List of Full House Characters - Recurring Characters

Recurring Characters

• Pamela "Pam" Katsopolis Tanner (1960–1987, portrayed by Christie Houser in the home video), the girls' mother, Jesse's elder sister, and Danny's wife, who was an unseen character, except in the form of a home video when she and Danny brought Michelle home from the hospital. The video was shown in the episode "Goodbye Mr. Bear". She was killed by a drunk driver before the series began. She has been described as always smiling, over-excitable, and awful at punctuality; traits that her daughters have, and Michelle is said to look the most like her.

• Vicky Larson (born 1957, played by Gail Edwards) is Danny's girlfriend and (briefly) fiancée. Vicky is very focused on her career, which proves to be the undoing in her long-distance relationship with Danny. They meet, and start dating while Vicky is filling in for Becky (who is on maternity leave) on Wake Up, San Francisco. Later, Danny insists that she take a job in Chicago doing the news that she was offered once Becky returns ("Play It Again, Jesse"), and that starts a long-distance relationship (that goes from early season six to mid-season seven. Danny eventually proposes to her while the family is at Disney World. However, Vicky later gets her dream job — anchoring the network news in New York — so she cannot come to live with Danny and his family in San Francisco, nor is Danny able to uproot his family in California. Therefore, to the dismay of themselves and Danny's family, they have a mutual breakup and she is not seen again. Vicky often gives advice, such as helping D.J. with her relationship with Steve, and helping Danny to deal with it and being a motherly figure to D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle.

• Gia Mahan (born 1980, played by Marla Sokoloff) is Stephanie's archenemy (in season seven), who later becomes her best friend (in season eight). She is considered Stephanie's Kimmy, for she also leads Stephanie into dangerous or unsmart situations. Stephanie got involved in a small number of wild, irresponsible things because of Gia such as make-out parties and (almost) smoking. Conversely, Stephanie was also a positive influence on Gia. During an unknown time when her parents had been through a divorce, Gia is shown as a cigarette-smoking, rebellious teen with horrible grades. She is two years older than Stephanie, as she was held back in school. Viewers learn (as of early season eight) that because of Stephanie, Gia has stopped smoking, became more respectful, improved her grades, and lost her inclination to play pranks on other people.

• Teddy (played by Tahj Mowry) is Michelle’s best friend. He made his debut on his and Michelle's first day of kindergarten after Joey told Michelle that the best way to make new friends was by being funny, and doing a Bullwinkle impression. He accompanies her when she needs a "date" to sneak out and join Danny on a date with Vicky (mid-season five). He is also the one whose house Michelle runs away to (later that season). He moves to Amarillo, Texas in "The Long Goodbye", but when his father's job moves him back to San Francisco, he returns. He and Michelle even consider trying to be boyfriend and girlfriend in third grade in "Dateless in San Francisco", but find that it's no fun for children their age.

• Denise Frazer (played by Jurnee Smollett) is Michelle's later best friend. She replaces Teddy as Michelle's best friend after Teddy moves to Texas. Denise, like Teddy before her, often gets Michelle into trouble. Later (episode "Be Your Own Best Friend" in season seven), Teddy moves back to San Francisco, leaving Michelle to choose between him and Denise for whom to portray as her best friend. Danny makes her understand that it is possible to have more than one best friend. Michelle, Teddy, and Denise all become each other's best friends. Also it is revealed that Denise's uncle is Little Richard (who guest starred in "Too Little Richard Too Late" in season seven).

• Aaron Bailey (played by Miko Hughes) is Michelle's recurring and longest running classmate. He is the typical class bully, who tends to be annoying and rude at times. He pinches Michelle in one episode when they are in preschool and Jesse tells Michelle to fight back. When the teacher punishes them, Jesse takes Michelle home. While that behavior does not continue, his obnoxious ways continue throughout the series. In other episodes, he treats Jesse as an equal or underlying rival. Plus he also creates trouble for D.J. and Kimmy when they have boys over while Kimmy is babysitting. Danny even remarks (in season seven) that they are watching Aaron for several days "until his regular babysitter stops twitching." He is sometimes seen being nice to Michelle.

• Derek S. Boyd (played by Blake McIver Ewing) is one of Michelle's friends (eight episodes throughout seasons 6-8). Michelle first meets Derek (in the episode "The Play's the Thing") when he gets the role of Yankee Doodle in their school play, America the Beautiful. Though Michelle is initially jealous of Derek for winning the part over her (due in no small part to the fact that both of her sisters played Yankee Doodle), she helps him recover from stage-fright, and they eventually become friends. Derek is very educated and well-spoken for a boy of his age, though also a bit on the wimpy side. He also shows signs of being a bit obsessive-compulsive. As shown in several episodes, he is also a very talented singer. He says he blends in with his surroundings.

• Lisa Leeper (played by Kathryn Zaremba) is one of Michelle's friends (featured in six episodes during the final season), and it is revealed that she is an extremely good singer when she sings the song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with Derek.

• Nelson (played by Jason Marsden) is a recurring character (during season eight) who is very wealthy, and who dates D.J. on-and-off for some time. Not much is revealed about Nelson's background or family, aside from the fact that he is very rich, and often throws and attends big parties on yachts. Though (toward the end of season eight), he mentions that his cousin, Regina, is visiting America from England, and he sets Joey up with her on a date. Toward the latter stages of his "relationship" with D.J., he gets into a "tug-of-war" with Viper to be D.J.'s boyfriend.

• Claire Tanner (born 1922, portrayed by Alice Hirson) is Danny's mother. She helped Danny with the girls in the first few months after the death of Danny's wife, Pam. She was in the episodes: "Our Very First Show" and "The Return of Grandma", and (by Doris Roberts) in "Granny Tanny".

• Wendy Tanner (played by Darlene Vogel) is Danny's sister, who is an avid animal enthusiast, and works at a zoo. She owns a chimpanzee named Ginger, and is known to have had somewhat of a rivalry with Joey in their childhood, but when she comes back to San Francisco, she and Joey have a brief relationship after they both revealed themselves to have "secret crushes" on each other. It is also revealed that she collects exotic souvenirs from around the world.