Nate Wright, the comic strip's main and titular character, is an 11½ -year-old sixth grader at PS 38. Nate lives with his father Martin and sister Ellen, as it was established early on in the series that his parents were divorced and his dad had full custody of both him and Ellen, though it's unknown how this came to be. He is somewhat vain, believing himself to be irresistible to girls despite often being rejected by his crush Jenny Jenkins. Nate's unrequited romantic interest in Jenny has been a long-running gag in the series, however, Nate showed in a 2016 comic run that he had lost interest in Jenny and had matured past his crush. In the final novel of the novel series (which is set in a different continuity than the comics) Nate also confirmed that he had largely gotten over his crush on Jenny, realizing she never liked him romantically.
In addition to his bloated self-confidence with girls, Nate is shown to believe himself to be an elite athlete and genius despite being a mediocre student (as well as being rather clueless socially) and an inconsistent athlete (however, he is shown to be an adept trash talker and basketball player and has had a few standout moments as an association football/soccer goalie, including the time he made a game-winning save against Jefferson Middle School in 2008 strip). Nate also has a knack for frequently earning detention, getting sent to detention so frequently to the point where the dentition monitor Mrs. Czerwicki once likened him to her son, due to her son being incarcerated. Nate also often unsuccessfully attempts to get a dog, which often winds up backfiring on him. He also has ailurophobia, the fear of cats, hates figure skating, and is disgusted by egg salad, but loves Cheez Doodles (named "Cheesy Snacks" in the TV series, likely due to copyright issues).
Despite his many shortcomings, Nate is shown to have a number of talents, being a skilled artist, with it being noted that he is an especially good cartoonist. Nate is also shown to be a talented chess player, formerly being the best chess player at his school before the arrival of his frenemy Artur, who also happens to be a better artist than him. Nate is shown to be an inconsistently talented musician, with him being bad at playing the trombone, but is a talented drummer and decent singer, performing as the drummer of the band Enslave the Mollusk with Artur and his best friends Francis and Teddy. Nate is also known for having a superhuman sense of smell, has an ability to detect "vibes" from people, and is known for his talent of nicknaming people, being called "The Nickname Czar".
While not typically regarded as one of the most popular students at his school and is viewed as somewhat annoying by his peers, Nate is generally shown to be somewhat well-liked by his fellow students. Exceptions to this include Gina Hemphill-Toms (Nate's principal rival), Randy Betancourt (though in the novels, Nate and Randy eventually become friends), Chester Budrick (who does not like many people to begin with but notably finds Nate to be annoying), Marcus Goode (who is a seventh grade bully), and Nick Blonsky. Nate's core friend group consists of his best friends Francis Pope and Teddy Ortiz, along with Chad Applewhite and Dee Dee Hollaway. Nate is also good friends with Artur Pashkov, though he maintains a one-sided rivalry with him due to Artur currently being in a relationship with Jenny, Nate's long-running crush, and Artur replacing Nate as the school's best artist and chess player. In recent years, however, Nate's jealousy towards Artur has lessened due to him mostly losing his crush on Jenny and overall becoming more mature as a person. Even when Nate still had a significant crush on Jenny, he still defended Artur from Marcus Goode and his group of bullies, despite the major physical and social danger it posed to him. Nate is also shown to be friends with Jenny's best friend and Francis' girlfriend Sheila Stapleton.
While Nate is known to be selfish and self-absorbed, he is ultimately shown to be kind and cares for his friends when it truly counts, such as helping Chad ask out a girl he liked, often pushing Francis to do well in his studies due to Francis' interest in academia, supporting Dee Dee's acting, and giving Teddy a high rating on his "Q-Score" scale, a ranking system that Nate invented which measures coolness.
Some earlier strips would show the weekly adventures of Nate's own comic strip creations, drawn on notebook paper in a more childlike drawing style.
Dr. Cesspool (voice by Ben Giroux) is an inept surgeon whose mistakes in the operating room tend to be either fatal or debilitating. He has an assistant named Maureen Biology, who also serves as Cesspool's love interest. He also has a rival doctor named Dr. Archenemy. In early strips, he was a psychopathic serial killer as well as a doctor. Nate once pitched the comic strip to a newspaper, but it got rejected due to its violent tone.
Chip Chipson and Biff Biffwell are two inept TV reporters who sometimes appear in other strips interviewing the characters. Nate also has them interview characters like Santa Claus, Mother Nature, the Sandman and sometimes Mrs. Godfrey or his own father.
