show (2009–2013), and the film Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005), based on his 1995–1997 thesis films The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve.
Set in the fictional towns of Quahog, Rhode Island, and Stoolbend, Virginia, the show exhibits much of its humor in the form of metafictional cutaway gags often lampooning American culture. The following is an abridged list of characters consisting of the starring families (Griffin; Brown/Tubbs) and supporting characters from all three. Characters are only listed once, normally under the first applicable subsection in the list; very minor characters are listed with a more regular character with whom they are associated.
Francis Griffin (voiced by ) is Peter's grouchy, stubborn and abusive 82-year-old Irish stepfather, Lois' surrogate father-in-law and the surrogate paternal grandfather of Meg, Chris and Stewie. He was married to Peter's biological mother Thelma Griffin. An obsessively devout Irish American Catholic, he hates Lois because she is not a Catholic, and often calls her a "Protestant whore", disapproves of his stepson's family's lifestyle, and frequently attempts to force his religious views on them. In "Peter's Two Dads", Francis attends Meg's 17th birthday party, and is crushed by a drunk Peter while attempting a unicycle trick to entertain the party guests as "Pee-Pants the Inebriated Hobo Clown". The injuries prove fatal, and as Francis is dying in the hospital, his last words to Peter before his death are, "Peter… you're a fat, stinking drunk."
Charles Durning
Mickey McFinnigan (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is Peter's biological father, Lois' father-in-law and the biological paternal grandfather of Meg, Chris and Stewie. He lives in Ireland and is regarded as the town drunk (a highly respected position) in his neighborhood. Peter travels to meet him after he learns that Francis, who had just died, was not his biological father. He looks just like Peter, albeit he also wears a green vest and has a red beard, and has a talking sheep named O'Brian, with similar mannerisms to Brian. Despite that, he refuses to believe Peter is his son, so Peter then challenges him to a drinking contest and wins, which convinces him he is Peter's father.
Thelma Griffin (voiced by in the first appearance, Phyllis Diller in later appearances and Alex Borstein as a young woman in "Don't Be a Dickens at Christmas") – Wife of Francis, mother of Peter, mother-in-law of Lois and paternal grandmother of Meg, Chris, and Stewie. She is an 85-year-old Irish American Catholic. In "Mom's the Word", it is revealed that Thelma has died of a stroke.
Florence Stanley
Aunt Helen () is Peter Griffin's aunt and Thelma Griffin's sister and paternal grand-aunt of Meg Griffin, Chris Griffin and Stewie Griffin.
Ellen Albertini Dow
Chip Griffin (voiced by ) is Peter's vestigial twin brother, who appears in "Vestigial Peter". After he is surgically separated from the side of Peter's neck, Chip lives in the Griffin household for a short while before leaving, eventually landing a role on The Middle.
Seth MacFarlane
Karen "Heavy Flo" Griffin (voiced by ) is Peter's older sister, who first appears in "Peter's Sister". She is the paternal aunt of Meg, Chris and Stewie and sister-in-law of Lois. Karen is a professional wrestler.
Kate McKinnon
Carter Pewterschmidt (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is Lois' father, Babs' husband, Peter’s father-in-law and the maternal grandfather of Meg, Chris, and Stewie. He is a cruel and selfish 72-year-old old money billionaire industrialist, shipping mogul, and owner of several major companies. Though he generally despises Peter and disapproves of his marriage to Lois, he has occasionally teamed up with him to achieve some common purpose.
WASP
Barbara "Babs" Pewterschmidt ( Hebrewberg) (voiced by Alex Borstein) is Carter's wife, the mother of Lois, Carol, and Patrick, and the maternal grandmother of Meg, Chris and Stewie, and mother-in-law to Peter. She is in her 70s and is a Jewish American Holocaust survivor.
née
Carol Pewterschmidt-West (voiced by in the first appearance, Julie Hagerty in later appearances) is Lois' sister, Peter’s sister-in-law and the maternal aunt of Meg, Chris and Stewie. She has been married and divorced nine times. Due to all of her marriages and divorces, her full formal name is Carol Pewterschmidt-Johnson-Carrington-Stone-O'Craggity-Canseco-Shteinholtz-Washington-Proudfoot-Fong-West.
