The characters of the television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager:
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Main Characters
Amy Juergens
Portrayed by: Shailene Woodley
- Glamorous Single Mother: While this show does a better job showing both sides, it still glamorizes part of Amy's experience by providing her a new car, a job, and countless other opportunities. It's a very white, upper-class perspective of teen pregnancy, when you consider less than half of teen moms graduate high school and only 2% graduate college by age 30.
- Mama Bear: When she catches Adrian holding John.
- Teen Pregnancy: She becomes pregnant at 15, setting off the series conflict.
Richard "Ricky" Underwood
Portrayed by: Daren Kagasoff
- Abusive Parents: His abusive dad serves as his Freudian excuse.
- Friends with Benefits: With Adrian.
- Happily Adopted: By his foster parents.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He started out with a habit of claiming he loved girls only to never to see them again, breaking the hearts of many young ladies in the process, and of course it was him who got Amy pregnant in the first place. However, he grows as a person over the course of the series, and in fact is typically more mature and level-headed than Ben in later seasons.
- Parental Abandonment: By his birth parents.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the manly man to Ben's sensitive guy.
- Troubled, but Cute: According to most girls at school, apparently.
Benjamin "Ben" Boykevich
Portrayed by: Ken Baumann
- Breakthe Cutie: Adrian ends up delivering a stillborn fetus, which promptly wrecks Ben.
- Nice Guy: Ben is constantly stated to be a nice guy by the other characters, although whether this is true or not depends on the episode.
- The Dulcinea Effect: Ben has a tendency to protect girls, even if he just met them. Such as when he took the fall for Dylan when she got caught with pot.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's the sensitive guy to Ricky's manly man.
- Stalker with a Crush: Shown when Amy refuses to speak to him after he revealed that Adrian was pregnant with his baby. He wouldn't stop calling or messaging her until eventually she answered him and did not hide her annoyance at him for doing so.
Adrian Lee
Portrayed by: Francia Raisa
- Attention Whore: To the point of spreading rumors of her and Grace kissing to get the attention off of rumors of Amy being gay.
- Breakthe Haughty: First Teen Pregnancy, followed by a Tragic Stillbirth.
- Cool Big Sis: Plays this role to Ashley at times.
- Flirty Stepsiblings: Adrian dates her stepbrother for a while.
- Friendless Background: She admits she's never really had friends before.
- Friends with Benefits: With Ricky.
- Good Bad Girl: Puts up a tough exterior, but gets good grades.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: She is smart, funny and can genuinely care for others. Though as pointed out in "When Opportunity Knocks", she puts up a tough exterior because she fears being hurt by others.
- Informed Flaw: She is supposedly the school's resident "bad girl" but is a straight A student, a majorette, and is closer to the school's resident slut.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Dark
- Odd Friendship: Best friends with Grace.
Grace Kathleen Bowman
Portrayed by: Megan Park
- Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: More pronounced in later seasons. However, she doesn’t seem to be terribly socially conservative as she is accepting of LGBTQ individuals.
- Hypocrite: Probably more so than the other characters. She tends to be pretty judgmental toward the other characters despite being no better herself.
- Informed Attractiveness: Grace is supposedly the prettiest girl in school.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Light
- Odd Friendship: With Adrian.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Consistently states that she wants to be with a nice guy.
- Their First Time: On the night she loses her virginity, her father dies. She spends several episodes screaming "He died a horrible death because I had great sex!"
- Token Religious Teammate: Deeply religious, and encourages the others, especially Jack, to join her at church.
Ashley Juergens
Portrayed by: India Eisley
- Only Sane Woman: Usually.
- Put on a Bus: Early on in Season 5, she leaves to pursue a cooking career in Italy, and is never shown on-screen again save for archive footage in the final episode.
Jack Pappas
Portrayed by: Greg Finley
Recurring Characters
Anne Juergens
Portrayed by: Molly Ringwald
Amy, Ashley and Robbie's mother, George's ex-wife and John's grandmother.- Amicable Exes: She tries to be this after separating from her husband George.
