What Brick Heck From The Middle Looks Like Today

For a segment of the 2010s television-viewing populace, ABC's "The Middle" was the pitch-perfect sitcom presentation of an imperfect American family, depicting a messy existence in suburban Indiana filled with hijinks, misunderstandings, and a modicum of heart. The formula proved successful, as the series ran for nine seasons from 2009 to 2018, and the show's cast played a significant part in making the magic happen. From sitcom vets like Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn to wunderkinds like Eden Sher and Charlie McDermott, the performers tasked with bringing the Heck family to the small screen succeeded on every level. However, Atticus Shaffer — who played the family's youngest child, Brick Heck — may have been the breakout star of the bunch.

Shaffer was the only actor to survive the show's original pilot, which was filmed with Ricki Lake, not Heaton, in the lead role, as well as a host of other actors who were similarly replaced for the second go-around. "They brought this kid in, and he just ... from the moment he opened his mouth, we were just on the floor, cracking up," series co-creator DeAnn Heline said of Shaffer's casting (via Bullz-Eye). Fast-forward to now and while Shaffer continues to bring his unique personality and comedic timing to his latest projects, he's no longer the grade-schooler he was when he was first cast for "The Middle." Here are some of the things Shaffer has been up to in recent years, as well as pictures of what the star of "The Middle" looks like today.

While most sitcom productions never make it beyond the pilot stage — if they even make it that far — "The Middle" held down a prominent spot in the pop culture zeitgeist for a decade, during which 215 episodes aired. For his part, Atticus Shaffer appeared in every single one of them, bringing a beloved character to life along the way. However, it wasn't just the show's audience who appreciated everything Brick Heck brought to the table. Shaffer himself cited the character as a role model amid the show's ninth and final season.

"Brick is a character I've adored being able to play," Shaffer said ahead of the series' 200th episode (via ABC7 Chicago). "He's shown it's OK to be smart, it's OK to be unique and march to the beat of your own drummer, and so that is what I want Brick to maintain, I want him to end the series maintaining an intellect and the humor of his quirks and being able to be that role model character that he is, but now a grownup version of that character."

In the end, Brick was able to maintain all of those things through the series finale, "A Heck of a Ride: Parts 1 & 2," which aired on ABC in May 2018. Shaffer was just 19 years old at the time, having grown up on the show's set. From there, he transitioned to a new phase in his career.

It didn't take long for fans to see Atticus Shaffer on the screen after "The Middle" came to an end in 2018. His next live-action appearance came later that year in blink-and-you'll-miss-it fashion via a made-for-streaming Christmas film called "I'll Be Next Door for Christmas." The film chronicles the exploits of a 16-year-old girl, Nicky (played by Juliette Angelo), who hires a fake family to put on a Christmas dinner to impress her first long-distance love (Javier Bolaños), while keeping him and her real family — including her Christmas-obsessed father — unaware of each other.

Shaffer plays Archie in the film, a member of the school computer club who sets up a system to automatically control a Santa hologram that Nicky's real father had charged her with operating on the night of her secret dinner. While Shaffer's appearance in the film is brief, he makes it memorable by dropping the line, "You know, my psychic just told me that my spirit animal is a wolf. You like wolves?" after which he presents his wolf t-shirt to Nicky.

The film boasted an impressive cast, including "Mad TV" alum Nicole Sullivan and Beth Littleford, who was famously a correspondent on "The Daily Show." Its production was also notable as it was one of the first to come as a result of equity crowdfunding.

Even while he was still in the midst of his role as Brick Heck on "The Middle," Atticus Shaffer eventually began to branch out into other projects. That included a handful of voice roles on animated series and films. In 2012, he appeared in Tim Burton's remake of "Frankenweenie," providing the voice for the character Edgar "E" Gore. And he went on to voice Ono in the Disney series "The Lion Guard," in addition to voicing Peedee Fryman on several episodes of Cartoon Network's "Steven Universe." 

