Judy Hopps

"We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means--hey, glass half full!--we all have a lot in common.  And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be.  But we have to try."

- Judy Hopps

Officer Judy Hopps is the protagonist of the 2016 Disney animated feature film Zootopia.

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."

Development
For a majority of the film's production, Judy was not the protagonist of the story. Instead, the film was centered around Nick Wilde, while Judy served as a sidekick, and an already established member of the Zootopia Police Department, assisting Wilde in clearing his name after being framed for a crime he did not commit. She was also going to be a lieutenant and the police force's best cop.

A little over a year before the film's set release date, Byron Howard, and the rest of the production team crucially revamped the story so that it was Judy in which whom the audience would follow. The reason being that the story centered around bias, and how prejudice plagues the city, despite its wondrous exterior. To Nick, the city was broken from the beginning, and following the story through the eyes of a cynic would degrade both the message and the city, itself. With Judy being optimistic and starry-eyed, the story and themes made much more sense, with Hopps' struggle to insert herself within the harsh world of reality serving as an important, and emotional story.

Voice
Longtime Disney fan, Ginnifer Goodwin, recalls receiving notifications about the role of a character in Zootopia during shooting of ABC's Once Upon a Time in Vancouver. Before even receiving information about the role or the script, Goodwin's love for Disney lead to answering the offer with a resounding "yes", wanting to save the rest of the information for after her inclusion was legally blinded.

Personality
A rabbit with high optimism, Judy Hopps is an energy-driven achiever first and foremost. She has a strong belief that "anyone can be anything" due to the idealistic farm community she was raised in. However, due to bullying during her childhood, Judy dislikes prejudice and the subject of racism and speciesism, but in a way that she is determined to prove others wrong about it. Judy wants to do what is right as well, and combining this with her beliefs is what made her eager to prove that she is a real cop ever since she was little. As an officer, she tries to retain this while still trying to help those in need.

Judy's optimism and determination to be a police officer tends to lead her to be, at times, overzealous and impulsive. As a meter maid, she gave 201 tickets before noon just to show up Bogo's doubts about her, including to her own vehicle, when she heard the parking meters run out. Also, she arrested Duke for stealing, even though meter maids can't arrest someone, which was disclosed from a furious Bogo. She had also nearly caused herself and Nick to be "iced" by Mr. Big when she threatened the crime lord out of impatience, as well as accidentally destroying evidence for the mammal conspiracy.

Judy is clever and resourceful, which proves to be her greatest asset; she was even a valedictorian at the police academy. She once tricked Nick into confessing his tax evasion and recorded it on her carrot pen to blackmail him into helping solve a case, then used it again after Bellwether confessed about turning every predator savage.

Judy's sense of equality gives her a firm respect towards other animals. However, it also leads her to being easily manipulated. She fell victim to this belief when Nick manipulated her into buying a large ice pop explaining that his son (his partner Finnick in disguise) was an elephant lover.

Despite Judy's sense of morality about prejudice, she tends to have a mild fear of predators due to her bullying from childhood, so much that it manifests as prejudice itself; she even kept the fox repellent and nearly used it on Nick when he was angered by her unintentionally bigoted comments about predators. During a press conference, she accidentally stated how the predators had gone wild because of their "biology" in their DNA. She also doesn't like being called cute; upon her first arrival at the police station, Clawhauser described her as such, but she considered it to be offensive if any animal, excluding rabbits, referred to a rabbit as cute.

Being the cheerful, self-righteous, enthusiastic, and independent rabbit she is, Judy cares for the well-being of others, her family, Mrs. Otterton's despair over the disappearance of her husband, and even Nick. During the chase in Little Rodentia, Judy intercepted every chance of danger for the small residents even when capturing Duke was on the line. Judy even shows to be emotional but doesn't show it to others so that she is not judged for it other than Nick, her friends and her family. For learning from her own mistakes, she cried and was comforted by him.

After the conspiracy was resolved, Judy achieves a larger sense of the world around her and the delicacy of society by how dangerous prejudice is, even when it is unintentional. She encourages others to stop discriminating and put in effort to try and make Zootopia a better place by accepting others, no matter what they are.

