Clarissa Explains IT All - Characters

Characters

• Clarissa Marie Darling (Melissa Joan Hart) – The titular main character of the show. She is a smart, optimistic, sarcastic, witty and realistic teenage girl. The whole series is seen through her point of view (excluding the episode "Ferguson Explains It All"). Despite her rationalism, she often tends to exaggerate any problem she's facing. She was approximately 14 years old when the series began and was an 8th grader at Thomas Tupper Junior High. By the end of the series, she was approximately 18 years old and a high school senior. She is also a believer in UFOs. She is best known for her pop culture references and various surreal dream sequences. She is pretty and popular and generally well-liked by her classmates, and her interests include photography, journalism, and listening to rock music. She also has had a revolving door of friends and boyfriends throughout the series. Though she is usually mild-mannered, she can be just as selfish and calculating as her younger brother Ferguson. She is best known for her unique fashion sense. Often colorful and mismatched, she is similar to Blossom Russo and Lisa Turtle. She speaks in a minor dialect of Valspeak which was abandoned in the later seasons. Also noteworthy of Clarissa is her love of music. In the first episode, she states that she loves John Linnell of They Might Be Giants. In addition to this, posters of them are featured prominently in her room. In a later episode, she mentions that she is a fan of Pearl Jam and is trying to duck out of a family party early that night to attend their concert. In the same episode, Marshall mentions that he is a fan of Vanilla Fudge, who is also playing at the concert. Another episode had Sam defending the band The Violent Femmes to her parents, explaining that they are neither violent nor femmes. They also made an appearance on Hart's later show, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, using the same argument to defend them. In another episode, she mentions her Marshall's Jethro Tull bootleg collection. A line from the INXS song "Suicide Blonde" was sung by Ferguson while listening to headphones in the 1991 episode "Clarissa News Network". Highlighting the character's love of music, Hart recorded a CD, in character, titled "This is What Na-Na Means." It was released in 1994 and credited to "Clarissa and the Straightjackets."

• Ferguson W. Darling (Jason Zimbler) (born February 13, according to the episode "Class Picture") – Clarissa's mischievous, redhead younger brother. They constantly antagonize each other. She refers to him with several epithets such as "Ferg-face", "Ferganerd" "Fergwad" or "Fergbreath." He loves money and comes up with get-rich-quick schemes. He is also a Young Republican who idolizes Dan Quayle and Ronald Reagan. He goes to school with her and is about one or two years younger than her. Despite their rivalry, they occasionally collaborate, usually to the advantage of both. Unlike her, however, he does not seem to be very popular at school.

• Sam Anders (Sean O'Neal) – Clarissa's best friend and confidant. He is considered more optimistic and upbeat than her. He is perhaps best known for saying "What's the worst that can happen?" usually to dismiss any worst-case scenario she comes up with. He is smart, polite, nice, and enjoys surfing and skateboarding. He usually enters her second story bedroom with a ladder while a distinctive guitar tune plays every time he is about to enter. In the pilot, it is said his father is single. It is unknown what happened to his mother.

• Janet Darling (Elizabeth Hess) – Clarissa and Ferguson's mother and Marshall's wife. She is the only person Clarissa sees as a voice of reason and thus seeks advice from her. She is a certified teacher, works at a children's museum, is an environmentalist, and an organic food enthusiast who cooks various bizarre, tasteless meals much to her family's dismay.

• Marshall Darling (Joe O'Connor) – Clarissa and Ferguson's father and Janet's husband. He is an architect who designs unusually shaped buildings, mostly retail and tourist attractions (such as the "Fryfel Tower"). Clarissa also comes to him for advice, but he is less understanding than Janet is. Both he and Janet are former flower children from the 1960s. He usually calls Clarissa "sport", very seldom addressing her by name.