Backgrounder
Backgrounder is old fandom slang for the background characters in each episode, after TAG's website Backgrounders which researched them. Some of these, mainly by accident, have names (like through a seating chart in "Cafe Disaffecto") but they almost all lack a voice - and if they have names, our main cast never refer to them. They rarely, if ever, interact with the main cast but can implicitly have been people the cast talked to 'off screen', such as the backgrounders filling up the Lawndale High Track Team with Jane.
Because the backgrounders appeared often enough to be recognisable, Guy Moore pitched an episode where we'd follow the backgrounders' stories and Daria and Jane would be the voiceless background people. Karen Disher believed they couldn't do it because fans complained whenever Daria & Jane weren't the focus.
They are extremely useful for fanfic writers: a source of ready-made people with an existing image, that your fellow obsessives may know! Their names are usually based on appearance, an in-joke, or simply whoever got to them first in a fanfic.
(This page will not focus on the backgrounders who do have canon/sort-of-canon names, like Burnout Girl, Bob, or Dawn.)
| “ | You see, you can't have Emerson without Lake and Palmer (well, technically you can but why would you want to?), and you can't have a successful television series without a whole lotta people milling around in the background so everything looks normal. | „ |
List of Daria backgrounders[edit]
Angel[edit]
Named after fanfic writer Angelinhel. A punk-ish student in Daria's history and economics classes, recognisable by her shaggy, Farrah Fawcett-esque punk hair.
She has often been seen hanging out with Shaggy, starting with "Esteemsters" - as Shaggy had only just joined Lawndale High, they must have hit it off early on. In "Pinch Sitter" Shaggy either transformed into her or she magically switched places with him in the middle of class, that's how close they are! She has also been seen hanging out with Bob a few times, as well as several times with Dawn and once with Burnout Girl (Bob was with both Angel and Burnout).
"It Happened One Nut" showed her getting her career aptitude test results; she looked somewhat bemused by them.
While appearing mildly punk-ish, in "The Lost Girls" she was one of the many students wearing school colours to mark Val's visit.
Appearances in fanfiction
In The Angst Guy's "Scarlett" series (which christened her "Angel"), she is a member of the Lawndale High field hockey team, the Leopards. She becomes a close ally of Scarlett as the series progresses.
Angel also appeared in Doggieboy's The Cards You Are Dealt as Angel Marlowe, a friend/ally of Scarlett Hawkins and took part in a fight to the death against The Lawndale Werewolf; and, as Angel Ferrana, is a tag-team wrestler with "Slutty Girl" in The Excellent S' Lawndale Fighting Championship.
Bib Overalls[edit]
Named for her denim suspenders with a bib pocket, this short black girl keeps her hair in a bun and generally goes around with a wide-eyed expression. She appears in numerous class and lunchroom scenes, both alone and with other characters, making it difficult to pin down her clique or friends. In "The Invitation," she and Pie Cap may be flirting with each other. We also know that she's on the yearbook staff ("The New Kid") and she switches her outfit to the school colors in "The Lost Girls."
One interesting sighting comes from the episode "Art Burn," where she can be seen at the Art in the Park festival. She seems to be walking with an older black man who is holding the hand of a younger, Caucasian child. Could this be Bib with her father and (adopted? step-?)sister?
Blue Shirt[edit]
Named for his blue rugby shirt, this tall, stocky backgrounder is generally seen in the hallway or cafeteria scenes. He usually has a smile on his face, but not always, as the picture to the right shows.
He seems to be a friend of "Happy Girl", as the two have been seen eating together on multiple occasions--once along with White Sweater, whom Blue Shirt may also be hanging out with in "Jake of Hearts". "The New Kid" shows him on the yearbook staff. In "The Lost Girls" he changed into a yellow shirt for School Colors Day...not that he needed to, since his normal blue shirt would have fit the occasion fine.
In "I Loathe a Parade" he and The Popular Girl seem to have something going on: the two are standing together, and Blue Shirt leans over to put his arm around her as Daria passes.
In "The Invitation" he shares an Art class with Daria, implying they're in the same grade, but during her graduation in "Is It College Yet?" he can be seen in the audience (next to Brittany's family).