Carol Kane
Patrick Pewterschmidt (voiced by in the first appearance, Oliver Vaquer in the second appearance) is the 46-year-old elder brother of Lois and Carol and the maternal uncle of Meg, Chris and Stewie, and Peter's brother-in-law. His mother and father kept him secret from Lois as he was committed to a mental institution as a result of trauma from witnessing his mother having an affair with Jackie Gleason. After Peter unintentionally causes him to snap, he begins murdering fat men by strangling them and becomes known as "The Fat Guy Strangler". In the episode "Killer Queen", Patrick helps the Griffins track down an assailant who is trying to strangle Chris to death.
Robert Downey Jr.
Jasper (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) is Brian's stereotypical flamboyantly homosexual 4-year-old cousin. Brian stays with him in Hollywood in "". Jasper's partner is a Filipino man named Ricardo, whom he marries in "You May Now Kiss the... Uh... Guy Who Receives".
Brian Does Hollywood
Bertram (voiced by ) is the infant son of a gym teacher and her partner through artificial insemination. Bertram's biological father is Peter Griffin, and he holds a grudge against his half-brother Stewie. Bertram appears in "Emission Impossible", "Sibling Rivalry" and "The Big Bang Theory", the latter of which sees him traveling back in time to attempt to kill Stewie's ancestor, Leonardo da Vinci; although he succeeds, Stewie kills him and manages to save his own existence, as well as the entire universe (as Stewie became responsible for the Big Bang in the events of the episode).
Wallace Shawn
"" is the result of an egg donation Lois made in 1997. He had been abandoned by his birth mother. Stewie tracked him down in Boston and tried to bring him into the family, without success. Boston Stewie ends up being adopted by Mark Wahlberg's sisters. His real name is never given.
Boston Stewie
Dylan Flannigan (voiced by Seth Green) is Brian's human son. He first appears in "". His mother Tracy was devastated when Brian left her. After Brian apologizes to Dylan for not being there for him, Brian turns his son's life around, making him into a charming, polite young man. Dylan then decides to leave the Griffin house and change his mother like Brian changed him. In "Brian's a Bad Father", Dylan returns as the star of a Disney Channel show.
The Former Life of Brian
Biscuit is Brian's deceased mother who appears in a flashback of "". She was stuffed by her owners after her death. Brian would go on to give her a proper burial. Biscuit is also seen during a flashback in "Chris Cross".
Road to Rhode Island
Coco is Brian's deceased father who has never appeared on screen, but has been mentioned several times by Brian. According to Brian, Coco was racist towards African-Americans, and died after being run over by a milk truck.
Evelyn "Cookie" Brown (voiced by ) is Cleveland's mother and Cleveland Brown Jr.'s paternal grandmother. Her first appearance was in the episode "A Brown Thanksgiving". She deeply cares for her son and is prone to babying him, but also often stands by her husband. She is hypercritical of her new daughter-in-law Donna, having never forgiven her for spurning Cleveland in favor of Robert in high school, although Cleveland is quite oblivious to their rough relationship. In "Baby Stewie", Cookie is stated to have died of a heart attack.
Frances Callier
LeVar "Freight Train" Brown (voiced by ) is Cleveland's 63-year-old father, whose first appearance is in the episode "A Brown Thanksgiving". He tends to take his wife for granted and is often verbally and physically abusive to Cleveland; the latter is revealed to be because of the latter's ineptitude at a family game show when he was a kid, costing the Browns a victory.
Craig Robinson
Broderick Brown is Cleveland's brother and Cleveland Brown Jr.'s uncle who is a doctor who first appears in the episode He's Too Sexy for His Fat. In The Cleveland Show he appears in the episode "Our Gang", where it is revealed that he left his career as a plastic surgeon in Quahog to enlist in the navy, and he rescues Cleveland and Cleveland Jr. from a drug gang by trading Afghani heroin to the gang for their freedom.
