The Middle Cast (Main And Recurring)

as Frances "Frankie" Heck (née Spence), wife of Mike and mother of Axl,
 Sue, and Brick. Frankie is the central character in the show, as it is
her voice that is heard narrating at some point in every episode. She is
 a devoted wife and mother and sees family as the most important thing
in her life. Her motto, "You do for family," guides her daily routine,
despite the frustrations she encounters with her husband and three kids,
 as well as her older ailing relatives who often depend on her. Frankie
attended college
 but did not finish. She worked as a salesperson at Ehlert Motors, a job
 she took after losing her position as a dentist's receptionist when the
 office closed, only to lose her job at Ehlert Motors early in Season 4.
 She completes dental assisting school, and gets a new job near the end
of Season 4. Heaton wore a wig for Seasons 1–4; from Season 5 on, her
real hair has been featured.

* Neil Flynn

 as Michael "Mike" Heck Jr., Frankie's husband, known for his
straightforward manner and emotional stability. Mike works at the local limestone quarry
 as the manager, and despite his no-nonsense approach to work and
family, he is a devoted and understanding husband and father who always
seems to come through for Frankie and the kids. It has been said on
several occasions that Mike's favorite film is *Reservoir Dogs*

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and he only asked Frankie out on a second date because she lied and

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said she also liked the film. Mike's reclusive, unaffectionate father,
"Big Mike" (John Cullum), and Mike's well-meaning, but unreliable and unsuccessful brother Rusty (Norm Macdonald)
 both live in Orson. In the middle of season 2, the two move in
together, as "Big Mike" recovers from a broken hip and Rusty needs a
home as he has been living in a tent since his house burned down. When
it comes to football, all Mike cares about is seeing the Indianapolis Colts play in the Super Bowl.

* Charlie McDermott as Axl Redford Heck, who is the oldest son of Frankie and Mike, and cannot be bothered to wear more than boxer shorts most of the time at home. As the elder brother, he is sarcastic,

 lazy, narcissistic, and selfish to his siblings. However, he has shown
flashes of kindness to his family occasionally and is good at heart,
which he shows when he deliberately loses a basketball game in an
attempt to win back his ex-girlfriend, Morgan. He is frustrating to
Frankie, who wishes he would be more open with her, as he was apparently
 a very loving "momma's boy" when he was a child, something Frankie
seems to want to re-capture. It is revealed in Season 3 that Axl is two
years older than Sue as he starts his junior year at high school while
Sue starts her freshman year. Mike has said that Axl is his favorite
child. He has gone to prom twice with Weird Ashley (Katlin Mastandrea),
 an outcast at his school, both times accidentally inviting her. Axl
gets another girlfriend in Season 4 named Cassidy, who tutors him after
Sue runs over his foot and breaks it while learning to drive. Axl and
Cassidy later break up in "Hallelujah Hoedown". He is a running back on his high school football team and gets recruited by a Division II state college in Indiana. Axl plays the electric guitar, and it is presumed that he was named after Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose.

* Eden Sher

 as Sue Sue Heck, socially awkward teen middle daughter of Frankie and
Mike whose genuine nature, bubbly personality, and persistent sunny
optimism tend to make her an object of ridicule, especially by her elder
 brother. Despite her best efforts, she is usually unrecognized by
teachers and other students, and snubbed by her peers. Many of her plot
lines involve her being overlooked, or trying to organize parties or
events and receiving no help. In season 1, she is not pictured in the
yearbook despite having her picture taken three times, and she finds her
 favorite teacher has no memory of her at all. (She is eventually placed
 in the yearbook, but in the section reserved for students who died,
with the caption reading: "In Loving Memory of Sue Heck, Gone Too
Soon.") She wears braces
 on her teeth, which were briefly removed in season 3, but it was
determined that they over-corrected her condition. She had them removed
at the beginning of Season 6, needing only a retainer. She is also
left-handed, apparently the only southpaw in her immediate family. She
is two years behind Axl in school, graduating high school in the season 6
 finale. She is known for trying out for almost everything but never
actually getting picked, because she is always terrible. In season 2,
she joins the no-cut cross country
 team by heroically going around the track five times on crutches
because she was hit by a deer the day before. She becomes a
"wrestlerette" in season 3 (which turns out to be a group of fellow
misfits) and dates a wrestler named Matt for a short time. In season 4,
she dates Axl's friend Darrin. She is engaged to Darrin for three days
in season 6, before deciding she does not want to get married yet and
ending their relationship. The season 3 episode "Leap Year" reveals she
was a leap day baby, but then she has another 16th birthday the following season (season 4, episode 17, "Wheels of Pain").