Ken Doolittle is a talent TV show host. Ellen is often drawn on his show failing at some activity or making a fool of herself.
Dan Cupid is a cupid who sometimes neglects or messes up his job to bring happy couples together.
Stan Cupid is the evil younger brother of Dan who breaks up couples.
Superdad is Nate's parody of his own father as 'The world's only bald superhero with a slight paunch,' who sometimes appears with Ellen as his 'dimwitted sidekick', "Mega-Teen" (a parody of Ellen). Superdad usually avoids fighting crime or facing danger, preferring to lie on the couch or delegate his job to 'Chore Boy' (Nate himself).
The Snuggles Family are a parody of a saccharine, wholesome middle-class family, consisting of husband Bob, wife Honey, son Timmy, daughter Punkin, and dog Fluffy, a grandpa, and a ghost of a grandma and grandpa. This family hasn't been seen since 2015.
Moe Mentum is a Hollywood stuntman stuck doing dangerous stunts in badly directed action or horror flicks.
Slim Stubby is a country-western singer struggling with being a second-rate celebrity, who is a possible parody of Slim Dusty.
The Pilgrims of Plymouth - These strips would appear the week of Thanksgiving. Instead of showing the traditional 'First Thanksgiving,' the strip would show the Pilgrims having a wild party, complete with dunk tanks and bikini mudwrestling. Haven't been seen since 2015.
Leo Tard - Dance Instructor for the totally hopeless. Series of strips mocking Nate's sister Ellen's dancing abilities.
Ultra-Nate is Nate's parody of himself, but a superhero with super strength, flying, and super suction who "gets the girls" and is muscular.
Mega-Chad - A parody of Chad Applewhite who appears in Big Nate in the Zone and Big Nate Lives it Up as Ultra Nate's sidekick. Mega-Chad was in the comic strip only for a May 2016 arc where Nate and Teddy make their own superhero film starring Chad.
Captain Frantastic and Teddy Titan are parodies of Teddy and Francis. They are sidekicks for Ultra-Nate as seen in "Big Nate Lives it Up". They were never featured in a strip and were only seen once.
Luke Warm, Private Eye is Nate's comic strip about a detective he made up. Luke is clumsy and inefficient. His comic first appeared in Big Nate: Flips Out. The comic was later destroyed because when Nate was hypnotized, he could not make it neat enough.
Everlovin' Ellen is an early comic about Ellen's life as a comedic, exaggerated soap opera.
Claude The Stupid Ideas Fairy is Nate's comic character that appeared in multiple books including Big Nate: In The Zone. He is depicted as a small fairy that gives bad advice to others, like when Teddy ruined Nate's paper.
Kit and Kaboodle are a comic strip in which Kit and his sidekick Kaboodle fight crime. They are a parody of Batman and Robin.
Man-Child is a recent comic about Nate's view of his Uncle Ted, depicting the latter as a lazy "superhero" whose only power is "getting out of work".
Maureen Biology is Dr. Cesspool's nurse.
Dr. Archenemy is Dr. Cesspool's enemy.
Dr. Warren Fuzzy is a psychiatric doctor whom Chip Chipson and Biff Biffwell commonly interview.
Percy is a pumpkin that appeared in a Sunday comic in October 2014, who was being interviewed by Dr. Warren Fuzzy about his anxiety about being carved with a knife.
Claire Voyant - Celebrity psychic who can predict the future and detect auras. She appeared in four comics from June 1997. She has a crystal pendant that turns black with bad luck approaches, the "bad luck" being Mrs. Godfrey telling Nate to deliver a letter to Martin, beginning the summer school/Angie storyline.
Action Cat is a cat who is repeatedly hit by passing cars.
Nate's family
Marty Wright
Martin Earl "Marty" Wright is Nate's father, a bald-headed, overweight divorcée who lost his job in the eighth novel of the series (eventually getting another one). Like his son, he is somewhat clueless about his failings and considers himself a professional musician despite his indescribably horrible singing voice and initially poor steel-string guitar playing, an athlete despite his inherent laziness, and an expert golfer, though he constantly cheats or loses his ball. He is a health nut and always tries to hand out healthy alternatives to candy on Halloween (raisins, prunes, trail mix, etc.), which are always rejected by trick-or-treaters, but he never seems to be able to connect the dots and realize that kids don't want healthy food for Halloween. He also was the hero of the first Mud Bowl, according to Big Nate: Blasts Off. His first name was stated on July 28, 2005.
Ellen Wright is Nate's fifteen-year-old sister. Unlike Nate, Ellen is responsible and hardworking (though her original characterization in the earlier years of the comic strip was that of a rebellious and ditzy teenage girl) and loves cats and figure skating. Nate is always compared to Ellen in school by teachers. She is Nate's consistent rival, and he enjoys playing pranks on her. Ellen also dates Gordie on and off, who works at the comic book store, Klassic Komix, and has previously dated Kenny Smithson, the captain of the football team and is considered her crush. They briefly broke up before reconciling. She is 4 years older than Nate.
Marjorie "Marge" Wright is Nate's paternal grandmother. She and her husband, Vern, have a slightly tense relationship, as she sometimes nags him about giving up her career for married life and for generally being lazy.
Vernon "Vern" Wright is Nate's paternal grandfather. He enjoys stating his opinion without consideration, using his age to show off. He is shown to have a tattoo, and he also likes Junior Mints.
Nate and Ellen's paternal uncle and Marty's younger brother. Ted is a middle-aged, lazy, obese, and unemployed man-child who lives in Nate's grandparents' basement. He dropped out of college and since then has never held down a job. When he was in 5th grade, he played the oboe. He is oblivious to his family's hints that he move out (once believing his parents telling him to move out was a sign of tension in their marriage) and find work, and spouts sci-fi and musical trivia at the drop of a hat. He is a big fan of World of Warcraft, My Little Pony, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica.
In the TV series, he makes his first (and only) appearance in the episode "Fuller House", and is voiced by Paul Scheer.
Nate's friend group
Francis Pope
Francis Butthurst Pope is Nate's best friend, or as Nate puts it, “ #1 friend". He is also Teddy's best friend and is close with the rest of Nate's friend group. Francis is often noted to be a great student, often second only behind Gina, with his rivalry with her being second only to Gina's rivalry with Nate. Francis loves trivia and knowledge (to an addicting degree) and often reads from a book known as ‘The Book of Facts’, often to the annoyance of Nate and Teddy. Despite his somewhat geeky personality, Francis is shown to be a decent athlete and a good guitarist, playing in Nate's band Enslave the Mollusk. Nate and Francis often argue about cats vs dogs as Francis is a cat person, he also has a cat named Pickles. Early on in the strip, Francis had a crush on Nate's sister Ellen, but quickly got over it and is currently dating Sheila Stapleton and while Sheila has not often appeared in frequent years and their relationship is no longer frequently referenced or shown, the two still seem to be together. In Big Nate: Flips Out, it is revealed that he told Nate his embarrassing middle name (Butthurst) as a part of making their friendship official (in return, Nate told him he was afraid of cats, although this is less secret).
Teddy √ Ortiz is Nate's number "1A" best friend. Teddy is a comedic character who frequently cracks jokes and annoys Nate. Like Francis, Teddy likes Artur and is a member of Enslave the Mollusk. His middle name is the square root symbol since his parents are math teachers. He also has a mischievous little brother. In Big Nate: Flips Out, it is revealed that he is fluent in Spanish. He plays the musical keyboard in Enslave The Mollusk. In his debut year, 1994, it is revealed that Teddy is half Mexican, and a half Puerto Rican, and that over the summer Teddy gets to live in Mexico with his grandparents, however, this stopped happening in 1996. Teddy also knows a lot about the Civil War, as his dad is an expert of the Civil War, and has been teaching him facts since he was a baby.
Chad is one of Nate's good friends. He is a chubby kid with red hair and freckles. He is obsessed with eating and food. Chad is the roadie for Enslave The Mollusk. Running gags include Chad suddenly appearing when someone mentions food, and the characters commenting on Chad's ability to attract girls due to his cuteness (the characters call it "the power of Chad"). He is an Aries.
Dee Dee Dorcas Holloway is a friend of Nate who is president of the drama club and is considered by Nate and his friends to be a drama queen. Her first appearance was in the second book from the novel series, Big Nate: Strikes Again. She appeared in one of his drawings. As the series went on, she gradually became a part of Nate's friend group. After the novel series ended, she became a major character in the comics.
In the TV series, she is voiced by Bryce Charles and is in a relationship with a girl named Amy.
P.S. 38 students
Artur Pashkov
Artur Pashkov (Belarusian: Артур Пашкоў, romanized:Artur Paškoŭ; Russian: Артур Пашков) is a friendly, intelligent, and well-liked exchange student from Belarus.[4] He is the boyfriend of Jenny Jenkins. Nate can never beat him at chess as well as other activities (most notably academics, art, and singing). Out of jealousy of his success, Nate often calls him "Mr. Perfect" or "Peachy McWonderful". Artur has a lot of major luck, and Nate believes that he is "perfect in every way". In Big Nate: On a Roll, Mr. Rosa tells Nate to hold up the ladder for Artur while he paints the scenery for the school play, only for Nate to get detention after knocking over the ladder when the paint got in his eyes.
While Nate is generally envious of Artur, namely due to him being better than him at things such as drawing and chess and (formerly) being in a relationship with Jenny, whom Nate had a crush on for years, Artur is typically oblivious of Nate's jealousy, and even once stated that he considers Nate his best friend. Despite his jealousy of Artur, Nate does consider him a friend, stating as such as when he defends Artur from a bully from P.S. 38 named Marcus, and he will begrudgingly admit on occasion that even he likes Artur.
In the TV series, Artur is voiced by Todd Haberkorn, and he is instead from a fictional nation known as Stylgravia, rather than Belarus.
Randy Betancourt
Randy Betancourt (also called "Randy Buttancourt" in some of Nate's comics) is one of Nate's rivals and a school bully, although in Big Nate: Blasts Off he becomes friends with Nate and reveals himself to be insecure; as his parents are divorced, he is forced to see a counselor.
Jenny Jenkins is one of Nate's classmates and his former biggest crush, as well as Artur's girlfriend. Jenny was Nate's main love interest throughout the strip until April 2016, when after a breakup with Trudy, a seventh-grader, Nate no longer showed romantic interest in Jenny. In the book series, Nate ended his crush on Jenny for his new crush Ruby in Big Nate: Blasts Off.
Jenny, aware of Nate's interest in her, tries to avoid his presence at all costs and responds to him harshly. This fails, as all it does is encourage Nate to think of her as his "soul mate". Nate often tries to prove to her that Jenny secretly has feelings for him, and that one day they will be "madly in love". In the comic series, Jenny notably went out with several different boys, much to Nate's annoyance and/or sadness. Jenny's current boyfriend is Artur, and they are still together in a tight romantic relationship.
As a character that was only introduced in the book series, Nate's most recently met student, Breckenridge Puffington III (also called B-Dawg by Nate's friend group), is a somewhat shy and wimpy student that did not make a good impression on Nate. Breckenridge is enthusiastic about plants and gardening, having a strong passion to be a botanist when he grows up.
He debuts in the 7th book of the book series, Big Nate: Lives It Up. Nate was asked to be his "buddy", giving him a tour throughout the school and showing him throughout the building. In the middle of the novel, he was revealed to be Nate's bully in kindergarten, although he does not remember bullying Nate. This sets Nate off and he snaps at Breckenridge, but later he comes to forgive him. He makes a cameo in Big Nate: Blasts Off reading the school newspaper and laughing.
Gina Hemphill-Toms
Gina Hemphill-Toms is one of Nate's smartest schoolmates and his arch-rival. She has a large ego and often kisses up to several teachers, most notably Mrs. Godfrey, much to Nate's annoyance and disgust. Throughout her school, she is generally disliked for her knack of bragging and showing off her high academic skills. She is also shown to have a crush on Chad Applewhite, though he does not reciprocate these feelings.
Gina has been featured in both the book series and the comic strip.
Kim Cressly is a big girl who at one point decided Nate was her boyfriend and refused to take "no" for an answer. She later becomes Chester Budrick's girlfriend and uses Nate to make him feel jealous, claiming his rage is "adorable." Most recently she has become a couple with Chad.
Chester Budrick is a large tough kid in Nate's class who's an offscreen character, though his arms, torso, and legs are sometimes shown. His face is never shown. The reader usually sees only the results of Chester's actions. He is very strong and often throws people when he is mad at them, and accidentally knocks people over when he tries to high-five, fist bump, or belly bump them. He is said to be 6' 6". Nate says he once beat up his anger management therapist in Big Nate: In a Class by Himself and also says that he is a sociopath.
Marcus Goode
Marcus Goode is a "popular kid" at P.S. 38, although he tends to bully others. He is in seventh grade and his friends always follow him around. Nate calls those friends Marcettes. Recurring jokes involve Nate, Teddy, and Francis attempting to come up with comebacks to the names Marcus calls them.
In the comic book compilation Big Nate: Say Good-bye to Dork City, Nate chose to join Marcus's gang but would later leave in favor of hanging out with his friends. He completed in the school's field day competition with the seventh graders in Big Nate: In the Zone against the sixth graders. He loses the three-legged competition against Chad Applewhite and Maya, and afterwards, Marcus is humiliated in front of the whole school by Chad during a performance by Enslave the Mollusk.
In the TV series, in season 2, he is voiced by Ogie Banks III.
Sheila Stapleton
Sheila Stapleton is a friend of Nate, Francis, Teddy, and Jenny. She goes out with Francis. In the older comics, it states that she is the captain of the cheerleaders and is Jenny's best friend.
Daphne
Daphne is Nate's fifth and current girlfriend. Like Nate, she likes Cheez Doodles and dislikes figure skating and egg salad, as well as being allergic to cats. She was Gina's lab partner, but Gina and Nate switched partners so the former could work with Chad and win his affection. Instead, Nate and Daphne ended up falling in love and have started dating since May 2023. Though not mentioned much afterwards, it is said to believe she is his final middle school girlfriend.
P.S. 38 staff
Clara Godfrey
Clara Godfrey, maiden name Clara Lessard, is P.S. 38's social studies teacher. Nate spends much of his time trying to avoid her outside of class and antagonizing her in class, making up several nicknames for her, like Venus de Silo, Godzilla, Dark Side Of The Moon, She Who Must Not Be Named, Dragon Breath, Chalkzilla, etc.
Nate has been known to exaggerate her physical features in his comics. Nate has called her a 'Creature Teacher' and hates her the most due to her rude attitude towards his getting detention, and the fact that she is a cat person. Additionally, he frequently draws her as a parody of The Devil and had stated in a comic that her father is Beelzebub. Nate also thinks that 6th grade would have been much easier for him if his older sister Ellen had not been there first, as Mrs. Godfrey thought Ellen was a joy to teach, and Ellen had good grades. The relationship between Mrs. Godfrey and Nate is not entirely negative, though. She allowed Nate to create a report about Benjamin Franklin in cartoon form (as Franklin was a cartoonist himself), giving him an outlet for his creativity and energy. She once saved Nate from choking on a peppermint, using the Heimlich Maneuver. she has also done such to Mr. Rosa.
She has two daughters named Katrina and Meghan, respectively, and the father is unknown (although a "Mr. Godfrey" has been mentioned). Her maiden name is Lessard, and she apparently used to be "hot". She shares Nate's love for Star Trek: The Next Generation, maple donuts, and Cheez Doodles, something that is especially horrifying to him. She is also a fan of Gina and gives the class hard homework simply because Gina wants it.
Ken Rosa is Nate's art teacher. He is a soft-spoken and mild-mannered man but overworked and embittered about his career, occasionally stating in regret that he has a master's degree. He also works at an ice cream parlor called "Sweet Licks" during the summer. It is also revealed that Mr. Rosa has an addiction to waffles, and sometimes gets into a "waffle coma" when he eats too many waffles.
Wesley Nichols is the principal of P.S. 38. Nate and the other students are friendly toward him, but do not treat him as an authority figure; he is bewildered by the students.
Geraldine Shipulski is Principal Nichols' secretary. Often referred to as "the blushing rose of the principal's office" by Nate, she has a Twitter following that rivals most pop stars. she also (normally) has lots of jellybeans in her desk, which students often ask her for.
Mrs. Czerwicki is a school volunteer who supervises the students in detention. She reads romance novels while sitting in detention, and Nate occasionally goads her into complaining about her personal relationships. Mrs. Czerwicki sometimes plays table football with Nate. Nate also sometimes reads out of her romance novels while she is asleep.
Fontaine Galvin
Fontaine Galvin is Nate's aging science teacher. He has a crush on Greta Van Susteren, and has almost no visible sense of humor, resulting in him conducting a very boring class. His nose is always red as if the students are driving him to drink. His first name is revealed to be "Fontaine" in the TV series.
School Picture Guy is a jovial character appears every year as the school picture photographer who manages to photograph Nate at his worst. He wears a band-aid on his head, and he often addresses Nate as "kid". He also appears in unexpected places doing odd jobs such as a birthday clown, DJ, store Santa Claus, mall cop, a school board meeting reporter, balloon blower, and an advertiser for Pirates Booty mini golf. He and Nate are shown to have a good relationship, with Nate sometimes bringing him along for various schemes. He appears to live with his mother. His real name is unknown.
Coach Calhoun is Nate's main gym teacher. He is also Nate's friends' baseball, soccer, and basketball coach. He manages to keep a positive attitude despite the fact that P.S. 38's sports teams tend to lose competitions against other schools most of the time, usually by a large margin.
Coach John
Coach John is a frequent substitute for Coach Calhoun. Coach John originally was the full-time coach of the school's physical education program. He also is the school's soccer (but mainly the goalie) coach. He has a sadistic approach to physical training, and he is hated by the students.
Mr. Staples is a math teacher at P.S. 38 who has a tendency to tell knock-knock jokes and to act goofy in general. He has an NCAA Champion ring and revealed to readers that he was a team statistician. Little is known about his personal life, but he was once said to have a crush on Ms. LaChance, which is currently unconfirmed.
Ms. Clarke
Ms. Clarke is Nate's English teacher, his second favorite teacher behind Mr. Rosa. It was mentioned that Mrs. Godfrey and Ms. Clarke are good friends.
Mrs. Hickson
Mrs. "Hickey" Hickson is the school librarian. She is a middle-aged woman who does not tolerate insolence from anyone. She is the first and only teacher to ever send Gina Hemphill-Toms to detention at the end of Big Nate: Strikes Again.
Donna
Donna is a substitute drama teacher in the Big Nate episode "The Pimple". She is the first ever lesbian character in the entire Big Nate franchise, revealed when she introduced her wife, Kathleen, to Dee Dee.
Zach Belfour is the striker on the Jefferson soccer team. When P.S. 38 had mold in 2008, the P.S. 38 students move to Jefferson, Zach torments and teases Nate and his friends right up until their big soccer game. During the soccer game P.S., 38 ends Jefferson's four-year winning streak when the game goes into penalty kicks. Nate made a spectacular save against Zach which caused P.S. 38 to win the big game.
Mr. Chung
Nate's social studies teacher in 2008, while the P.S. 38 students go to Jefferson while the school has mold that is being cleaned up. At the start of the year, Mr. Chung seemed to have a liking for Nate, but later in the year, Mr. Chung started to yell at Nate quite a lot, possibly because Nate posts about him a lot on his blog.
Unidentified soccer coach
Jefferson's soccer coach is a minor character who was tormenting Coach Calhoun before the big 2008 soccer game.
Annie
Annie is a Jefferson student who beat Gina by one point on a test in 2008. They had a big argument, but then reconciled and became friends.
Sabina Shah
Sabina Shah is a girl Francis liked and tutors in the Big Nate episode "Time Disruptors".
Kelly is Nate's second girlfriend. They met at the soccer camp. She goes to Jefferson. They broke up after Nate wrote a breakup note on a detention slip in an attempt to chase after Jenny again. They dated from July 2001 to April 2002. She is mentioned in a 2016 comic.
Other characters
Wink Summers
Chief Meteorologist Wink Summers is never seen, and only heard from during his show, but Nate constantly calls him and complains whenever any part of the weather is not to his liking or if Wink's forecast is wrong. Wink Summers is actually his professional name used on air; his real name being Dick Schipp. He was replaced by Chip Cavendish and transferred to a weekend meteorologist in August 2011. In 2013, Wink Summers came back as the chief meteorologist. His wife had divorced him during his demotion and married the sports anchor.
Wink's first ever on-screen major role in the entire Big Nate franchise is in the Big Nate episode "The Future is Fuzzy".
Dot and Doug Halloway are Dee Dee's mom and dad. They've appeared in a few comics, the novel Big Nate Goes for Broke, and the Big Nate episode "Sixtween Candles".
Donald "Don" Eustis is depicted as a heavy man, a bachelor, and the next-door neighbor of the Wrights. Nate has an autumn job raking leaves for Mr. Eustis. He also has a summer job mowing his lawn, and a winter job shoveling snow. He owns a chaotic dog named Spitsy and Nate wishes he had a dog so he walks Spitsy and babysits him. Spitsy can be a handful sometimes. In Big Nate: On a Roll, Spitsy gives him a black eye.
He does not appear in the TV series, despite Spitsy making occasional appearances.
Peter Mason
Peter Mason is a 7-year-old boy who Nate sometimes babysits and serves as a 'Book Buddy.' He speaks with a lateral lisp, has an IQ of 204,[5] and reads at a college level. Nate tutors him by introducing him to Femme Fatality comics. Peter has aged compared to other characters, starting out as age 5 or 6 in early strips.
Miranda Mason
Miranda Mason is a 6-year-old girl who was once babysat by Ellen Wright. She also enjoys ragging on Nate Wright. Nate once substituted Miranda's book buddy and on multiple occasions, he found Spitsy stealing Miranda's dolls. She occasionally works with Peter.
Gordie
Gordon "Gordie" is Ellen's boyfriend. He shares Nate's love for the comic book Femme Fatality and works at a nearby comic shop at the mall called Klassic Komix. He has a boss named Wayne, who mainly communicates by mumbling.
Chip Cavendish
Chief Meteorologist Chip Cavendish was the weatherman who replaced Wink Summers as chief meteorologist when Wink was demoted. He appeared on March 5, 2012, in a science class to talk to Nate and his classmates, where Nate accused him of ruining Wink Summers' career.
Wayne
Wayne is a large hairy man who is Gordie's boss at Klassic Komix, a comic shop at the mall. He mainly communicates by mumbling. Which means he speaks his language: Wayne.
Nigel
Nigel is a Britishdoppelganger of Nate, though more snobby and having a way with girls.
Rusty Sienna
A character in the earlier years of Big Nate, host of "Oil Painting with Rusty" and Nate's inspiration to be an artist. A graduate of the Art Institute of P.O. Box 73, he is a parody of Bob Ross and his public television art show. Rusty Sienna returns to the Big Nate comic on August 2, 2007, for a strip where Nate finds out that he died on May 7, 1996, aged 56. Nate, who has been seeing episodes of him, is devastated by the fact that his favorite artist had been "secretly dead" and that he is only seeing reruns.
Cap'n Salty
A fisherman who enjoys talking like a pirate. He catches lobsters under the sea. Cap'n Salty is a character Lincoln Peirce created exclusively for the children's website Poptropica.com, where Big Nate Island is one of the features. However, the only mention of Cap'n Salty in the strip itself is the restaurant Cap'n Salty's by the beach.
Marla
Marla is the town mail deliverer. She was once said to have a PhD.
Bradley
Bradley, who also calls himself T.A. (which he said stands for Thor Almighty) is one of Nate's enemies. He challenged Nate to 'Gas Giant', and is a video game master but his mom, who reveals his name, takes him home after he was playing Gas Giant and almost beating Nate's top score.
Kenny Smithson
Kenny Smithson was Ellen Wright's former boyfriend. Kenny's first appearance was in November 1991, and Ellen dumped him in June 1995. When Nate was around the mall with Francis, Nate said "I had hawk-vision eyes, and I saw Kenny Smithson with another girl!"
Carol
Carol is one of Ellen's friends. She finds Nate adorable when he snuck into Ellen's high school during his class' field trip to the nearby planetarium in October 1993.
Scoutmaster
The Scoutmaster is a minor character who appeared only in Big Nate On a Roll. He announces the fundraisers' winners and that the third prize goes to Josh Husky from Troop Seven. Then he announces that the two top prize winners (Nate and Artur) have a tie and to determine the winner, he flips a coin. The coin lands on heads (which Nate called) meaning that Artur won second prize and Nate won the first prize.
Angie
Angie was Nate's first girlfriend from July 1997 to February 1998. She was enrolled in summer school in 1997 due to the fact that she was new to the school. Nate repeatedly lied to her to impress her, which ironically ended up with Nate being punched in the face. She stayed in Nate's friend circle briefly after breaking up with him before she started going out with Dan Labreque. Angie appeared in a few more arcs in 1998, but she hasn't even appeared since, apart from being mentioned in a 2013 comic.
Trudy
Trudy is a seventh grader and Nate's third girlfriend. They met at the fair when Francis and Teddy didn't want to join Nate on a roller coaster. She went missing and Nate spent the summer trying to find her until he literally ran into her at P.S. 38. When Nate told her he is a sixth grader, he thought she did not want to go out with him, but then she kissed him, officially starting the date. However, because Nate kept going to parties and hangouts with Trudy and her friends, missing out on even more special events involving his friends, he eventually broke up with her. They dated from October 2015 to March 2016.
Daisy
Daisy was the temporary fourth girlfriend of Nate who only appeared in a long arc from February to March 2017. They broke up soon after starting to date because they felt no love while being with each other. When they kissed, they felt nothing. They stayed together only for that one date.
Ruby Dinsmore
Ruby Dinsmore was Nate’s crush and girlfriend in the eighth book, Big Nate: Blasts Off, was shown that Randy Betancourt also had feelings for her, but when Nate says he was not moving to California for his dad’s new job, she kissed him on the cheek. She also played in the Mud Bowl. Due to the novel series ending after Big Nate: Blasts Off, the status of Nate and Ruby's relationship has been left unknown.
Spitsy is the neighborhood dog is owned by Mr. Eustis, who lives next door to Nate. Spitsy always wears a dog cone because he would gnaw at himself otherwise.[6] Nate likes to hang out with Spitsy. He is described by Nate as "the ultimate dog nerd", for he is afraid of mailmen and he had to go to the vet and get his stomach pumped after swallowing a tennis ball. He has a crush on Francis' cat Pickles (who reciprocates his feelings), went to a cat tea party, and even knitted a sweater like his own bone once for a cat. One time Nate and Teddy caught him singing a song from the musical "Cats" on a karaoke machine. He likes figure skating as much as Ellen and gets his tongue stuck on metal poles in the winter frequently. He also gets bullied by squirrels, as shown in Big Nate: On a Roll.
In the TV series, Spitsy is voiced by Mitch Watson.
Sherman
Sherman is the pet gerbil in Nate's social studies class. Nate and the other students frequently confide in him or comment about his emotional state. Sherman's sarcastic responses and comments are shown to readers via inner monologue.
Genghis
Mrs. Godfrey's blonde puppy. Appeared once when Francis and Nate were having an argument that every single dog likes Nate until Genghis nearly attacked him.
Bootsy
Mrs. Godfrey's former dog, who appeared just once in a 1995 strip.
Pickles
Francis' cat, Pickles is an outdoor cat and usually hangs out on the driveway. She also has a crush on Spitsy, the neighborhood dog, much to Nate's annoyance.
Ken Rosa's dog
Owned by Mr. Rosa but not much is known about him since no one mentions him. He is seen at Mr. Rosa's house when Nate asks Rosa for ideas for competition against Jefferson Middle School. He is a pug.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is the cat who attacked Nate at the age of 4, giving him ailurophobia, the fear of cats.
Poco
Poco is Trudy's cat.
Ollie
Ollie is one of Mrs. Godfrey's cats. In Big Nate: The Revenge of the Cream Puffs, he appeared at P.S. 38 when Mrs. Godfrey was forced to take Ollie with her to work after being scared by painters who were working at her house. This is also the comic strip where Nate’s ailurophobia is made public to his class.
Chester
Chester is Kelly's cat. (Not to be confused with Chester Budrick.)
Premises
Enslave the Mollusk
Enslave the Mollusk (ETM) is a garage band featured in Big Nate. It features Nate as backing vocalist and drummer, with best friends Francis on electric guitar and Teddy on keyboard, as well as Artur as lead vocalist. Chad is the band's roadie. Enslave the Mollusk had a big role in Big Nate the Musical. They performed 3 times: twice during the In The Zone novel when P.S 38 was starting a fitness zone the first time Artur wasn't there because he quit the band, but eventually rejoined by their last performance, and also at one of the school dances. They tried to perform at another school dance but failed because of a power outage. Nate was originally the lead singer as he formed the band but wasn't good enough, which was realized after Artur passed by the band playing one day. Artur then sang a rendition of "I Fought The Law" and was hired as the band's lead singer. He quit in the middle of Big Nate: In The Zone after he found a slip of paper with rude nicknames for him that Nate wrote, but was enticed back by the end of the book. The band is named "Fear the Mollusk" in the TV series.
Femme Fatality
Femme Fatality is Nate's favorite superhero comic. The images are never shown, but there were a few appearances of the eponymous character, as a life-size cardboard cut-out in a 2002 comic and as a cosplay actor visiting Klassic Komix in 2004. The character is highly suggestive, judging from the reaction of Nate and most of the other male characters (including adults). One comic claimed that she was wearing skin-tight tube top and leather mini-shorts. Some of the girls show exasperation over Nate's obsession with the comic, but Nate insists he reads it only for the stories. One of Nate's previous comic book crushes was Red Sonja. Femme Fatality later inspired Nate to create his own superhero comic called "Eve of Destruction", though he later changed the character to male, and called the comic "Steve of Destruction".
P.S. 38 is the middle school that Nate and his friends attend and is where most of the comics take place. The school is noted to be over 100 years old and is considerably run down, but it was remodeled in Big Nate: Lives It Up after a painting by local folk artist Granny Peppers was found to be worth a lot of money.
Jefferson Middle School
Jefferson Middle School is a middle school near P.S. 38 and is the school's sister institution. In stark contrast to P.S. 38, Jefferson is portrayed as a large modern building with numerous 21st-century features. It has been described as "more of a museum than a school." The middle school's kids are the rivals of P.S. 38's kids and beat them in almost everything. Most Jefferson kids are always obnoxious about this. P.S. 38 beat Jefferson in the 'Ultimate Snowdown', the 1st and 38th Mud Bowl', and their big 2008 soccer game. Jefferson lost the Snowdown because they took an uncreative approach by packing snow around the spare knight statue.
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