Chipmunk[edit]
Named for the two buns that resemble chipmunk ears; usually seen with a sad expression. When not participating in track, her shoes and pullover blouse are chocolate brown, her long pants are burnt orange, and her midriff shows.
Most significantly, she's a member of the Lawndale High Track Team in "See Jane Run" and implicitly was friendly with her for weeks, before joining the team in helping Ms. Morris menace Jane into rejoining. In a rare facial expression, she's seen celebrating Jane's victory.
In "Monster, she actually has a speaking part, saying "God, I thought I was the only one ashamed of my pores" to Quinn.
Appearances in fanfiction
"God Save The Esteem" first gave her fanon life and started the trend of calling her Siobhan (here Siobhan Hogan). She greatly dislikes her nickname of 'Chipmunk'. She's a senior (with a job) and a 'queen bee', recruited by Sandi for a plot against Daria - 'Chipmunk' has no idea who this is. She later turns up as a more dangerous antagonist after Daria crosses the track team. She later appeared in "Lawndale Fighting Championship" as Siobhan Hogan, a tagteam partner of Evan's under the name The Track Stars. In Lawndale and Sandi Griffin's Genie she is still a seniot but likes the nickname 'Chipmunk' (often shortened to 'Chip'), and called Lisbeth Siobhan Ogden.
Green Cap Dude[edit]
Green Cap Dude is a black student in Daria's year, recognisable by his nickname-gaining green cap. He dresses in a slightly hip-hop style.
He's one of the Fashion Club's fans, especially Quinn: he picked up their newsletter in "The Story of D" solely because they wrote it, queued for the chance to be Quinn's boyfriend in "One J at a Time", and cheered the idea of Sandi's party and Quinn hosting the school dance in "Daria Dance Party". (He chose the party, then ran off to the dance) He's mates with the Three Js and Pie Cap & Jade Hoodie, hanging with them after school ("Dance Party").
In "College Bored", he's one of the poor suckers forced to go to Push Comes to Love.
He was once seen hanging a casual chat with Scarlett by his locker, and was a witness when Daria admitted kissing Tom Sloane.
Guy[edit]
This character has a somewhat odd-looking face, shoulder-length black hair and a shirt with a yellow stripe across the chest (hence his earlier Backgrounder name of "Yellow Stripe"). He also has a shirt with a mauve strip.
Guy's most notable appearance is in "Malled", when the Fashion Club drafts him into driving them to the Mall of the Millennium in exchange for letting him hang out with them. They act dismissive of him the whole time, however, and both Quinn and Daria simply refer to him as "guy", apparently not knowing his name.
(His car reappears in "The Big House", dropping Daria off. Is he driving it...???)
He makes a few other background appearances throughout the series. Despite his nebbishy appearance, in "The F Word" he's watching the Lawndale football game and is angry that Kevin fumbled the ball.
He seems to have found an actual girlfriend by "Is It College Yet?" where he can be seen embracing Petite Red.
Appearances in fanfic
In "Lawndale Fighting Championship" he is a wrestler named Guy Crawford.
Happy Girl[edit]
This blonde girl in Daria's year is most recognizable for her nearly perpetual smile. In "Esteemsters" she smiles when she first sees Quinn and is still smiling when Quinn gets humiliated by Daria later in the episode. She can often be seen walking down the halls or in the lunchroom, sometimes in the company of other students (particularly Blue Shirt).
She tried out for track in "See Jane Run" (to the Fashion Club's bewilderment), but did not make the team. However, Happy Girl still cheers for Jane during an important track event later in the same episode. She is seen carrying the school's banner in "I Loathe a Parade," however, which presumably makes her a member of the Color Guard.
Ironically Happy Girl's most prominent scene was one where she was not happy--getting her fortune told by Ms. Barch in "Fair Enough," which sent her off crying and finally revealed that she has a rather high voice.
Happy Girl was happy again a short time later, laughing at the disastrous Canterbury Tales play.