Role in the film
In the community of Bunnyburrow, young Judy has dreamed of becoming a police officer in the city of Zootopia, where anyone can be anything. Her parents Bonnie and Stu try to dissuade Judy from following a risky goal and encourage her to become a carrot farmer with the family instead. At the farm fair, Judy confronts a young fox named Gideon Grey picking on prey children; Judy demands he give the kids their tickets back. Gideon mocks the young rabbit but gets kicked by Judy, prompting him to threaten and eventually claw Judy's cheek, claiming that she will never be a cop because she is prey. After Gideon leaves without knowing that she swiped the tickets from him, Judy becomes inspired to prove Gideon wrong.

Fifteen years later, Judy joins the Zootopia Police Academy; at first struggling with the course demands, she gradually becomes stronger and graduates as valedictorian and the first rabbit officer for Zootopia's police. Because her occupation is in the city, Judy prepares to move to Zootopia. Bonnie, Stu and the rest of her family all say their goodbyes to Judy at the train station. Bonnie and Stu accept the path she is taking but warn her of the dangers of predators in the city and give her a can of fox repellent just in case.

In Zootopia, Judy finds a home in the Grand Pangolin Apartments. Optimistic and excited to start her first day on the police force, Judy enters the Zootopia Police Department and finds a large number of predator animals on the force. At muster, Chief Bogo disregards Judy's impressive academy record and places her on parking duty, not willing to acknowledge her as a real officer because of her species. Despite this, Judy is determined to make the best of her new position and, thanks to her hearing, is able to detect every meter on time, processing 200 tickets by noon (even to her own vehicle).

During her time at work, she spots a shady fox waltzing into Jumbeaux's Café and follows him, suspicious of his motives. But she discovers that the fox simply brought his elephant-enthusiast son there to get a jumbo popsicle for his birthday, and is ashamed of her bigotry. However, the server Jerry Jumbeaux Jr. refuses to sell him an elephant-sized treat on account of his being a fox. Judy interrupts the argument by pointing out potential health violations, convincing Jerry to sell the popsicle to the foxes and even paying for it herself when the fox claims to have forgotten his wallet. The fox introduces himself as Nick Wilde and thanks Judy for helping him, with Judy admitting foxes should not be treated as sly or crooked. But while filing tickets in Sahara Square, she spots Nick melting the Jumbo pop down into "pawpsicles" with his son. Following them throughout the city, Judy discovers Nick's "son" to actually be a fully-grown accomplice named Finnick, who helps Nick sell the pawpsicles to lemmings before recycling the sticks as lumber to mice construction workers for an additional price. When Judy confronts Nick, he stumps her by revealing permits for his actions. He is quick to guess her fears and insecurities, warning her that Zootopia is not a paradise and predicting her inevitable failure and return home, because no one will ever take a small-town hick bunny cop seriously. As a self-assured Nick leaves the bunny in shock (and in wet cement), Judy returns to her apartment with her hopes of being accepted on the police force dented.

The next day, Judy continues to do her job, but is increasingly depressed as she only succeeds in aggravating animals with parking tickets. As she dejectedly asserts to herself that she is a real cop, she is alerted to a crime courtesy of Duke Weaselton, who had robbed a nearby food store. Ecstatic, she removes her meter maid garb and pursues Weaselton, taking the chase into Little Rodentia. She apprehends the crook with a donut sign, saving a young female shrew in the process, and delivers him to the ZPD office. Upon her arrival, a furious Bogo grills her on abandoning her post, insisting that a meter maid is all she is qualified to be.

Just then, Mrs. Otterton arrives at Bogo's office, desperately seeking someone to search for her missing husband Emmitt; Judy volunteers for the challenge, much to Mrs. Otterton's joy. Bogo, outraged, fires Judy, but a brief talk with Bellwether forces him to assign Judy the case. He makes a deal that she solve the case in 48 hours, or else she will resign.

As Clawhauser provides Judy with the casefile on Emmitt, Judy discovers that Emmitt had bought a pawpsicle from Nick on the day of his disappearance and confronts Nick. Using a Carrot Pen with a recording function, she tricks Nick into admitting to tax evasion to blackmail him into aiding her investigation.