Family Guy
Robert (voiced by ) is Donna's 42-year-old ex-husband and the biological father of Roberta and Rallo. At the start of the show, he had grown negligent of the statuses of his children, not even knowing their names or ages, which convinced Donna to accept Cleveland as her true love.
Corey Holcomb
Kevin "Auntie Momma" Tubbs (voiced by as a female and Kevin Michael Richardson as a male) is Donna's caring, lovable, eccentric aunt who is in her 60s. She is a large, fat woman whose appearance and mannerisms are a parody of Tyler Perry's character Madea. Auntie Momma was originally Donna's Uncle Kevin and when Donna was younger, her parents were never around. So Uncle Kevin creates the character of Auntie Momma in order to provide Donna with a strong female influence in her life.
Kym Whitley
Dorothy "Dee Dee" Tubbs (voiced by ) is Donna Tubbs' long-lost mother, Cleveland's mother-in-law, Cleveland Brown Jr.'s step grandmother, and Roberta and Rallo's grandmother. In the Season Three episode "Mama Drama", they are reunited once again, and she becomes a recurring character for the remainder of the series. In the last episode of Season 4, Dee Dee begins a relationship with Robert (her daughter's ex-husband), and they adopt a 5-year-old Chinese boy named Quang Quang. In the Season 14 episode Candy, Quahog, Marshmallow!, it is revealed Dee Dee committed suicide.
Phylicia Rashād
Quang Quang (later Hong-Kong-Phooey) is the 5-year-old adopted Chinese boy of Dee Dee and Robert. This would make him Donna's adopted brother, Cleveland's adopted brother-in-law, Cleveland Brown Jr.'s adopted step-uncle, and both the adopted brother and uncle of Roberta and Rallo, who Donna refers to as their "bruncle". Near the end of the episode, Quang Quang was with the new name Hong-Kong-Phooey by Reverend Jenkins.
christened
Doug (voiced by ) is a smug, condescending and insufferable toddler who lives in the Griffins' neighborhood and attends daycare with Stewie, with whom he shares a rivalry. He was first introduced in "Island Adventure", and in most of his appearances, he usually shows up for the sole purpose of insulting Stewie. In "LASIK Instinct", Doug is hit by Lois' car due to her waning vision, and the men of the Griffin household are tasked with looking after him in his father's absence. Doug eventually reveals that he was faking the list of demands, as his parents are neglectful to both him and each other, and he just wanted to have fun. Stewie agrees to be friends with him privately, so long as they agree to remain rivals in public. During a heart-to-heart in "80's Guy", Doug reveals that he mainly antagonizes Stewie because he's intimidated by his brilliance and envious of his hair. He later dies in a commuter plane crash in "The Candidate".
Chris Parnell
(voiced by Mike Henry) is an elderly pederast who is often referred to solely by his last name. He resides just down the street from the Griffin family and distributes Popsicle ice pops to small children in his basement. He has a particular interest in Chris; in the episode "Play It Again, Brian", Chris finally realizes this and asks Herbert, "Are you a pedophile?", to no onscreen answer. Also, in "Spies Reminiscent of Us", Stewie refers to a "pedophile who lives down the street" about which nobody is taking any action "because he's so funny", clearly talking about Herbert. He has a dog named Jesse, who is also very old and is unable to use his hind legs. He has a high-pitched, very soft effeminate voice and pronounces sibilant consonants with a high-pitched whistle. Herbert is often seen wearing a light blue robe and slippers, walks with a walker and frequently makes inappropriate, sexually tinged comments to teenage boys (in "Road to the North Pole", Herbert wants a little drummer boy for Christmas, while staring at a poster of Nick Jonas). It is revealed later on that he is the eldest member of the Skull and Bones secret society. He was also a corporal in the United States Army and a POW during World War II. Herbert plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars episodes. In "And Then There Were Fewer", he drove an ice cream truck which in past episodes he has used to lure little boys. In "Internal Affairs", Herbert's ice cream truck is hijacked and destroyed during one of Peter and the Giant Chicken's fighting rampages. In an interview, Henry stated that he based Herbert's voice on an old man he used to meet at a grocery store.[4] Before the character was used for the show, Mike would use the Herbert voice to motivate stalled writers at meetings. He also appeared in The Cleveland Show episode "It's the Great Pancake, Cleveland Brown" as Cleveland Jr.'s first house when he was trick or treating. In "Valentine's Day in Quahog", it is revealed that Herbert's first name is John and that he has a grandniece named Sandy.
