April O’Neil is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ television-news reporter in the 1987 animated series. She works for Channel 6 News and often investigates unusual events connected to Shredder and the Foot Clan.
This version of April differs from her earliest comic-book incarnation, where she was a scientist and assistant to Baxter Stockman. The cartoon changed her profession to journalism, giving her a reason to encounter threats in public and report on the turtles’ adventures while preserving their secret identity.
April’s yellow jumpsuit became one of the most recognizable visual features of the 1987 show. Other adaptations have changed her occupation again, including versions in which she is a scientist, student, or aspiring journalist. The Channel 6 reporter identity is specifically associated with the 1987 animated continuity.