TV SERIES · 1996– · USA
Hey Arnold!
27 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
27 Interesting Facts About Hey Arnold!
Interesting Facts (21)
- #001
This was the first animated series on Nickelodeon to use real children as voice actors.
- #002
The series began as a set of claymation short films by Craig Bartlett, one of which aired on Susam Sokağı (1969). It also briefly began as a Simpsons-style comic strip series.
- #003
The series was initially supposed to end with three half-hour episodes. These episodes became Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002).
- #004
Except for the character Brainy, who was voiced by the series creator Craig Bartlett, all the children were voiced by child actors between the ages of nine and fifteen.
- #005
The series creator Craig Bartlett is the brother-in-law of Matt Groening, the creator of Simpsonlar (1989). In fact, Dan Castellaneta, who voiced Homer Simpson in The Simpsons (1989), also voiced Arnold's grandfather, and Gerald's hair even resembled Marge Simpson's.
- #006
There is a DJ named "Nocturnal Ned" working at MJZZ, a radio station in Arnold's hometown. Nocturnal Ned is actually a caricature of Hey Arnold! (1996) creator Craig Bartlett, who also voiced him in various episodes.
- #007
According to the series' creators, Arnold's teacher Mr. Simmons is gay.
- #008
When Stinky Petersen (Christopher Walberg) starts recording television commercials, the studio has a door reading "Snee-Oosh Studios". This is the real name of the studio that worked on the series.
- #009
Oskar Kokoschka's name was taken directly from an early twentieth-century Viennese painter, although their personalities are completely opposite.
- #010
Among animated children's programs, it is considered unique because its music consists mostly of instrumental jazz. Series composer Jim Lang said the show's music was inspired by jazz greats such as Kenny Burrell and Thelonious Monk.
- #011
The design of Arnold's cousin Arnie was inspired by a joke people make when they receive bad animation from another studio.
- #012
After Nickelodeon greenlit the pilot, it was shown in theaters as a short film before Nickelodeon's first movie, Harriet the Spy (1996). It was titled "Arnold" and was reworked as an episode of the series with almost the same premise.
- #013
Season 1 was animated at three different animation studios before production moved to the Korean studio Saerom Animation Inc. starting with season 2. Because of this, most episodes in season 1 have a noticeably more primitive animation style than the later ones.
- #014
Many stores in the city were named after the city's writers and directors, such as Viksten's Pharmacy and others.
- #015
Steve Viksten based the voice of Oskar Kokoshka on his impression of Gabor Csupo.
- #016
Arnold has five hairs on the left side of his head and only four on the right.
- #017
Starting with season 2, Mr. Simmons replaced Arnold's teacher Miss Slovak. As Principal Wartz briefly discusses, this was because Miss Slovak decided to play golf to make a living.
- #018
Ruth's hair color was originally planned to be dark blonde, but because it looked too similar to Arnold's hair, it was given a dark red/brownish color.
- #019
Many people wondered whether Arnold wore a skirt under his sweater, but it is actually a plaid shirt.
- #020
The episodes were completed in 2001, but because of the animation process for Hey Arnold! The Movie (2002), a small portion of them remained unaired throughout 2002-2004.
- #021
In the eighteenth episode of the first season, one of the records in Arnold's book, "False Alarm/World Records," was broken by a fictional person named Frannie Caudell. Helga G. Pataki's voice was Francesca Marie Smith, while Arnold Shortman's voice at the time was Toran Caudell.
Production Story (2)
- #022
When Jamil Walker Smith, the voice of Gerald, went through puberty, Nickelodeon's casting team could not find a younger voice actor to replace him. Instead, they let him continue voicing Gerald by pitching his voice up in post-production so that he sounded like his younger self.
- #023
A spin-off sequel titled "The Patakis" was planned, focusing on the lives of Helga and her family. The characters were to be depicted as teenagers and it was to air in the Nick at Nite block. It was cancelled after Nickelodeon decided it would be too dark a show for its genre. Craig Bartlett later tried to pitch it to MTV, but they also rejected it because they thought it was too similar to their own series Daria (1997).
Easter Eggs & References (3)
- #024
Ruth P. McDougal was actually Arnold's love interest, and whenever Arnold mentioned her, Gerald kept telling him the situation was hopeless because she was a sixth grader. However, with the introduction of Lila, Ruth was gradually phased out. After the Valentine's Day special, her character was reduced to a non-speaking role and she mostly appeared in the background with the others.
- #025
After the controversial episode "Arnold Betrays Iggy" first aired, reruns of the episode were banned and the character Iggy was reduced to a background role; he barely spoke in later episodes because of the amount of hate the character received from the series' fans. At one point a false rumor even spread online that series creator Craig Bartlett went so far as to apologize to the fan base on behalf of the other writers for making Iggy's character so pointless. Fortunately, this was the only time an episode of the series received such a backlash.
- #026
The character Eugene Horowitz is a reference to Martin Short's character Eugene Proctor in the 1991 film Pure Luck. Like Short's character, Eugene is good-hearted and always optimistic, but extremely prone to bad luck.
Life & Family (1)
- #027
Arnold's last name is Shortman. Throughout the series this was played with as a joke through his grandfather calling him "short man", but it was finally confirmed to be his last name in The Jungle Movie.
Related pages
- Vincent Schiavelli — Hey Arnold! comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work