This is a list of adult characters (parents, faculty) from Degrassi: The Next Generation. See also the Degrassi Junior High character sheet for more on Spike, Snake, Joey and Caitlin.
Due to the fact this is a long-running show, this character list does contain unmarked spoilers for the entire series, so please tread lightly or not at all.
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Archie "Snake" Simpson
Archie "Snake" Simpson
Played by Stefan Brogen, Seasons 1-14 (regular)
"When you all get back from break... you won't recognize this school at all."note
Snake is Emma's step-father, married to Christine "Spike" Nelson and former teacher-turned principal of Degrassi High. He originally attended the school as a teenager as well. He was the former Media Immersion teacher and had a knack for computers and technology. Throughout the series, he is one of the more trusted adults, with worthwhile advice and an ability to relate to their problems.
- The Artifact: The original concept of D:TNG gave near-equal time to the now-adult members of The '80s Degrassi cast. By Season 6, he's the only one left and his personal life has been moved away from.
- Berserk Button: Pushed very hard at the end of "All Falls Down".
- Call-Back: When Eli deals with finding Cam's body in a less than favourable manner, Snake reveals that he found someone who'd just committed suicide as well as a teenager, and thus, understands and won't seek punishment.
- Cool Teacher: One of the coolest because he's always willing to help his students.
- Demoted to Extra: He's become more and more of a Flat Character since Emma left and he became principal (and as Brogren takes on more and more writing, producing and directing both for this show and The L.A. Complex).
- Gentle Giant: The actor is 6'5" and is a Nice Guy.
- Good Parents: Eventually becomes a good father figure to his stepdaughter Emma and his own son Jack.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: An interesting case, his hairline receded noticebly while he was still in his late teens, had reached its' current level by 1999 and hasn't changed much in ten years.
- Happily Married: To Spike, from season 2 onwards, only separated by a brief break-up in season 5.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Huge Guy to Spike's Tiny Girl.
- Informed Flaw: Test scores have been dropping since he took over as principal (they are, of course, by definition an Informed Attribute of a fictional school).
- Improbable Age: To make principal in his mid-30s, either he must've been fast-tracked for administration or nobody more senior wants the job.
- Modern Major General: In the "Boiling Point" episodes he came across as a classic example of The Peter Principle, a good teacher who was just in over his head as an administrator.
- Nonuniform Uniform: Degrassi experimented with this for a while under him.
- Papa Wolf: Towards Emma, Manny, and Connor, definitely, although he feels a level of protection towards his students as well.
- Parental Substitute: To Emma after marrying her mother, who eventually starting calling him "dad". He also acts as a parent to his God-son Connor who lives with him and his wife.
- Pedo Hunt: Darcy accused him of sexual harassment in order to not confess to getting raped, leading to an aura of suspicion surrounding Snake.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As a father and as a teacher, he's one of the most trusted adult figures. He slightly Took a Level in Jerkass as a principal, but he gets better.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Pay Cheating Unto Boring.
- This Is Unforgivable!: When things get out of hand at Vegas Night in the mid-season finale of Boiling Point, Simpson finally has enough of all the crap he has had to put up with for his entire career, leading to...
- Took a Level in Jerkass: While most of his new policies are quite reasonable Post-Boiling Point, he's a lot harder on the students, a stark contrast to his usual, Reasonable Authority Figure attitude.
Christine "Spike" Nelson
Christine "Spike" Nelson
Played by Amanda Stepto, Seasons 1-2 (recurring), 3-7 (regular), 8,9 (guest)
"Em, will you remember one thing? Even when you hate my guts...I'll always try to listen, and I'll try to understand, but we have to keep talking, okay? I love you more than anything in the world, okay?"
Spike is Emma's mother. She gave birth to Emma while she was a teenager and she also attended Degrassi at that age. Her former boyfriend and father of Emma is out of the picture due to his accident back when they were teenagers. She works as a hairdresser and she and Emma have been there for each other their entire lives. She is a caring mother and much like Snake, very understanding of what teens go through. She married Snake and later had his son, Jack.
- Advertised Extra: While she's credited as a regular in seasons 3-7, she's largely absent in most episodes.
- Cool Big Sis: She had this sort of relationship with Emma's best friend Manny.
- Former Teen Rebel: Used to be a punk rocker as a teenager. As an adult, her style is more sober and conventional.
