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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Darcy Edwards
Darcy Edwards
Played by Shenae Grimes, Seasons 4-5 (recurring), 6-7 (regular), 8 (guest)
Peter: “Why would you want to be with a boring Christian guy when inside of you there's this sexy chick trying to bust out?”
Darcy was introduced in season four and quickly became one of the more prominent Degrassi students. She started a relationship with Spinner, and pulled him out of his rough spot when he repeated his junior year and was dealing with being persona non grata at Degrassi. She comes from a devout Christian family and she has taken a vow of abstinence until marriage. However, she still feels pressure to feel attractive and be sexual in order to maintain a relationship. She was very judgmental of others, particularly of Mia and Manny due to their sexual histories. In season seven, she is raped at a party which completely changes her demeanor and outlook on life and it is not until later in the season she came to terms with it. In season eight, she introduces her sister Clare to Degrassi, and then she goes to Kenya in order to help the people there and rediscover her faith.
- Break the Cutie: Probably the biggest instance of this in the show, see below for details.
- Broken Bird: After she is raped, her previous positive disposition is shattered, and she becomes completely unhinged and later jaded.
- Characterization Marches On: In season four, when she is still just a named extra at this point, she comes off as a snobby diva during "Secret."
- Catchphrase: Along with a bit of a Verbal Tic , she substitutes "Sugar," as in "You're gonna get me in sugar," and "Oh sugar."
- Catholic School Girls Rule: Part of her outfit selection for her sexy online camwhoring. The uniform actually belonged to Clare.
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: For someone who tried to abstain from sex, she had two pretty serious relationships with Peter and Spinner.
- Cool Big Sis: To Clare, whom she guides through Degrassi on her first day there, and Clare even admires her so much not to judge her for the MyRoom pictures.
- Despair Event Horizon: She pretty much loses all faith in God and herself after she was raped.
- Driven to Suicide/Interrupted Suicide: On two counts in season seven. The first time she slit her wrist in the gym shower was after being raped, contracting an STD via her rapist, and being unable to deal with all happening at once. The second time she attempted to jump off the school roof after accusing Mr. Simpson of sexual harassment; this was because she hadn't completely healed and was looking for a scapegoat rather than talking things out. Luckily, both counts are considered to be an example of Interrupted Suicide as Manny was there on both occasions.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While she is in no way evil, she was one of the first people to defend Marco to Linus when he was promoting safer sex.
- Faith–Heel Turn: It was implied that Darcy started to really question her faith in God, due to being raped. It wasn't until her outing with a Troubled Teens group that some of her faith was restored.
- Fatal Flaw: Her religiosity leads to her feeling superior over others, especially girls with sexual histories.
- Fake Guest Star: Played a recurring character for two seasons before being Promoted to Opening Titles. She played a pretty big part in season five as Spinner's girlfriend.
- Freak Out: Due to keeping the secret of her rape. She's nearly Driven to Suicide, gets attached to Snake and starts acting creepily towards him, and even cuts her hair in anguish.
- The Fundamentalist: A subversion, she's not that preachy about her religion, unless it's to slut shame. She was even okay with Marco being gay.
- Holier Than Thou: Purity/Virginity wise, as she was loud about proclaiming herself a virgin.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Much to her dismay. She wants to appear attractive and desirable but she wants to stay a virgin until marriage.
- Long Bus Trip: To help underprivileged kids in Kenya.
- Nature Adores a Virgin: Peter, Danny, and Derek certainly did, and Peter was definitely into her and wanted her to dump Spinner and get the sexy chick to break out of her.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When she manipulates Miss H. and her mom into believing Mr. Simpson harassed her.
- Promiscuity After Rape: She hits on Mr. Simpson (the first adult she tells about her rape), even though he is very uncomfortable, and wants no part with it. She also hooks up with Johnny when she is labeled "A crazy slut".
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Shenae Grimes got promoted to the main cast in season six.
- Rape as Drama: The traumatic effects of rape on a person played out all through season seven, as Darcy spiraled the drain and wrecked all of her personal relationships along the way.
- Sex Is Evil, and I Am Horny: The recurring conflict with the character, as she tries to reconcile her burgeoning sexuality and desire to have a boyfriend with her values and staying a virgin.
- Slut-Shaming: She judges Manny harshly for her previous sexcapades and Mia for being a teen mom.