Nick brings Judy to the last place he saw Emmitt, the Mystic Springs Oasis, which to Judy's horror and discomfort is a naturalist club. The receptionist, Yax, mentions that Emmett was last seen jumping into a limousine and provides the plate number. Because she lacks the authority to run a plate, Nick takes Judy to the Department of Mammal Vehicles, to seek the assistance of his friend Flash. To Judy's dismay, Flash and his co-workers are all sloths. After some frustration with the sloth's slow nature, worsened by Nick telling Flash a joke, they obtain the plate number, identifying which company the limo belonged to. Upon stepping out of the DMV, Judy is dismayed to find that night had already fallen.

The pair locate the motorpool where the limo was parked. But to Judy's annoyance it is locked, and she lacks a warrant to search the place. Believing his debt to her paid, Nick asks for the recording, but Judy casually tosses her pen over the fence, tricking Nick into climbing over and thus giving himself a trespassing violation for additional blackmail, also providing Judy "probable cause" to search the premises. When they locate the limo, they discover the back compartment riddled with claw marks. Nick soon realizes that the limo belongs to Mr. Big, Tundratown's biggest crime boss. Before they can get out, a pair of polar bears find them and take them directly to Mr. Big, whom Judy discovers is an arctic shrew. When Mr. Big addresses Judy, Nick tries to prevent her from revealing that she is a cop, but she directly accuses Big of being behind Emmett's disappearance. Scorned, Mr. Big orders the pair "iced", but before the polar bears can drop them into a pool of ice water, his daughter Fru Fru―the same shrew Judy saved the previous day―arrives and recognizes Judy. Fru Fru tells her father what Judy did for her, resulting in Big sparing Judy and Nick's lives. In gratitude, Mr. Big kisses Judy on both cheeks and invites her and Nick to Fru Fru's wedding.

During the wedding reception, Mr. Big explains that Emmitt was his florist, who was coming to tell him something important but, en route, suddenly went savage and attacked his chauffeur Manchas, a black jaguar. Judy and Nick go to see him at his home in the Rainforest District. Manchas mentions "Night Howlers" were responsible for the attack on him before he too goes savage and chases the pair. Judy calls for backup as they reach a gondola dropoff. Before Manchas can reach Nick, Judy cuffs Manchas as the duo escape. Falling from the rainforest trees, the pair become entangled in a series of vines as Bogo and reinforcements arrive. Judy leads Bogo to Manchas, insisting that the case is bigger than she thought, only to find no trace of the black jaguar. Bogo demands Judy to resign, and she nearly does, but Nick takes a stand, scolding ZPD for deliberately setting Judy up to fail and insisting she still has 10 more hours to solve the case. As the pair leave the Rainforest District, Judy learns from Nick that he was ganged and muzzled by prey animals as a child and resolved to live out the "sly fox" stereotype so as to never be hurt that way again. Judy's attitude towards Nick softens.

While riding the cable car, Nick soon realizes that the traffic cameras may have captured how Manchas disappeared, and the pair consult Assistant Mayor Bellwether, who had earlier promised to help Judy. Reviewing the footage, they learn that a pair of wolves, whom Judy assumes to be the "night howlers", captured Manchas and trace their truck to the Cliffside Asylum. As they infiltrate the facility after distracting the guards with a howl, they find all the missing predators, all having gone savage. The duo then discover Mayor Lionheart to be keeping the savage predators imprisoned and their existence concealed from Bogo to prevent public panic. Judy uses her phone camera to record Lionheart's admission, but their presence is given away by an inconvenient call from her parents. As Lionheart summons the wolf guards, Judy uses a toilet to flush herself and Nick to the outside. With her evidence intact, Judy calls ZPD, who raid the asylum and arrest Lionheart. Judy reads Lionheart his rights, and is unsympathetic when he claims to have simply been trying to keep the city safe.

Later, before attending an important press conference, Judy offers Nick a chance to join ZPD, stating that she would like him as a partner. But when it comes her turn to speak, a pressured Judy describes the savaged mammals' condition as them reverting to their natural instincts. This, along with Judy's canister of fox repellent, confirms her bigotry against foxes to Nick, who angrily walks out on her offer.

As time goes on, more cases of predators going savage begin sprouting across Zootopia with no known cause or cure, resulting in fear and discrimination from the prey population. As Judy watches the chaos her actions set in motion, she eventually declines to become the face of ZPD despite Mayor Bellwether's request, saying that even though it is what she wanted, her attempts to make the world a better place had only broken and divided it. Broken-hearted, she resigns from the force.

