The following is a list of characters from Big Nate, an American comic strip and book series written and illustrated by Lincoln Peirce.
Nate Wright Nate Wright, the comic strip's main and titular character, is an 11-year-old (later 11½) sixth grader at P.S. 38. Nate lives with his father Martin and sister Ellen, as it was established early on in the series that his parents were divorced and his father has full custody of both him and Ellen. He is somewhat vain, believing himself to be a brilliant sports player despite his lack of athletic abilities, a genius despite his below-average grades, and irresistible to girls despite often being rejected by his crush Jenny Jenkins. Nate's unrequited romantic interest in Jenny has been a long-running gag in the series, however, Nate showed in a 2016 comic run that he had lost interest in Jenny and had matured past his crush. In the final novel of the novel series (which is set in a different continuity than the comics), Nate also confirmed that he had largely gotten over his crush on Jenny, realizing she never liked him romantically.
In addition to his bloated self-confidence with girls, Nate is shown to believe himself to be an elite athlete and genius despite being a mediocre student (as well as being rather clueless socially) and an inconsistent athlete (however, he is shown to be an adept trash talker and basketball player and has had a few standout moments as an association football/soccer goalie, including the time he made a game-winning save against Jefferson Middle School in a 2008 arc). Nate also has a knack for frequently earning detention, getting sent to detention so frequently to the point where the detention monitor Mrs. Czerwicki once likened him to her son, due to her son being incarcerated. Nate also often unsuccessfully attempts to get a dog, which often winds up backfiring on him. He also has ailurophobia, the fear of cats, hates figure skating, and is disgusted by egg salad, but loves Cheez Doodles (named "Cheesy Snacks" in the TV series, likely due to copyright issues from the actual Cheez Doodle brand).
Despite his many shortcomings, Nate is shown to have a number of talents, being a skilled artist, with it being noted that he is an especially good cartoonist. His own comic strip characters include Dr. Cesspool, Chip Chipson, Biff Biffwell, Ken Doolittle, Dan Cupid, Stan Cupid, Ultra-Nate (superhero parody of himself), Superdad (superhero parody of his father Martin), The Snuggles Family, Moe Mentum, Dr. Warren Fuzzy, and Luke Warm, Private Eye. Nate is also shown to be a talented chess player, formerly being the best chess player at his school before the arrival of his frenemy Artur, who also happens to be a better artist than him. Nate is shown to be an inconsistently talented musician, with him being bad at playing the trombone, but is a talented drummer and decent singer, performing as the drummer of the band Enslave the Mollusk with Artur and his best friends Francis and Teddy. Nate is also known for having a superhuman sense of smell, has an ability to detect "vibes" from people, and is known for his talent of nicknaming people, being called "The Nickname Czar".
While not typically regarded as one of the most popular students at his school and being viewed as somewhat annoying by his peers, Nate is generally shown to be somewhat well-liked by his fellow students. Exceptions to this include Gina Hemphill-Toms (Nate's rival), Randy Betancourt (though in Big Nate: Blasts Off, Nate and Randy eventually become friends), Chester Budrick (who does not like many people to begin with but notably finds Nate to be annoying), Marcus Goode (who is a seventh grade bully), and Nick Blonsky. Nate's core friend group consists of his best friends Francis Pope and Teddy Ortiz, along with Chad Applewhite and Dee Dee Hollaway. Nate is also good friends with Artur Pashkov, though he maintains a one-sided rivalry with him due to Artur currently being in a relationship with Jenny, Nate's long-running crush, and Artur replacing Nate as the school's best artist and chess player. In recent years, however, Nate's jealousy towards Artur has lessened due to him mostly losing his crush on Jenny and overall becoming more mature as a person. Even when Nate still had a significant crush on Jenny, he still defended Artur from Marcus Goode and his group of bullies, despite the major physical and social danger it posed to him. Nate is also shown to be friends with Jenny's best friend and Francis' former girlfriend Sheila Stapleton.
While Nate is known to be selfish and self-absorbed, he is ultimately shown to be kind and cares for his friends when it truly counts, such as helping Chad ask out a girl he liked, often pushing Francis to do well in his studies due to Francis' interest in academia, supporting Dee Dee's acting, and giving Teddy a high rating on his "Q-Score" scale, a ranking system that Nate invented which measures coolness.
In the TV series, he is voiced by Ben Giroux.
Nate's family Marty Wright Martin Earl "Marty" Wright is Nate's father, a bald-headed, overweight divorcé who lost his job in the eighth novel of the series (eventually getting another one). Like his son, he is somewhat clueless about his failings and considers himself a professional musician despite his indescribably horrible singing voice and initially poor steel-string guitar playing, an athlete despite his inherent laziness, and an expert golfer, though he constantly cheats or loses his ball. He is a health nut and always tries to hand out healthy alternatives to candy on Halloween (raisins, prunes, soy nuts, etc.), which are always rejected by trick-or-treaters, but he never seems to be able to connect the dots and realize that kids don't want healthy food for Halloween. He also was the hero of the first Mud Bowl, according to Big Nate: Blasts Off. His first name was stated on July 28, 2005.
In the TV series, he is voiced by Rob Delaney.