In the episode "Camp Fear" we see Happy Girl several times as one of the many former campers that were invited to visit Camp Grizzly that day. Happy Girl did not seem very enthusiastic about the reunion, perhaps recalling awkward experiences like the other Grizzlies did, and she kept her distance from other people during most of her screentime. This curious appearance could be proof that Happy Girl knew the Morgendorffer sisters from their Camp Grizzly days! (If so, she'd have believed them to be cousins until Daria revealed the surprising truth in "Esteemsters.")
Some of Happy Girl's least noticeable moments are her brief, motionless appearance at the paintball course in "The Daria Hunter," her near undetectable presence in "Daria!" and her attendance of Kevin's funeral in "Murder, She Snored."
Happy Girl seems to be a solitary type of person, having attended one of Brittany's parties alone, and she was lonely at Camp Grizzly and the Medieval Fair as well. Other appearances of hers also suggest that Happy Girl may not be a very social person. However, judging from her dreamy smile she is happy about it.
Appearances in fanfic
In the "Lawndale Fighting Championship" series she is a wrestler named Anna Coulthard. In WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues, she's Rebecca, the ever-cheery leader of the school's Christian Students Club and tries to bring Priscilla into the fold.
Sheila Wisz Ellayn would reuse the name Anna Coulthard for her fanfics. In Crystal Claw, a paranormal style story, Coulthard gets a protagonist role and also deep character development. This same Anna Felicia Coulthard returns in Her Last Words, though this time without magical powers. This story marks the beginning of S.W. Ellayn's AFC multiverse centered on Anna Coulthard, with several other fanfictions planned already.
In the fanfiction Stranger Without Time by Sy, Happy Girl gets to develop a romantic relationship with Quinn Morgendorffer. The story follows Anna's efforts to discover, explore and accept how she feels.
Jade Hoodie[edit]
Jade Hoodie is named for his jade-coloured hoodie; he has swept-back light brown hair and is an easy going, oft-happy dude. He's in Daria's year, and also in her classes. Friends with the Three Js (and shares Jamie White's hairstyle), Green Cap, and Pie Cap. Has been seen once or twice next to Jennifer, and may be friends with her too. He was really pleased with his results from the test to work out your future career in "It Happened One Nut".
One of the Fashion Club's fans; when caught in the Sandi/Quinn spat in "Daria Dance Party", was the second to admit his head hurt. He was the most bored of them all at Sandi's party, lying on the floor.
In "Pinch Sitter", he somehow teleported from DeMartino's classroom to some distance down the corridor walking back to the class...
Appearances in fanfiction
He has a small role in WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues as one of the Christian students. The story gives him the name of Ken.
Kristen[edit]
Name given by TAG for his fic "Scarlett" and it stuck. A commonly seen scrawny Asian goth in Quinn's year, usually wearing a thin black jacket and a long mauve skirt.
She has been seen many times in the company of Cindy, indicating they're close friends. She's been seen at the Zon. In "Quinn the Brain", she wore all-black after Quinn set the trend, the only real time she's changed her outfit, as she ignored School Colours Day in "The Lost Girls".
She's a fan of the Lawndale Lions, watching their game in "The F Word." Interestingly, the same episode shows her sitting next to The Popular Girl at the Teen Fashion Extravaganza.
Like Cindy, she somehow graduated with Daria's class in "Is It College Yet?".
Appearances in fanfic
Along with the aforementioned appearance in "Scarlett", Kristen has also made small appearances in The Excellent S's "Lawndale Fighting Championship", Cfardell Brenorenz's Quinn's Code and Doggieboy's The Cards You Are Dealt, primarily as a mate of Cindy's. She's been given the fanon surname "Leung".
Layered Blonde[edit]
"Layered Blonde" is so named for her hair. She's one of Quinn's classmates and shares her English classes - in "Quinn the Brain", Quinn and Stacy are sitting behind her and "Layered Blonde" is politely ignoring their conversation.
In "Antisocial Climbers", she's seen early on walking quite closely with Rob as if they're friendly. Later, she looks miserable and cold as the blizzard sets in, and the one directly listening to Janet Barch's abortive attempt at a rallying speech.
