Judy Hopps

**Officer Judith Laverne** "**Judy**" **Hopps**[2] is a female rabbit and the protagonist of *Zootopia*. She is the daughter of Bonnie and Stu Hopps and is a member of the Hopps family.

## Background

### Official Bio

*Judy Hopps is the first bunny ever to join Zootopia's police department. Determined to prove herself, Judy jumps at the chance to crack a case, even if it means teaming up with a con artist fox.*[3]
### Personality

“*In Hopps' animation, we tried to celebrate both her rabbitness and her female nature. She's a tough bunny, but she's still feminine. She's sweet, but she's not weak. And when she's on high alert, her natural rabbit instincts take over - ears and nose twitching, foot thumping.*”
―Kira Lehtomäki
Judy is fiercely optimistic and independent. Since childhood, she had harbored a dream to become a police officer, solely for the opportunity to help those in need and make the world a better place. She cares deeply for the well-being of others, and would be more than happy to offer a helping hand to them; this includes her family, friends, Mrs. Otterton's despair over the disappearance of her husband, and even Nick Wilde. She has a large heart, and although she tends to keep her emotions under control—and even under wraps—a majority of the time, she is capable of expressing her true feelings in a genuine, powerful light. This is mostly seen with Nick, whose feelings and companionship she values highly, motivating her to prevent her own ambitions from harming others.

Due to being a rabbit, a species unassociated with such a high-stakes occupation, Judy faced continuous doubt and underestimation from those around her, from her parents to local bullies. Nevertheless, she used her opposers as a means to increase her determination and became progressively more insistent on reaching her goals than ever before with each naysayer; she believed in the importance of always trying and making an effort to reach your goals, no matter what. Her goal was to eventually become a resident and local officer of Zootopia, a city where predator and prey supposedly live together in peace and harmony (unlike the burrows), believing she will be quickly accepted amongst her peers and neighbors in spite of her species. Unfortunately, she was too idealistic for her own good in this regard. She found herself unprepared to face the negative aspects that lie within the city upon her first residential day, leaving her to fall victim to bigotry, stereotype, and manipulation.

However, her optimism and determination to be a police officer tends to lead her to be, at times, overzealous, overconfident, and impulsive. As a parking enforcement officer, she gave 201 tickets to anyone whose cars had been in a parking meter too long (including herself) before noon just to show up Chief Bogo's doubts about her, arrested Duke Weaselton for stealing (even though parking enforcement officers cannot arrest someone, which was disclosed from a furious Bogo), and had nearly gotten herself killed on multiple occasions during her first case.

Despite the odds, Judy remains optimistic and determined, adapting herself to the environment of Zootopia and those around her to build up both the way she presents herself and pursue her goals. She is clever, kind, and resourceful, which proves to be her greatest asset. She tarnishes the stereotype of a "dumb bunny", being intelligent enough to outsmart professional con artist, Nick Wilde, several times. Months of training at the Zootopia Police Academy has also left her tactical, with an impressive amount of physical prowess. During times of chaos, she can quickly take charge of a situation by concocting an efficient plan on the spot, being daring enough to take dangerous chances, in order to potentially end the day victorious. More often than not, Judy comes out successful as a result of this.

From childhood, Judy has held the belief that predators and prey should be treated equally and made attempts to refrain from acting on bigotry herself. However, due to her childhood experiences, having been bullied by a fox, Judy has a mild fear of predators (mainly foxes), whether she wanted to admit it or not; so much so that it manifests as unintentional prejudice itself. After being pestered into taking a canister of fox repellent during her move from Bunnyburrow to Zootopia, Judy made the conscious decision to keep the canister by her side for a majority of the film. When she first spotted Nick snooping about the streets, she immediately assumed him to be in the midst of a scam, following and nearly assaulting him with the canister all due to the fact that he was a fox. When it appears that Nick was merely an innocent civilian looking to buy ice cream for his son, she felt ashamed of her bigotry, which caused her to overcompensate in hopes of redeeming herself, wanting to be progressive and unbiased while hypocritically claiming others to be otherwise; this would ultimately make her a pawn to Nick's scams, in the end, while simultaneously teaching her a valuable lesson reflecting both life, and herself.