- Sour Prudes: Part of her reasoning for demonizing promiscuous behavior is jealousy, particularly in Manny's case when she revealed she and Spinner had sex.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Jane's Tomboy in season seven.
- Troubled Teen: After her rape, she almost completely gave up on life and started acting out as well as harming herself. Her parents send her to a troubled youth program so she can get help.
- Unequal Pairing: Subverted, she was actually seeking a...thing with Snake as he was the only one who knew about Darcy's rape. Snake wanted no part of it.
- Written-In Absence: She's finally mentioned once in season ten by Clare as her parent's divorce. She's also seen in a picture in Waterfalls in season twelve, so she's not completely forgotten about.
Peter Stone
Peter Stone
Played by Jamie Johnston, Seasons 5-10 (regular), 15 (recurring)
“My dad practically uses this place as a storage locker...throws me in here with everything else he doesn't want.”
Peter is a smug teenage boy with a lot of money and a lot of problems. First introduced in season five as Ms. Hatzilakos's son, he makes a huge impression by filming a drunken Manny showing off her breasts and then "accidentally" sending the video of incident to the whole school. Later on, he puts Darcy in a very dangerous situation by inadvertently setting her up with an Internet predator. Underneath the fancy clothes and toys, he's a boy who is still wounded by his parents' divorce with no real friends at all. Darcy turns out to be a very good influence on him, and he starts to really change as a person. But with her and Mia gone, he goes on a meth binge, and spent the rest of the season regaining the trust he lost. He was the lead singer of Studz, and played alongside Janie and the Studs. After graduating, he attends Toronto University. He shows back up in Degrassi: Next Class season two working at a major recording studio where he gives Maya an internship.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: He is a rich bad boy, with access to a lot of money to get into even more trouble.
- The Bus Came Back: Peter returns in Degrassi: Next Class season two and it's revealed that he works at a big recording studio as an engineer. His main role is him employing Maya at the studio for her co-op.
- The Dandy: Unlike most of the Degrassi bad boys (and boys in general), he's very well-groomed, manicured, and preppy.
- Calling the Old Man Out: In season eight, where he confronts his father for not being there for him and doing the same to his new baby sister.
- Cartwright Curse: The common joke in the Degrassi fandom is that The CW stole both of Peter's girlfriends. Darcy left him in season 8 when Shenae Grimes was cast in 90210 and then Mia left him in season 9 when Nina Dobrev was cast in The Vampire Diaries.
- Compressed Vice: The opening episodes of season 9 have him dealing with a serious meth addiction. He recovers within the episode, and it's only brought up once after that.
- Easily Forgiven: Despite his past transgressions (which included distributing semi-nude footage of Manny on school property and setting up Darcy with an online stalker), Emma and Darcy still dated him.
- Fatal Flaw: He acts out for attention from his parents, and is fond of scheming.
- Free-Range Children: His dad usually can't be bothered with him and his mother actually leaves him to live by himself in season eight while she takes care of her ailing mother.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: After his dabbling with meth, he becomes this. Though it does get better later in the season.
- Garage Band: Leader of Studz and played with Janie and the Studs.
- Heel–Face Turn: He basically became everyone's best friend in seasons eight and nine to try to make up for his sins.
- Homoerotic Subtext: With Riley, particularly the Fanservice-y wrestling scene.
- Intoxication Ensues: With meth in season nine, played for comedy at first, but then played for drama as Mia breaks up with him and he goes crazy after a binge.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eventually. He was an arrogant insensitive punk, but even at his worst, he notices Emma's eating disorder and tries desperately to get her help. He gets better after his girlfriend Darcy's rape incident and drops the "jerk" part of the trope.
- Kick the Dog: Before his Heel–Face Turn, there were plenty of instances where his actions outweighed any Pet the Dog moments he's had. Particularly framing Sean for drugs and setting up Darcy with an internet stalker.
- Lonely Rich Kid: He's treated as an afterthought by his father and didn't have very many friends at all until junior year or so.
- Mr. Fanservice: The per-requisite Shirtless Scenes are there, plus a side of
Ho Yay with Riley. - Only Friend: For awhile his only companionship was whomever he was dating until he joined Studz.
- Parental Abandonment: Abandoned emotionally by his dad, which gets worse when his dad gets closer to his new family.
- Pretty Boy: Handsome, confident, and conceited. Several characters derisively called him this.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!/Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Just ask Sean about Peter's connections. Peter was able to avoid serious trouble for being involved in a hit and run due to them. His actions of distributing semi-nude material of both Manny and Darcy also didn't involve hard consequences with authorities outside of his mother.
