Dijonay Jones (voiced by Karen Malina White) is Penny Proud's sassy, enthusiastic best friend who knows her best. Dijonay is loyal at heart and is often the first to come to Penny's aid and encourages her other friends to do the same. However, her impulses often overtake her better judgement and will cause her to ditch her friends for instant gratification or to escape trouble. She also cannot resist gossip and has gotten Penny and her friends into trouble many times. Eventually, Penny decided she had to stop trusting Dijonay, though the girls still remain friends. Despite this however, Dijonay has shown major loyalty to Penny and has had her back plenty of times. In return, Penny continues to reveal Dijonay unconditional love and one of Dijonay's biggest fears is losing her in any way, shape or form.
History[]
Dijonay comes from a large family and is the oldest of 10 children, who are all named after herbs and condiments. She is of French Créole descent as her ancestors settled in New Orleans, Louisiana before her great-great grand parents migrated to California during the Gold Rush as part of the "Forty-Niners". She has an older cousin named Bethany, who once worked as associate producer for a TV show Hip-Hop Helicopter (episode within a show) under the supervision of Mr. Chang (has three children) helping her singing group LPDZ reach celebrity status by allowing Dijonay and her friends to participate and temporarily serving as the group's manager.
Appearance[]
Dijonay is chubby and is the shortest of all the girls in her friend group (not including her hair in the measurement). She has warm dark brown skin, prominent peach or orange lips, and medium-length dark golden blonde hair, with the top being tied into a ponytail that sticks up at the top of her head. In Louder and Prouder it has been mentioned and shown that her hair is fake, with Michael calling it a wig and at one point her ponytail falls off and she has to literally screw it back into place.
In the original series she wears a collared lavender blouse that exposes her stomach, a pastel blue cardigan sweater, a medium blue pencil skirt and sneakers with light pink ankle cuffed socks, a similar outfit to Penny. Her ponytail was held by blue bobbles.
In the revival, Dijonay is a bit taller, her hair is a bit longer and wavier and more saturated in color, and she has more noticeable curves and a more prominent belly. Her clothing style and colors haven’t changed much, except now her shirt is a light pink V-neck top and completely covers her stomach, and she has a regular blue hair tie.
Personality[]
Dijonay Jones is an extroverted individual and wears her attitude on her sleeve. She is loud-mouthed, hyperactive and loves having conversations. Dijonay's knack for socialization comes with its flaws however as she is nosy and cannot resist gossip. She also has a big mouth and has sold Penny out many times. Dijonay also tends to be inconsistent making it difficult to decipher what her ultimate goal is. She has been disloyal on many occasions to her friends and is quick to abandon them at difficult times. She mainly does this to Penny and often times LaCienega, who are supposed to be her two closest friends. However, Dijonay has also helped Penny in the clutch and saved her from danger and embarrassment in key situations and has played an important role in helping to integrate Penny and LaCienega during the early part of the series where the two clashed heavily. She also has no problem sticking up for her friends when she feels they are being treated unfairly. Dijonay is very upbeat and can bring energy to an otherwise dull social environment which is fitting, since she is captain of the Willy T. Ribbs Racer Cheerleaders.
Despite popular belief, Dijonay is a hard worker and a master at time management. She is often stuck babysitting her nine brothers and sisters, all of which are even more hyper than she is. Years of this has allowed her to develop excellent cooking and cleaning skills. Dijonay was once seen cooking Duke Anoi an entire meal on a surfboard with him and she did an excellent job and proved that she could possibly be a good wife in the future. She still manages to find enough time to do her homework, serve her duties as cheerleader captain and hang out with friends. She also manages to squeeze in time for her favorite hobby, writing poems and even learning foreign languages. She once had a conversation with the late, Kobe Bryant in front of her friends, leaving them in shock. She's even worked several jobs during this time as well. Another one of Dijonay's strengths is her photographic memory, which enables her to process written information at record breaking speeds. This was showcased in the episode "Curved". Despite this, Dijonay seems to doubt her own abilities, especially her intelligence and unknowingly holds herself back as a result. She's also well aware of her short-comings but seems to accept them gracefully.
Despite her selfish-impulsive behaviors, Dijonay is loyal at heart and always comes back to the people she cares about most. For example, she sold Penny out to the Gross sisters for $5, but once she got the $5 she helped save Penny alongside Sticky Webb. Also, Dijonay has an unhealthy obsession with Sticky and stalks him constantly, often driving him nearly insane. Like Penny, Dijonay's hormones run high and can be really crazy over boys and is the quickest to flirt; however she always returns to Sticky.
Being the youngest of the group, she is often the most immature and Penny, LaCienega and Zoey often find themselves having to talk sense in her.
In the episode "Curved" Dijonay sees extensive character development, discovers she has a photographic memory and most importantly finds a permanent boyfriend in Darrius St. Vil, which is quite a blessing for her as it relieves her of her stalking habits and utterly boosts her happiness and self-esteem.
Episode Appearances[]
Dijonay is present in every episode of the series with the exception of Old Towne Road Part 1.
The Proud Family[]
Comics[]
- Get a Grip!
- Face the Music!
- Proud To Be Proud!
- Fashion Passion!
- The Proud Family Vacation!
- Scaredy-Cast!
- Mail Call!
- Hip-Hop Proudly
Movies[]
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder[]
Disney Channel Shorts[]
Chibiverse[]
Broken Karaoke[]
- Descendants: The Rise of Red Life is Sweeter Song Parody (non-speaking cameo)
Theme Song Takeover[]
- LaCienega's Theme Song Takeover (non-speaking cameo)
Trivia[]
- Dijonay's name is a pun on the name of Best Foods'/Hellmann's Dijonnaise Dijon Mustard, which, coincidentally, is a similar color to her hair.
- She has nine younger siblings all named after seasonings and condiments, as shown in "Adventures in BeBe-Sitting".
- She is the shortest of the girl group L.P.D.Z. until Maya arrives in the revival.
- Dijonay holds the honor of speaking the show's first lines as she says "Okay ladies, and Michael..." at the very start of the first episode "Bring It On". Penny is the second.
- Dijonay is fluent in 3 foreign languages: French, Italian in "One in a Million" when talking to the Late Kobe Bryant, and Creole when speaking to Darrius in "Curved".
- She is the only one of Penny's friends to appear in the 1999 pilot; under the name "Delinquinetta".
- She is the only person outside of Penny's family to have a Funko Pop designed for her; thus clinching ICON status.
- In "Home School", it was revealed that Dijonay had a large school lunch tab she gotten over the years courtesy of her many siblings, and by snitching that a teacher was living in the school, her tab was wipe clean.
Gallery[]
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View the image gallery for Dijonay Jones. |
References[]
- ↑ "Dijonay, you're only fourteen. We don't have wrinkles!" — Penny ("Bad Influence(r)")
- ↑ http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/characters/Proud-Family/Dijonay-Jones/
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925045/?ref_=tt_cl_t10