The events of Judy's first few months in Zootopia would ultimately blossom a more mature, practical, diligent, and legitimately progressive individual. Through her experiences, she discovers the downside of having an overly idealistic mentality carry you through life, and that the world can be a problematic place, filled with issues such as prejudice and stereotype, learning that all mammals—be they predator or prey, foxes or rabbits—can be victims of bigotry, even when it is unintentional. No matter the species, all animals having feelings, hopes, and dreams, all of which can be destroyed by preconceived notions and constant underestimation. As such, all should strive to live and accept one another for who they are inside, and not the stereotypes they have been labeled as by society. Even with this new outlook on life, Judy would still contend to the method of trying. Using her success and experiences as proof, she implores those around her to make an effort to see beyond stereotypes, to prove your worth and reach your goals in spite of all that may go against you, with the belief that these positive actions can ultimately lead to a better world, becoming the physical representation of Zootopia's meaningful motto "anyone can be anything."

## Physical Appearance

Judy is a young rabbit with a lithe build and round face. She is covered in gray fur with a lighter shade on her underbelly up to her muzzle and on her paws. She has large purple eyes, a pink nose and ears, and long ears with black tips.

Judy owns three police uniforms: Her uniform during her graduation, her parking enforcement officer uniform, and her rookie uniform. The initial uniform worn at the graduation was navy blue with sleeves, a high collar, and pants with a gold chain and sewn ZPD patches on her shoulders. She also had a darker tie and a belt filled with various paraphernalia. After Nick graduated into a police officer, the uniform became her official ZPD outfit.

Her rookie uniform consisted of dark blue pants, a blue shirt, a Kevlar vest, and black coverings around her wrists and ankles. She also had metal knee pads on her pants and a black Kevlar belt with a silver buckle. The uniform is made of neoprene, allowing Judy to work in different types of weather. Judy's parking enforcement officer outfit was worn over the aforementioned outfit and consisted of only an orange vest with neon yellow lines and a blue hat with a blue band that contained the parking enforcement officer emblem on it.

When working as a carrot farmer, Judy wore a red-striped pink flannel shirt with rolled up sleeves and blue jeans and wore a beige sun hat.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Judy joins the NYPD despite being a rabbit. She is determined to show that she has potential of being a police officer.

## Trivia

### Development

* According to early information released, Judy was originally going to be the deuteragonist, with Nick as the protagonist. She was also going to be a lieutenant at one point.
* Her voice actress Ginnifer Goodwin finished recording her voice on September 11, 2015.

### General

* Byron Howard confirmed that the similarities between Judy's name and the character Officer Judy Hoffs from *21 Jump Street* was an unintentional coincidence.[4]
* She does not like to be called "cute" by other animals other than her own species.
* In the teaser trailer, Judy is shown to be armed with a high-powered dart pistol that fires darts of "elephant tranquilizer," and uses one of these darts to subdue Nick Wilde, who is hiding off-screen. However, in the actual movie, Judy carries no such weapon, and in fact, despite being a police officer, seems to spend the entire movie completely unarmed, unless one counts the small spray can of "fox repellent" given to her by her parents or the carrot pen to record conversations.
* Nick Wilde often calls her "Carrots."
* Judy's nose twitches when she is scared, as stated by Travis, and her ears droop when she is sad, as stated by her parents.
* She is the godmother to Fru Fru's expected daughter, who will be named after her.
* She is very good at math, and jokes that rabbits are excellent at multiplying, a reference to how quickly rabbits are known to breed (reflected in her own family, since Stu and Bonnie Hopps have 276 children).
* She is 24 years old during the main events of the movie. (The movie fast-forwards 15 years to her Police Academy tenure, and she mentions before leaving for Zootopia that the incident with Gideon Greyoccurred when she was 9 years old).
* Judy's eye color is purple because it adds some color to the dull coloration of her grey fur. Purple was chosen to represent her energetic and optimistic personality.
* Judy's upper lip is not split, unlike rabbits in real life.[5]
* Judy's cellular provider for her phone is PB&J; this is a reference to AT&T.
* Judy uses a glass bottle to magnify the photo in the Emmitt Otterton case, almost the same way as Wreck-It Ralph in *Wreck-It Ralph*.
* Judy and Nick's relationship is similar to Rapunzel and Flynn Rider's relationship from Disney's *Tangled*.
* Of all the bunnies from the Hopps family shown in the film and other material, Judy is the only one with black-tipped ears.
* When recording Judy's apology to Nick, her voice actress, Ginnifer Goodwin, was actually in tears.