Garfield: Every Actor Who Has Played Jon

Summary Voice casting for Jon in Garfield adaptations sparks debates, but Jon's character adds flavor to the projects.

Various actors, such as Huge, Kenyon, Meyer, and Wingert, have portrayed Jon Arbuckle in different Garfield adaptations.

Nicholas Hoult takes on the role of Jon in The Garfield Movie, following a long line of actors who have brought the character to life.

Over the years of Garfield’s existence, the character of Jon has gone through multiple iterations. First appearing in the Garfield comic strip, Jon Arbuckle is the bumbling owner of the titular cat. Throughout the series, Jon moans and groans as his lasagna-loving, lazy feline gets into various antics, all the while adoring the cat despite himself. In adaptations, Jon has gotten screen time through multiple projects. His appearances began in a 1980 episode of The Fantastic Funnies, which marked the first television appearance of Garfield. As in the case of the cat protagonist, Jon continued to appear in Garfield specials throughout the 1980s and in television series such as Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show.

In these various Garfield interpretations, the typically most-discussed element of the project is who voices Garfield. The recent casting of Chris Pratt in The Garfield Movie sparked particular debate, with many criticizing his voice and its likeness to the voice that the actor previously used to play Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Though the Garfield voice in this and any Garfield voice is certainly important, Jon’s actor also provides a useful flavor to any Garfield project, and many actors have contributed their talents to this role both in animation and live-action.

Related Every Actor Who Has Voiced Garfield Since Garfield was created by cartoonist Jim Davis, the grumpy orange cat has starred in a wide range of films & TV specials voiced by several actors.

5 Thom Huge

1980–1994

A 1980 episode of The Fantastic Funnies saw the on-screen animated debut of Garfield and Jon, with Huge in the Jon role. This episode arrived two years after the July 1978 comic debut of Garfield, thus the Fantastic Funnies episode helped introduce Garfield and Jon to a wider audience.

Voicing Jon Arbuckle has been the defining aspect of Huge’s career. Following his Fantastic Funnies debut, Huge went on to star in multiple Garfield specials throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. This began with the second Garfield special, Garfield on the Town in 1983, and concluded with the 1991 special Garfield Gets a Life. He later portrayed the role in all 122 episodes of Garfield and Friends, for which he also served as an executive producer. Overall, Huge played Jon for longer than any other actor.

4 Sandy Kenyon

1982

Though Huge has the honor of debuting Jon Arbuckle, it was Kenyon who actually became the first actor to voice the character in an official Garfield special. This special was 1982’s Here Comes Garfield, which was a 24-minute-long special that sees Jon navigating the relationship between Garfield and Odie as his pets bicker like siblings.

Born in 1922, Kenyon had been a TV actor for over three decades already. His credits began in 1950 when he made appearances in two episodes of the TV series Cameo Theatre. His most prominent roles include parts in the movie Down on Us and in the 1960s TV shows The Fugitive and That Girl. Here Comes Garfield was his only appearance in the franchise, and he went on to act in series such as Knots Landing and War and Remembrance before passing away in 2010.

3 Breckin Meyer

2004–2006

After the 1994 conclusion of Garfield and Friends, Garfield adaptations lay dormant for a few years. Then, a decade later came the debut of Garfield in live-action. This time, Jon Arbuckle was played by Meyer, who played the human cat owner in person opposite a CG-animated version of Garfield voiced by Bill Murray. Meyer made his Garfield debut in 2004 with Garfield: The Movie and reprised the role in the 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.

Prior to playing Jon, Meyer starred in the road trip comedies Rat Race and the aptly-titled Road Trip. His breakout role came in 1995, at 21 years old, when he played Travis in the hit ‘90s film Clueless. Following his The Garfield Movie and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties roles, Meyer has gone on to have roles in TV series such as The Fix, SuperMansion, and Good Girls. He is also a regular voice actor in the animated variety series Robot Chicken, wherein he voices notable pop culture icons such as Superman, Lindsay Lohan, and Jesus Christ.

2 Wally Wingert

2007–2016

Wingert began voicing Jon in the direct-to-video animated film Garfield Gets Real in 2007. His performance was well-received enough that he went on to reprise his Jon role in two additional Garfield animated features, 2008’s Garfield’s Fun Fest and 2009’s Garfield’s Pet Force. A few months later, he reprised his role as Jon for a seven-year stint on Cartoon Network’s (and later Boomerang’s) The Garfield Show.

Prior to his Garfield appearances, Wingert has been a working voice actor since 1990, getting his start in video games. Prior to The Garfield Show, his most notable roles include voicing Rufus in the video game Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as well as The Riddler in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Wingert is still an active voice actor today, and his recent projects include an appearance as The Riddler in the 2024 video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the 2023 game Starfield.

1 Nicholas Hoult

2024

The Garfield Movie is the first theatrically-released, feature-length Garfield film to grace the big screen. Opposite the controversially-cast Pratt comes Hoult in the role of Jon Arbuckle. Unlike many of his Jon predecessors, Hoult is a far more mainstream actor who has been in a number of notable live-action films prior to acting in The Garfield Movie. He got his start as a child actor, adorably playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, when he was 13 years old.

Hoult broke into the mainstream to play Beast in the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class. Since then, Hoult’s career has been lively both in the mainstream action circuit and in independent films. Hoult played Nux in the acclaimed George Miller film Mad Max: Fury Road, as well as Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer. On the art film circuit, Hoult has had roles in movies such as The Favourite and The Menu. Though The Garfield Movie is not Hoult’s first-ever voice acting role, he is newer to the genre.

Thus, Hoult’s Jon Arbuckle role will be a good chance to see (or rather, hear) how the actor takes on this new challenge. So far, The Garfield Movie is critically panned, with a 37% Rotten Tomatoes score. As Hoult and Pratt provide their vocal talents for the animated film, they do so after following a long line of Garfield and Jon. With actors like Huge and Wingert on the list, Hoult has many tough acts to follow.