* Atticus Shaffer as Brick Heck, youngest of Mike and Frankie's children. He loves to read and has a habit of repeating words from his previous sentence to himself in a whisper. In season 1 episode 5, it is revealed that he possesses an eidetic memory. He is smarter than most teenagers, having read *Of Mice and Men*, a book his elder brother is struggling with at the same time. He also loves the "Planet Nowhere" series, and the real-life *Percy Jackson & the Olympians*. He has referred to *Diary of a Wimpy Kid*

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as "the book that changed my life." He is exceptionally intelligent but

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 easily distracted, leading him to procrastinate on doing his homework
assignments and projects (it is loosely implied that he may perhaps have
 Asperger's syndrome). Brick is a known gephyrophobiac
 and is fascinated with fonts. Due to his awkwardness, he struggles to
make friends. In season 2, he befriends an equally awkward boy named
Arlo, whom even Brick struggles to deal with. He is five years behind
Sue in school, starting the eighth grade in the seventh season. In
season 2 Episode 7, it was revealed that he was accidentally switched at
 birth with another baby (due to Mike watching a football game and
taking home a child that the nurse brought up next to Brick), and spent a
 month with that child's family while the other baby was with the Hecks.

### Recurring characters

* Bob (Chris Kattan)

 is Frankie's co-worker and friend at her Ehlert Motors job. He is an
insecure man who lives with his mother and doesn't seem to have any
friends. He was a part of the main cast in the first two seasons. Since
then, he only was recurring in season 3 and made one appearance in
Seasons 4 and 5 (the latter when Frankie rushes out to work but
accidentally goes to Ehlert Motors). The role of Bob was significantly
reduced after Frankie was fired from Ehlert Motors.

* Don Ehlert (Brian Doyle-Murray)

 is the racist and misogynistic owner of the car dealership where
Frankie used to work, and where Bob presumably still works. Frankie and
Bob constantly worry that he is going to fire them. Ehlert's wife left
him when he chose work over her, and Frankie was first sympathetic but
later turned angry. He often drinks at work. Elhert, like Mike, likes
sports. As with Bob, appearances by the Mr. Ehlert character were
significantly reduced after Frankie was fired from Ehlert Motors.

* Edie and Ginny Freehold (Jeanette Miller and Frances Bay)

 are Frankie's elderly aunts who are heavy smokers and drinkers. Aunt
Edie used to work in Mike's quarry as the bookkeeper, often showing
signs of memory loss. One such occasion is when they went to a funeral
for Edie and Ginny's brother, and Aunt Edie thought it was her birthday.
 Aunt Ginny uses a wheelchair and rarely talks. They have a sickly Basset Hound
 named Doris. On many occasions, Frankie is forced to care for Doris
unexpectedly; on one such occasion, Doris gave birth to puppies. In the
season 3 episode "The Map", which premiered in early 2012, Aunt Ginny
dies. (The actress who portrayed her, Frances Bay,
 had died in real life.) Brick's elderly friend, Grandma Dot, then moves
 in with Edie to take care of her. In the early 2015 episode, "Hecks on a
 Train", Aunt Edie has just died and the Hecks are left to care for
Doris.

* Brad Bottig (Brock Ciarlelli)

 is Sue's flamboyant, theater-loving, tap dancing and slightly camp
ex-boyfriend, who is on the high school wrestling team. They "dated"
during Thanksgiving (Season 1), but shortly broke up when Sue found out
Brad is a smoker. Brad and Sue have remained good friends despite their
breakup. In Season 5 and onwards Brad seems to be Sue's closest friend.
In season 7, he was about to tell Sue about his secret,
 but she knew all along and she showed him love and support about it.
This is a plothole as in previous episodes he has shown interest in
girls like Sue's friend Carly

* Carly (Blaine Saunders)

 is Sue's best friend. She began in season 1 as a geeky character,
wearing glasses and braces. Her braces were removed mid-season 1, and
she became more popular as a result. Sue seems to be jealous, if only
subconsciously, and wears makeup which her family finds garish. From
season 2 onwards, Carly has reverted to a more geeky look. Carly only
made one appearance in Season 5, in episode 14 ("The Award"). She also
only made one appearance in Season 6, in the episode "A Quarry Story".

