Share and Follow
Charlie McDermott has left a significant mark in the entertainment industry with his standout performances in the Oscar-nominated “Frozen River” and Netflix’s gripping crime series “Unbelievable.” He has also made notable appearances in popular films such as “Instant Family,” “Sex Drive,” and “Hot Tub Time Machine.” His television credits include guest roles on “The Office,” “Private Practice,” and “Future Man.” Beyond acting, McDermott has ventured into indie folk music and explored the role of director. Yet, many remember him best as Axl Heck, the lovable yet lazy teenager often seen in his underwear on ABC’s underrated sitcom, “The Middle,” from the 2010s.
But how did McDermott secure such an iconic role? What are his thoughts on his years spent in the beloved comedy? And what is he doing now to showcase his diverse talents beyond the fictional town of Orson, Indiana? From his early sci-fi influences to his recent career moves, let’s delve into the evolution of this talented Pennsylvanian.
Despite not having a family deeply entrenched in the acting industry, Charlie McDermott discovered his calling for acting at an early age.
When McDermott was just five, a neighbor introduced him to the epic world of “Star Wars.” The thrilling escapades of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia ignited his passion for the craft. In a 2011 interview with Media Mikes, he shared, “Ever since then I knew it was something I wanted to do. I wanted to be involved in not only acting but movies in general.”
Charlie started writing short films from a young age
McDermott’s enthusiasm for filmmaking extended beyond acting, as he frequently directed short films during his time at the online PA Leadership Charter School. One of his teenage creations, “imagiGARY,” eventually evolved into a full-length feature film roughly a decade later, underscoring his dedication to storytelling both on and off the screen.
Indeed, at the age of five, McDermott was treated to a screening of “Star Wars” by a neighbor. And the adventures of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia instantly awakened a passion for him. “Ever since then I knew it was something I wanted to do,” he told Media Mikes in 2011. “I wanted to be involved in not only acting but movies in general.”
Yes, even McDermott was just as happy to be behind the camera as in front of it, regularly submitting short films he’d helmed for projects at his online high school, PA Leadership Charter School. In fact, one such effort he penned in his mid-teens, “imagiGARY,” was later transformed into a more professional feature-length film approximately a decade later.
He left high school in his junior year to pursue his career
It’s fair to say that Charlie McDermott didn’t have the most orthodox of educations. Although he spent a short amount of time at a Wilmington high school, the majority of his learning came from an online institution, the PA Leadership Charter School in Pennsylvania. And the actor left halfway through his junior year to forge a Hollywood career.
When asked whether he had any ambitions to further his studies by LAtf USA in 2011, McDermott didn’t seem particularly keen: “I mean, if I had to switch career paths and become something that needs a college degree or something, then I’d obviously go. But for now, I’m doing what I want to do.”
Indeed, McDermott believed that he was getting the best kind of education simply by heading out into the world: “I just kind of found my way into different writer’s offices. I learned a lot just working under them and they helped me out. So I’ve been kind of getting hands on what I want to do anyways. I’m just in the actual environment.” He did, however, get to wear a graduation cap and gown in the fictional world when Axl finished high school in “The Middle.”
Charlie made his screen debut in The Village
“I didn’t live in a real small town, but there were cows in my backyard,” Charlie McDermott told Inside Ottawa Valley (via LinkedIn) about his childhood in West Chester. “Compared to Los Angeles it’s very tiny.” But as an aspiring actor, there were benefits to living in Pennsylvania, particularly when M. Night Shyamalan rocked up.
Indeed, the modern master of suspense decided to film his sixth feature, “The Village,” in the Keystone State. And on hearing that an open casting call was being held for the twisty chiller, a young McDermott was determined to bag his first job. “My grandfather took me down to the audition,” he told the Boston Herald. “I was number 32 out of 4,000 people in line. I ended up getting a small part.”
Indeed, although McDermott’s character isn’t afforded a name — he’s credited simply as 10-year-old Boy — the actor did at least get a few lines in the movie about a closed off rural community that might not be as closed-off as its inhabitants believe. And the experience spurred the youngster to continue pursuing his passion: “I met some kids who were from New York, and I talked to them and my parents talked to them, and we found out how to get a manager, and an agent. From there, we got the ball rolling.”
He got awards attention for Frozen River
McDermott got more screen time starring alongside Kris Kristofferson in 2006 indie “Disappearances” and appeared in the 2007 comedy anthology “The Ten” before gaining his most significant film role to date in 2008 crime drama “Frozen River.”
Indeed, McDermott was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance as T.J., the son of a financially struggling discount store employee who smuggles in immigrants to America from Canada. And the actor couldn’t have been prouder of the recognition, particularly for the company he was keeping.