- Good Parents: She's a very caring mother to Emma.
- Happily Married: To Snake, from season 2 onwards, only separated by a brief break-up in season 5.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Tiny Girl to Snake's Huge Guy.
- Kaleidoscope Hair: Dyes her black hair bleach blonde in season 8. In season 9 she inexplicably now has red and blonde hair. Justified, in that the character is a hairdresser by profession.
- Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: Fans often note how Spike seemed to be very non-judgmental, compared to Emma.
- Open-Minded Parent: Just like her own mother was open-minded when Spike was a teen, she becomes an understanding mother to Emma.
- Parent with New Paramour: Type 2.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Season 3.
- Teen Pregnancy: With Emma in Degrassi Junior High, which is referenced a few times here, including by Snake in season 14 (long after Spike left the series).
- Woman Scorned: When Snake cheats on her in Season 5. The revelation prompts Spike to kick him out of the house and want nothing to do with him.
Caitlin Ryan
Caitlin Ryan
Played by Stacie Mistysyn, Seasons 1-2 (recurring), 3-5 (regular), 7 (guest)
"Don't let a freshmen romance stand in the way of your career. I learned that the hard way."
Caitlin Ryan was the original "cause girl" at Degrassi and she's turned it into a career in the US by hosting Ryan's World, an environmentally conscious show. She moved back to Toronto and worked briefly as a reporter for CQJH. She is deeply in love with Joey Jeremiah, but she is also focused very much on her career, and she and Joey later end up splitting for good.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Downplayed, but adult Caitlin can be carefree and clumsy at times, unlike the overly serious Caitlin from the original show.
- Advertised Extra: Especially in season 5, where she's still credited as a regular after being Put on a Bus and only appears in one episode.
- Ascended Extra: For the first two seasons she mostly showed up as rare cameo appearances as a shout out to the original series. She starts becoming more prominent with being Joey's love interest again in season 3.
- The Bus Came Back: After being Put On Abus, she comes back for one episode in season 7.
- Cool Big Sis: She has this sort of relationship with Spike's daughter Emma.
- Granola Girl: She hosts an environmental television program.
- Family Versus Career: Caitlin made this difficult choice at the end of season 4.
- High-School Sweethearts: Subverted, even if she and Joey were still in love, she eventually moved away to pursue her career.
- Mama Bear: Towards Craig. When another reporter pushes for an unwanted interview with a grieving Craig after Jimmy is shot, Caitlin threatens to beat the shit out of her.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Season 3.
- Put on a Bus : To Thailand and later LA in pursuit of her career.
- UST: With Joey, for a long, long time.
Joey Jeremiah
Joey Jeremiah
Played by Pat Mastroianni, Seasons 1 (recurring), 2-5 (regular)
"When I was in high school, my band The Zits meant everything to me and they were good times, some of the best. Anything felt possible. And then one day I wake up, I'm in my 30s, and I have a daughter and a teenage step-son and I'm thinking to myself 'Woah, when did this happen?'"
Joey Jeremiah was a fun loving irresponsible kid back when he attended Degrassi. Now as an adult, he is all grown-up and mature and runs a used car dealership. His wife (also Craig's mother) died previously before the events of Degrassi: The Next Generation, leaving him alone with Angela, his young daughter. Despite his grief, he still is a extroverted fun-loving guy. When he found out about Craig's abusive dad, he allows Craig to move in with him, and eventually officially adopts him. He is in love with Caitlin, but she broke it off with him to focus on her career. Later, he falls in love with a younger woman and he moves to Winnipeg.
- Advertised Extra: Especially in season 5, where he's credited as a regular but only appears in 4 out of 19 episodes.
- Alliterative Name: Joey Jeremiah
- Ascended Extra: Did not appear much at all outside of cameo appearances until the beginning of season 2, where him adopting Craig became an excuse to bring him back to the show.
- Former Teen Rebel: Used to be a troublesome High-School Hustler, here he's a caring and responsible father.
- Good Parents: He's incredibly patient and caring about Angela, and was concerned for Craig before he even took him in. Despite suddenly and unexpectedly becoming the adopted father of a teenage son with special needs, he takes it all with astonishing stride.
- High-School Sweethearts: Subverted, even if he and Caitlin were still in love, she eventually moves away to pursue her career.
- Honest John's Dealership: Fitting for a former High-School Hustler, he grew up to become a used-car dealer.
