Axl Heck

The Hecks

Patricia Heaton as Frances Patricia "Frankie" Heck (née Spence), is the wife of Mike and mother of Axl, Sue, and Brick. Frankie is the central character in the show, as her voice is heard narrating at various points in every episode. She is a devoted wife and mother and sees family as the most important thing in her life. Her motto, "You do for family", guides her daily routine, despite the frustrations she encounters with her husband and three kids, as well as her older ailing relatives who often depend on her. She often forgets family members' birthdays (most frequently Brick's) and her and Mike's anniversary. Frankie attended college but did not finish. She is often busy with work and does not have time to volunteer at her children's school activities. When the family goes on a trip, she always forgets "the blue bag" which has the food in it. She initially works as an under-performing salesperson at Ehlert Motors, a job she took after losing her position as a dentist's receptionist when the office closed. After she loses this job in season 4, Frankie completes dental assisting school and gets a job at a dentist's office near the end of the season, a job she would keep for the remainder of the show's run.

Neil Flynn as Michael Bartholomew "Mike" Heck Jr., Frankie's husband, known for his straightforward manner and lack of emotion. Mike works at the local limestone quarry as the manager. He reaches his 25-year work anniversary at the quarry in the season 9 episode "The Crying Game", wherein he is promoted to Regional Manager. Despite his no-nonsense approach to work and family, Mike is a devoted and understanding husband and father who always seems to come through for Frankie and the kids. It is said on several occasions that Mike's favorite film is Reservoir Dogs and that, when they were younger, he only asked Frankie out on a second date because she lied and said she also liked the film. Mike's reclusive, emotionally distant father, "Big Mike" (John Cullum), and Mike's well-meaning but unreliable brother Rusty (Norm Macdonald) both live in Orson. Season 8's "Clear and Present Danger" reveals that Mike's mother died of lung cancer at age 42, and his father made him do his homework and go to school the next day instead of allowing Mike time to mourn. Mike loves all sports but is particularly passionate about seeing the Indianapolis Colts play in the Super Bowl. In season 7, he and Rusty start a business designing disposable diapers with sports team logos on them named "Li'l Rivals", which he sells off in the next season to pay for Sue's college tuition.

Charlie McDermott as Axl Redford Heck, Frankie and Mike's oldest son. Unlike his siblings, Axl is sarcastic, lazy, selfish, and a bit of a narcissist. However, he has his heart in the right place whenever he helps out a family member or friend or win over one of his girlfriends. With his frequent problems and the situations he is brought into, Axl is arguably the most frustrating to Mike and Frankie, who in particular wishes to be more open with her, as he was apparently a very loving "mama's boy" when he was a child, something Frankie seems to want to recapture. Despite his behavior, Axl is much more charismatic, outgoing, and popular at school than his siblings are, but his skills do not extend to his grades in school. Axl also plays electric guitar, and it is presumed that he was named after Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose. Axl is two years older than Sue, as evidenced in the third season when he starts his junior year in high school and she starts her freshman year. His girlfriends over the series include wizardry fan and outcast "Weird" Ashley Wyman (Katlin Mastandrea), student tutor Cassidy Finch, and tomboy Devin Levin. As a star running back on his high school football team, he is recruited by a Division II state university in Indiana. In college, he decides to major in business. Early in season 8, Axl dates and then secretly marries his slow-witted girlfriend April, mainly as a way to defy his parents, who don't like April. The marriage is quickly annulled after both sets of parents find out. At the end of season 8, he begins dating Sue's roommate Lexie and graduates from college with a business degree. Between seasons 8 and 9, he travels around Europe with his former roommate Kenny to promote Kenny's upcoming apps. After briefly working as a school bus driver and at the restaurant Spudsy's earlier in season 9, Axl gets his first professional job as a sales representative for a plumbing fixture company in the episode "The 200th". In the series finale, he moves to Denver in search of a job opportunity, but a flash-forward reveals that he eventually returns to Orson, marries Lexie, and has three sons who behave similarly to how he did in his youth.

