Ghoulia Yelps

"Everyone thinks I am so smart, but if I were really intelligent, I would carry an umbrella with me wherever I go."

- Ghoulia Yelps in her Basic diary

Ghoulia Yelps is a zombie. She is the cleverest and most sophisticated girl at Monster High, although she only speaks "Zombie," a language only consisting of groans and moans, and moves slowly. She is a great illustrator, as noted in "Daydream of the Dead" and loves graphic novels.

Portrayers
In the English version of the cartoon series, Ghoulia's voice is provided by Audu Paden.

In the music video for the Fright Song, there are several character analogues who received creative interpretation by the video crew. The punk zombie girl is played by Cassandra Caccioppoli.

Personality
Ghoulia is depicted as intelligent, sophisticated, timid, stressed out, and shy. She's a huge bookworm and is very intellectual; all of her fellow students call her the smartest ghoul at Monster High. It is revealed in her Basic diary that she is good friends with Cleo de Nile because Cleo was willing to give her a chance, when zombies are typically discriminated against. Ghoulia can be unhappy with Cleo often though, like when in the webisode "Copy Canine" Cleo tells Clawdeen to copy from Ghoulia, or when Cleo steals her science project in "Mad Science Fair".

She also is a comic book enthusiast: according to the "Fearbook" she is a member of the comics club, and in the webisode "Daydream of the Dead" it is shown that she is a major fan of the comic book hero Dead Fast. She is also stressed out at times such as when Frankie said hi to Deuce which Cleo claimed is cheating on her. Ghoulia gets very stressed out that she slaps her forehead in "New Ghoul @ School" and sighs in stress when her glasses break after Cleo's banshee scream breaks them in "Neferamore". She is sometimes frustrated by the limitations of her slow movement, such as when she is trapped by the rain or when she's too slow to get to the Maul on time.

Despite these limitations, she sometimes displays pretty good dexterity for a zombie such as when she creates elaborate designs out of string in "New Ghoul @ School".

Appearance
She has light blue hair and pale gray skin. Her appearance is very studious and she wears cat-eye, horn-rimmed "nerd" glasses. Because of her zombie heritage she has trouble with facial expressions and tends to slouch and stand in awkward positions. Her eyelids also blink one at a time, rather than at the same time. Because of her physical limitations, she can only speak in "Zombie" (moaning and groaning), but all of her friends have learned the language so that they can converse with her.

Classic Monster
Ghoulia Yelps is the child of two zombies, possibly inspired by the films of zombie master George A. Romero.

George Romero's first film about zombies was Night of the Living Dead, a low-budget, black and white film released in 1968. The story is about several people who are stuck in a rural farmhouse as the reanimated dead attack them.

The film was a huge hit because of its simple presentation and strong core concept, and it influenced many scary movies that came after it. The word "zombie" is never actually used in the 1968 film, nor is the reason for their reanimation ever revealed (though people on the television speculate about its cause).

One of the actors portraying a zombie in Night of the Living Dead was inspired by the saunter of Boris Karlofffilms.

The stylistic influence on Ghoulia is seen in that she shuffles instead of walks, and cannot speak except in "Zombie", which is moans and groans, though her classmates have taken rudimentary lessons in the language and can understand her. One possible reason behind her inability to speak regular languages is an apparent poor lung capacity, as she is shown being unable to adequately blow a whistle in webisode "Falling Spirits". Also contrary to the stereotype of zombies being lethargic, Ghoulia is shown to be capable of writing with great speed. In "Copy Canine", she fills out an entire test form in several seconds, thwarting Clawdeen from copying her. She can also run short distances, as shown in "Fear-A-Mid Power" and "Desperate Hours".

Family
Ghoulia lives with her parents, who are both zombies; it's not stated what their house looks like. Like Ghoulia, they're pretty slow, and they tend to be pretty hard-nosed, as per their refusal to allow Ghoulia to go to her favorite comic convention. The both of them work for the Department of Monster Vehicles.

In the Monster High book series, Ghoulia has an older sister called Moan'ica (Monica), who is in her senior year of high school.