- Out of Focus: Back in Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High he was the main protagonist, here he has just a recurring role.
- Parental Substitute: He ends up adopting Craig, the son of his deceased wife, who was living with his abusive father.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Season 2.
- The Masochism Tango: With Caitlin.
- Put on a Bus: Craig mentions that Joey is selling the house and moving to Calgary in Season 6.
- Recycled Plot: His Betty and Veronica situation with Caitlin and real estate agent Sydney.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Just compare adult Joey with his character in School's Out...
Daniel Raditch
Daniel Raditch
Played by Dan Woods, Seasons 1-4 (regular)
Liberty: "Radishes, radishes not so sweet, red and round and gross to eat. They have power and cruel little voices, saying 'I run Degrassi, you have no choices.' Ugly and mean and slightly obscene, stubbornest radishes I've ever seen."
The ex-principal of Degrassi, and former teacher to the adult cast members back during Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. He was a stern principal to the student body, and sometimes was seen as uncaring. He badly handled Rick's bullying issues leading up to the school shooting and was transferred to another school.
- Dean Bitterman: Is it any wonder that he was the "Principal Vernon" in The Breakfast Club episode?
- Fired Teacher: After Rick's death, Raditch got fired from being the principal of Degrassi after proving he can't properly deal with the school shooting.
- Non-Giving-Up School Guy
- The Peter Principle: Overlapping with
Badass Decay. Back in the old series, he was a very competent Stern Teacher. As principal, he is still stern, but tragically less competent. - Reassigned to Antarctica: After the school shooting.
- Stern Teacher
- What the Hell, Hero?: Snake called him out for not taking Rick's complaints about bullying seriously.
Daphne Hatzilakos
Daphne Hatzilakos
Played by Melissa DiMarco, Seasons 2-4 (recurring), 6-7 (regular), 8 (guest), 9 (recurring)
Sean: "How was your quality time with Ms. Hot Sauce?"
Former science teacher at Degrassi who became principal in season 4 after Principal Raditch was transferred. Despite her good looks (and some of the male students lusting after her, giving her the nickname of "Hot Sauce"), she is an effective principal, stern and fair. She is the mother of Peter, and while she loves him, due to his past behavior, she seems like she is coming down on him a lot.
- Hot Teacher: She was popular with the male students because of her looks and JT stayed after school to spend time with her.
- Mama Bear: Don't mess with her students.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Season 5.
- Put on a Bus: She moved away to take care of her sick mother, causing Peter to live alone for a while. She came back to help Peter during his drug addiction storyline.
- Stern Teacher
- Parents as People
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She doesn't take breaking school rules lightly, but is open to listening and communicating with her students and allows for a wider range of student activities to be held.
- The Unfair Sex: She tells Alli that they could've had the police become involved when Johnny sent her racy photos to Bruce. Though, when Peter sent out the video of Manny stripping, he only had three weeks detention with no mention of law enforcement.
Mikerty "The Shep" Sheppard
Mikerty "The Shep" Sheppard
Played by Kevin Jubinville, Season 8 (recurring)
Clare: "Still think he deserves Principal of the Year? Someone who thinks Degrassi would be better off without kids who are a little different?"
Former Principal of Lakehurst, took over for Ms. Hatzilakos at Degrassi, putting in effect a few changes. Unlike his predecessors, The Shep was very quick to put his view of high school into effect. His view involves supporting popular and mainstream choices, playing favorites with the students as he saw fit, and generally not being nice to students who were gifted in academics in place of athletics. His reign was short-lived as Ms. Hatzilakos took back her position after only half a year. He was also the only principal not to be put in the main credits.
- Caught on Tape: His downfall is when Clare confronts him over ignoring Connor's health issues while he's taping his intro to his award for "Principal of the Year." At the ceremony, Clare and her friends play him not only calling Connor a freak but one of his own students a "bitch," causing a mass walkout of the students. He's cleaning out his desk by nightfall.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management
- Jerk Jock
- Politically Incorrect Villain
- Spell My Name with a "The"
- Straw Misogynist: For a official school faculty member, he certainly makes no effort whatsoever to hide his blatant sexism.
Winnie Oh
Winnie Oh
Played by Cory Lee, Seasons 10-13 (regular)
Mo: "Oh girl you make my heart burn, you've got so much to teach and I've got so much to learn!"
