Voice Actor of Goofy Denies Beloved Character Is a Dog

Voice Actor of Goofy Says Beloved Character Is Not a Dog

By Shiori Chen on August 9, 2024

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If there’s anything we know about Mickey Mouse and his friends, it’s that Mickey is a mouse, Donald is a duck, and Goofy is a dog…or so we thought. According to Bill Farmer, Goofy’s voice actor of 37 years, Goofy is not actually a dog. During an interview with Yahoo Entertainment in 2020, Farmer confidently stated that Goofy is simply Goofy.

“He is not a dog,” Farmer told the media outlet. “Pluto is a dog, but Goofy seems to be in the canine family in the same way that a wolf is not a dog, but they also are in the canine family. I think Canis Goofus is the technical Latin term for what Goofy is. He’s just Goofy.”

As a child, Goofy was Farmer’s favorite character while watching Disney animated shorts like Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour. However, it never occurred to Farmer that he would eventually become the voice of the iconic cartoon character. Passionate about voice impressions, the actor made his way to Los Angeles after a brief stand-up comedy career. Confident in his Mickey Mouse impression, which he had mastered in his childhood, Farmer auditioned for Disney.

“I can’t do Donald Duck very well. But Goofy was right in the wheelhouse,” Farmer said.

Since 1987, Farmer has been Goofy’s official voice with his initial debut in a TV special called Doggone Valentine. According to Farmer, it was Goof Troop, a series from 1992, that really helped him develop his character and become Goofy. In Goof Troop, Goofy is portrayed as a learning, single father of a son named Max. Farmer explained that through his acting, he explored his own relationship with his young son.

“My son at the time was around 5 years old, so I was substituting in my mind my son so I could have that father-son relationship and it became real,” explained the voice actor.

In 2009, Farmer was made a Disney Legend. As of 2024, he continues to voice Goofy. His most recent roles include Once Upon a Studio, a short film where he provided lines for both Goofy and Pluto, and the video game Disney Speedstorm as Goofy.