* Nancy Donahue (Jen Ray)

 is the Hecks' neighbor and president of the booster club. The Donahues
are portrayed as the idyllic family Frankie yearns to be like. From
Season 5, Episode 4 ("The 100th"), Nancy and Frankie's friendship has
waned a little, mainly because Nancy overheard Mike and Frankie talking
about her.

* Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick)

 is one of Axl's best friends, teammate on the football team, and Nancy
Donahue's only son. He is helpful, polite, and friendly, which makes him
 outwardly the opposite of Axl; that said, he always supports everything
 Axl does. In season 2, Sue develops a crush on Sean, but eventually
ends the one-way relationship. In season 5, Sean came back from college
to take Sue to prom upon learning that she had no date, but by the time
he arrived, Sue had made plans to go with Darrin. Similarly, he often
makes the half-day drive home from college (at the request of his
mother) to help the Hecks when there is a crisis, only to find out that
the crisis is resolved by the time he gets there. He made three
appearances in Season 6 in the episodes, "The College Tour," "The
Christmas Wall" and "Food Courting."

* Darrin McGrew (John Gammon)

 is Axl's other best friend and teammate. Darrin is the most passive and
 simple of Axl's friends, often landing himself, Sean, and Axl in
problematic situations. In season 3, he takes Sue to the prom because of
 her "sunny disposition" and explained to Axl that he (Darrin) just
wanted to go with someone and dance. In season 4, Darrin takes Sue to a
Valentine's Day dance after her date cancels; and when tidying up in the
 hall after the dance they share a kiss. Later Darrin confides that he
wants to continue dating Sue, which angers Axl. However, near the end of
 season 4, Sue breaks up with him after he accidentally punched her in
the face while she was trying to break up a fight between him and Axl.
After high school, Darrin enrolls in a heating and air conditioning
repair school. In season 5, Sue feels like the breakup was a mistake and
 realizes that they only broke up because Axl was being so weird about
it, and seeing as Axl had gone off to college Sue felt like she didn't
have to live her life for Axl any more. So she gains a renewed interest
in Darrin until she sees that he has a new girlfriend (Angel). Darrin
later decides that his current girlfriend is too high-maintenance and he
 brings flowers to Sue, only to see her being kissed by Derrick
Glossner. Despite a series of misunderstandings, the two ultimately
reconnect at Sue's prom in season 5, and become a couple again. He
proposes to Sue in the 6th season, and under pressure, she accepts. (In
this episode, Darrin's last name is revealed to be McGrew, after Axl
jokes that Sue's married name would be Sue Sue McGrew.) After realizing
she doesn't want to be married yet, Sue breaks off the engagement with
him three days later.

* Paula Norwood (Julie Brown)

 is another of the Hecks' neighbors. She serves as somewhat of a
counterpoint to the idyllic Nancy Donahue in that her life and family is
 depicted as being similar to Frankie's, having a lot of the same
issues.

* Michael "Big Mike" Heck Sr. (John Cullum)

 is Mike's reclusive, man-of-few-words father. He appears to be an
unloving, uncaring parent, but this is primarily because he simply does
not want to be a "bother" for either of his sons. He is also a bit of a
hoarder. In Season 6 "Big Mike" and Axl fixed the Heck's kitchen sink,
which they both bonded more afterwards.

* Orville "Rusty" Heck (Norm Macdonald)

 is Mike's unreliable, silly brother. He often makes up excuses why he
can't be anywhere or do anything Mike asks him to do. He once took Brick
 out of school to bowl and to teach him how to drive, even though he was
 not old enough or ready. It is revealed in the season 3 finale that his
 real first name is Orville. In the season 3 finale the Heck's get an
invitation to his wedding but it says the wedding is happening at their
house. Rusty marries a woman called Marlene, but in season 5 when
Marlene invites herself to Thanksgiving at the Heck's house, Rusty tells
 them that they got a divorce because she slept with his best friend.
Rusty appears later in season 5 and is homeless (again). He ends up
moving in with the Hecks, and accompanies Mike and Brick to Brick's
spelling bee in Chicago, where Rusty makes a deal with Brick to lose so
that he (Rusty) can win some money on a bet he made. In Season 7, Rusty
comes up with a business idea that Mike shockingly thinks might work,
and the two start a side business together.