Ms. Oh is the new Media Immersion teacher after Snake is promoted to principal. Despite her youth and good looks, she is still a gifted teacher. Dave tries sucking up to her to gain favor, but to no avail until he comforts her about her breakup.
- Cool Big Sis: Has a relationship like this with some of her students. Alli is just one example.
- Expy: Of Hatzilakos, right down to the meaningful connection to the class clown who is incidentally an Expy of JT more or less.
- Hot Teacher
- Hypocrite: She tells Clare that what Asher did was wrong and inappropriate and that they should go to the police. Despite the fact that she, herself took advantage of Sav during his last weeks as her student.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Stern Teacher
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She acts like a hardass, but she does care about her students (Especially Sav).
- Teacher/Student Romance: With Sav.
Audra Torres
Audra Torres
Played by Ramona Milano, Season 10-14 (recurring)
“Degrassi’s on our school board’s watch list. Bullying, low test scores, and now a prank that caused my sons to miss an exam. One more incident and that could be another principal’s problem.”
Mrs. Torres is Drew and Adam's mom. She's on the school board and throughout the Boiling Point, frequently at odds with Mr. Simpson. She is fiercely protective of her sons to the point where she comes off as overbearing, and although she loves Adam, she is still coming to terms with him being transgender. As time goes on, however, she does come to terms with this. She also begins to treat Bianca like a surrogate daughter, due to being in a similar 'troubled teen' situation when she herself was younger.
Regrettably, no amount of her protective inclinations were able to stop Adam from getting into a car accident and later dying from his injuries.
- Economy Cast: She's the most prominent Torres parent, her husband has only made a few appearances.
- Education Mama: Oh, yes. Especially when it comes to Drew.
- Former Teen Rebel
- Good Parents: She's very stern with Drew and Adam, but she's really just doing what she thinks is in their best interest. One case is her convincing her husband to look into jobs in Boston so Drew can finally get closure after his gang beating. She also warms up to the idea of Adam being a transgender male after she realizes that he can't stand being Gracie.
- Shown Their Work / What Might Have Been: Besides being very far from Vince, Boston's medical community is on the cutting edge of aiding transgender youth in their transition.
- Helicopter Parents: Helicopter Mom, to be exact.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Mrs. Torres storms into the school and seems overbearing to Principal Simpson and Coach Armstrong...but HELLO!!!, her son just got hazed, she has every right to be pissed off. And when Armstrong says he's going to investigate the matter, Mrs. Torres quite correctly points out that schools often brush these incidents under the rug so that their teams can keep playing. And that's almost quaint compared to what happens to Adam just a few weeks later!
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Once she finds out that Bianca helped her sons, she considers hiring a lawyer for her out of pocket.
- Mama Bear: Most definitely. Lampshaded in a Boycott the Caf episode review where after Drew is hazed, the reviewer notes "Mrs. Torres has arrived, and she is in total Mama Bear mode!" She also is livid that Drew played a part in Anson's murder, but she immediately hires a lawyer for him regardless.
- My Beloved Smother: Regarding Drew. Seems to be less effective on Adam.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Compares herself to Bianca, explaining that part of the reason she wants to help Bianca excel despite Bianca's previous involvements with her sons is because she used to be like Bianca's old self until she found someone that believed in her, wanting to do the same given how much Bianca is working towards changing herself.
- Outliving One's Offspring: That look of utter brokenness on her face when she has to tell Drew and Dallas that Adam's dead... Oh, Audra.
- Parental Substitute: To Bianca.
- Pronoun Trouble: At first with Adam. She gets better.
- Stage Mom
- Took a Level in Kindness: Big time. She even ended up on good terms with Bianca.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: To Adam early in his transition.
Laura Kwan
Laura Kwan
Played by Linlyn Lue, Season 1-9 (recurring)
An English teacher at Degrassi. Over the years she's been witness to a lot of classroom disruptions caused by all the drama between her students. She was slightly exasperated by the antics of J.T., Jimmy, and Spinner (though she did seem a bit amused at times). In more recent seasons, she wasn't quite as strict (possibly because J.T. and Spinner were no longer in her classroom). As of Season 10, Ms. Dawes, the former art teacher, is now teaching English classes, and Kwan hasn't been seen. It's unknown whether she's no longer teaching at Degrassi or if she's simply teaching English class periods that the main characters aren't in.