Nerds[edit]
These three guys are friends of The Head, and they sit together with him at lunch. They were first pointed out to us in "Quinn the Brain"; Daria and Jane used their existence as a taunt to Quinn, and presumably aren't too impressed with them either. From left to right, Nerd 1 (blond), Nerd 2 (fat), and Nerd 3 (black male). They're rarely seen, presumably avoiding everyone else; Nerd 2 did witness Ms Li's freakout in "Fizz Ed". Nerd 2 can sneeze milk from his nose, which the others find hilarious.
Appearances in fanfic
In "A Hard Days' Night" by The Angst Guy, they're part of the Irregulars: boy genius crime fighters; they use codenames based on three fanfic writers (Bug Guy, Penguin Guy, and Brother Grimace respectively). In Zetor's "Enough", written for a Random Pairing Iron Chef, they're called Max, Chris, and Harish (an Indian immigrant student) and are friends of Upchuck's, with Max fleshed out as gay and with severe self-esteem issues. WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues named them Gary, Nate, and Paul, with Paul as their semi-leader and Nate as an extremely obnoxious gatekeeping jerk; Paul eventually breaks bread with "V-Neck" over Nate's protests.
Petite Red[edit]
Petite Red is a short, skinny girl with red hair. She wears a denim jacket, blue skirt and glasses. She first appeared in the episode "College Bored", showing up twice at Middleton College: once talking with the blond frat boy who would later bother Helen, and then in the line of girls consulting Daria on their schoolwork. Strangely, in season two she begins appearing at Lawndale High School instead - was she just visiting? Is she one of the students mentioned in "The Daria Diaries" who hacked the Lawndale High systems to get themselves admitted to colleges on fake grades and then got caught & returned?
Petite Red's grade is unknown, but she does not seem to share any classes with Daria or Quinn. She shows up in various school scenes and at least once at Pizza King. Her final appearance in "Is It College Yet?" shows her and Yellow Stripe embracing in a way that looks pretty romantic.
Pie Cap[edit]
Pie Cap has grey hair and a very distinctive pie-shaped cap. He seems to be one of the more popular students in Daria and Jane's grade. In "Daria Dance Party" he's shown hanging out with the Three Js, Green Cap and Jade Hoodie. He winds up going with them to Sandi's boring party, then ditches to go to Quinn's dance.
Pie Cap seems to be a bit of a lady's man, since he's often shown around various girls. He may be flirting with Bib Overalls in "The Invitation" though later he seems to be dancing with The Popular Girl. He is also a fan of the Fashion Club, and was in line to become Quinn's potential boyfriend in "One J at a Time."
Appearances in fanfic
He has made only a few small appearances in fanfic, most notably in the Lawndale Fighting Championship series by The Excellent S as a tag team wrestler named Brendan Capper (in the Men With Hats team).
Pie Cap has finally landed a significant role in Her Last Words, a darkfic by Sheila Wisz Ellayn and part of the AFC multiverse. In this story, Pie Cap has acquired the name of Larry Cappstein and he is the romantic partner of Happy Girl. Larry is unfortunate enough to be part of Happy Girl's ill-fated camping adventure, and suffers a great deal as a result.
Priscilla[edit]
Taller than most of her classmates; dresses conservatively, with a blouse buttoned up to the neck and a long-sleeved button-down sweater. Usually has a very dour expression on her face.
Priscilla joined Lawndale High on the same day as Daria. In "Esteemsters", she was standing next to Daria until Daria made a sarcastic comment: Priscilla glared at her and then side-stepped away. Somehow ended up at Brittany's party in "The Invitation", so she must have some degree of popularity (or did someone a favour). Runs the auditions stand for The Canterbury Tales in "Fair Enough", so she's in the school Drama Club. She fell for the Daria-is-an-alien-communist scare in "The Lawndale File". In "Fizz Ed" she is in the library at a different table from Daria and Jodie. Of the two books stacked on her table the top is titled 'LOGIC'.
Appearances in fanfic
Named in "Estrangesters" by Ostragoth (cos she looks prissy), where she meets a nasty fate. Got to be a main character in WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues as Priscilla Pruitt, a prickly religious student who isolates herself to avoid the 'Pharisees' at school and begrudgingly ends up friends with "V-Neck".