Once "The Middle" ceased production, though, he went all-in on voice acting, racking up a veritable bonanza of voice credits. Shaffer continued working on "The Lion Guard," but went on to lend his voice to characters in series including Netflix's "Harvey Girls Forever!," Disney's "Star vs. the Forces of Evil," and the long-running Christian series "Adventures in Odyssey." Along the way, he also became a part of the "Pete the Cat" universe, via the Amazon Prime adaptation of the popular children's book series. According to IMDb, he voiced characters including Grumpy, Grumpy Toad, Little T, and Dragon on the show.

More recently, Shaffer voiced the villainous Wayne Riley on the Disney Jr. series "Firebuds." "I'm such a voiceover geek, it's so cool," he told Daily Actor in 2015. "The animation, the people that you get to work with, and the fun that you get to have in the booth when you're bouncing off of each other, doing these different voices. It is phenomenal."

Atticus Shaffer rose to prominence during a time when the internet and social media were becoming more important for marketing, building brands, connecting with fans, and helping films and television productions succeed in an increasingly saturated entertainment landscape. However, the star of "The Middle" didn't immediately take to the online scene. "I have an Instagram — finally," he declared in a 2018 YouTube video. "It takes me a very long time to get involved in social media. Like, a really long time." In the vlog-style video, he went on to lament that his name was already taken on multiple platforms when he went to sign up because he waited so long to take the plunge.

Now, though — several years after making the call to broaden his online horizons — Shaffer is a successful content creator across multiple platforms. His YouTube channel, AtticusShafferVlog, boasts nearly 70,000 subscribers as of this writing. And while he makes a variety of different types of content for the channel, he regularly reviews food and restaurants via his "Atticus Shaffer Eats" series. The channel also includes behind-the-scenes content from "The Middle," discussions about his life, faith, hobbies, and more. He's also an active streamer on his atticusshaffervlog Twitch channel, where he has streamed games like "The Last of Us Part II" and "Mass Effect."

Shaffer also enjoys connecting with fans via Cameo, making personalized videos. In his Cameo profile, Shaffer writes that the proceeds from his videos are used to help build his production company.

Atticus Shaffer was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or O.I., also known as brittle-bone disease — a condition which the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases classifies as "a genetic or heritable disease in which bones fracture (break) easily, often with no obvious cause or minimal injury." During a 2018 interview with Pure Flix, Shaffer revealed that a difficult injury a few years earlier led him to contemplate his existence and religion. "I really committed to Christianity when I was 15," he revealed. "I just knew I had that draw to say, "I need to know the Lord. I need to know where I stand. I need to pick a side.""

Shaffer had grown up in a Christian home; however, his mother reportedly allowed him to come to his own conclusions where religion was concerned. The actor was ultimately baptized in 2015, after which he leaned on his faith while navigating issues related to his rare medical condition. "I do know pain. I've had many fractures in my life ... I've had plates, screws, rods put in through all my legs, my back is in an S-curve because of it," Shaffer told Pure Flix. "[My disorder has] helped me to be more empathetic and be more compassionate. You get placed in situations where you have to depend on God."

While the overwhelming majority of Atticus Shaffer's screen credits post-"The Middle" have come in the form of voice roles, Shaffer has still managed to show his face in a handful of live-action projects. In 2020, he showed up in Netflix's "Never Have I Ever" on the Season 1 episode "...started a nuclear war." The series, which was co-created by Mindy Kaling of "The Office" fame, follows the story of teenager Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who contends with the loss of her father, dating, school, awkward social situations, and her strict mother in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of L.A.

In his episode, Shaffer portrays a student acting as a Russian delegate during a model UN meeting. During the meeting, Shaffer backs Devi in her efforts as a delegate from Equatorial Guinea. Although he was essentially a side character on the episode, Shaffer spoke highly of his experience on the show during a 2022 appearance on "DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast." While he lamented that he didn't get the chance to work with Kaling directly, he praised the show's production team, noting that he got to work with "some old friends" on the episode. Added Shaffer: "The cast, the actors, were so lovely, so real. It was such a fun time," he said, after which he pleaded, "Please! Mindy, bring me back!"