- Chekhov's Classroom: A lot of her lessons and the stories read in her class were relevant to the plot of the episode.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She disappeared in Season 10 along with Leia and Blue without a trace. Despite being credited as a guest star for the last nine seasons, she did play a very important role in the series. Her disappearance was never explained or mentioned at all during the course of the show.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She was a bit strict, but it was only because she genuinely cared about setting a good classroom environment. After Spinner famously rebelled in "Pass the Dutchie" she apparently gave him a third chance to pass the class.
Bullfrog Goldsworthy
"Bullfrog" Goldsworthy
Played by Tufford Kennedy, Season 10-12 (recurring)
Radio DJ and perhaps the Degrassi parent who's changed the most as a parent in the shortest time, circumstances having pushed him from being okay with being permanently locked out of his son's room to checking under Eli's tongue to make sure he's swallowed his medication, in just under six months.—-
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: He's perfectly willing to opine that Eli needs to get laid, in front of his girlfriend.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He's the DJ Sav wins concert tickets from in I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
- Economy Cast: As with Omar Torres, we've seen CeCe Goldsworthy twice.
- Open-Minded Parent: He pretty much let Eli do whatever he wanted in the begininng and is still pretty laid back, but he knew he had to start laying down a few more laws after Eli crashed his car and had a mental-health crisis.
- Shock Jock
Vince Bell
Vince Bell
Played by Brendan Jeffers, Season 11, 13-14 (recurring)
“We could use somebody like you...squeaky-clean, popular high school dude...lots of potential customers.”
Vince is the leader of a Toronto gang who incidentally comes into Drew and Bianca's lives after Bianca kills Anson, one of his most reliable drug runners. All throughout season 11, he threatens and manipulates Drew and Bianca and makes their lives a living hell — namely having Drew beat down for snitching and Bianca be his girlfriend in order to protect Drew from the gang. Drew mistakenly thinks he gets the upper hand in their fued which leads to the season 11 finale, where he actually shows up the prom and shoots into the crowd, injuring Adam. He's later arrested and never seen again...
...until season 13 where it's reveals that he's of prison and still drug-running. His brother is Tiny and he uses him and Zig in order to maintain his drug ring and turf. Vince is cruel, mean and absolutely ruthless and doesn't care who gets in his way in order to have his gang be on top.
- Big Bad: Vince is Degrassi's first unambiguous villain, and he definitely lives up to the title. And he's also willing to kill to get what he wants.
- Big Brother Bully: To Tiny, who he makes participate in his gang.
- Big Brother Instinct: ...though he was upset when Tiny got stabbed by Damon and goes to retaliate and he (accidently) shoots Damon for it.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Vince is a brutal gang leader, but he does care about Tiny and is protective of him.
- Gang Banger: And unlike the Gang of Bullies who pretended to be like gangsters in season 3, he's the real deal.
- Karma Houdini: He shows up to the Degrassi prom, instigates a fight with Drew and shoots a gun at him and actually ends up shooting Adam in the arm. He's arrested and...a year later he's out of prison.
- The above actually could count as an extreme case of Artistic License – Law: Canada is extremely strict about gun laws and gun violence (which should have been known to the writers given that Epitome is based in Toronto). Having an unlicensed gun alone can get prison time. Shooting someone, even in self-defence, can also get you put into jail, let alone doing it in an aggravated manner. Vince did all of the above to a minor. The only feasible reason he's not spending at least a decade in jail is because it would make less sense to have two rival gang members pushing drugs in the same area of Riverdale without trying to kill one another over the turf, so they brought him back as a familiar face to Degrassi.
- Manipulative Bastard: How he leads his gang. He gets Bianca to continue to have sex with him so he can leave Drew alone and tries to get Drew to be his new drug runner. Also with Zig, as he threatens Maya in order to get Zig to continue running for him.
- Pet the Dog: After Zig rehearses for the cheesy musicial in front of Vince, Vince is actually impressed and congratulates him on a job well done. He also encourages Zig to get back with Maya after they have sex while high on ecstasy.
- Sexual Extortion: He makes Bianca be his girlfriend and have sex with him in order to leave Drew alone.
- Would Hit a Girl: He slaps Bianca when she doesn't do what he says.
- Would Hurt a Child: Has no qualms about potential hurting and killing teenagers.
