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Philip J. Fry, is a fictional character in the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama, and is the protagonist of the series. He is voiced by Billy West, who has based Fry's voice on his what his own voice sounded like when he was 25.

Creation
The name "Philip" was given to Fry by Matt Groening as a homage to the then recently murdered Phil Hartman, for whom the role of Zapp Brannigan was created. The "J" is akin to the "J" in Bullwinkle J. Moose, Rocket J. Squirrel, Hubert J. Farnsworth, Bart J. Simpson and Homer J. Simpson, in tribute to Jay Ward, creator of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

According to Groening, Fry's character developed over time while still keeping his qualities as a loser and the characteristics which writers hoped would make him appeal to the target young male audience. Fry's character is essentially a bungling, stubborn slob with a heart of gold that cannot get ahead in the world, yet he does have a slight glimmer of hope. Fry's clothing of a red windbreaker jacket, white t-shirt and blue jeans is based on James Dean's outfit from ''Rebel without a Cause.

Fry is voiced by Billy West, who also voices Doctor Zoidberg, Hubert J. Farnsworth and various other characters in the show. Although West auditioned for the part it was originally given to Charlie Schlatter; however, after a casting change he was offered the job. The voice West uses for Fry has been described as that of a "generic Saturday-morning good guy". West admits that he intentionally made Fry sound similar to his own real voice claiming that keeping the "cartoony" aspects out of it would make it harder for someone else to imitate the same voice. He notes that the voice is higher than his own and that he tried to duplicate the voice he had at age 25 which he describes as "this whiny, complaining voice — this plain vanilla voice". West also voices Lars Fillmore in Futurama: Bender's Big Score, who is a time travel duplicate of Fry with an injured larynx, and therefore, a slightly altered voice. The producers initially considered having a different voice actor do Lars' voice in order to keep viewers from guessing his true identity, but ultimately decided it would not make sense if anyone besides West did the voice.

Character development
Born in 1974, Fry is an average, thoroughly unremarkable loser in his mid 20s. He is a pizza delivery boy who, during the first few seconds of the year 2000, fell into a cryonic freezing tank while delivering a pizza to Applied Cryogenics. He remains frozen for 1,000 years, finally thawing out on the last day of the year 2999, where he meets the one-eyed career officer Turanga Leela, and a cigar smoking, booze fueled, kleptomaniac robot Bender. Together, they are employed by Fry's distant nephew, the senile and demented old scientist Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth, as the crew of his delivery company Planet Express. In the past Fry has: an older brother, Yancy, a dog, Seymour, and a girlfriend Michelle who dumped him in the first episode "Space Pilot 3000", just before he was frozen. His increasing knowledge of the future also allows him to serve as an audience surrogate as he needs many new concepts explained to him. He also seems interested in the song "Walking on Sunshine" as he is seen singing it throughout the series.

Fry was born in New York City on August 9, 1974, and was named for the Phillips head screwdriver. He has an older brother named Yancy, with whom he has a lifelong sibling rivalry, due to Fry's perception that Yancy steals everything from him and vice versa. In high school, he claims to have suffered three heart attacks from drinking 100 cans of cola each week. After dropping out of Coney Island Community College, he took a three-year break and watched television continuously, knowing someday it would help him to save the world (and because he would lose his worker's compensation if he went outside). He then got a job as a delivery boy at Panucci's Pizza.

Due to a series of misadventures and events involving an unintentional trip into the past, Fry ends up becoming his own grandfather by accidentally causing his grandfather's death in an atomic explosion and, later that same day, impregnating his own grandmother.

Personality
Characterized as simple, sweet, naïve and immature, Fry regards Bender as his closest friend, despite Bender's violent criminal tendencies. He also has strong feelings for Leela, (to whom he was married and then divorced due to time skips) although he lacks the intelligence required for articulating his emotions; thus, his love remains (sometimes coldly) unrequited, though not entirely without hope. She does occasionally return his interest throughout the series, and in the movie 'Into the Wild Green Yonder', she admits to loving him back. At the end of that film, they are seen sharing a kiss as they enter a wormhole, and subsequently begin dating. Despite his low intelligence, Fry is a very caring and kind hearted person who often goes out of his way to help his friends, even if he is sometimes oblivious to their problems. He tolerates all of his friends' quirks and is notable as the only staff member to treat Doctor Zoidberg decently. Although at times lacking in self-awareness, Fry always tries to do the right thing and fix his mistakes.

In the episode "The Why of Fry", Leela's seemingly oblivious pet Nibbler reveals himself as the reason for Fry's cryogenic freezing; because of Fry's uniquely inferior mental characteristics (he lacks the Delta brainwave, the cause of his stupidity and the result of being his own grandfather) he can withstand the intellect-draining onslaught of the evil Brainspawn, is immune to the Dark One's mind reading in Into The Wild Green Yonder, and causing attached brainslugs to starve to death. Nibbler's race, the Nibblonians, dub him "The Mighty One". Through prediction (on the eve of 1999, as the Nibblonians lack the ability to travel through time), they guessed that Fry would be the one to save the world from the evil Brainspawn; since his natural lifespan would not extend to the right millennium, however, Nibbler is sent to make the aforementioned delivery call to push an unsuspecting Fry into the cryogenic tube, to re-emerge December 31, 2999. His lack of the Delta brainwave later proved to prevent his mind from being read telepathically (which in itself can be considered a joke implying that he does not think at all).

In the season two episode War is the H-word Fry and Bender, in order to get a discount on gum, enlist in the Earth Army. Just as they sign up, war is declared. Fry and Bender go off and fight in the war against the sentient balls of the planet Spheron I. During the fighting Bender becomes a war hero by jumping on a bomb and Fry is punished for cowardice.