- Fiery Red Head: She has red hair and hair-trigger temper when angered.
- Lipstick Lesbian: As of the final season, Anne comes out as a lesbian and is more feminine looking than the woman she connects with.
- Mama Bear: She and her ex-husband both despise "deadbeat drummer" Ricky Underwood for impregnating their daughter Amy and want to hurt him for what he did.
George Juergens
Portrayed by: Mark Derwin
Amy, Ashley and Robbie's father, Anne's ex-husband and John's grandfather.- Amicable Exes: He tries to be this with his wife Anne, even after suggesting they get back together.
- Blatant Lies: Early in the series, he denies cheating on his wife Anne when confronted by her, but he moves out and is revealed to have been having an affair with Adrian's mother.
- Papa Wolf: Both him and his ex-wife Anne want to pummel Ricky Underwood for impregnating their daughter Amy.
Leo Boykevich
Portrayed by: Steve Schirripa
- Nice Guy: According to Betty, he’s the nicest man she’s ever met. However…
- Beware the Nice Ones: He’s generally a kindhearted and well-meaning man, but Ben consistently tests his patience, particularly in later seasons.
Henry 'Hank' Miller
Portrayed by: Allen Evangelista
Alice Valko
Portrayed by: Amy Rider
- Asian and Nerdy: Is specifically shown to have an affinity for statistics in early episodes.
Madison Cooperstein
Portrayed by: Renee Olstead
Lauren Treacy
Portrayed by: Camille Winbush
Tom Bowman
Portrayed by: Luke Zimmerman
- Happily Adopted
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Can be a real jerk at times, such as when he helps convince Grace that her saving sex killed their dad and when he hits Jack in the groin with a football, but is capable of kindness, like letting his girlfriend and her kids use the guest house in the Bowmans’ backyard.
Nora Underwood
Portrayed by: Anne Ramsay
- The Alcoholic: She's a recovering alcoholic, although she did slip up while having dinner with Ben.
Kathleen Bowman
Portrayed by: Josie Bissett
Griffin
Portrayed by: Brando Eaton
- Pet Homosexual: To Ashley.
Kathy
Portrayed by: Cierra Ramirez
Ethan
Portrayed by: Michael Grant
Minor Characters
Margaret Shakur
Portrayed by: L. Scott Caldwell
- Good Parents: To Ricky and Ethan. This might be because of the lack of screen-time she and Sanjay get.
Sanjay Shakur
Portrayed by: Brian George
- Good Parents: To Ricky and Ethan. This might be because of the lack of screen-time he and Margaret can get.
Cindy Lee Enriquez
Portrayed by: Paola Turbay
Ruben Enriquez
Portrayed by: Philip Anthony-Rodriguez
- What the Hell, Hero?: He threatens to leave the family if Adrian gets an abortion.
John Juergens Underwood
Portrayed by: Joseph Levinson and Matthew Levinson
Ricky and Amy's son from a teen pregnancy,- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite the show being about pregnant teenagers, John tends to disappear randomly and only cameos enough that you remember he exists. He hardly has any influence on the plot of the show, other than being the only child of Ricky and Amy.
Robert "Robbie" Scott Juergens
Portrayed by: Cian Mc Grath and Logan Mc Grath
Amy and Ashley's younger brother, George and Anne's youngest son and John's uncle.Betty Boykewich
Portrayed by: Jennifer Coolidge
Camille Boykewich
Portrayed by: Tricia O'Kelley
Katelyn O'Malley
Portrayed by: Beverley Mitchell
Dr. Ken Fields
Portrayed by: Ernie Hudson
Dylan
Portrayed by: Ana Lucasey
Robert "Bob" Underwood
Portrayed by: Bryan Callen
- Abusive Parents: It revealed in the series that he regularly beat up his wife and son Ricky.