Friends
Ghoulia is a girl who is friends with almost everyone, but there are two specific Monster High members she is especially close to. She is BFFs with Cleo de Nile, and they even plan their school schedules together. Although she has a tendency to let Cleo take advantage of her, on one occasion Ghoulia displays great joy at being able to get back at Cleo for stealing her science project by repeatedly dunking Cleo in Lagoona's "Rehydration Chamber" in "Mad Science Fair". Ghoulia and Frankie seem to connect on a sister-like level, such as when Frankie tried to be her 'wing- ghoul' in "Date of the Dead" while Heath was hitting on her, or when Ghoulia uses her smarts to help Frankie in "Bad Scare Day" and "Bad Zituation". Ghoulia is also good friends with Clawdeen and Clawd Wolf, who slightly look out for her. At least prior to Ghoulia acquiring a scooter, she regularly was given a ride home or to parties by the two.

Pet
Ghoulia's pet is a baby blue owl named Sir Hoots A Lot, who is as eloquent and intelligent as his owner. He refuses to be Ghoulia's delivery owl (a possible reference to the owls in Harry Potter).

Romance
Ghoulia has a crush on a zombie boy named Slow-Moe, who's on the chess team and dodgeskull team. She writes about him in her diary and the webisode "Cyrano de Ghoulia" is about how they meet. They can be seen dancing together at the Justin Biter concert in "New Ghoul @ School" and finally start dating in "Date of the Dead". Nonetheless, Ghoulia has a second suitor: another zombie boy, Don of the Dead. Don is a good friend of Slow-Moe's, showed interest in Ghoulia and even fought with Slow-Moe over her on one occasion. At the moment, Ghoulia and Don are just friends.

Additionally, Ghoulia has a fangirl crush on her favorite comic book hero, Dead Fast.

Books
Ghoulia does not appear in the first Monster High book but for the supplemental Chapter 13: Slow and Tell. Cleo mentioned that she wasn't at the R.I.P. (RAD Intel Party) so she instead receives notes of what the party discussed from Deuce's mother, Mrs. Gorgon.

In the second book, she appears at one of Frankie's secret meetings, where she takes on the name "Julia Phelps". She seems to hold the same relationship with Cleo in the Monster High books as in the cartoon series, as Cleo gave up her seat for Ghoulia, and Cleo felt guilty for bad-mouthing zombies in order to win Bekka's trust.

In Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way Julia is shown to be capable of simple English. She compliments Cleo on her hair at the RAD meeting right after the Ghoul Next Door video is shown, oblivious to rising tension (this is mostly due to RAD-related reasons). She also makes an appearance at Clawdeen's Sassy Sixteen, dancing with Bekka's former friends. In the supplement Chapter 13: Occupy Mall Street, she forms a flash-mob along with Slow Moe, to prevent her parents from moving away due to possible intolerance from the Normie community.

Appearances
In "New Ghoul @ School", she is seen many times as Cleo's servant, though she is initially nicer to Frankie. In "Fright On!", Ghoulia appears to be more taken for granted by Cleo than ever, being little more than a shadow to her. Cleo eventually realizes this after seeing how Vampires treat their "servants", and apologizes. In "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?", Ghoulia makes a program to find her perfect match, which actually turns out to be Heath of all monsters. Ghoulia then goes out of her way to prove that science answers everything, despite Lagoona and Gil's protests. It turns out, however, that the program was bugged.

Timeline

 * December 22, 2008: Mattel requests the trademark for Ghoulia Yelps.
 * July 22, 2010: Ghoulia Yelps's first doll is on display at San Diego Comic-Con International.
 * May 5, 2010: The Monster High website goes live, featuring Ghoulia Yelps's profile.
 * May 5, 2010: Ghoulia Yelps's profile art is revealed.
 * May 5, 2010: Ghoulia Yelps makes her 2D cartoon debut in "Jaundice Brothers".
 * Early July, 2010: Ghoulia Yelps makes her diary debut in Cleo's Basic diary.
 * October, 2010: Ghoulia Yelps's first doll is released as part of the Basic series.
 * April 5, 2011: Ghoulia Yelps makes her Monster High book debut in The Ghoul Next Door.
 * Early June, 2011: Ghoulia Yelps's Friends plushie is released.
 * February 12, 2012: Ghoulia Yelps makes her 3D cartoon debut in "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?".
 * September 5, 2012: Ghoulia Yelps makes her Ghoulfriends book debut in Ghoulfriends Forever.