* Pat Spence (Marsha Mason)

 is Frankie's mother. Pat has appeared in every season so far. Her first
 appearance was in season 1 episode 22 Mother's Day. Her latest
appearance was in season 6, episode 23 ("Mother's Day Reservations").

* Tag Spence (Jerry Van Dyke)

 is Frankie's father. Tag has appeared in every season except for season
 1. Tag is a schmoozer and always talks to Mike endlessly, which Mike
finds very uncomfortable and annoying. In season 4 Tag calls Mike to
meet up at a Stuckey's
 restaurant, to have man to man-chats every Sunday. After a couple of
meetings, Mike decides he just can't possibly stand to do it any longer,
 so he suggests that Tag should try chatting with people on Facebook.
 Tag's latest appearance was in season 6, episode 21 ("Two of a Kind").
The episode reveals a longstanding feud between Tag and his brother
Dutch (played by Jerry Van Dyke's real-life brother Dick Van Dyke), which is mostly fueled by Tag's jealousy, and Mike and Frankie end up trying to resolve it.

* Alan Hung (Kenny Ridwan) is the Computer hacking, genius friend of Axl Heck who did a favor for Axl after telling him his sister's password.
* Reverend Timothy "Tim-Tom" Thomas (Paul Hipp),

 is a youth minister who Sue deeply admires. He surprised Sue by
remembering her name after only having met her once, and always seems to
 appear just as Sue needs help the most. He is known for frequently
playing his acoustic guitar and making almost anything into a song. He
plays guitar with Axl on one occasion when encouraging him to do the
right thing. In season 5, Reverend Tim-Tom gets a girlfriend (Reverend
Tammy, played by Casey Wilson).
 Sue takes a disliking to Tammy and isn't sure how to tell Reverend
Tim-Tom, but Sue changes her mind about Tammy after the two talk.

* Derrick Glossner (David Chandler), Wade Glossner (Parker Bolek), and Little Glossner (Gibson Bobby Sjobeck) make up the dreaded Glossner boys, neighborhood bullies who used to terrorize Sue and Brick. Their mother, Rita Glossner (Brooke Shields)

 is the Heck's uncouth and troubled neighbor; they have no father
figure, as their father was kicked out of their house by their mother.
The Glossners appear to be the only family on the block that is worse
off financially than the Hecks. In the first season, Sue and Carly
attempt to fight the two older Glossner boys via a dance routine set to
"Kung Fu Fighting". In the fifth season, Derrick reveals he has a crush
on Sue and unexpectedly kisses her multiple times. Despite describing
her as a "rich girl" with "one dad and two different kinds of chips"
(and thus out of his league), he vows to better himself and come back
for her someday.

* Zack (Andrew J. Fishman)

 is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He has a tendency
 to behave like a cat. Zack has not appeared in the show since season 3.

* Pete Miller (Peter Breitmayer)

 is Ehlert Motors' best salesman and star employee, and he is not afraid
 to tell everyone about it. Pete often brags about his success at
Frankie and Bob's expense, putting them down about how little they
contribute to the business while attempting to impress Mr. Ehlert.

* Morgan (Alexa Vega)

 is Axl's ex-girlfriend in Season 1, whom Frankie takes an instant
liking to due to her straight As and talent in multiple areas. However,
after she breaks Axl's heart time and time again, Frankie eventually
explodes with anger and throws a beanbag at Morgan during a birthday
party.

* Matt (Moisés Arias),

 a boy on the wrestling team at Sue and Axl's school who likes Sue; he
becomes Sue's first real boyfriend but eventually ends the relationship
after moving away and falling for another girl. In season 4, Matt asks
Sue to the school Valentine's Day dance because he broke up with his
girlfriend Sherrie. He later calls Sue at the last minute to say that he
 and Sherrie got back together, and he is no longer taking her to the
dance. This paves the way for Darrin to swoop in and save the day for
Sue.

