Francine Smith

Francine Smith
American Dad! character
First appearance	"Pilot"
Created by	Seth MacFarlane
Voiced by	Wendy Schaal
Information
Full name	Francine Lee Smith
Occupation	Housewife
Family	Birth parents: Nicholas and Cassandra Dawson Adoptive Family: Bàba, Māma, and Gwen Ling
Spouse(s)	Stan Smith
Children	Hayley Smith Steve Smith Libby Corbin-Bates (surrogate)
Relatives	Beverley (aunt)
Religion	Episcopalian
Nationality	American

Francine Lee Smith (née Ling; formerly Dawson) is a fictional character on the animated television series American Dad!. She is the wife of the title character Stan Smith and the mother of Hayley and Steve. Francine is voiced by Wendy Schaal.

Francine is often seen indignant, nagging and scolding her family (mostly Stan) over wrongdoings, sometimes even becoming berserk in these moments. Seemingly a voice of reason, Francine also nags at her family to uphold certain virtues.^[1]

Fictional character biography

Francine is 5’9” tall and weighs 145 lbs.

Francine was born to a wealthy couple in South Carolina, Nicholas and Cassandra Dawson. She was abandoned by her birth parents. She spent her early childhood in a Roman Catholic orphanage. She is naturally left-handed but this was literally beaten out of her by the nuns. She was adopted at age seven by Bàba and Māma Ling, Chinese Americans. She speaks fluent Chinese, and often speaks in it to her parents to disguise their conversations in front of Stan. Her parents have their own biological daughter, Gwen, who is attractive but not as bright as Francine.

When Francine was about fourteen years old, she had an obsessive crush on her algebra teacher, Mr. Feeny. The police were called and Francine lied to them and said that she and Mr. Feeny were lovers. Mr. Feeny was sent to jail, where he committed suicide.^[2]

In college Francine stabbed her roommate to death. Even though she was a party girl in college and seems to hold very liberal beliefs, she keeps them mostly to herself and follows her husband's conservative values.

Francine first met Stan when he had just graduated from the CIA academy and been offered a post as an operative. She was a groupie trying to hitchhike home, and Stan pulled over and gave her a lift.

Personality

Although she enjoys being a housewife and becomes sexually aroused during spring cleaning, Francine occasionally yearns for more fulfillment. She was briefly a successful realtor and owned a muffin kiosk at the mall,^[3] and became a surgeon for an organized-crime syndicate made up of handicapped people.^[4] Once she joined a group of ultra-chic local ladies by faking an affair with a valet.^[5] She drinks wine and occasionally smokes; she's used marijuana and cocaine. Previous to her marriage Francine had a history of sexual promiscuity, and was a groupie. Francine has apparently spent time in prison before, and has recounted her experiences - with varying degrees of horror - on at least two occasions as seen in the fourth season episode "Pulling Double Booty". She also seems to be very experienced with weapons, though whether or not this is because she is married to Stan is never established. She is shown to carry machetes with her in the pilot and has pulled a gun on Stan on more than one occasion. She was also able to make a weapon out of a government-issued rubber shoe Roger had to wear as part of his stint as a prison therapist.

While initially portrayed as a devoted housewife and unconditionally-loving mother who tries to have her family bond with one another, Francine's morality slowly deteriorates in later seasons and she becomes a more shallow and contemptuous character, often speaking insultingly and heartlessly of others, including her own children, and proving just as selfish and shallow as her husband Stan. There are times when Francine has demonstrated that she might be mentally unstable, including her vendetta against George Clooney and her extreme empty nest syndrome. In "Family Affair" she nonchalantly admits she stabbed her college roommate to death and expresses surprise that no one in the family knew before. In "Max Jets" she is visibly excited by the idea of Charles Manson being released from jail and "finishing what he started". In "Live and Let Fry" she tells Hayley that she can't handle much, and when someone rings the doorbell she screams "It's too much!". She also becomes violent and angry seemingly at random, once point sweeping Klaus' bowl onto the floor screaming 'Humans are talking!' because he interrupted her. Similarly, in the episode "Stan of Arabia: Part 2," Francine resorts to physical violence when challenging Stan's Arabian wife, Thundercat, for Stan's affection; saying "you want to dance bitch; then let's dance" and proceeded to fight her reasonably well. In "Every Which Way But Lose", Francine also admitted that she doesn't know how to vote as it confuses her too much. She just enters a booth, waits ten seconds, then comes out and yells "Democracy!"

Age

Francine was originally 43, but she became 45 years old in the episode "Tears of a Clooney". The episode starts with her 44th birthday, she attempts to get revenge on George Clooney for a year, and the episode ends with her 45th birthday. It's unknown whether or not the other characters aged as well, except for presumably Stan. He says in one episode that she is ten months younger than he is. However, in "May the Best Stan Win", Francine's year of birth is listed as being in 1966, and Stan's is shown to be 1962. This episode also retcons her turning 45, as it was made in 2010, and her being born in 1966 would make her 44. In "Shallow Vows", it says Francine's birthday is September 26, 1962 on her driver's license. This also retcons her age, as the episode was made in 2009, making her 47 at the time. In the same episode, she later tells Stan she was indeed born on September 26, making her a Libra.^[6]

References

External links

• Francine Smith at Fox.com