Recurring characters

Extended family

Edie and Ginny Freehold (Jeanette Miller and Frances Bay, introduced in season 1) are Frankie's elderly aunts who are heavy smokers and drinkers. Aunt Edie used to work in Mike's quarry as the bookkeeper, often showing signs of memory loss. One such occasion is when they went to a funeral for Edie and Ginny's brother, and Aunt Edie thought it was her birthday. Aunt Ginny uses a wheelchair and rarely talks. They have a sickly Basset Hound named Doris. On many occasions, Frankie is forced to care for Doris unexpectedly; on one such occasion, Doris gave birth to puppies. In the season 3 episode "The Map", which premiered in early 2012, Aunt Ginny dies (Frances Bay had died in real life in 2011). Brick's elderly friend, Grandma Dot, then moves in with Edie to take care of her. In the early 2015 episode "Hecks on a Train", Aunt Edie has just died (actress Jeanette Miller had retired from acting before she herself died in 2016) and the Hecks are left to care for Doris.

Michael "Big Mike" Heck Sr. (John Cullum, introduced in season 1) is Mike's reclusive, man-of-few-words father, who is a widower. He appears to be an unloving, uncaring parent, but this is primarily because he simply does not want to be a "bother" for either of his sons. He is also depicted as a hoarder. In season 6, Big Mike and Axl fixed the Hecks' kitchen sink, which was a rare bonding experience for the two of them. In season 8 it is revealed that he sent Mike Jr. to school the day after his mother died, not allowing him time to grieve.

Orville "Rusty" Heck (Norm Macdonald, introduced in season 2) is Mike's unreliable, irresponsible, dim-witted but well meaning brother. In his season 2 introduction, he is shown living in a tent in front of his burned down house. He often makes up excuses why he cannot be anywhere or do anything Mike asks him to do. He once took Brick out of school to bowl and to teach him how to drive, even though he was not old enough or ready. It is revealed in the season 3 finale that his real first name is Orville. Also in the season 3 finale the Hecks get an invitation to his wedding but it says the wedding is happening at their house. Rusty marries a woman named Marlene, but in season 5 when Marlene invites herself to Thanksgiving at the Hecks' house, Rusty tells them that they got a divorce because she slept with his best friend. Rusty appears later in season 5 and is homeless (again). He ends up moving in with the Hecks, and accompanies Mike and Brick to Brick's spelling bee in Chicago, where Rusty makes a deal with Brick to lose, allowing Rusty to win some money on a bet he made. In season 7, Rusty comes up with a business idea that Mike shockingly thinks might work, and the two start a side business together.

Co-workers

Bob Weaver (Chris Kattan, introduced in season 1) is Frankie's co-worker and friend at Ehlert Motors. He is depicted as a lonely, insecure man who lives with his mother and does not seem to have any friends. Thus, he tends to insert himself into the Hecks' family life whenever he can. Bob was credited as a main character in the first two seasons, but the role was significantly reduced after Frankie was fired from Ehlert Motors. He was a recurring character in season 3, and has since made two other appearances (his final one in season 5, when Frankie rushes out to her dental office job but accidentally goes to Ehlert Motors). Bob and Mike once moonlighted together delivering Little Betty snack cakes to stores.

Don Ehlert (Brian Doyle-Murray, introduced in season 1) is the racist and misogynistic owner of the car dealership where Frankie used to work, and where Bob presumably still works. Frankie and Bob constantly worry that he is going to fire them. Ehlert's wife left him when he chose work over her, and Frankie was first sympathetic but later turned angry. He often drinks at work. Ehlert, like Mike, likes sports. As with Bob, appearances by the Mr. Ehlert character were significantly reduced after Frankie was fired from Ehlert Motors.

Pete Miller (Peter Breitmayer, introduced in season 1) is Ehlert Motors' best salesman and star employee, and he is not afraid to tell everyone about it. Pete often brags about his success at Frankie's and Bob's expense, putting them down about how little they contribute to the business while developing a "teacher's pet" relationship with Mr. Ehlert.

