They may not get the girl, or bring all the boys to the yard, but they had us at ‘hello.’ Here are 16 of the brightest, funkiest and super-cool nerds, geeks, losers, rejects and weirdos of all-time.
1.
Justin Long
One of the most visual faces to come out of early-2000s Young Hollywood, Justin Long is notable for his ever geeky roles in a pseudo-trekkie in Galaxy Quest and as a persuasive underdog in Accepted. However, he solidified his status as king geek when he signed on to play a techie in Live Free or Die Hard.
2.
Jesse Eisenberg
If you were to look in to find a textbook example of awkward pipsqueak loser, you’re likely to find Jesse Eisenberg’s mug in the viewfinder. Noted for acclaimed roles in The Education of Charlie Banks, the father-favorite in The Squid and the Whale, a carnie in Adventureland, he took the part of youngest-billionaire-ever Mark Zuckerberg, in Facebook-worshipping biopic photoplay The Social Network.
3.
Donald Glover
Donald Glover is a total geek and we love that about him. Taking the role of a former high school quarterback with super OMG! moments in the hit NBC series Community, he did the unexpected an brought a dorky feel to a Hollywood stock character. Campaigning for an audition to be the next Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield landed the role) and executing laugh-out-loud hysterical funny as a college-bound kid detective in Mystery Team made him a go-to dweeb.
4.
Jaleel White as Steve Urkel (Family Matters)
What Nerd/Geek/Dweeb/Loser/Mouth-breather… list is there without Steve Urkel? The signature strident snort-cackle, “high-water” pants held up by suspenders, rainbow sherbet cardigan sweaters, chunky spectacles, and that earsplitting high-pitched voice of his made him the epitome of super nerd. But he was cool, in fact, for seven seasons we waited for him to get the girl and when Laura finally caught on, the über klutz ditched his super suave alter ego crutch Stefan Urquelle and proved that it was okay to root for the underdog.
5.
Tahj Mowry as T.J. Henderson (Smart Guy)
With an I.Q. of 180, this savvy 10-year-old skipped the forth grade and went on to the tenth grade, spoke several languages fluently, had photographic memory and was the high school basketball mascot. While he could have been written as the Mensa frazzled weirdo, the multi-talented prodigy polyglot made us green with envy!
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6.
Dominic Cooper as Dakin (The History Boys)
Do you find thick English accents and smoldering devil-may-care eyes attractive? So did a bunch of women when Cooper first appeared on the tele. With a star-turn in the critically-acclaimed The History Boys as Dakin, the unlovable sex object and whiz kid extradonaire, Cooper brought sexy back to the eccentric bookworm.
7.
Adam Brody
Picking more intricate roles and landing more brownie points for his role in the trivial get-away The O.C., Brody stepped up his game and eventually went on to play a scene-stealing sketchy devil worshipping hipster in Jennifer’s Body, with that nerdy school boy charm of his.
8.
Lisa Simpson
For 20-plus seasons, we’ve watched America’s favorite mustard yellow primetime family make us laugh and cry with their topical pop culture critique and snarky out-of-the-box commentary. Lisa, the “red-headed stepchild” of the family is a spiky-haired mastermind with zero Schadenfreude. She also has a bleeding heart for environmentalism (even converting to vegetarianism), human rights (supporting aid for those in Tibet) and she can play one hell of a baritone saxophone!
9.
America Ferrara ( as Betty Suarez in Ugly Betty)
Single-handedly, “Ugly” Betty Suarez is responsible for making braces and bedhead sexy again. Famous for her unorthodox multi-colored outfits that included vibrant colors and eye-grabbing patterns to fashionista potential that even gave the women of Sex In The City a run for their money, she got sexier with every season and more sensual with every new discovery. Going from a recluse that staged anti-prom protests to a world traveler would do that. Just ask all the guys that chased her when the final episode started wrapping.
10.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
One of the most gifted child actors to advance beyond puberty, Gordon-Levitt is very a cerebral hot-shot chameleon thespian that, despite his turns as a hustler, a disabled teen, a supervillian or a mind theft…is still seen as a loser with a capital L. His role as Tommy Solomon in 3rd Rock from the Sun changed all of that. Factor in riveting performances in Brick and (500) Days of Summer and you’ve got one of our favorite geeks of all-time.
11.
Jay Baruchel
Frankly put, not matter how evil or how grungy or how charmingly he expands his range, Baruchel of Undeclared fame has solidified himself as the go-to nerd alert frontman. Notice the awkward stance, the waxy facial expressions. He’s the geek It-boy.
12.
Noah Gray-Cabey as Franklin Aloysius Mumford (My Wife and Kids)
Okay, he’s just a highly intelligent, articulate young man. Right… don’t be fooled. He brought the funny every time, in love with Damon Wayan’s youngest daughter and outsmarting every one with his giant brain. In a sense, he was Jimmy Neutron, in the flesh.
13., 14., 15.
Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (The Trio from Superbad)
While they have moved on from their breakout roles in one of the funniest indie films of all-time, the three can’t seem to ditch their status as geek gods. Cera went to play a nerdy track running hipster with a tic-tac fetish, a geeky queerpunk band guitarist, and a dweeb with the gull to face seven evil exes. Mintz-Plasse played a teenage shut-in, an inspiring Mafioso acne factory, and will star as hate-filled poindexter in the remake of Fright Night in 2011. After rolling up his sleeves to make appearances in Rocket Science, Accepted, and a spoiled rotten problem child in Cyrus, Hill is pretty much laughing all the way to the bank and we couldn’t be happier.
16.
Bill Nye The Science Guy
There is nothing sexy or even emotionally attaching about Bill Nye other than the fact he is one rad teacher. In fact, people are still waiting for their science teacher to turn off the snooze button and turn on the groovy voice overs.
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