What The Cast Of The Middle Looks Like Today

Dating back to the earliest days of television, the American sitcom has established itself as one of the most enduring forms of entertainment to emerge from the media. Explained John Ealer, executive producer of CNN's "History of the Sitcom" docuseries (via The Guardian), "[Sitcoms create] a safe space in which to laugh, somewhere we can go for a half-hour, an hour, two hours. You can have fun knowing there's no threat of an ending. There's a protective environment in the situation remaining the same. It's an inherent comfort zone." For the better part of a decade, from 2009 to 2018, ABC's "The Middle" was exactly that kind of sitcom, chronicling the exploits of the sometimes relatable, sometimes fantastical Heck family, as it navigated the rigors of daily life in the fictional town of Orson, Indiana.

Led by sitcom veterans Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn, cast members of "The Middle" seemingly became part of families around America through their quirky characters, with awards and critical acclaim for their performances along the way. However, the stars who brought the show to life have all undergone changes since the series finale aired. Here's what the cast of "The Middle" looks like today.

If there were a Sitcom Hall of Fame, Patricia Heaton would surely have been a first-ballot inductee after her decade-long run in the role of Debra Barone on the CBS series "Everybody Loves Raymond." The fact that she transitioned to another iconic role on "The Middle" just a few years later puts her in rarefied air. Heaton was 51 years old when the series debuted in 2009. When she first appeared as Frankie Heck, the matriarch of the Heck family, she still gave strong Debra vibes. By the end of the series, though, her character and look had evolved.

These days, Heaton looks the part of the Hollywood vet while maintaining her youthful twinkle; When she showed up on Paramount+'s "Frasier" revival in 2024 as Holly the bartender, she was a certified silver vixen. Now in her 60s, Heaton continues to work in other film and television projects. In 2025, she appeared in the Jon Gunn biographical drama film "The Unbreakable Boy" and the horror "The Ritual." That said, after decades on the LA scene, Heaton has since relocated to Nashville.

"We just thought that the taxes are high, the crime is high, the homelessness is high, and we're not working in LA as much as we're working outside of LA. So, why don't we leave?" she said on "The Rubin Report" in 2025. Heaton was also outspoken about Chris Evans replacing Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, but that probably didn't factor into her decision-making.

For his part, Neil Flynn came into "The Middle" with plenty of sitcom cred in his own right, having appeared for nearly a decade as the janitor on the NBC/ABC series "Scrubs" during the 2000s. As the Heck family's stoic patriarch, Mike Heck, Flynn found the role that he'll be remembered for, after having played less prominent parts in films such as 1993's "Rookie of the Year" and 2004's "Mean Girls," as well as television series including "Smallville."

Flynn had not yet reached his 50th birthday when "The Middle" started airing; Now he's firmly in his 60s and well into his "TV grandpa" era, after playing one of the medium's most iconic dads. However, his style looks to have remained much the same as it was during his days working alongside Patricia Heaton. Despite keeping it decidedly low-key, however, some can't help but wonder how much Flynn is really worth after striking sitcom gold.

Like Heaton, Flynn went from one successful series to another, making him one of the TV mainstays of the 21st century. "I'm aware of it and grateful for it," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2019, speaking of his 18 straight seasons on the tube, while joking that sticking around a long time doesn't necessarily make someone special. His most recent TV credits include multiple episodes of the AppleTV+ series "Shrinking." He might also be on the 2025-26 "Scrubs" revival.

Charlie McDermott was closing out his teenage years when he was cast to play the oldest of the Heck children, Axl Heck, and very much looked the part of a late 2000s teen. By then, he had already appeared in films such as the 2008 crime drama "Frozen River" and the road comedy "Sex Drive" that same year, in addition to guesting on television series including "The Office," "Medium," and "Private Practice." However, his longtime role as Axl will likely go down as his most enduring acting credit, as McDermott has since transitioned to other avenues of performance.

While he still sports the same curly mop top that he often wore as Axl during his time on "The Middle," McDermott looks noticeably different today. The now-thirtysomething actor hasn't really been logging new acting credits since 2019, either. These days, recording and performing indie and experimental folk music has been McDermott's jam, as he released an album, 2020's "Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands, " and the 2022 EP "Blind Warm Weight."

"It's like drinking a giant glass of water after being really thirsty for a long time," he told Snack in 2024 of working on his own music as opposed to being a small cog in a major TV production. Nevertheless, fans will soon have an opportunity to see a more mature McDermott on the screen once again, as he's slated to appear alongside "Gilmore Girls" alum Vanessa Marano in the indie drama "Petunia."

Eden Sher emerged from recurring roles on the Showtime drama series "Weeds" and the ABC sitcom "Sons & Daughters," to land the role of the Hecks' occasionally overlooked middle child, Sue (Sue) Heck, when she was just 17 years old. However, her character was middle school-aged in the beginning, so Sher leaned on her youthful looks, some intentionally off-kilter makeup work, strategically selected wardrobe ensembles, and fake braces to believably inhabit a girl several years her junior. So while she appeared to grow before our eyes on-screen, there was definitely some Hollywood magic involved.

Fast-forward to now and there's no mistaking Sher for anything but the mid-30s woman making waves that she is. By the time "The Middle" came to an end in 2018, there was even a push for her to lead her own spin-off series, titled "Sue Sue in the City." However, after giving the green light to the show, ABC executives ultimately decided to shelve the project. "We did film it, and it was pretty, honestly, devastating when it didn't go," Sher said in 2025 (via the "Middling with Eden and Brock" podcast). "We were all pretty devastated and pretty shocked, to be honest."

Sher is still acting, appearing in the Hallmark Channel original Christmas movie "A Keller Christmas Vacation" in 2025. And she co-hosts the aforementioned "Middling" podcast with her former costar Brock Ciarlelli.

The youngest of the Heck children, Brick Heck, was played by Atticus Shaffer — the only holdover from the original, unaired 2007 pilot episode of "The Middle" that starred Ricki Lake as the mom. And while he was still a grade-schooler finding himself in the world when the revamped show hit the air, Shaffer told Wired in 2019 that his brainy and geeky character actually wasn't too far off from the person he has been in his life away from the camera. "For this character, I've more or less just changed my clothes, but it's me," he told the outlet. "I am a big reader in real life, and I nerd out over the weirdest stuff. That's just how I am."

Now approaching his 30s, he remains diminutive in stature; Shaffer lives with a rare medical condition called osteogenesis imperfecta. However, he no longer looks the part of the baby brother; Instead, he regularly appears with facial hair and a ball cap as he streams to his followers and friends on Twitch and does food vlogs and reviews on YouTube. He has continued to work in Hollywood, too, since "The Middle" finale aired, most recently lending his voice to the Disney Junior animated series "Firebuds."

Said Shaffer in 2016 of growing up on "The Middle" (via the MPA), "We have gone through a lot on this set because of locations that we've done, personal things that have happened in all of our lives, how we've grown up — especially with me being the youngest, I have grown up and matured on the set."

Chris Kattan was well-known for his comedic chops by the time he started appearing in the recurring role of Bob Weaver, Frankie Heck's quirky Ehlert Motors cohort, on "The Middle," during his late 30s. He was several years removed from his lengthy "Saturday Night Live" run at the time, and he had starred in comedy films ranging from 1998's "A Night at the Roxbury" and 2001's "Corky Romano" to 2002's "Undercover Brother." And while his character wasn't present for "The Middle's" final seasons, he remains an indelible part of the show's lore.

These days, Kattan is a man in his mid-50s who managed to age gracefully, compared to some other performers who have lingered long in and around the limelight. And he did so despite the serious neck injury that changed his life and even led to substance misuse. As "Saturday Night Live" celebrated its 50th anniversary with special events and broadcasts in early 2025, he bore the look of an "SNL" elder statesman in returning to his old stomping grounds.

Still a busy man on the Hollywood scene, Kattan has several film projects in the works, including the indie coming-of-age drama "Bound for Glory."

As in real life, striving to keep up with the Joneses is a pursuit that many sitcom families have engaged with. In "The Middle," however, it was the Donahues who served as the overachieving family whose seemingly idyllic existence always seemed just out of reach for the Hecks. Beau Wirick played Sean Donahue, the oldest of the Donahue children who was also one of Axl Heck's friends and Sue Heck's eventual love interest on the show. Wirick was in his early 20s when he was cast as Donahue, having appeared in smaller roles in other television series including "Arrested Development" and "The Office" during his early career.

Now, the former star of "The Middle" is officially entering middle age, married to his former co-star Daniela Bobadilla, and his look has evolved to match his current phase of life. The dark-haired Donahue from the sitcom has moved into his touch-of-gray era, and he's often snapped with facial hair that gives him distinctly different vibes from his sitcom days. Wirick's transformation hasn't been purely physical, though — he has also seemingly moved on from his acting career, opting to lean instead on his business talents. According to his LinkedIn page, he has worked as a financial advisor and director of financial planning in recent years.

"For 20 years, I chased my dream of being an actor. The problem? I wasn't very good at it," he wrote in a 2025 post on the platform. "What I eventually discovered is that my true calling wasn't on stage, it was in financial planning."

Jen Ray appeared in a handful of films and guest-starred on television shows, including "Gilmore Girls," before landing her breakout role as Nancy Donahue, the Donahue family matriarch on "The Middle." In an interview with the Northern Illinois University Alumni Association, she described her character in pitch-perfect fashion as "Patricia Heaton's foil," adding that the job was "such a fun opportunity and, so far, it's what I am most proud of professionally." According to Ray, her role began as a three-line part before morphing into the multi-year recurring role it eventually became. "My experience is proof that you should never turn down an opportunity and that you never know who you're going to meet or impress or what something small will turn into," she added.

While Ray has aged since first becoming Nancy nearly two decades ago, her overall look and style still resemble those of Frankie Heck's effortlessly perfect frenemy. However, she's not content to be known simply as the annoying neighbor on an iconic show; Rather, Ray continues to chase down her acting dreams. In the years since "The Middle" came to an end, she has played psychic Chelsea Lam and, also, Suzanne on "General Hospital." Amid her debut on the long-running ABC soap in 2019, Ray shared via Instagram that she had actually watched the show with her mother as a teen.

If his IMDb page is to be believed, a 16-year-old Brock Ciarlelli hit pay dirt relatively quickly following his entry into the world of sitcom acting. "The Middle" is the earliest of his listed credits, as he took on the role of Brad Bottig, Sue Heck's flamboyant best friend, who eventually ends up coming out to her. After "The Middle" reached its endpoint, he joined Eden Sher on the ill-fated spin-off pilot "Sue Sue in the City." However, his other acting credits are few and far between. In 2022, he co-starred in the Billy Eichner comedy movie "Bros," which reportedly featured an all-LGBTQ cast. "This is something that I think is historic in a way, and it's proving a point, saying, 'LGBTQ actors should be playing LGBTQ roles,'" he told Instinct at the time.

Meanwhile, Ciarlelli may be moving into his zaddy phase with his keen style sense, fresh cuts, and five o'clock shadow, but he continues to be connected to his breakout role on "The Middle." He's currently co-hosting the podcast "Middling with Eden and Brock" alongside his former co-star and friend, the aforementioned Sher.

When he landed the role of Darrin McGrew — one of the best friends of Axl Heck and Sean Donahue on "The Middle," and one of Sue Heck's love interests — John Gammon was in his mid-20s and only had a handful of credits to his name. Fast-forward to the present, and it becomes clear that he opted for a life outside the Hollywood hustle and bustle. The most recent new credit on his IMDb page is the 2017 short "Jax in Love," which came less than a decade after his first listed credit as Prisoner No. 3 in "Sid Roth's It's Supernatural." He also counts his run on the short-lived series "Corey and Lucas for the Win" among his acting credits.

Like many of his young co-stars from "The Middle," there's no mistaking who Gammon is now, more than a decade after his regular stint on the show came to an end, although he certainly looks more mature. Perhaps the biggest change is that he's seemingly devoting his energy to a career outside the entertainment industry, despite having held a belief that he was going to be "the next big thing in acting." During a 2025 appearance on "Middling with Eden and Brock," Gammon broke down his post-"Middle" work, saying, "I was a residential real estate investor, practically a landlord, in Cleveland, Ohio, in LA, too. But I have pivoted into self-storage."

Gammon's LinkedIn page lists him as the founding director of a Cleveland-based self-storage facility.

Casey Burke joined the cast of "The Middle" mid-stream, after the production had already established itself as a well-oiled machine, to take on the role of Cindy Hornberger. The character, who became Brick Heck's socially awkward love interest, was instantly identifiable by her signature hat and extremely long hair. Prior to being on "The Middle," Burke had racked up a handful of minor credits in films and television series, including an episode of the Nickelodeon sitcom "Big Time Rush" and the Netflix sitcom "Bad Samaritans." More recently, she has appeared in the 2024 drama-slash-musical film "Joker: Folie à Deux" in a singing role.

Burke doesn't look too dissimilar from how she did when she was on "The Middle." However, if her Instagram account is any indication, she's far less reserved than Cindy was on the show. According to her official website, Burke continues to act on the stage in addition to pursuing her career in Hollywood.

"I will never lie to anyone and say that being an artist is easy," she told Shoutout LA in 2024 of the acting grind. "You work so hard at your craft and dedicate so much of your time and yourself to things that (usually) don't even pan out. It's rejection, and it's loneliness, and it's self-doubt. But it's also fun, and spontaneous, and so incredibly fulfilling when it does go your way."

Long before she joined "The Middle" for its latter seasons, Daniela Bobadilla had already made it big with a major role on a multiyear sitcom, having played Sam Goodson in the FX sitcom and Charlie Sheen vehicle "Anger Management." She had also appeared in several episodes of the NBC drama "Awake" and landed parts in movies such as the 2015 rom-com "Mothers of the Bride." On "The Middle," she portrayed Lexie Brooks, Sue Heck's college roommate and, eventually, Axl Heck's love interest. She was in her early 20s when she became part of the Hecks' world, and she continues to pile up screen credits now in her 30s.

Bobadilla doesn't appear to have undergone a significant physical transformation since being on "The Middle." Her career has changed, though, as she has logged multiple voice parts since the series came to an end, voicing characters on "Justice League vs the Fatal Five" and "Young Justice." She also appeared on an episode of the ABC sitcom "Modern Family." However, she won't soon forget her time on "The Middle," as she ended up marrying her co-star from the series, Beau Wirick. The two served as co-leads of the 2023 rom-com "The Happy Camper."