Dave (Malcolm Foster Smith, introduced in season 1) is an employee at the quarry Mike manages. He has appeared in at least two episodes every season.

Jim (Troy Metcalf, introduced in season 1) is an employee at the quarry Mike manages. He has appeared in at least one episode every season.

Chuck (Greg Cipes, introduced in season 2) is a younger, laidback employee at the quarry Mike manages. He once babysat for Brick, giving him questionable advice on a school project. He often speaks in the third person, referring to himself as "The Chuck".

Neighbors

Nancy Donahue (Jen Ray) is the Hecks' neighbor and president of the booster club. The Donahues (Nancy, her husband Ron, their son Sean, and their two daughters) are portrayed as the idyllic family Frankie yearns to be like. From season 5, episode 4 ("The 100th"), Nancy and Frankie's friendship has waned a little, mainly because Nancy overheard Mike and Frankie talking about her. In season 7, episode 18 ("A Very Donahue Vacation") Nancy's daughter, Shelly hears Frankie talking about Nancy and tells her. However, Nancy forgives Frankie and they remain good friends.

Ron Donahue (Sean O'Bryan, introduced in season 2) is Nancy's husband and the father of Sean, Dotty and Shelly. He appears to be very involved in his kids' lives.

Rita Glossner (Brooke Shields) is the Hecks' uncouth and troubled neighbor. She is the single parent of four rambunctious boys, as she had kicked the boys' father out of the house some years ago. The Glossners appear to be the only family on the block that is worse off financially than the Hecks. Rita often shows her disdain for the Hecks' higher status, even calling Frankie a "one-percenter" in the season 7 episode, "Halloween VI: Tick Tock Death". Only three Glossner boys are introduced at first, but the season 8 episode "Trip and Fall" reveals that Rita has a fourth son, Rodney, her oldest child who has just made her a grandmother. In the season 9 episode "Hecks vs. Glossners: The Final Battle", Rita's children are sent to juvenile detention. After her children are gone, it brings out the nicer side of Rita.

Derrick Glossner (David Chandler), Wade Glossner (Parker Bolek), and "Diaper" Glossner (Gibson Bobby Sjobeck) (all introduced in season 1) make up the dreaded Glossner boys, Rita's children. They are neighborhood bullies who used to terrorize Sue and Brick. In the first season, Sue and Carly attempt to fight the two older Glossner boys via a dance routine set to "Kung Fu Fighting". In the fifth season, Derrick reveals he has a crush on Sue and unexpectedly kisses her multiple times. Despite describing her as a "rich girl" with "one dad and two different kinds of chips" (and thus out of his league), he vows to better himself and come back for her someday. In the season 9 episode "Hecks vs. Glossners: The Final Battle", Derrick proclaims he has kept his promise by getting a part-time job at a tattoo parlor that pays him $50 a week. Sue tells him she is in love with someone else (Sean Donahue), prompting Derrick to call her a "cheater".

Axl's friends

Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick) is one of Axl's best friends, teammate on the high school football team, and neighbor Nancy Donahue's only son. He is helpful, kind, and polite, he is also very friendly, as well as a straight-A student, which makes him outwardly the opposite of Axl; that said, he always supports everything Axl does however, he sometimes tries to talk him out of ideas that are stupid or reckless. In season 2, Sue develops a crush on Sean, but eventually ends the one-way relationship. In season 5, Sean came back from college to take Sue to prom upon learning that she had no date, but by the time he arrived, Sue had made plans to go with Darrin. Similarly, he often makes the several hour drive home from Notre Dame (at the request of his mother) to help the Hecks whenever there is a crisis, only to find the crisis resolved by the time he gets there. It was revealed in the season 7 episode "Hecks at a Movie" that his and Axl's respective first kisses were inadvertently with one another in a dark closet, something they have vowed to never speak of again. Also in season 7, Sean has taken on a hippie persona and has become a vegetarian (much to Nancy's embarrassment). By season 8, Sean has reverted to a more clean-cut look. The events of season 8 reveal that Sean and Sue have a mutual affection, but neither person is yet aware of the other's feelings. Sean goes on one date with Sue's roommate Lexie, but it doesn't lead anywhere. In the season 9 episode "The Christmas Miracle", Sue and Sean are talking when they eventually realize they both have very strong feelings for each other and they passionately kiss. However, obstacles continue to arise that keep the two from being together, and they never officially form a couple. Sean announces he will be living in Ghana all summer for medical work, much disappointing Sue who had growing feelings for him. In the series finale, the two finally profess their love for each other, and a flash-forward reveals they eventually marry after breaking up a couple of times.

