The Proud Family - Definition

The Proud Family is an animated television show about an African-American family; it is geared towards pre-teens and teenagers. Originally piloted for Nickelodeon, it was eventually picked up by the Disney Channel in 2000. The show was created by Bruce W. Smith, and is produced by his studio, Jambalaya Studios.

While basically a sitcom, The Proud Family presents young audiences with different daily situations that many teenagers might have to face during their teenage and adult years.

Characters

• Penny Proud - A fourteen-year-old teenage girl who loves her family, but often feels embarrassed by the way they act.
• Oscar Proud - Penny's father, a born loser and an aspiring snack food salesman who overprotects his daughter.
• Trudy Proud - Penny's crazy, loving and moral-teaching mother who is both respectful of others and fun-loving and fashion-conscious. She is a veterinarian.
• Suga Mama - Penny's grandmother, a crotchety yet oddly youthful old woman who dotes on her granddaughter and her poodle, but hates her son Oscar.
• Bobby Proud - Penny's deadbeat uncle, who always speaks in singsong and dresses in outfits from the 1970s.
• Bee Bee Proud - Penny's three-year old baby brother, half of a twin couple.
• Cee Cee Proud - Penny's three-year old baby sister, the other half of the twins.
• Dijonay Jones - Penny's best friend.
• Zoey - Penny's geek friend. (She was eighteen years old in the first season; later, she was converted back to fourteen years old)
• LaCienega Boulevardez- Penny's fair weather-friend who enjoys a popularity run.
• Papi-- La Cienega's grandfather. He looks like an aged Cesar Romero, speaks only Spanish, and often utters a high deranged laugh patterned after Romero's Joker. Suga Mama constantly tries to hit on Papi, but since she does not understand Spanish, she never realizes that Papi constantly insults her.
• Sticky Webb - Penny's friend who likes acting cool. Dijonay has a major crush on him.
• The Gross Sisters - Three ashy girls (their skin color is drawn as blue in the series) who like bullying everyone around but have a good heart deep inside.
• Wizard Kelly - "It all started with a little orange basketball." Based upon both Magic Johnson (wealthy, entrepeneurial, and eclectic) and Dennis Rodman (arrogant), Kelly has a talented finger in every pie. Every building, business, and company in the Prouds' world bears The Wizard's name. He is a millionare pro basketball player. His son, Wizard Kelly, Jr., attends the same school as Penny and her friends.

Voice Cast

• Kyla Pratt as Penny Proud
• Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud
• Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud
• Jo Marie Payton as Suga Mama Proud
• Tara Strong as Bee Bee and Cee Cee Proud, and Puff the Dog
• Karen Malina White as Dijonay
• Orlando Brown as Sticky
• Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey
• Alisa Reyes as LaCienega
• Cedric the Entertainer as Bobby Proud
• Raquel Lee as the Gross Sisters

Trivia

• Creator Bruce W. Smith, a former Disney animator and one of the few African-American animators in the industry, was also the director of the 1993 film Bébé's Kids.
• Executive producer Ralph Farquhar also served the in the same capacity on the UPN sitcoms Moesha and The Parkers (which he co-created).
• Bee Bee and Cee Cee Proud were named after gospel music performers BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.
• Nearly every episode of The Proud Family features a celebrity guest voice. Celebrities who have voiced characters on the show include Samuel L. Jackson, Vivica A. Fox, Mariah Carey, and Ashanti, among others. Kobe Bryant, Kurt 'Big Boy' Alexander, Lil' Romeo, Alicia Keys, and Al Roker have appeared on the show as themselves.
• Many of the later episodes of The Proud Family were produced using Macromedia Flash.
• The school that Penny and her friends go to is named for auto racing driver Willy T. Ribbs.