- Significant Monogram: Of the unfortunate variety. His full name is Peter Michael Stone.
- Silver Spoon Troublemaker: A rich kid who consistently gets into trouble (though it's indicated it's for his dad's attention), and has enough connections to face any serious consequences.
- Smug Snake: Smug and over-confident, especially with girls who somehow fall under his spell.
- Spoiled Brat: In place of an actual relationship, his father just tosses money and expensive items his way. He does love his gadgets and even got a car.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In season seven, he starts to become nicer due to helping Darcy recover from being raped, and from there he matures, and pretty much all traces of his smug personality are gone.
- Troubled, but Cute: He has a smug attitude, treats women with disrespect, and has a lot of family issues, but he still manages to get girls to date him due to his looks.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: During his Establishing Character Moment, he mentions he's an aspiring filmmaker. Throughout his first episode, he shows that he does understand some film terminology and is fairly passionate about cinematography, even if it seems mostly to exploit Manny. After this, his apparent passion for filmmaking is never really brought up again, and is traded for music. Keeping an aspiring filmmaker pre-Eli could have made a unique addition to the show.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: He would give anything for his father to pay any attention to him.
Jane Vaughn
Jane Vaughan
Played by Paula Brancati, Seasons 7-9 (regular)
“This is why I can't deal with girls, they're just so sensitive, you know?”
Jane originally attended Lakehurst High school before the school burned down. She dresses in a unique alternative style and has a laid back demeanor, which immediately catches Spinner Mason's eye. They both hit it off and become a couple. Despite her jovial attitude, she is a lot more motivated than Spinner and she has her eyes on the future and on becoming a lawyer. She is a tomboy (she even plays on the football team) and can't really relate to other girls very well. She also has a dark past - she was sexually abused by her father and has a lot of animosity towards him. In season nine, as her and Spinner's plans for the future conflict, she cheats on him with new student Declan Coyne. Spinner breaks up with her but later forgives her before he marries Emma (no, really). She is a great singer and was the lead singer of Janie and the Studs. She later attends Stanford University on a scholarship.
- Abusive Parents: Her father sexually molested her when she was a young girl.
- The Ace: She's smart, athletic, was the valedictorian of her class, pretty, and she's pretty much good at everything.
- Academic Athlete: She was on the football team and an ace with her schoolwork. She graduates as valedictorian.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Her full name was "Anastasia Jane Valieri," which she had later changed to just "Jane Vaughn" mostly because she didn't want anything to do with her dad.
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: She and Holly J are casually discussing her previous romp with Declan in a changing tent and Spinner hears everything, despite being outside of the tent.
- Fatal Flaw: Her ambition, at least in the context of her relationship with Spinner — She couldn't accept that Spinner was content with his life and modest goals to the point where she cheats on him with Declan.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She's the responsible one with all the big plans and good grades, Lucas is the teen dad with no job.
- Garage Band: She is the lead singer of Janie and the Studs.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She makes Declan drive her all the way from New York to Toronto to stop his wedding to Emma, and then she realizes Spinner is happier without her and wishes him luck.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Jane successfully hides her affair with Declan from Spinner all through season 9 - until the season 9 TV movie in which he finds out and dumps her harshly.
- Kids Are Cruel: When she joined the Football team, she was harassed constantly by her teammates before she stood up for herself.
- One of the Boys: She only had male friends up until she made friends with Darcy and Holly J.
- Parental Incest: Her father sexually abused her regularly when she was young.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Despite the harassment and lack of support, she was determined to make the football team and play.
- Perky Goth: In season 7, she dresses in a manner close to goth style, and she's not stereotypically gloomy, her personality is affable and friendly. In seasons 8-9, she went through a slight Girliness Upgrade to tone down the goth look to a general "rocker chick" aesthetic.
- Renaissance Man: Jane is a great football player, valedictorian of her class, part-owner of a babysitting business, and lead singer for Janie and the Studs.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Her cheating was rationalized by her unsure feelings about the future of her relationship with Spinner and that she felt instantly guilty and stopped the affair on her own accord.
- Tomboy: She's tough, dislikes typical girly things and behavior, and plays rough and tumble sports.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The football-playing Tomboy to Girly Girls Darcy and Holly J.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: She hated her father but didn't know just why exactly until an argument with her brother Lucas brought the memory to the surface.