Red Cap[edit]
"Red Cap" is named for his headgear. That's all he gets.
In "Antisocial Climbers", he stands behind Angela Li as she schemes about money and when she abandons the kids to retrive the video camera, he's the first one to walk off and keep going for the cabin. The whole affair has him smiling!
When Kevin lets the other side take the ball in "The F Word", a watching Red Cap is vaguely disgusted.
Ruby[edit]
A slender redhead in Quinn's year, always wearing a sleeveless blouse and slacks. Also known as Sour Red, due to a pissed-off glare she gives Daria in "Lucky Strike". Ruby since supplanted this nickname as "Cafe Disaffecto" says there's a "Ruby" in O'Neill's freshman class, which is probably this girl cos she's a redhead and writers are lazy.
She's one of the popular girls at Lawndale High: "The Daria Diaries" show she's even been/is a model for Waif! She was the example photo of a popular person for their "How Popular Are You" quiz. At school, she was one of the girls following Quinn's all-black trend in "Quinn the Brain". She's not very good at English, getting a score she was angry about in "Lucky Strike".
Appearances in fanfic
Her only real appearance by 2011 was the Lawndale Fighting Championship series as a female wrestler called Ruby Montag and tag-team partner to Winona in A-List Incorporated. (In a happy accident, she was named before The Excellent S knew about the "Cafe Disaffecto" chart). She would later appear using the same name in "God Save The Esteem". "Out of Fashion" by Kristen Bealer named the character Melissa.
Smirker[edit]
"The Smirker" usually wears a maroon T-shirt over a long-sleeved green sweatshirt, baggy light-gray pants, and a light-gray duck-billed cap turned backwards, but more commonly has this amusedly smug look on his face. Like he knows something we don't know.
He was one of the kids that was sent to the self-esteem class in "Esteemsters", sitting at the back of the class. Despite this and his smirky nature, he was one of the kids who conformed and wore school colours in "The Lost Girls".
His smirk was wiped off his face when he got a bad grade in "Murder, She Snored"; he looked quite fed up as he looked at it, rather than upset or surprised.
Appearances in fanfiction
He fills out the male roster in The Excellent S's Lawndale Fighting Championship as Alex Smirkoff.
Spike[edit]
Spike, named for reasons that are visually obvious, is a tall, lanky punk with an eyebrow piercing, always seen in his black wifebeater shirt. Hopefully he cleans it.
He was most prominent in "Ill", where he stumbled coughing out of the girl's toilets at the Zon, apparently too drunk to realise it wasn't the men's. Since he's a Lawndale High student, that means (like Bob) he's drinking early.
Appearances in fanfiction
He was one of Quinn's gang of punks and semi-punks in "God Save The Esteem", known for extreme stupidity and extreme violence. The Excellent S's Lawndale Fighting Championship gave him the surname Rose, part of the tag-team Anarchy in the MD with "Dave". He also shows up as a particularly aggressive punk in WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues.
Tananda[edit]
Named for fanficcer Tananda by The Angst Guy. She usually wears a plain pastel green dress, which makes her look staid and demure. Her usual facial expression is no expression at all.
She was once seen sitting in the cafeteria with Scarlett in "Too Cute" and another time with Dawn - and in "The Lab Brat" she went from being Brittany's partner to abruptly being with Dawn instead - which are her main social interactions. She has a mauve party dress which she wore to go to the dance party in "Daria Dance Party" and the boat party in "Just Add Water", but didn't hang with anyone while there. She was in the Yearbook team in "The New Kid" - and even there, she was seen looking tired and bored in one scene before DeMartino dropped the sports teams.
She was one of the kids betting that DeMartino would fall or die in "The Big House", and showed a rare expression - anger - when he didn't. "Murder, She Snored" has her looking unhappy by a History test score, so maybe she's not doing too well in class and blames him.
When Mrs. Stoller taught class in "Lucky Strike", Tananda began to fall asleep.