As is the case with any actor who rises to prominence on a show of "The Middle's" ilk, speculation abounds about Atticus Shaffer's private life — his comings and goings, potential romantic partners, and his living situation. However, precious little info is available about what Shaffer's life is like outside of his work and content-creating exploits (beyond his continued residence in California). That said, Shaffer has previously spoken about his dating philosophy on his YouTube channel.

In a 2018 video, Shaffer expressed his beliefs that the courtship process "is not all about sex," and that finding one's spouse is at the center of Christian dating. "A lot of it is really just about, you know, making a friend; developing a friendship, and getting to know someone. That, to me, is what dating is all about." As of this writing, Shaffer appears to be single, but the actor has avoided disclosing too much about his personal life since expanding his social media presence several years ago. This much is certain: while myriad other celebs — including many of his fellow child stars — have found themselves embroiled in scandal, Shaffer has managed to avoid any off-camera controversy.

While Atticus Shaffer's character on "The Middle," Brick Heck, was based in part on series co-creator Eileen Heisler's son, Justin, a lot of Brick's quirkiness and his penchant for dabbling in pastimes that many consider nerdy mirrors Shaffer himself. "I definitely have that in common with Brick," he told the Motion Picture Association in 2016. "He's definitely the nerdy type. I am a big nerd and am very proud of it. He's into the whole "Planet Nowhere" thing, and he likes to cosplay and be able to embrace that inner world of geekdom. I'm very big into that. I'm a big "Dungeons and Dragons" player, I play "Yu-Gi-Oh!" I'm a big video gamer. I'm a big nerd in that way."

These days, Shaffer continues to let his celebrity nerd flag fly, sharing his gaming exploits regularly via Twitch and posting about his interests on social media. In his Instagram bio, he identifies himself as a "Christian nerd who loves video games and telling stories." Meanwhile, he has posted about participating in a "Yu-Gi-Oh!" trading card game tournament, his love of Legos, and other nerdy hobbies over the years.

His diminutive stature notwithstanding, Atticus Shaffer's larger-than-life presence has garnered attention since he was a child. At the age of seven, he was reportedly tapped as the "poster child" for the Los Angeles branch of Shriners Children's Hospital, a role which saw him appear and speak at events. And just a few years later, in 2007, he was making appearances in series like the CBS sitcom "The Class" and the long-running NBC soap opera "Days of Our Lives," in addition to shooting the pilot episode of "The Middle." He made similar waves in the Will Smith superhero movie "Hancock" in 2008. And with rumblings of a "Hancock" sequel percolating, Shaffer is ready to jump back in the fray.

In the first film, Shaffer played a small boy who encounters Smith's titular antihero at a bus stop. He attempts to wake a sleeping Hancock so that he can take care of a freeway shootout that's occurring elsewhere in the city. When Hancock doesn't immediately respond to the prompt, the boy responds by calling him an expletive. Their encounter was brief, but the scene nonetheless stands out as one of the more memorable in the film, and Shaffer believes lightning can strike twice.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the movie when it comes out. Just curious though ... who here thinks it'd be cool to have me make a cameo in the sequel, reprising my role from the original?" he asked in a 2025 Instagram post. "I think that'd be fun. Just sayin'."

From a young age, Atticus Shaffer made it clear that he didn't want to be perceived as someone with a disability. And he continues to speak out on living with osteogenesis imperfecta as an adult. "I never view myself as a "disabled person" but rather "a person who happens to have a medical condition,"" he once said (via Future of Personal Health). "This doesn't nullify the very real pains, challenges, and hardships I've faced, but it also doesn't make my condition a prison, physically or mentally."

During his 2022 appearance on "DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast," he spoke candidly about the harm of doctors taking a blanket approach to medicine as opposed to treating the individual. Shaffer recounted his mother's experience with a doctor who had told her that Atticus would inevitably spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair; a prediction that she refused to accept. Shaffer preached the importance of advocating for oneself, encouraging others like himself and his mother — who also lives with O.I. — not to accept such treatment. "If I don't champion myself, no one else will," he said. "So, you do need to kind of take that on with acceptance."