Danny Van Zandt
Danny Van Zandt
Played by Dalmar Abuzeid, Season 4-5 (recurring), 6-9 (regular)
“So I'm thinking of changing my name...what do you think about LL Cool D: Ladies Love Cool Danny?”
Liberty's younger brother introduced in season four. He was very much an annoying little brat until season eight after Liberty graduated. He's undergone a pretty noticeable growth spurt and has matured greatly and has become pretty popular in his own right. He was on the football team and was part of the band Studz with Peter, Sav, and Spinner. He graduated in season nine and is accepted into Cornell University.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: In seasons four through seven, pretty much getting on Liberty's nerves while she dated JT. He gets better.
- Big Brother Instinct: Despite being the younger of the two, he doesn't think J.T is good enough for Liberty.
- Big Man on Campus: In season eight, he becomes very popular playing with Studz and playing for the new Degrassi football team.
- Casanova Wannabe: Throughout seasons four through seven before he grew up and was able to get girls with the lame come-ons.
- Character Development: Took place off screen between Season seven and eight, as he stops being childish and grows up.
- Deadpan Snarker: Especially when he was younger with his snide remarks towards JT, but he kept it up a bit as a teenager.
- Garage Band: Part of both Studz and Janie and the Studs.
- He Is All Grown Up: He had a growth spurt in between seasons seven and eight and grew into his looks and became one of Degrassi's resident hot boys.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Derek, at least until season eight. But even then, he still maintains some respect for Derek.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: In seasons four through seven, as he was obsessed with getting girls to notice him and start dating.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: He beats up J.T after he learns that Liberty is pregnant. He also threatens to beat up Toby when he kissed Liberty right after J.T died.
- Nice Guy: Starting in season eight, we he became an all around nice guy to all students.
- Only Sane Man: When he became a senior, he was the only Degrassi kid without any sort of drama to sort through.
- Remember the New Guy?: Liberty never mentioned anything about having a little brother until season four, the same season he debuted.
- Those Two Guys: With Derek in seasons five through seven as the typical comedic, non-plot impacting duo. Later with Sav in season eight. Then with Derek again after "Bad Medicine", though he is still buddies with Sav.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: In season eight, where he matures greatly and starts being a better influence and giving the occasional good advice.
Derek Haig
Derek Haig
Played by Marc Donato, Seasons 5 (recurring), 6-8 (regular)
"Step 1) Get jealous when your best friend gets the girl you like. Step 2) Try to get even with some stupid prank. Step 3) Let your best friend take the fall. With these easy steps, you'll end up with no project, no girl, and no best friend."
Derek is Danny's best friend. He and Danny have always been inseparable until Danny started getting popular and left him behind on the social ladder of high school. He joined the football team along with Danny in season eight and has become much more of a immature bully. Eventually though, although he liked Leia he sees that she and Danny really like each other and willingly steps aside and tells Danny to get together with Leia. This results in Derek and Danny reuniting and rekindling their friendship.
- The Bully: In season eight, has he starts to become a bully along with Bruce The Moose.
- Casanova Wannabe: More so than his friend Danny, but he never was able to get any girls to date him. Not without his lack for trying.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappeared in season nine without a trace.
- Driven by Envy: As Danny becomes more popular at school and with the ladies, he gets left behind and has sour grapes.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While he is seen teasing Clare and Alli, and even jumps Jane in the hallway, he is visibly shocked when he sees the Shep calling Clare a bitch.
- Happily Adopted: He's adopted and revealed it to Liberty to make her feel better about giving her baby up for adoption.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Danny, until season eight when Danny becomes more popular.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: So much so, his school project involved instructions on picking up girls. And also hitting on his female group partner.
- Innocent Bigot: When he didn't notice at all that Danny was harassed by a racist lingerie manager. He even put a pair of panties in Danny's bag just as a joke, but it looked like Danny was stealing.
- Jerk Jock: When he joined the football and started hanging out with Bruce the Moose. He amongst the group that harassed Jane when she joined the football team and picked on the younger Degrassi studies.
- Those Two Guys: With Danny in season five through seven as the class clowns, and then Bruce the Moose in season eight as the school bullies.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He got very cruel in-between seasons seven and eight because of joining the football team and Danny not wanting to hang with him.
- Would Hit a Girl: He shoved Jane into a locker, and after she shoved him into a locker, he kicked her in the stomach.