* Ashley "Weird Ashley" Wyman (Katlin Mastandrea)

 is Axl's weird classmate who has twice been his accidental date to
prom. She is also on Sue's wrestlerette team. She has a keen interest in
 wizards, although she has never heard of Harry Potter. At their third
prom together, Ashley is not Axl's date but dances with him when he's
announced as prom king, as Axl and his date Cassidy had broken up only a
 few moments before the announcement. Axl is known to have a hatred
towards her as he still regrets sending a text message about going to a
prom with her. In season 5, Ashley invites Sue to hang with her at prom,
 as they are both there without dates, while Frankie's voice-over
chides: "It wouldn't be prom if a Heck wasn't accompanied by Weird
Ashley." In season 6, Ashley appears in Axl's dorm building out of
nowhere, announcing she has transferred to East Indiana State because of
 their hotel management program. She tells Devin Levin that Axl was her
boyfriend, which Axl of course vehemently denies.

* Ruth (Grace Bannon)

 is a member of Sue's wrestlerette team, depicted as an extreme
religious conservative, often referencing "the rapture". Unlike the
other wrestlerettes, Ruth wears an ankle-length skirt.

* Courtney and Debbie (Brittany Ross and Natalie Lander)

 are cheerleaders in Axl and Sue's high school who date Axl as one.
Because the two are inseparable, Axl struggles to figure out which one
is his real girlfriend and which one is just hanging out with the other.
 He makes a calculated guess that Courtney is his girlfriend and kisses
her, which causes both girls to slap him and break up with him. They
perpetually overlook Sue, often thinking she is a new exchange student,
and later calling her a freshman during her senior year.

* Mrs. Tompkins (Krista Braun) is Brick's social skills mentor and guidance counselor.
* Dr. Fulton (Dave Foley)

 is the school therapist that works with Mrs. Tompkins. He is an odd
character who helps Brick bond with his peers and try to fit in more at
school. While he is obsessed with his ex-wife Shelly, who he mentions
nearly every time Brick talks to him for "help".

* Principal Barker (Rachel Dratch) is Brick's Middle School Principal. She has only appeared in the fifth season, for two episodes.
* Arlo (Nick Shafer)

 is a friend Brick meets during the second season. He has an obsession
with keeping everything on a schedule and takes frequent and lengthy
bathroom breaks in the episode "Mother's Day II" when he is accompanying
 the Hecks to Brown County. He does not show up in the third or fourth
season, although in "Year of the Hecks", he is mentioned.

* Coach Tink Babbitt (Brooke Dillman) is a physical education teacher and detention monitor at Orson High.
* Dr. Ted Goodwin (Jack McBrayer)

 is the dentist who hires Frankie as a hygienist in season 4. He has few
 friends, and Frankie is forced to spend time with him after work in
"The Jump" (season 5).[4]

* Cassidy Finch (Galadriel Stineman)

 is Axl's girlfriend in season 4. She met Axl when he was trying to
boost his grades and needed a tutor. They didn't get along very well in
their first session, but then Axl kissed her and soon found out she had a
 boyfriend. She later broke up with her old boyfriend to be with Axl.
Late in season 4, Cassidy's ex-boyfriend returns, putting tension
between Axl and Cassidy for a while before they come back together. They
 break up in the episode "Hallelujah Hoedown", after Cassidy reveals she
 is going away in three weeks for an internship program and that they
will be in different colleges anyway come September. They begin speaking
 again in "The Award" (season 5), after Cassidy leaves an embarrassing
message on Axl's voicemail. After a brief reconnection during spring
break, Cassidy breaks up with Axl again, saying it isn't fair to either
of them to pursue a relationship while being 800 miles apart.

* Kenny (Tommy Bechtold) is Axl's college roommate who does nothing but play World of Warcraft.

 He is mostly shown from behind as he sits at his computer. His face was
 shown briefly at the end of the season 5 episode "The Kiss". In an
episode of season 6 ("The Table") Axl and Hutch move out of the dorm and
 into an apartment, but realize they can't afford it on their own. They
look up Kenny and invite him be their roommate, too, as he apparently is
 reliable in paying bills and rent.

* Hutch (Alphonso McAuley) is Axl's football teammate, best friend and eventual roommate at college.
* Devin Levin (Gia Mantegna)

 is a relative of Frankie's hairdresser who was only an acquaintance of
Axl's in the past. In season 6, he notices how she has blossomed and
that they share many interests, and they begin dating. The two briefly
break up when Devin notices that Axl still has her listed as "Uggo from
Idaho" in his cell phone contacts, But they got back together later on.

* Cindy (Casey Burke)

 is a classmate of Brick's who becomes his sort-of girlfriend in season
6. Though she's about a head taller than Brick, she's very odd like him.
 She always wears a safari hat.