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Characters
The Stevens Family
As A Whole
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all their dysfunction, they are a loving family. Louis and Ren in particular have many moments of this.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: A lighter and sillier example, but they can have their moments of tension.
- Happily Married: Steve and Eileen.
- Informed Judaism: It's revealed in the episode "Heck of a Hanukkah" that they celebrate Jewish holidays, perhaps in reference to Eileen's actress, plus Louis's actor's mother, being Jewish.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: All three of the Stevens children are this. Donnie is a Dumb Jock, Ren is an Academic Alpha Bitch, and Louis is a mischievous prankster.
Louis
Louis Anthony Stevens
Portrayed by: Shia Labeouf
The youngest Stevens child.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: To both Donnie and Ren.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Being the youngest of his siblings makes him this among the rest of the family.
- Black Sheep: Unlike the athletically gifted Donnie and academically-minded Ren, Louis doesn't particularly excel at more "conventional" success paths.
- Book Dumb: Louis does poorly in school and gets detention regularly (to the point that he plans his after-school time around it). He's shown to be smarter than Donnie (although that's admittedly not really saying much) and his schemes require a good deal of cunning to plan and normally succeed.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: He's able to come up with many Zany Schemes and outsmarts plenty of people, but he's also rather Book Dumb (though he could do well when he puts his mind to it).
- Class Clown: Much to the family and school staff's irritation. He insists it's all in good fun, but Steve prodding him about it in "The Big Splash" after a swim meet prompts an Imagine Spot that deconstructs it. At a ten-year reunion, Louis behaves the exact same way, but no one is laughing and all his old friends want nothing to do with him. Back in the real world, Louis is horrified by this possibility and resolves to try taking some things more seriously.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Louis is the foolish sibling to Ren's responsible.
- The Gadfly: He plays pranks on others for fun, especially Ren, who he believes should loosen up every once in a while.
- Hidden Depths: While nowhere near the athletic prodigy Donnie is, in the few episodes where Louis takes up a sport, particularly wrestling and diving, he proves to be capable competitor.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: For all that he loves pulling pranks on others, he's never outright malicious about them and never tries to hurt or endanger anyone, and he does try to clean up his messes on the rare occasions when it goes too far. In The Movie, he even tells Ren outright that while he loves messing with her, he would never go out of his way to hurt her.
- The Prankster: His whole schtick.
Ren
Renee "Ren" Stevens
Portrayed by: Christy Carlson Romano
The middle child and only daughter of the Stevens family.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: She's highly studious and takes her grades very seriously.
- Brainy Brunette: Has long brown hair and is highly intelligent and studious.
- Even the Girls Want Her: A number of female students idolize her. Marla and Carla are the most frequently seen.
- Extracurricular Enthusiast: Aside from her general academic performance, she also does these to look better for when she goes to a good college.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Ren's the responsible sibling to Louis' foolish.
- Serious Business: She takes her studies very seriously, sometimes to ludicrous degrees.
Donnie
Donnie Stevens
Portrayed by: Nick Spano
The oldest Stevens sibling.
- Big Brother Bully: He occasionally has his moments of being one to Louis and even Ren on some occasions.
- Brainless Beauty: He's certainly a heartthrob, but his intelligence is nowhere near the level of his looks.
- Dumb Jock: He's good at sports, but is also an airhead.
- Dumb Muscle: He's great at sports, but is really not the brightest bulb.
- Jerk Jock: A bit of a milder flavor of this.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Donnie is overall very masculine, but enjoys getting facials and shaves his legs. In one episode, he turns off the safety valve of the hot water heater so he could use the scalding hot water from the shower in order to turn the bathroom into a sauna.
Steve
Steve Stevens
Portrayed by: Tom Virtue
A quirky lawyer and the patriarch of the Stevens family.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In "Boy on a Rock", when Steve becomes a volunteer at school, Louis asks if he's going to embarrass him and Ren. Steve admits that it's inevitable. He ends up working in the cafeteria and puts on a show of holding a cowboy-themed barbecue.
- Like Father, Like Son: Like Donnie, he played football in his youth and also wrestled.
- Repetitive Name: Steve Stevens.
Eileen
Senator Eileen Stevens
Portrayed by: Donna Pescow
The matriarch of the Stevens family.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In "Gutter Queen", Eileen's repeated bowling fails (to the point of somehow getting a limb stuck in the ball return) make Ren mortified to be part of a mother/daughter bowling league.
- Jewish Mother: She has her moments, especially when she fusses over Louis.
Friends and Associates
Twitty
Alan Twitty
Portrayed by: A. J. Trauth
Louis' best friend.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Louis.
- Last-Name Basis: Is almost always called by his last name.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In The Movie, he is disgusted with himself for helping a reality prank TV show cast the Stevens family and put them through humiliating ordeals to make them into laughingstocks and is driven to get them out and pull the plug on it.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the blue to Louis' red, although it's a bit more understated by the fact that Twitty's a bit less extreme than Louis.
Tawny
Tawny Dean
Portrayed by: Margo Harshman
Louis' best female friend and eventually girlfriend.
- Childhood Friend Romance: With Louis.
- Only Sane Woman: She usually serves as the voice of reason.
- Perky Goth: By Disney standards. She dresses in a darker fashion compared to her classmates and refuses to conform to others' standards, but is also nice and reasonable.
Beans
Bernard "Beans" Aranguren
Portrayed by: Steven Anthony Lawrence
The Stevens' extremely annoying neighbor. Over time, he takes part in Louis and Twitty's schemes.
- Cousin Oliver: Parodied. He’s a cute kid that's brought in part way though the series but ends up being a nuisance to the main characters. Louis and Twitty do include him in their plans sometimes but only in situations they might find him useful.
- Tagalong Kid: With Louis and Twitty.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: He's this for the Stevens family - he shows up at their house uninvited, makes himself at home, and refuses to leave.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Bacon. His love for it is a Running Gag.
Ruby
Tom
Thomas Randall "Tom" Gribalski
Played By: Fred Meyers
Louis's nerdy friend and classmate.
- Gadgeteer Genius: He likes to make all sorts of inventions as much as Louis does but, as an intellectually gifted youth, doesn't do so for pranks.
- Minored In Ass Kicking: He's surprisingly skilled in martial arts.
Nelson
Monique
Monique Taylor
Played By: Kenya Williams
Ren's friend, who is a cheerleader at Lawrence Jr. High School.
Principal Wexler
Principal Conrad Wexler
Played By: George Anthony Bell
The principal of Lawrence Jr. High School, who absolutely loves Ren for being an exemplary student but despises Louis for being the opposite.
Coach Tugnut
Coach Tugnut
Played By: Jim Wise
The physical education teacher at Lawrence Jr. High School, who once coached Donnie and continues to idolize him.
- Butt-Monkey: Frequently the target of Louis's pranks, much to his annoyance.
- Sadist Teacher
Larry
