Updated on December 10, 2021
This week’s minorities in cartoons entry is Ramone, a supporting character on the PBS Kids’ cartoon series “Peg + Cat.”
Background
The series focuses on the various adventures of a young girl named Peg and her pat cat named, well, Cat. Each episode sees the two try to solve some type of problem (herding 100 baby chicks, getting teenagers to help wash farm animals, etc.). The use of basic math skills solves the problem at hand. It’s always followed by… a song about the problem being solved.
Ramone is one of the show’s supporting characters. He’s often seen doing activities that suggest he’s quite the renaissance man, er, kid: building inventions; playing music; flying his own spacecraft; etc. Ramone will usually give Peg and Cat a math-related hint on how to solve the problem in question.
In-universe, Ramone’s widely beloved by everyone. He’s popular enough that he’s the subject of a Broadway musical titled “I Do What I Can,” after his catchphrase.
Voice actor
Ramone is voiced by Thamela Mpumlwana, a child actor whose only other animation voice credit as of this writing is a role on “Arthur.” He’s also appeared in a live-action role. In 2013’s “The Warrior and the Savior,” Mpumlwana plays a South African orphan who moves to the United States.
(Updated 11/21/16)
