Gerald Martin Johanssen is a fictional character in the animated series Hey Arnold!. He's the titular character's best friend and sidekick, and was the show's token black kid (there are at least two other black kids, but Gerald has had a much bigger role than the rest). He was voiced by Jamil Walker Smith throughout the entire run of the series, even as Smith went through puberty (the voice change was explained away when "Gerald's Tonsils" were removed).

Note: Some minor plot details follow.

Gerald has known Arnold for years (if the scenes from "Eugene's Bike", "Helga on the Couch" and "The Journal" are of any indication). Besides being Arnold's sidekick, Gerald also has a good deal of knowledge of many legendary stories in the city, or "urban legends" as he calls them ("Stoop Kid" was the first he told, while "Ghost Bride" was the last). Also, until Arnold taught him, Gerald did not even know how to ride a bicycle ("Gerald's Secret").

At school, Gerald is the class president ("Cool Party", "Mr. Green Runs"), and considers himself very cool, and apparently, so do his friends. When it was revealed that Arnold was on Rhonda's so-called "Cool List", and that Gerald was on her other list known as "The Geek List" (due to a grudge Rhonda had against him over running for class president), many classmates were surprised to find this out ("Cool Party").

Not much is known about his family. What is known is:

• His father Martin (Rick Fitts ) worked in medical records during the Vietnam War ("Veterans Day"),
• His mother (Shari Belafonte ) works at the corner shop ("Helga's Makeover", "World Records"), and
• He has an older brother Jamie O (Ben Aaron Hoag in his first two appearances, Phil LaMarr in his last two appearances), who's on his school's wrestling team, and a younger sister in first grade Timberly (Avriel Epps ), neither of whom does he get along well with.

His most distinct features are his tall hair (classmate Helga often calls him "Tall Hair Boy"), and his shirt with the number 33 on it (he also wears 33 on sports uniforms).

Phoebe

In two first season episodes, "Operation Ruthless" and "Wheezin' Ed", Steve Viksten (the writer of both eps) seemed to be setting up a pairing between Gerald and fellow classmate Phoebe to parallel the Arnold/Helga pairing. However, there were no significant Gerald/Phoebe moments in the later seasons, except for the two being together at Rhonda's party in "Hey Harold!".

The 5th season ep "Gerald vs Jamie O" seemed most destined to be a significant Gerald/Phoebe ep, given that viewers had known for some time that its plot would concern Gerald falling in love with an older girl (Jazz Raycole ). However, when the story actually aired in the US (November 11, 2003), viewers who had been expecting any Gerald/Phoebe moments would have been disappointed, as Phoebe did not appear, nor was she even mentioned. Also, Gerald did not appear in "Phoebe's Little Problem" (US tx: June 8, 2004), where it seemed that besides Arnold and Helga (the latter had very limited screen time, and rather disappointing at that), he was the only person likely to get Phoebe to stand up for herself.