Appearances in fanfic She was given her fanon name in "Scarlett" where she was a member of the Lawndale Leopard, a high-school girls' field hockey team known for its violent hard-partying ways, and a friend of Scarlett's. In "Lawndale Fighting Championship", she has the surname Inglis.
Tank Top[edit]
Tank Top is named for... well, yeah. She is in Daria's year (appearing in her Art and PE classes, and the Mall of the Millennium trip), and one of the few black students at Lawndale High.
Her known interests are sports, cheering the track team in "See Jane Run" and watching the cheerleading tryouts in "The F Word". She also, sad to say, was a fan of Mental in the Morning's DJs. Try to work out Tank Top's social status and your head will hurt: she's been seen alone at parties ("Groped by an Angel "and "Is It College Yet?") and eating alone at school and outside of it ("The New Kid"), but someone keeps inviting her and she's been hanging around Sandi's crowd more than once. It was only her and Bib Overalls that cared enough to help Brittany when she fell over in "See Jane Run".
In "The Invitation", she's totally checking Shaggy out.
Appearances in fanfic
Her only real appearance by 2011 was the Lawndale Fighting Championship series as a developmental wrestler called Aleesha Nibblett. She briefly appeared, using the same name, in God Save The Esteem ep 34, where a rumor starts about her and Daria having an affair (which Aleesha does not seem entirely opposed to).
White Sweater[edit]
Long haired Asian-American girl, in several of Daria and Jane's classes; wears a light green T-shirt, tan jeans, and a necklace most of the time. Named by TAG for her distinctive white blazer. A fan of Mental in the Morning, based on "Jake of Hearts".
"White Sweater" has been seen hanging around a lot of people when outside of class, a number of them popular and photogenic: Jennifer, Joey, and she was also part of the in-crowd admiring a newly-thin Sandi in "Fat Like Me". She was also flirted with by Les in that episode, himself a Lawndale High Track Team dude. She's also been seen with less popular people, including sitting with Shaggy and Burnout Girl in "Cafe Disaffecto". "White Sweater" appears to be both popular and a nice, sociable person.
Appearances in fanfic
Named Woot in "Scarlett" by TAG, where she's a member of the Lawndale Leopards hockey team. In fanfics by WellTemperedClavier, she's called Nancy and is mentioned as Catholic in The Background Blues.
V-Neck[edit]
V-Neck is nicknamed for his V-necked teal-blue sweater. He's in Daria's year and classes, and joined Lawndale on the same day as her. He almost always has the same vacant, uninterested expression, no matter what's going on - in "Lucky Strike" during a lesson with Mrs. Stoller, he fell asleep.
He's been seen walking with a few girls from time to time, including Andrea and "Tank Top", but never more than once and doesn't seem that socially engaged. Despite that he got involved in school colours day in "The Lost Girls".
He was one of a dozen students attending the Push Comes to Love college prep course; he looked unimpressed with the instructor's patter.
He may have a crush on Quinn: in "One J at a Time" he was shown outside Pizza King in the line of potential boyfriends. Of course, he might have just been hungry. Who's can say?
Appearances in fanfic
WellTemperedClavier's The Background Blues in 2021 finally gave this poor guy his own fanfic appearance. An outcast nerd called Victor Adamos, he had severe social anxiety, a passion for Warhammer 40K, and a crush on Jane Lane; when Principal Li banned students from spending lunch in the library, he ended up working with Priscilla to try and get the law overturned.
List of Beavis and Butt-head backgrounders[edit]
Blond Dork[edit]
Blond Dork is a blond student with incredibly thick glasses. He wears conservative clothes. He is a frequent member of Daria's classes; volunteered to keep score at Track and Field Day in "Field Day".
This guy never seems too impressed with Beavis and Butt-head, and in both stories in #16 he was disgusted by both the antics and very presence of them.
Walkman Guy[edit]
He's in pretty much every class Daria, Beavis and Butt-head were in. Much like Dawn in Daria, he's always listening to a Walkman in class: he lacks Dawn's constant look of serene contentment though, instead mainly looking bored stiff. He seems to pay little attention in class.
(In the revised Beavis and Butt-head, he listens to an iPod or other form of MP3 player)