Judy returns home to Bunnyburrow and rejoins the family business as a carrot farmer, just as Nick had predicted when they first met. One day, she meet a much more mature Gideon, who has since partnered with her parents. Subsequently, Judy notices a plant her parents had been growing to protect their crops. As Stu explains that the plants cause severe psychotropic effects on mammals, Gideon also reveals that the plants are colloquially called "Night Howlers". Realizing she was wrong about the savage predators, Judy takes her father's truck and returns to Zootopia. With help from Finnick, Judy tracks down Nick and admits that she was wrong about predators. As Judy becomes visibly upset, tearfully apologizing and condemning herself as "just a dumb bunny" for her words and actions, Nick opens up and forgives and comforts her, playfully playing back her apology several times first. Their friendship is reconciled and their investigation renewed.

Recalling that Duke Weaselton had been stealing a bunch of Night Howler bulbs when she first arrested him, Judy and Nick confront him, demanding to know who he was stealing for. When he refuses to cooperate, they take him to Mr. Big, who threatens to ice him unless he told them what they wanted to know. During the interrogation, Mr. Big designates Judy the godmother of his future grandchild, whom Fru Fru was planning on naming Judy in her honor.

Using Weaselton's information, the pair track down a sheep named Doug, who is cultivating and weaponizing Night Howlers in an abandoned subway car. They eavesdrop on Doug, who mentions on the phone that he was responsible for Emmett and Manchas going savage by shooting them with a dart gun. As two more sheep arrive, Judy takes the opportunity to steal the subway car, hoping to get the evidence to ZPD. As the rams give chase, they spot an oncoming train about to collide with them, so Judy knocks a sheep onto a track switch, diverting the car onto a different track. Unfortunately, the car is going too fast, forcing the pair to abandon ship, resulting in it crashing and bursting into flames. However, Nick reveals that he stole the case containing the dart gun and the Night Howler toxin.

As they cut through the Natural History Museum to get to the ZPD, the pair run into Bellwether, who insists on taking the evidence. Realizing she is the mastermind of the conspiracy, Judy and Nick try to flee, but Judy accidentally cuts her leg on a tusk display. As Bellwether and her ram henchmen close in, the pair use a stuffed bunny as a decoy as they run for the exit, only to be knocked into a pit by a ram. Bellwether then shoots the dart gun at Nick, causing him to apparently go savage, and frames a call for help to the ZPD. While trying to evade Nick, Judy asks Bellwether why she is doing this. Bellwether elaborates on her plan to divide predator and prey so the latter, the majority, can take over Zootopia. When it seems like Nick is about to eat Judy, it turns out it was all an act; they had secretly swapped the dart gun's ammo with blueberries from Judy's farm. With Bellwether's monologue recorded on Judy's carrot pen, the ZPD arrive and arrest her and her accomplices.

Months later, Judy is reinstated into the ZPD and speaks at Nick's police graduation ceremony and later takes him on as her partner. During roll call, when Bogo seemingly relegates them to parking duty even after everything that had happened, he admits he was kidding and assigns the pair to hunt down a street racer. As they roll out on their first assignment, Judy playfully admits to Nick that she loves him before they apprehend the racer and, to Judy's shock, discover he is none other than Flash.

During the credits Judy, Nick, and the Zootopia populace dance at a concert performance of "Try Everything" by Gazelle.

Disney Parks
Judy made her live debut at the red carpet premiere of Zootopia on February 17, 2016, alongside Nick.

Disneyland
In California, Judy and Nick will begin making appearances on Hollywood Boulevard at Disney California Adventure.

Walt Disney World Resort
In Florida, both Judy and Nick made their theme park debut at Disney's Animal Kingdom, at the Harambe Village Marketplace, for meet-and-greet sessions during a promotional event for Zootopia.

Beginning spring of 2016, Judy will appear alongside Nick during the ''Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It!'' Street Party at the Magic Kingdom.

Trivia

 * Her voice actress Ginnifer Goodwin finished recording her voice on September 11, 2015.
 * During renovations of the Walt Disney Animation Studios building, beginning in 2014, Judy was one of the character silhouettes featured on the wall mural.