John Herbert
Mr. Jonathan Weed (voiced by in the pilot pitch, Carlos Alazraqui in the TV series) is the owner of the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory, where Peter originally worked under his supervision. He spoke with a strong Spanish accent and was described as an "effeminate weirdo" by his employees. He disapproved of nearly all of Peter's actions, mainly because most of them were detrimental to the company, and fired or came close to firing Peter on multiple occasions. In "Mr. Saturday Knight", he is invited to the Griffins' house for dinner. He promotes Peter to head of toy development and minutes later chokes to death on a dinner roll after it was Heimlich maneuvered out of Brian's throat and into Mr. Weed's throat; the half-eaten dinner roll was actually taken into police custody. His video will describes how the factory will be replaced by a children's hospital starting "now", at which point the demolition machinery promptly starts tearing through the factory, endangering everyone present. His great-grandfather's surname was "Bermudagrass" but was changed to Weed at Ellis Island. In the episode "Lois Kills Stewie", Stewie tells Lois, before attempting to shoot her, "Say hello to Cleveland for me, Oh, and Mr. Weed".[7]
Butch Hartman
Tom Tucker (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), is the arrogant, baritone male at Channel 5. He was also an actor before moving to Quahog.
news anchor
Diane Simmons (voiced by ), is the station's 40-year-old former news co-anchor and talk show hostess. In "And Then There Were Fewer", Diane orchestrates a plot to murder James Woods and frame Tom Tucker for the crime; in the process, she murders Quagmire's date Stephanie, Woods' girlfriend Priscilla, Muriel Goldman, and Derek Wilcox. When Lois finds her out, she takes her hostage and attempts to kill her on a cliffside, but she is shot with a sniper rifle by Stewie, who wishes to kill Lois himself and falls to her death.
Lori Alan
Joyce Kinney (voiced by ), is the station's latest news co-anchor who was introduced in the episode "Excellence in Broadcasting" as a successor to the late Diane Simmons. She is 45 years old and went to the same high school as Lois, who pulled a prank on her in front of the entire school, and as revenge, years later, she broadcast a news story about Lois having starred in a pornographic film in an attempt to get the entire city of Quahog to shun her and her family. Her birth name was Joyce Chevapravatdumrong; she uses the surname Kinney in professional work.
Christine Lakin
Tricia Takanawa (voiced by ). Typically referred to as "Asian reporter Tricia Takanawa" by her colleagues, she speaks in a nasal monotone cadence that Borstein has described as "all presentation and no substance". She is confirmed as being Japanese in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.
Alex Borstein
Ollie Williams (voiced by ), is Channel 5's Blaccu-Weather Forecast meteorologist. Ollie Williams is a fast-talking African-American man who rarely speaks for more than about 1–3 seconds. His news reports are always rapidly spoken and loud. His hyperkinetic style was a result of alcoholism.[10] Ollie has only spoken for longer than a few seconds on two occasions, one in an episode where Ollie and Tom were talking about him stuck in a rainstorm with his umbrella blown away, and in "Lois Kills Stewie" where he recaps the previous episode, "Stewie Kills Lois".
Phil LaMarr
(d. 2012), who voiced Peter's adoptive father, Francis, Durning died after his character had already been killed off in the series,[15]
Charles Durning
(d. 2021), who voiced Death in his first appearance, as well as a cameo as himself in "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas".
Norm Macdonald
(d. 2022), who voiced Vinny during the three-episode arc of "Life of Brian", "Into Harmony's Way", and "Christmas Guy", as well as a cameo as himself in "Stewie, Chris & Brian's Excellent Adventure", and a second cameo as Vinny in "The Boys in the Band", Sirico died after his character had already been written out of the series.
Tony Sirico
Seven actors who voiced semi-regular Family Guy characters have died: