This is a list of characters from The WB/The CW (1996–2007) family drama, 7th Heaven.
Overview
= Main cast (credited) = Recurring cast (3+) = Guest cast (1-2) Character Actor Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Eric Camden Stephen Collins Main Annie Camden Catherine Hicks Main Matt Camden Barry Watson MainRecurringMain Simon Camden David Gallagher MainRecurring Main Mary Camden Jessica Biel MainRecurring Lucy Camden/Lucy Camden-Kinkirk Beverley Mitchell Main Ruthie Camden Mackenzie Rosman Main Happy the Dog Happy Main John Hamilton Chaz Lamar ShepherdRecurring Main colspan="6" Shana Sullivan Maureen Flannigan colspan="2" Recurring Main colspan="1" colspan=5 Robbie Palmer Adam LaVorgna colspan="3" Recurring Main colspan="4" Sam and David Camden Nikolas and Lorenzo Brino colspan="2" Uncredited/featured Main Ben Kinkirk Geoff Stults colspan="5" Recurring Main colspan="1" Recurring colspan="1" Recurring Kevin Kinkirk George Stults colspan="5" Recurring Main Roxanne Richardson Rachel Blanchard colspan="6" Main colspan="3" Cecilia Smith Ashlee Simpson colspan="6" Main colspan="3" Chandler Hampton Jeremy London colspan="6" Main colspan="3" Martin Brewer Tyler Hoechlin colspan="7" Main Peter Petrowski Scotty Leavenworth colspan="6" Recurring Main colspan="2" colspan="1" Rose Taylor Sarah Thompson colspan="8" Recurring Main colspan="1" Meredith Davies Megan Henning colspan="8" Recurring Main colspan="1" Sandy Jameson Haylie Duff colspan="9" Main
The Camden family The Camden Family is made up of Eric and Annie and their seven children: Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon, Ruthie, Sam, and David.
Eric Camden
Rev. Eric Camden (played by Stephen Collins) was raised in Binghamton, New York by his parents, Colonel John Camden and Ruth Lynch. Based on the episode "Halloween" (season 1), it appears that Eric was born in 1954 (which would make him 42 years old at the time). According to the episode "One Hundred" (season 5), his birthday is in January. Eric attended college for five years and graduated from Cobell Seminary. Shortly thereafter, he married and began a family with Annie Jackson. He has one sister, Julie Camden-Hastings, who ends up marrying the doctor that delivered Eric and Annie's oldest (Matt), as well as the youngest (Sam and David) children. After his heart-bypass operation, Eric decides to leave the ministry and even stop attending church. He renews his faith and returns to church in time to marry Kevin and Lucy (near the end of season 7). He had three cardiac episodes in seasons 4, 7 and 11 and survived.
Annie Camden
Anne "Annie" Camden (née Jackson) (played by Catherine Hicks) is the wife of Eric and mother of Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon, Ruthie, Sam, and David. She has a half-sister named Lily, through her father, Charles Jackson. Her mother is Jenny Jackson. During her college education, Annie studied everything from art to business and economics, and in later seasons returned to school to earn a degree in early childhood education.
Though she has chosen to be a stay-at-home mother, Annie is a jack of all trades. She balances a family of nine on a minister's salary, is a plumber, builder, seamstress, cook, and much more. She also serves, from time to time, as the treasurer for the church.
Annie is the backbone of her family. The mother of seven, she is often the one who the children come to talk to, often over milk and cookies. She tries, with her husband, to instill strong morals in her children. She is noted as hoping Ruthie will not follow in her footsteps or of her two other daughters and marry too young. She hopes Ruthie will take the time to travel first.
Annie is the only daughter of her parents. Her mother, Jenny, dies early in the first season from cancer, a death that strikes Annie hard. Harder yet is her father's quick bounce to a relationship with Ginger. During one episode, Annie leaves the church after her father brings Ginger to service. Mary chases her and is struck by a car. Annie accepts Ginger slowly and Ginger and her father wed. Her father has Alzheimer's disease and Annie spends more and more time with him in Arizona before he dies. Annie is quoted in later seasons as saying that she likes Ginger a lot more now that her parents are back together. In an early season, Annie learned of an illegitimate daughter her father had with his high school girlfriend. She eventually meets this half-sister, Lily, and the two form a relationship over time.
In 2009, she was included in Yahoo!'s Top 10 TV Moms from Six Decades of Television for the decade 1996–2007.
Matt Camden Matthew "Matt" Camden (played by Barry Watson) is Eric and Annie's firstborn. In the beginning of the series, Matt is a junior in high school and he was born in 1980. In the first season, he started out 16 years old. Matt sacrifices his school time to help others; if they wished to remain anonymous, he would respect that and not even tell his father. During high school, he bounces from job to job, including tutor and Dairy Shack delivery driver. He is not always a star student, but he manages to graduate at the top of his class and get accepted for a White House internship in Washington, D.C., with First Lady Hillary Clinton. He returns to Glenoak for college, rooming with friend and fellow "P.K." John Hamilton. Matt's new uncle, Dr. Hank Hastings (who had actually delivered him), helps him get a job in the hospital cafeteria; during his time there, he decides to become a doctor. His uncle Hank is the main inspiration why he wanted to become a doctor. He ends up working at the local free clinic with Hank, beginning by helping save the life of a woman who could not get anyone but Matt to take her symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy seriously.
