90s and 2000s kids grew up on Disney+ is bringing Disney Channel's best shows back for public consumption, fans are ing what they loved about their favorite TV shows. Despite having magic, visions, or strange living situations, Disney Channel characters were relatable and helped kids see themselves represented in a way they didn't often get in popular media.
While there are more amazing characters to list than can fit here, many Disney Channel characters are still relatable today and can give fans both a break from more violent adult media and a heavy dose of nostalgia.
Rocky Blue—Shake It Up
Shake It Up had two seriously powerful main characters, but if pressed to pick one, it's hard to deny Zendaya's captivating early performances as Rocky Blue. Rocky is the more nervous, perfectionistic one of the Shake It Up duo, but that only meant that her successes were that much more exciting for audiences.
While Rocky is a great dancer, it is her confidence level that kept fans watching. She goes from not even being confident enough to audition for Shake It Up without serious peer pressure in season q to rejecting the chance to live her dream because she doesn't feel she earned it for the right reasons in season 3. Because of this growth, she beats out Cece for being one of the top Disney Channel characters.
Teddy Duncan—Good Luck Charlie
Teddy Duncan is the older sister everyone all wishes they'd had. The show follows Teddy as she navigates high school and leaves behind video diaries for her younger sister, Charlie. The show has a great ensemble cast, but there's no question about who the star of the show is. Teddy is fun-loving and a little too stressed when it comes to her grades and her crushes, which audiences easily connected with.
Teddy had no one to offer her advice through her teenage years, so she makes a lot of mistakes, but they all just make great stories for her videos. She always ends up doing the right thing at the end of the day and es on the best advice to her sister.
Liv Rooney—Liv And Maddie
Liv and her twin sister Maddie are both played by Dove Cameron, who took on the roles before her Descendants days on Disney. Liv is a teenage celebrity, known for her hit show Sing It Loud. While she is kind of annoying at the beginning of the series as she adjusts to regular life after years in Hollywood, she quickly becomes one of the show's best characters.
While Maddie has a combination of competitive aggression and awkwardness, Liv's central traits are her outgoing nature and her desire to help the people she cares about. She deviates from the Disney standard by having clearly-defined flaws, but that just makes her seem more human and relatable to audiences.
Pim Diffy—Phil Of The Future
Most female characters on Disney are either stereotypical boy and mall-loving girly girls or experts in sports or science. But Pim Diffy is not most girls. While she was not the main character in Phil of the Future, her desire to rule the world and the schemes she enacted to make things go her way had a habit of stealing the show.
Pim knows exactly what she wants, and will do whatever it takes to get it. But beyond that, she has very realistic sibling rivalries and insecurities, which keep audiences loving her characterization and itching to see what kind of chaos she gets into next.
Ally Dawson—Austin And Ally
Ally begins Austin and Ally as a shy girl who expresses herself through music yet is unwilling to perform in front of others. This leads to her creating a partnership with the outgoing Austin, who is always willing to put himself (and her songs) out there in the world. Fans related to her insecurities and loved watching her grow into a more confident version of herself, willing to take risks and truly claim ownership of her music.
It feels wrong to talk about Ally without Austin since their partnership is the heart and soul of the show, but Ally is the one who goes through the most growth. Fans love her for her music, for her awkward jokes, and for her very realistic worries about her place in the world and how she fits in it.
Lilly Truscott—Hannah Montana
Sometimes the star of the show isn't the most interesting character, and Lilly Truscott from Hannah Montana is the perfect example of that. While Miley's double life created some really interesting chaos, not many teenagers were able to relate to her. Lilly was undoubtedly Miley's best friend in Hannah Montana through everything, and that meant she had the perfect mix of double-life hijinks and down-to-earth impulses to make her a fan favorite.
Lilly was sporty and girly, had a seasons-long great love story, and generally was the character who truly had the best of both worlds. While fans will always love Miley and the other great characters on Hannah Montana, Lilly is the standout character who matches up against other beloved Disney Channel characters.
Mr. Moseby—The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody
While Mr. Moseby was not the main character of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, he was definitely one of the show's best characters and the most memorable years later. The show had a ton of great characters, but as fans grow older, they'll probably find themselves relating to his constant exasperation more than the more caricature-ish nature of those around him.
The show's most memorable moments have Mr. Moseby in them, and he was really the first example of an adult that was an actual character in a Disney Channel show, rather than just being a source of advice and punishment.
Raven Baxter—That's So Raven
Raven-Symoné was the queen of Disney for a while, and that was in large part because of her role on That's So Raven. Raven is a powerhouse character, outshining her quirky best friends and scheming little brother with her wit, emotional strength, and, of course, her powers.
Unlike shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, though, Raven's powers were always secondary to her life, rather than the other way around. Although there were definitely times when Raven's visions ruined everything, more often they helped her to save the day or get to know her family better than she did before.
Lizzie McGuire—Lizzie McGuire
Lizzie McGuire was an incredibly relatable character for girls going through middle and high school, and her animated mini-me let the show easily portray the thought processes of an awkward girl at that time of her life.
In addition to being so relatable, tackled some serious issues, and Lizzie was always at the heart of them, ready to do whatever she had to do to help her friends and family. Audiences were able to grow up with Lizzie, seeing her going through the same things they were struggling with, and her character made them feel seen.
Alex Russo—Wizards Of Waverly Place
Who could possibly measure up to Selena Gomez's Alex Russo when looking at Disney Channel icons? Alex Russo was the cool sibling, always looking for the easy way out, but that meant that she made a lot of mistakes, and audiences got to watch her grow into a more mature person with every episode.
Whether facing a sale at her favorite store, mobs of supernatural characters, or the fate of the family's magic, Alex was always the one who was bold enough to try things out. Compared to her siblings Justin and Max, who were respectively too cautious and too immature, Alex was the one who constantly drove the story forward and let audiences learn about both fantasy and real-world problems along the way.