Darrin McGrew (John Gammon, seasons 1–6) is Axl's other best friend (along with Sean Donahue) and teammate. Darrin is the most passive and simple of Axl's friends, often landing himself, Sean, and Axl in problematic situations. In season 3, he takes Sue to the prom because of her "sunny disposition" and explained to Axl that he (Darrin) just wanted to go with someone and dance. In season 4, Darrin takes Sue to a Valentine's Day dance after her date cancels; and when tidying up in the hall after the dance they share a kiss. Later Darrin confides that he wants to continue dating Sue, which angers Axl. However, near the end of season 4, Sue breaks up with him after he accidentally punched her in the face while she was trying to break up a fight between him and Axl. After high school, Darrin enrolls in a heating and air conditioning repair school. In season 5, Sue feels like the breakup was a mistake and realizes that they only broke up because Axl was being so weird about it. With Axl having gone off to college, Sue gains a renewed interest in Darrin until she sees that he has a new girlfriend (Angel). Darrin later decides that his current girlfriend is too high-maintenance and he brings flowers to Sue, only to see her being kissed by Derrick Glossner. Despite a series of misunderstandings, the two ultimately reconnect at Sue's prom in season 5, and become a couple again. He proposes to Sue in the 6th season, and under pressure, she accepts. After realizing she does not want to be married yet, Sue breaks off the engagement with him three days later. Darrin only has one more appearance after that.

Sue's friends

Bradley "Brad" Bottig (Brock Ciarlelli) is Sue's flamboyant, theater-loving, tap dancing and slightly camp ex-boyfriend, who is on the high school wrestling team, though Sue is seemingly oblivious to his stereotypically homosexual behavior. They date during Thanksgiving (season 1), but soon break up. Mike and Frankie assume the breakup was the result of Sue learning that Brad is gay, but Sue claims it is because she found out Brad has a smoking habit. The two remain good friends with Sue despite their breakup. In season 7, Brad prepares to come out to Sue as gay, to which she responds that she knows, and she shows him love and support. In season 8, Brad transfers to East Indiana State, saying he felt dwarfed as a student at NYU.

Carly (Blaine Saunders, seasons 1–6, 9) is Sue's best female friend. She began in season 1 as a geeky character, wearing glasses and braces. Her braces were removed mid-season 1, and she became more popular as a result. Sue seems to be jealous, if only subconsciously, and wears makeup which her family finds garish. From season 2 onwards, Carly has reverted to a more geeky look. After making multiple appearances in seasons 1–4, Carly only made one appearance in season 5 (episode 14, "The Award") and one appearance in season 6 (episode 11, "A Quarry Story"). In a season 9 episode ("New Year's Revelations"), Carly attends the Hecks' New Year's Eve party, where it is revealed that she has a baby (and it is implied that she is a single mother).

Ashley "Weird Ashley" Wyman (Katlin Mastandrea, introduced in season 2) is Axl's socially challenged classmate who is his accidental date to a prom dance on two occasions. She is also on Sue's wrestlerette team. She has a keen interest in wizardry, although she has never heard of the Harry Potter franchise. At their third prom together, Ashley is not Axl's date but dances with him when he's announced as prom king, as Axl and his date Cassidy had broken up only a few moments before the announcement. In subsequent appearances, she continues to stalk Axl, who repeatedly denies that they were ever an item. In the series finale, Ashley shows up to wish Axl good luck as he leaves for Denver, adding that she will "always know" what's going on with him.

