# The 44 Greatest TV Teenage Characters of All Time

> Slayers, schemers and sad-eyed narrators share this bracket with the Disney Channel kids a whole generation grew up alongside. A few were role models; most were gloriously messy.

*By YPB Team · Published October 27, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-44-greatest-tv-teenage-characters-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Buffy Summers** — score 1000/1000
   The Sunnydale High student and Chosen One of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
2. **Veronica Mars** — score 871/1000
   The sharp-tongued teen private eye of Neptune High, played by Kristen Bell.
3. **Brenda Walsh** — score 745/1000
   The Minnesota transplant navigating West Beverly High on Beverly Hills, 90210, played by Shannen Doherty.
4. **Doogie Howser** — score 716/1000
   The teenage genius practicing medicine on Doogie Howser, M.D., played by Neil Patrick Harris.
5. **Elena Gilbert** — score 635/1000
   The Mystic Falls teen caught between two vampire brothers in The Vampire Diaries, played by Nina Dobrev.
6. **Kevin Arnold** — score 635/1000
   The suburban kid coming of age in the late 1960s on The Wonder Years, played by Fred Savage.
7. **Wednesday Addams** — score 586/1000
   The deadpan Nevermore Academy sleuth of Netflix's Wednesday, played by Jenna Ortega.
8. **Dylan McKay** — score 586/1000
   The sideburned rebel and 90s icon of Beverly Hills, 90210, played by Luke Perry.
9. **Hannah Baker** — score 586/1000
   The teen whose recorded tapes drive 13 Reasons Why, played by Katherine Langford.
10. **Blair Waldorf** — score 532/1000
   The scheming queen bee of the Upper East Side on Gossip Girl, played by Leighton Meester.
11. **Lindsay Weir** — score 532/1000
   The mathlete-turned-freak at the heart of Freaks and Geeks, played by Linda Cardellini.
12. **Matt Saracen** — score 532/1000
   The shy backup quarterback who becomes the Dillon Panthers' starter on Friday Night Lights, played by Zach Gilford.
13. **Nathan Scott** — score 469/1000
   The basketball star who matures from bully to husband on One Tree Hill, played by James Lafferty.
14. **Effy Stonem** — score 469/1000
   The enigmatic, near-silent wild child of Skins, played by Kaya Scodelario.
15. **Malcolm** — score 469/1000
   The gifted, put-upon middle son of Malcolm in the Middle, played by Frankie Muniz.
16. **Dawson Leery** — score 469/1000
   The Spielberg-obsessed aspiring filmmaker of Dawson's Creek, played by James Van Der Beek.
17. **Serena van der Woodsen** — score 469/1000
   The It girl whose return sets Gossip Girl in motion, played by Blake Lively.
18. **Moesha Mitchell** — score 469/1000
   The Leimert Park teen at the center of the 90s sitcom Moesha, played by Brandy.
19. **Will Smith (Fresh Prince)** — score 469/1000
   The West Philadelphia teen sent to live with his Bel-Air relatives, played by Will Smith.
20. **Hannah Montana** — score 469/1000
   Miley Stewart, the ordinary teen secretly living as a pop star, played by Miley Cyrus.
21. **Seth Cohen** — score 469/1000
   The comic-book-loving, fast-talking misfit of The O.C., played by Adam Brody.
22. **Angela Chase** — score 397/1000
   The introspective 15-year-old narrator of My So-Called Life, played by Claire Danes.
23. **Pacey Witter** — score 397/1000
   The wisecracking underdog who won Joey's heart on Dawson's Creek, played by Joshua Jackson.
24. **Steve Urkel** — score 397/1000
   The suspender-wearing nerd who took over Family Matters, played by Jaleel White.
25. **Zack Morris** — score 397/1000
   The scheming, fourth-wall-breaking Bayside schemer of Saved by the Bell, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
26. **Chuck Bass** — score 397/1000
   The decadent heir and antihero of Gossip Girl, played by Ed Westwick.
27. **Kelly Kapowski** — score 397/1000
   Bayside High's head cheerleader and Zack's great love on Saved by the Bell, played by Tiffani Thiessen.
28. **Eleven** — score 397/1000
   The telekinetic runaway from Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things, played by Millie Bobby Brown.
29. **Jimmy Brooks** — score 397/1000
   The basketball star whose shooting left him in a wheelchair on Degrassi: The Next Generation, played by Drake.
30. **Maeve Wiley** — score 397/1000
   The fiercely clever outsider of Sex Education, played by Emma Mackey.
31. **Sabrina Spellman** — score 397/1000
   The half-witch high schooler of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, played by Melissa Joan Hart.
32. **Jackie Burkhart** — score 397/1000
   The spoiled, self-adoring cheerleader of That '70s Show, played by Mila Kunis.
33. **Willow Rosenberg** — score 313/1000
   Buffy's brainy best friend who grows into a powerful witch, played by Alyson Hannigan.
34. **Devi Vishwakumar** — score 313/1000
   The hot-headed overachiever of Never Have I Ever, played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.
35. **Rory Gilmore** — score 313/1000
   The bookish Stars Hollow daughter bound for Yale on Gilmore Girls, played by Alexis Bledel.
36. **Joey Potter** — score 313/1000
   The tomboyish girl next door at the center of Dawson's Creek's love triangle, played by Katie Holmes.
37. **Alex P. Keaton** — score 313/1000
   The Reagan-loving young Republican son of ex-hippies on Family Ties, played by Michael J. Fox.
38. **Eric Forman** — score 213/1000
   The scrawny, sarcastic Point Place teen of That '70s Show, played by Topher Grace.
39. **Rue Bennett** — score 213/1000
   The addicted, sardonic narrator of Euphoria, played by Zendaya in an Emmy-winning role.
40. **Tim Riggins** — score 0/1000
   The hard-living fullback of Friday Night Lights, played by Taylor Kitsch.
41. **Steve Harrington** — score 0/1000
   The popular jock turned beloved babysitter of Stranger Things, played by Joe Keery.
42. **Cory Matthews** — score 0/1000
   The everyman hero who grows up across seven seasons of Boy Meets World, played by Ben Savage.
43. **Lizzie McGuire** — score 0/1000
   The relatable junior-high everygirl of Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire, played by Hilary Duff.
44. **Otis Milburn** — score 0/1000
   The awkward son of a sex therapist who opens a school clinic in Sex Education, played by Asa Butterfield.

Tags: tv shows, teens, characters, high school