“I was excited to say the least, but when I saw that James Franco had been nominated for “Milk,” I felt he had already won it,” McDermott told Seventeen. “It was nice already believing someone else would take home the award, because that way I couldn’t be disappointed. Wanting to tell someone about the nomination I ran around my empty house trying to find anyone, but my whole family was either at school or work.” The Pennsylvanian proved he knows what he’s talking about when Franco — who’s since been canceled — was crowned the winner two months later for his portrayal of Harvey Milk’s campaign manager and boyfriend Scott Smith.
Charlie was made to wait for The Middle
It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Charlie McDermott playing the permanently near-naked exhibitionist Axl Heck in the hit sitcom “The Middle.” But as he explained in a 2014 interview with Daily Actor, the Pennsylvanian wasn’t the first choice for the role.
McDermott had unsuccessfully auditioned to play the character — then named Elvis — for the show’s original pilot, which never made it to the pickup stage. However, he was given a second chance when producers decided to try again two years later. “I still had the scenes memorized because I only had two or three lines in the pilot,” he recalled. “I had nothing to work with. I auditioned, I went through five auditions over a couple months and got it.”
Indeed, McDermott sure was put through his paces by the casting team, with the actor revealing that his final — and very solitary — callback was the most anxiety-inducing: “I’ve done those before and I’ve never been by myself. So it was kind of nerve-wracking in the sense that it was like I had zero — my only competition was myself, which terrified me. It was just literally mine to lose.”
He spent most of his screen time shirtless
Axl Heck’s most notable attribute during the early seasons of “The Middle” was his habit of constantly walking around the family home in nothing but his underwear. But this constant state of near-nakedness certainly wasn’t the idea of the man who played him.
Indeed, in a 2016 interview with Stuff, Charlie McDermott admitted that although he loved playing the slob, his character couldn’t be more different from his own: “He’s very overly confident, outgoing, extroverted, and self-absorbed. He’s also very comfortable being naked all the time, which I personally can’t stand.”
The topic of Axl’s regular shirtlessness was also brought up a year later in a chat with My Take on TV about how the Heck children had evolved over the seasons: “For me, it’s been really, really fun to be able to play outside of what Axl’s normal routine is … Also, it’s been nice, because the more he goes outside and out of the house, the less I’m in boxers, which is great for me.”
Charlie started to feel comfortable in his star-making role
Charlie McDermott appeared to step into Axl Heck’s shoes — and his oft-paraded boxers — with ease when “The Middle” debuted on ABC in 2009. The actor later admitted that it took some time to feel like he knew exactly what the character was about and indeed how to play him.
In fact, McDermott told Daily Actor that it took until halfway through the sitcom’s run for him to get a true grip on the teenage slacker’s state of mind. And it didn’t help that, unlike his on-screen family members, he had little to work on: “… From what I’ve heard, Sue was kind of like an exaggeration of them when they were younger,” he said, referring to the show’s creators Eileen Heisler and DeAnn Heline. “… Brick is based off of Eileen’s actual son in real life, and Frankie and Mike come from real places. But Axl was a complete fabrication.”
“… I didn’t really know exactly where — what I was supposed to be doing with him until about season three I started to feel comfortable,” McDermott went on to add. “I can’t remember exactly what the episode was, but there was one moment where I just kind of was like, ‘Oh, now I get it.’ And then yes, I just feel like I’ve been building off that since then.”
He pivoted into directing
In his teenage years, Charlie McDermott made “ImagiGARY,” a short film about a college freshman who, to help combat the daunting first seven days on campus, revives his old imaginary friend. Nearly a decade later, with a much higher profile, the multi-talent was able to adapt the same story into a full-length feature film. However, he had to rely on the goodwill — and the finances — of his close circle.
“The cast was a collection of friends,” McDermott told Travel Food Film while promoting his labor of love. “Everyone in the film knew of each other or had worked together previously so that was actually the simplest part of the whole process … It may be the only film in history that was cast through a string of text messages.”
McDermott, who cited the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, and the oft-controversial Quentin Tarantino as some of his key directorial influences, very nearly came unstuck toward the end, however. Indeed, having run out of money in the final week, he had to depend upon the generosity of his “The Middle” co-star, Eden Sher, to get things finished. “It got to be pretty stressful at times,” he said about the whole experience.
Charlie became a married man in 2017
Despite his party animal, girl-chasing lifestyle, Axl Heck ended up getting married on two occasions on the hit sitcom “The Middle,” the first time to the airheaded April, which was swiftly annulled, and then, in the show’s flash forward finale, his sister’s roommate Lexie. And the year before the ABC comedy came to an end, the man who played him also tied the knot.
Not that you’d particularly know it. Indeed, Charlie McDermott and his artist wife Sara Rejaie seem to prefer to keep their relationship on the downlow. The former has rarely discussed his love life in interviews, and neither party has shared any loved-up selfies on their respective Instagram accounts. They are, however, happier to show off their professional collaborations.