Ruth (Grace Bannon, introduced in season 3) is a member of Sue's wrestlerette team, depicted as an extreme religious conservative, often referencing the Rapture and growing up with a large number of siblings. Unlike the other wrestlerettes, Ruth wears an ankle-length skirt. After graduation, she loses contact with Sue.

Brick's friends

Zack (Andrew J. Fishman in seasons 1–4; Carlin James in season 9; introduced in season 1) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He has a tendency to behave like a cat, meowing and wearing oven mitts to prevent him from clawing at various objects. After season 4, Zack does not appear until making a cameo in the season 9 episode "Great Heckspectations", in which he along with Brick's other former classmates explains that he is cured of his condition.

Scott (Aidan Potter, introduced in season 3) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He only eats red foods and has bouts of anxiety with other colors. After season 4, he does not appear until making a cameo in the season 9 episode "Great Heckspectations", in which he along with Brick's other former classmates explains that he is cured of his condition.

Henry (Devan Leos in seasons 1–3; Bryce Hurless in seasons 3–5; Cameron Gellman in season 9; introduced in season 1) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He has a tendency to speak shouting and knock everything down. After season 5, he does not appear until making a cameo in the season 9 episode "Great Heckspectations", in which he along with Brick's other former classmates explains that he is cured of his condition.

Theo (Jake Netter, introduced in season 3) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He can not hold his bladder and needs to go to the bathroom every moment. After season 5, he does not appear.

Corey (Mason Cook, introduced in season 1) is Brick's friend from the socially challenged class. He is complexed with his socks, which cannot be misaligned or sweaty, because this can cause him to become very upset. After season 4, he does not appear.

Arlo (Nick Shafer, introduced in season 2) is a friend Brick meets during the second season. He has an obsession with keeping everything on a schedule and takes frequent and lengthy bathroom breaks in the episode "Mother's Day II" when he is accompanying the Hecks to Brown County. He appears only in season two.

Cynthia Violet "Cindy" Hornberger (Casey Burke, seasons 6–9) is a classmate of Brick's who becomes his girlfriend in season 6. Though she stands taller than Brick, she seems as quirky as he is. She always wears a safari hat, her facial expression shows no emotion, and, since she finds Brick's missing shoe in her first appearance, it is heavily implied that the character is named for Cinderella. Cindy is very brief and direct in her communication. In the season seven episode "Find my Hecks" Cindy states her IEP describes her as being incapable of irony, overly literal, and flat of affect, with a diagnostic code of 9b37, which may be a reference to disability codes related to the IEP. She has stated in multiple episodes that her favorite food is shrimp. Cindy's flaky parents are introduced in the season 7 episode "Crushed", when they ask the Hecks for a significant loan to save their house from foreclosure. The Hecks are not able to help, forcing Cindy's family to move in with her grandparents. This seemingly ends her relationship with Brick, until it is shown that her grandparents live only a block away. In season 8's "The Final Final", Brick is elated to learn that Cindy's doctor told her she has likely stopped growing. Cindy and Brick briefly break up early in season 9, but are back together as of the episode "The 200th". Cindy is finally shown without her hat in season 9's "Great Heckspectations", stating her mother forbade her from wearing a hat to the prom. The series finale has a flash-forward about Brick's future career and he's wearing a wedding ring, but it is not mentioned if he stays with Cindy. In Season 7's "Halloween VI: Tick Tock Death" Brick's narration leaves this ambiguous as he might have just imagined it because he ate too much candy, but it is suggested that Brick and Cindy are married in the future with four children.

