Peter Griffin

Peter is a middle-aged blue-collar worker. His age is never fixed, though he is usually described as being in his early to mid forties. He was raised by Thelma Griffin and her husband Francis, whom he long believed to be his father. In "Peter's Two Dads" he learns that Mickey McFinnigan, an Irishman, is his biological father. His first regular job was as a safety inspector at a toy factory, which ended when his boss choked to death at dinner. He then fished from his own boat until it was destroyed, and now works in shipping at the Pawtucket Patriot brewery. He was briefly a New England Patriots player in "Patriot Games" before being thrown off the team. A running gag interrupts storylines with drawn-out battles against Ernie the Giant Chicken, a recurring enemy.

Peter spends much of his time at The Drunken Clam, a local bar, with his neighbours Cleveland Brown, Joe Swanson and Glenn Quagmire. In "Petarded" an IQ test places his score at about 70, and he is formally declared intellectually disabled. He acts on impulse, copies the lifestyle of anyone who catches his interest, and is jealous of any rival for Lois's attention. His attention span is short. His relationship with Meg is mostly neglectful, and he has mocked her regularly since the sixth season, though some episodes show affection. He gets on better with Stewie, if usually one-sidedly, and communicates well with Chris while offering him poor advice. Brian is his best friend, and in earlier seasons acted as his voice of reason.

MacFarlane first conceived the series in 1995 as an animation student at the Rhode Island School of Design. His thesis film, The Life of Larry, was passed to Hanna-Barbera by a professor and led to a job there. A 1996 sequel, Larry & Steve, aired on Cartoon Network in 1997 as one of its World Premiere Toons. Fox executives saw the shorts and commissioned a series, asking for a 15-minute pilot on a budget of $50,000. During development, Larry and his dog Steve gradually became Peter and Brian, and Peter's appearance is a redesign of Larry. MacFarlane has said that Mickey McFinnigan, Peter's biological father, draws on the New England Irish Catholic friends of his own father.

Seth MacFarlane voices Peter, as well as Brian, Stewie, Quagmire, Tom Tucker, Carter Pewterschmidt and Dr Hartman among others. He has played Peter since the pilot. He chose to voice the character himself because he already had the sound in his head and felt it would be harder for anyone else to match it. The voice was inspired by security guards he overheard while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design. MacFarlane has described Peter's voice as one of the hardest he performs. On a few occasions others have voiced Peter. Patrick Stewart did so in a cutscene in "No Meals on Wheels" and Seth Rogen in "Family Gay". Jamison Yang voiced him in a Japanese-set scene in "Road to the Multiverse", and John Viener in an alternate timeline in "Friends of Peter G".

Critics initially praised Peter, but later reception was more mixed, with criticism of his cruder behaviour and of his resemblance to Homer Simpson. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly and Robin Pierson of The TV Critic both compared him unfavourably to Homer. IGN placed Peter third in its list of the top 25 Family Guy characters, and Entertainment Weekly included him among its 18 bad television fathers. MacFarlane has been nominated several times for a Primetime Emmy for voice-over performance for Peter and other characters, winning in 2016. He was also nominated for an Annie Award in 2008. A 2005 barbershop-quartet sequence about AIDS drew protests from AIDS service organisations. A parody song in "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" prompted an unsuccessful copyright lawsuit from Bourne Co. in 2007.