Yes, Rejaie has helped with the visuals on McDermott’s new career focus as a folk musician. She worked on the video for his singles “Park and Ride” and “on_U,” while her husband also selected a portrait she’d drawn several years previously for a 2024 tour poster. “It’s from my ‘one sketch a day’ book, the idea being that you draw one square a day for a year,” she explained alongside the image. “I’ve been drawing in it since 2017 and still going.”
He feared he’d never work again
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
Having enjoyed guaranteed work for nearly a decade on “The Middle” as teenage exhibitionist Axl Heck, Charlie McDermott perhaps inevitably got a little anxious about what the future held in store once the ABC sitcom ended. In fact, the Pennsylvanian experienced job insecurity from the very first episode.
“I felt like it could fall apart at any time,” McDermott told Sioux City Journal (via Looper) in 2017, a year before the family comedy drew to a close. “I’m honestly very terrified this show will end, and everyone will like me as an actor, but no one will ever hire me because I look like Axl.” In fact, the actor later told Snack Mag that he nearly suffered a nervous breakdown once he waved goodbye to his most famous character: “I spent more time pretending to be this guy than I did being myself, you know? For like 10 months out of the year, 10 hours a day, I’m performing … I really felt buried.”
Of course, the star needn’t have worried. Indeed, McDermott went on to land roles in the oft-disliked Mark Wahlberg’s adoption comedy “Instant Family” and teen horror “Countdown” and play at-risk youth counselor Ty in the acclaimed Netflix crime drama “Unbelievable.” And the decision to take a seven-year break from the industry following the latter appears to have been all his.
Charlie reinvented himself as a folk musician
Charlie McDermott freely admits that after playing Axl Heck in “The Middle” for so long, he felt like he’d lost his sense of self. Luckily, the multi-talent was able to draw on another of his creative passions to help him find it: experimental folk music.
“Being so exposed and so controlled at the same time in such a public way, I felt very stuck, very lost, and freaked out,” he explained to Last Minute Craic about his career pivot. “And I think music was the only avenue I had left where I felt I could actually channel that thing that used to bring me so much … I was going to say joy, but honestly, stability.”
In 2020, McDermott — whose on-screen mom Patricia Heaton you also don’t hear much from anymore — released his debut album, “Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands,” and he’s continued to explore his musical sideline ever since, regularly hitting the touring circuit to prove that he’s more than just a sitcom character. “It’s like drinking a giant glass of water after being really thirsty for a long time,” he told Snack Mag. “I actually have something that exists now, that’s out there for people to find, that is me.”
He reunited with his The Middle sibling for a new project
Charlie McDermott, who, as you can see in the photo above, looks very different today, may have struggled with his sense of self after playing the same comedy character for nine years. But he wasn’t entirely averse to returning to the subject of his trauma, nor reuniting with his on-screen sibling for a meta project about life in a sitcom.
Indeed, in 2023, McDermott and his wife, Sara Rejaie, took on directing duties for “I Was In A Sitcom,” a stage show fronted by Eden Sher, the overly ambitious middle child Sue Heck in “The Middle.” “I feel like if you’re interested in experiencing the most extreme example of a kind of dissociative psychological experience of a sitcom child star in an adult world, then you’ll be satisfied with this show,” he summarized the production to Fest.
And having never worked with his other half in theater before, McDermott relished the opportunity to flex some different directing muscles: “I’ve never worked under such a tight time constraint and it was really exciting for us because you really can just hold yourself to a deadline and really do quite a lot with a short amount of time.”
He’s returning to film in a Vivien Leigh biopic
It’s been slim pickings on the acting front for Charlie McDermott fans since he played at-risk youth counselor Ty in Netflix crime drama “Unbelievable” in 2019. But following a seven-year hiatus from Hollywood to concentrate on his music career, news emerged that the Pennsylvanian was making a screen comeback.
Indeed, in 2026, McDermott was announced in the cast for “Vivien and the Florist,” an independent film focusing on a particular period of Tinseltown legend Vivien Leigh’s life. The thirty-something will show up as a character named Freddie with his co-stars including “Frasier” favorite David Hyde Pierce, ’80s heartthrob Matthew Modine, and Carla Gugino, who you might not know once starred in a famous Bon Jovi music video.
And that won’t be the last time you’ll be seeing McDermott return to his first love over the next year, either. He’s also playing one half of a couple whose dire financial straits impact both their ability to care for their beloved pet cat and their relationship in “Petunia.” And then he’s pulling triple duty on the similarly themed “Rhubarb.” Co-writing and co-directing alongside his wife, Sara Rejaie, the actor will also take top billing in a drama about a brother and sister struggling to cope with the death of their dog.