A ‘nerd’ can mean different things to different people, but when it comes to Hollywood movies, they are often portrayed as socially awkward, book smart (as opposed to street smart) eccentrics who are often cast aside by their contemporaries and struggle to fit in. Appearance-wise, there’s the stereotype of possessing thick rimmed glasses, messy hair and less than stylish attire.
That’s not to say that these nerds aren’t some of the most entertaining and beloved characters in cinema history. While a handful may resort to using their intelligence for nefarious activities, the majority are kind-hearted and mean well. While early examples of nerds in TV and movies were often used merely as one-dimensional characters to provide comic relief, they later began to further develop these characters, resulting in some of those characters we grew to have genuine respect and, in some cases, even adoration for. Below, we take a look at some of movies’ most beloved nerds.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
8 Wayne Szalinski — Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Walt Disney Pictures
Played by Rick Moranis, everyone’s favorite go-to nerd actor of the 80s, Wayne Szalinski is the ingenious, albeit rather careless, father of titular shrunken children in Disney’s 1989 sci-fi comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The socially awkward scientist has spent years working to perfect a working shrink ray gun, and just as he feels he achieved his goal, the gun falls into the hands of his unsupervised children who end up shrinking to only a quarter of an inch in height. Having accidently been discarded in the trash, they now have to work together to make it through the backyard and overcome the dangers within. Just imagine potentially being over-powered by a single ant, and you’ll get the idea. Szalinski ticks all the archetypal nerd stereotypes including thick rimmed glasses, messy hair and a sense of eccentricity. As always, Moranis nailed the role resulting in him reprising the role several more times throughout his career.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
7 Professor Julius — The Nutty Professor
Paramount Pictures
Jerry Lewis, one of the most celebrated comedic actors in history, couldn’t have been a better choice to play the absent-minded, socially awkward Professor Julius in 1963. Already an established actor and entertainer, Lewis had been building a reputation at flawlessly portraying goofy, childlike, awkward characters. It was The Nutty Professor, though, that cemented him truly as one of the industry’s greats. Sporting buck teeth and an unkempt, scruffy hairdo, Professor Julius is a scientist whose experiment creates his more attractive and charismatic alter ego, Buddy Love. Unfortunately, not everything works out as well as Julius had initially hoped, as he becomes obsessed with his alter ego, forgetting who he really is.
6 Egon Spengler — Ghostbusters
Sony Pictures
Blessed with immense intelligence, Egon is definitely the brains of the ‘Ghostbusters’ operation. Tall, lanky, laconic, and bespectacled, he is responsible for keeping the team together with his scientific knowledge, which he applies to their paranormal investigations. His straight man persona next to the antics of his colleagues Peter and Ray (played by SNL alumni Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, respectively), works perfectly. Despite not being the main comic relief (which isn’t surprising considering the cast), his comic timing is always on point when riffing with the team. Egon was played by Harold Ramis, who also wrote the movie and created the character with Dan Aykroyd. Initially, per CBR, he had several well-known actors in mind for the role, including Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum, but the character resonated with him personally, so he decided to take on the role himself, and the rest is history, as they say.
5 Napoleon Dynamite — Napoleon Dynamite
Fox Searchlight Pictures
The perfectly cast Josh Heder plays the titular nerdy high school kid with aplomb in the 2004 smash-hit low-budget comedy Napoleon Dynamite. Interestingly, the movie’s director Jared Hess, who co-wrote it with his wife Jerusha, has claimed that much of the film is loosely based around real-life situations he found himself in his younger years. Dynamite’s sardonic outlook on life and awkward pursuit for love clearly resonated with fans, with the movie and the character himself becoming somewhat a cultural icon within geek culture. His iconic mop of red hair, ‘Vote for Pedro’ T Shirt and wide framed glasses have since become a staple of fancy dress parties across the globe.
4 Dr. Emmet Brown — Back to The Future
Universal Studios
The rest of society appears to believe that the eccentric nerdy scientist known as Doc Brown (played by character actor Christopher Lloyd, in what is probably his most iconic role to date) is some sort of menace, a dangerous lunatic, but Back to the Future’s lead protagonist Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) sees past the book’s cover, as it were, and develops a close friendship with Doc. Although the origins of the unlikely friendship between a teenage boy and a far older scientist are not fully explored or explained and at times, Doc Brown certainly does come across as a little unhinged, he is definitely one of the most memorable characters of the franchises, if not of all time. As he and Marty travel through time saving the world, his manic dialogue delivery and his scruffy uncouth appearance means there’s never a dull moment when he’s on-screen.
3 Sandy Olsson — Grease
Maybe not as nerdy as their walking stereotype classmate Eugene Felsnic, but Sandy, or Sandra Dee (Olivia Newton-John) as she is mockingly referred to by her contemporaries, certainly still fits the bill as the ultimate square. A studious girl who played by the books, she was often ridiculed by her fellow students for not being ‘hip’ enough, but that didn’t stop the ultimate bad boy greaser Danny Zuko from falling for her when vacationing away from the gang. Grease might not have necessarily given out the most positive message when its ending showed her transforming into a fellow greaser with attitude to be accepted and appease Danny, but it was certainly a hit with fans, becoming one of the most successful musical movies of all time. Newton-John’s performance of Sandy was heaped with praise and remains her most iconic role to date.
2 Peter Parker — Spider-Man
Sony
Peter Parker maybe doesn’t fit the ‘nerd’ stereotype quite as much as some of the other entries on this list, but there’s no denying his credentials, especially Tobey McGuire’s portrayal of the superhero in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. As his super alter ego Spider-Man, he’s cool, confident, and fast. His powers and traits are based on those of a spider, one of the most effective and fearsome predators for their size, so it makes for great entertainment to witness the transformations between these juxtaposing characters of Peter and Spidey. Peter Parker, on the other hand, is portrayed as kind, but often unable to defend himself; he is a bit socially awkward, and co-ordination certainly isn’t his strong point.
1 McLovin — Superbad
McLovin, the nickname conjured up in the mind of the ultra-nerdy highschooler Fogell (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse in his breakthrough role), might not be the cool dude he thinks he is or tries to be, but he is certainly one of the funniest characters ever committed to film. The scene in Superbad in which he tries to use said fake ID to convince the shop clerks to sell him alcohol is side-splittingly funny. As well as plenty of rude and crude humor, of course, Superbad is also a movie full of heart and emotions. After being arrested by the police, it’s genuinely nice to see how they interact with McLovin, seeing past his geeky exterior, convincing him that he really is cool and accepting him as one of the gang.