Axl's love interests

Morgan Edwards (Alexa PenaVega, Season 1) is a basketball cheerleader at Orson High that Axl briefly develops a relationship with. Her first appearance is "The Break-Up" where she is dating Axl and they're very happy until Morgan gets bored and ends things with him, breaking his heart. He tries to make a grand gesture at the basketball game in order to win her back by making the winning shot for her, but the clock runs out and he loses the game as a result instead. Her second and final appearance is in "Worry Duty" where she and Axl get back together and Sue also tries to become friends with her to elevate her own status, but Morgan's micro-managing Axl all the time to the point that Frankie not only imagines attacking her across the table at one point, but then eventually throws a cookie at her head to knock her down at another point too. She and Axl continue on-and-off for a time until Axl starts eyeing another girl and their relationship officially ends after that.

Courtney and Debbie (Brittany Ross and Natalie Lander, introduced in season 3) are airheaded, think-alike cheerleaders in Axl and Sue's high school who date Axl as one. Because the two are inseparable, Axl struggles to figure out which one is his real girlfriend and which one is just hanging out with the other. He makes a calculated guess that Courtney is his girlfriend and kisses her, which causes both girls to slap him and break up with him. They perpetually overlook Sue, often thinking she is a new exchange student, and later calling her a freshman during her senior year. In season 7, Courtney and Debbie are now assistant cheerleading coaches at Orson High and they no longer like each other. In Season 9's "The 200th", they appear at the ceremony celebrating Orson and give a speech about going into business together.

Cassidy Finch (Galadriel Stineman, introduced in season 4) is Axl's girlfriend in his senior year of high school. She met Axl when he was trying to boost his grades and needed a tutor. They did not get along very well in their first session, but then Axl kissed her and soon found out she had a boyfriend. She later broke up with her old boyfriend to be with Axl. Late in season 4, Cassidy's ex-boyfriend returns, putting tension between Axl and Cassidy for a while before they come back together. They break up in the episode "Hallelujah Hoedown", after Cassidy reveals she is going away in three weeks for an internship program and that they will be in different colleges come September. They begin speaking again in "The Award" (season 5), after Cassidy leaves an embarrassing message on Axl's voicemail. After a brief reconnection during spring break, Cassidy breaks up with Axl again, saying it is not fair to either of them to pursue a relationship while being 800 miles apart.

Sue's love interests

Matt (Moisés Arias, introduced in season 3) is a boy on the wrestling team at Orson High who likes Sue; he becomes Sue's first real boyfriend but eventually ends the relationship after moving away and falling for another girl. In season 4, Matt asks Sue to the school Valentine's Day dance because he broke up with his girlfriend Sherrie. He later calls Sue at the last minute to say that he and Sherrie got back together, and he is no longer taking her to the dance. This paves the way for Darrin to swoop in and save the day for Sue.

Derrick Glossner (David Chandler) Sue's neighbor who has feelings for her. He kisses her multiple times in season 5 and confesses to her the reason he is mean is because he likes her, and he wants to better himself to be the man she deserves. In season 9 when Sue breaks into the Glossner home to retrieve a snow globe they stole, he confesses he still has feelings for her. Sue tells him she is in love with someone else (Sean Donahue), causing him to throw the snow globe, which Sue is able to retrieve.

Logan (David Hull, introduced in season 6) is a guy from another high school who works as a shirtless model in the Abercrombie & Fitch store at the same mall where Sue works. He asks Sue to her prom after seeing her depressed over breaking up with Darrin, and he later reveals that he likes her. The two later try to connect during a chance encounter at East Indiana State, but Sue had taken Brick along that day, and he gets lost. Finally, Logan and Sue meet at a movie theater, where Logan says he is majoring in Religious Studies and plans to be a priest, disappointing Sue.

Jeremy (Will Green, introduced in season 7) is a hardcore environmentalist and anti-capitalist whom Sue first meets when he is chained to a tree on campus. The two briefly date, but Sue breaks up with Jeremy early in season 8.

Tyler (Keaton Savage, season 7) is the boy who drives the safe ride cart on the East Indiana State campus. He becomes Sue's brief love interest in season 8, until she spends most of their first date talking about Sean Donahue.