Ellen Wright Ellen Wright is Nate's fifteen-year-old sister who is older by four years. Unlike Nate, Ellen is responsible and hardworking (though her original characterization in the earlier years of the comic strip was that of a rebellious and ditzy teenage girl) and loves cats and figure skating. Nate is always compared to Ellen in school by teachers. She is Nate's consistent rival, and he enjoys playing pranks on her. Ellen also dates Gordie, who works at the comic book store and is considered her crush, on and off, and has previously dated Kenny Smithson, the captain of the football team. They briefly broke up before reconciling.
In the TV series, she is voiced by Dove Cameron.
Marge Wright Marjorie "Marge" Wright is Nate's paternal grandmother. She and her husband, Vern, have a slightly tense relationship, as she sometimes nags him about giving up her career for married life and for generally being lazy.
In the TV series, she is voiced by Laraine Newman.
Vern Wright Vernon "Vern" Wright is Nate's paternal grandfather. He enjoys stating his opinion without consideration and using his age to show off. He is shown to have a tattoo, and he also likes Junior Mints.
In the TV series, he is voiced by Charlie Schlatter.
Ted Wright Nate and Ellen's paternal uncle and Marty's younger brother. Ted is a middle-aged, lazy, obese, and unemployed man-child who lives in Nate's grandparents' basement. He dropped out of college and since then has never held down a job. When he was in 5th grade, he played the oboe. He is oblivious to his family's hints that he move out (once believing his parents telling him to move out was a sign of tension in their marriage) and find work, and spouts sci-fi and musical trivia at the drop of a hat. He is a big fan of World of Warcraft, My Little Pony, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica.
In the TV series, he makes his first and only appearance in the episode "Fuller House", and is voiced by Paul Scheer.
Nate's friend group Francis Pope Francis Butthurst Pope is Nate's best friend, or as Nate puts it, "his #1 friend". He is also Teddy's best friend and is close with the rest of Nate's friend group. Francis is often noted to be a great student, often second only behind Gina. Francis loves trivia and knowledge (to an addicted degree) and often reads from a book known as "The Book of Facts" or "Funtastic Facts", often to the annoyance of Nate and Teddy. Despite his somewhat geeky personality, Francis is shown to be a decent athlete and a good guitarist, playing in Nate's band Enslave the Mollusk. Nate and Francis often argue about cats vs dogs as Francis is a cat person and even has a cat named Pickles. In the early strips, Francis had a crush on Nate's sister Ellen, but quickly got over it and is dating Sheila Stapleton. However, Sheila has not often appeared in recent years and their relationship is no longer frequently referenced or shown. A lengthy on-off arc shows him and Gina having feelings for each other and starting a romantic relationship, with Gina getting over her crush on Chad. This contradicts both their earlier rivalry and Francis' relationship with Sheila that has been confirmed to be dropped from the strip. In Big Nate: Flips Out, it is revealed that he told Nate his embarrassing middle name (Butthurst) as a part of making their friendship official (in return, Nate told him he was afraid of cats, although this is less secret).
In the TV series, he is voiced by Daniel MK Cohen.
Teddy Ortiz Teddy √ Ortiz is Nate's number "1A" best friend. Teddy is a comedic character who frequently cracks jokes and annoys Nate. Like Francis, Teddy likes Artur and is a member of Enslave the Mollusk, their band. His middle name is the square root symbol since his parents are math teachers. In the comic strip, he has an older sister, but in the TV series, he has a mischievous little brother. In Big Nate: Flips Out, it is revealed that he is fluent in Spanish. He plays the musical keyboard in Enslave the Mollusk. In his debut year, 1994, it is revealed that Teddy is half Mexican and half Puerto Rican, and that over the summer Teddy gets to live in Mexico with his grandparents, however, this stopped happening in 1996. Teddy also knows a lot about the Civil War, as his dad is an expert of the Civil War, and has been teaching him facts since he was a baby.
In the TV series, he is voiced by Arnie Pantoja.
Chad Applewhite Chad Applewhite is one of Nate's good friends. He is a small chubby kid with red hair and freckles. He is obsessed with eating and food. Chad is the roadie for Enslave the Mollusk. Running gags include Chad suddenly appearing when someone mentions food and the characters commenting on Chad's ability to attract girls due to his cuteness (the characters call it "the power of Chad"). He is an Aries. In Big Nate: On a Roll, he played the character of Michael in P.S. 38's production of Peter Pan.
In the TV series, he is voiced by Charlie Schlatter.
Dee Dee Holloway Dee Dee Dorcas Holloway is a friend of Nate who is president of the drama club and is considered by Nate and his friends to be a drama queen. Her first appearance was in the second book from the novel series, Big Nate: Strikes Again, in one of his drawings, though her first major appearance was in Big Nate: Goes for Broke. As the series went on, she gradually became a part of Nate's friend group. After the novel series ended, she became a major character in the comics.
In the TV series, she is voiced by Bryce Charles and is in a relationship with a girl named Amy.
Amy Amy is a character specifically created for the TV series. She is one of Nate's friends in his friend group and Dee Dee’s girlfriend. She is from New York and uses an electric wheelchair. Her first appearance was in the episode "Sixtween Candles". She is voiced by Ali Stroker who uses a wheelchair as well.
P.S. 38 students
Artur Pashkov