He meets Sarah Glass (played by Sarah Danielle Madison), a fellow medical student, just when he really wished to meet the one who would be the love of his life. Their first date ends with them getting married. Because Sarah is the daughter of a rabbi (played by Richard Lewis) who wants his daughter to marry a Jewish man, they initially keep their marriage a secret. They eventually have a large family wedding presided over jointly by their proud fathers, who almost called off the wedding feuding over Matt, who plans to convert to Judaism. Matt and Sarah move to New York to attend medical school, and while there have been problems, they have remained happy together. Near the series' end, they graduate from medical school and announce that they are expecting twin boys, who are born the following summer in 2006. It is also shown throughout the series that he knows American Sign Language, a result of his relationship with Heather, making him bilingual.
Simon Camden
Simon Camden (David Gallagher) is the 4th born and 2nd son. In the early part of the series, he is known to his siblings as "The Bank of Simon" because he always seems to have money, and he loves to make money. His other interests have included golf, magic, and cars. He was born in 1986 and in the first year he started out when he was 10 years old.
During the pilot episode, Simon's most fervent wish is for a dog. When asked to say grace before the family had dinner, he even includes a dog request in his prayer. Although his parents do not think he is mature enough for the responsibility of a pet, Annie goes to the pound "just to look" and falls in love with a dog who was scheduled to be euthanized. This dog became the Camdens' beloved "Happy."
Simon meets a girl named Deena in sixth grade and finds out that Eric counseled her family years ago when she was diagnosed with leukemia. They date for the majority of middle school, but break up on the last day of eighth grade, though they remain friends.
Transitioning to high school is rough for Simon, despite help from his bubbly, popular big sister Lucy. He dates a girl named Cecilia Smith (Ashlee Simpson), and they even consider furthering their relationship by becoming sexually involved with one another, but decide against it. The summer before his senior year, Simon accidentally hits and kills a boy named Paul Smith who was Ruthie's age. Since Paul was on a bicycle with no helmet and was later proven to be under the influence of drugs, the death is ruled accidental and Simon is not brought up on criminal charges, but he cannot stop blaming himself for the accident and also fears retaliation from Paul's older brother, who was the likely guilty party who spray-painted "thou shall not kill" on the sign at Reverend Camden's church. He passes the CHSPE and leaves school early to start college. While in college, partly as a way to cope with his guilty feelings and low self-esteem, he breaks the family's edict of not having premarital sex.
Simon has three serious girlfriends over the course of the show: Deena, Cecilia, and Rose. He later gets involved with a girl that he knew from college, Sandy, who has a son named Aaron, fathered by Martin Brewer. Simon provides emotional, and maybe even physical support for Sandy and her son.
After a scare involving Simon's girlfriend Georgia being pregnant (it is later revealed that she only made the claim so Simon would stay with her), he meets Rose. Simon and Rose fall deeply in love, get engaged, and plan a wedding, but when the wedding day finally comes, they decide to not get married because neither is ready for marriage and Rose still has feelings for an ex-boyfriend. Sandy and her son Aaron come to the party after the non-wedding and Sandy says she needs to talk to him; her message isn't revealed, but the assumption is that it's about Aaron's paternity and that Simon is Aaron's father. In season 11, it is confirmed that he is not the father. Simon eventually goes on to marry someone else or at least get engaged (as Ruthie hints in season 11), and he graduates from college.
Mary Camden
Mary Camden-Rivera (played by Jessica Biel) is the second-born child and the eldest daughter of Eric and Annie. She was born in 1982 and started out when she was 14 years old. Mary might be considered the black sheep of the Camden family. By the time she is 15, Mary is an aspiring athlete with an immense love for basketball. As the months progress, she seems to rise in both ability and confidence (so much so that she wants to play in the WNBA someday) until she is hit by a car before the end of her freshman year, critically injuring her knee. She has a series of different boyfriends. She dates Wilson West, a guy she meets at the park while with Ruthie, who becomes her first love. He later reveals to Mary that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl and got her pregnant. The girl died in childbirth, leaving Wilson with their son Wilson Jr., called Billy. By Mary's senior year, she and her basketball teammates allow their grades to slip, which causes their coach to impose a lockout on them. After a secret meeting, the team decides to enact their frustrations by vandalizing the school gym. They are caught at the scene of the crime, and are arrested. Through a special program for first offenders, Mary is able to evade serious punishment by doing community service, which is where she meets Robbie Palmer. When she gets her driver's license, she can not parallel park but, on Lucy's advice, cries about it and the driving instructor compassionately gives her a passing grade. Mary has a dream of playing pro for the Lakers, and thinks that when her coach rings her up that this is the dream coming true, but it's actually training disabled people for the Special Olympics.