Aidan (Jackson White, introduced in season 9) delivers food to Lexie and Sue's apartment on the evening when Sean Donahue is supposed to set up Sue with a blind date. In reality, Sean was going to surprise Sue by being her mystery date, but Sue assumes that Aidan is actually whom Sean sent. They go on an accidental date that evening, and Aidan later surprises Sue at the Hecks' New Year's Eve party, where he kisses her at midnight (thwarting Sean's plans to kiss Sue). Aidan is very clumsy and keeps accidentally injuring Sue, causing her to try to break up with him, but Brad begs her not to end the relationship until he has a chance to ask out Aidan's bandmate Luke. By the time Brad and Luke hit it off, Sue realizes how similar she and Aidan are and decides they should stay together, only to break up with him in "Toasted".

School staff

Mrs. Tompkins (Krista Braun, introduced in season 1) is Brick's social skills mentor and guidance counselor.

Mr. Farrar (Christopher Darga, introduced in season 3) is a teacher at Orson High.

Mr. Walker (Sam Lloyd, introduced in season 4) is one of Brick's teachers.

Dr. Fulton (Dave Foley, seasons 4–6, 8 & 9) is the school therapist. He is an odd character who helps Brick bond with his peers and try to fit in more at school. An insecure man himself, Dr. Fulton is obsessed with his ex-wife Shelly, whom he mentions nearly every time Brick talks to him for "help". In season 8, he tells Brick he is dating a 68-year-old woman named Barbara, whom he prefers to call "Shelly". In season 9's "Thank You for Not Kissing", he tells Mike and Frankie that Shelly took him back, proudly proclaiming his "years of stalking" finally paid off.

Principal Cameron (French Stewart, introduced in season 4) is the principal at Orson High.

Coach Tink Babbitt (Brooke Dillman, introduced in season 5) is a physical education teacher, volleyball coach and detention monitor at Orson High. In the season 8 episode "Swing and a Miss", Mike hires Tink as a part-time assistant at the quarry, solely for the purpose of making her eligible to play on the quarry's softball team.

Religious leaders

Reverend Timothy "Tim-Tom" Thomas (Paul Hipp, introduced in season 1), is a youth minister at the Hecks' church whom Sue deeply admires. He surprised Sue by remembering her name after only having met her once, and always seems to appear just when Sue needs help the most. He is known for frequently playing his acoustic guitar and making almost anything into a song. He plays guitar with Axl on one occasion when encouraging him to do the right thing. In season 5, Reverend Tim-Tom gets a girlfriend (Reverend Tammy, played by Casey Wilson). Sue takes a disliking to Tammy and is not sure how to tell Reverend Tim-Tom, but Sue changes her mind about Tammy after the two talk. In a flash-forward in the series finale, Reverend Tim-Tom officiates the marriage of Sue and Sean.

Reverend Haver (Dierk Torsek, introduced in season 1) is the pastor at the Hecks' church.

Notable guest stars

Brooke Shields as Mrs. Glossner(season 1)

Amy Sedaris as Abby Michaels (season 1)

Betty White as Mrs. Nethercott (season 1)

Alexa PenaVega as Morgan Edwards (season 1)

Doris Roberts as Mrs. Rinsky (season 2)

Chord Overstreet as Mr. Wilkerson (season 3)

Ray Romano as Nicky Kohlbrenner (season 3)

Molly Shannon as Frankie's sister Janet (seasons 3 & 4)

Brandon Scott as Cory (season 3)

Ed Asner as Ben (season 3)

Richard Gant as Pastor Watkins (season 3)

Whoopi Goldberg as Ms. Jane Marsh (season 3)

Rick Harrison as Rick (season 4)

Jane Kaczmarek as Sandy Arnwood (season 4)

David Koechner as Jeff Webber (season 4)

Roger Rees as Mr. Glover (season 4)

Carolyn Hennesy as Connie McDonald (season 4)

Marion Ross as Ms. Dunlap (season 4)

Rachel Dratch as Principal Barker (season 5)

Keegan-Michael Key as Reverend Deveaux (season 5)