Johnny Di Marco
John George "Johnny" DiMarco
Played by Scott Paterson, Seasons 6-7 (recurring), 8-9 (regular), 10 (guest)
“Ever since my friend stabbed that kid, I guess you could say I sorta been off the rails. And then I thought, 'Why do I have to be such a jerk...' Whatever. I don't know.”
Originally from Lakehurst High, he is an aloof bad boy who likes to cause trouble. He is friends with the kid who killed J.T. and was at the scene of the crime, and the incident did traumatize him though he'll never admit it. He is highly sought after by Alli, and eventually she begins to date him. However, he put up strict ground rules in regards to public displays of affection to keep his reputation. Despite his demeanor, he is a pretty smart guy and has plans to go to college after high school. He even graduated Degrassi with Honors.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Johnny was both a Lakehurst and Degrassi bad boy and Alli instantly seeks him out when she starts her freshman year.
- The Bully: At Lakehurst, and when he came to Degrassi where he bullied Toby, Danny, Derek and JT.
- The Bus Came Back: He made an appearance in season ten, helping Alli out with her parents.
- Deadpan Snarker: The only bully character who couldn't just hurt you with his fists, but with his remarks.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Johnny was one of the Lakehurst gang that initiated the war on Degrassi and can be a pretty ruthless bully, but he’s in complete shock when his friend fatally stabs J.T. in the back in cold blood. He also initially offered a peace treaty between his gang and Degrassi to Toby (which Toby dismissed), being genuinely upset J.T. was killed. At Brat Camp he reveals that J.T.’s death traumatized him and lead him to act out more.
- Fat and Skinny: With Bruce the Moose, his best friend.
- Failure-to-Save Murder: Toby blamed him, along with Lakehurst, for the death of JT, which gets to Johnny and affects him deeply.
- Gang of Bullies: With Bruce the Moose and his old friends Drake, Lucas and Nic.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Bruce the Moose, his only friend from Lakehurst that stuck around.
- Hidden Depths: He's a lot smarter than he lets on, and feels guilty about having seen his friend murder JT.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He was a bully and jerkass when we first meet him, but he does have a soft side to him that only a few people get to see.
- Older and Wiser: After he graduates and attends Toronto University, his jerkass side seems to have completely disappeared and he helps Alli deal with her issues while she was a runaway.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Most people get the icy side of Johnny. Only Alli was able bring out the sweet side.
- Their First Time: With Alli... at least that's what he told her.
- Those Two Guys: With fellow bully Bruce the Moose in season six and seven. He and Bruce only got one plot to themselves.
- Troubled Teen: Was sent to Brat Camp along with Darcy; after JT was stabbed and killed in front of him, along with Toby blaming him for JT's death, Johnny said that he started to misbehave and get into trouble.
Bruce the Moose
Bruce the Moose
Played by Natty Zavitz, Seasons 7 (recurring), 8-9 (regular)
Danny: “The guy who takes down Bruce is gonna get a medal.”
An oafish bully from Lakehurst who is friends with Johnny, Lucas and Derek. He is part of the football team, possibly to put a lot of people through pain. He intimidates most of the student body, but he isn't impossible to get along with.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Loud, brash, big and not afraid to fight. He used his skills on the football team.
- The Bully: One of the biggest in Degrassi, but not so terrible by season nine as he decides not to beat up Dave for pouring urine in his locker. He does hit Dave with a urine-filled water balloon so it's not sure whether or not that's better.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He applauds Holly J. right along with the rest in the Season 8 finale. He also is willing to walk out on the Shep's Principal of the Year award when it's revealed how he treats gifted students.
- Fat and Skinny: With Johnny, his best friend.
- Gang of Bullies: With Lucas and Johnny in season seven, Johnny and Derek in season eight, then Johnny and Fitz in season nine.
- Genre Savvy: In the mini-episode "Good Times," as he noticed the kids of Degrassi have drama better than any soap opera."Everything in this school happens to this band, their friends and their stupid colored jeans."
- Held Back in School: It was revealed in season nine that he was a couple of credits short of graduating, but they ended up writing him out of the show anyway.
- Jerk Jock: He was part of the crew that harassed Jane, and even helped assault her.
- No Name Given: He's just known as Bruce the Moose.
- Those Two Guys: With Johnny, his fellow bully. They only had one plot to their credit, and Bruce didn't even get a girlfriend like Johnny did.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Fractionally. By Season 9 he's substantially less abrasive and violent.
