The 8 Best Brainy Blonde Fictional Characters

Blondes get stereotyped as ditzy but that’s not all they have to offer humanity, you guys. I’m a brunette and yes, unlike Liz Lemon, I DO know there’s a war going on, but still, here is a list of the best brainy blondes on TV and movies of recent memory. Brainy in this case, for the alliteration, mostly just means “smart” – I’m not saying everyone on this list is winning Valedictorian or anything.

I think it’s no coincidence that in many of these cases the Brainy Blondes are also the title characters of their respective shows. We need to respect and study our Brainy Blonde Brethren.

1. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Veronica is one of my favorite teen detectives. Okay, I don’t know many teen detectives but Veronica’s quick-witted, super smart and skilled with a camera so she’s #1 in my heart.

2. Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Buffy starts out as a reluctant slayer. She’d love to be a cheerleader and think about boys but she owns up to her calling and goes all in. She’s got slayer strength, of course, but she’s also got the brains to back up her strength and she does whatever needs to be done to win and save the world.

3. Clarissa Darling, Clarissa Explains It All

Come on, I mean, Clarissa EXPLAINS IT ALL, you know? She’s smart and crafty, doesn’t take anything from her little brother and has impeccable fashion sense. Plus she can talk right to the camera and draw on the air! Ooooo!

4. Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons

Lisa is perhaps the brainiest of brainy blondes. She’s a talented musician, she’s in the top of her class and she’s an over-achiever in every possible way.

5. Alex Mack, The Secret World of Alex Mack

The Secret World of Alex Mack was kind of like the precursor to Veronica Mars. Alex gets infected by this crazy secret government experiment and then is able to turn into liquid! She does a lot of sneaky around and getting into scary places, she goes against lots of adults and relies heavily on the help of her black male best friend. If Veronica Mars had any super powers it’d almost be the same show.

6. Lizzie McGuire, Lizzie McGuire

Who doesn’t want a cartoon version of themselves to convey their inner thoughts? I basically think in cartoon characters. Is she a slayer? No. Is she a teen detective or prodigy? No. But she’s a regular girl trying to  figure out life and she does a pretty good job of it.

7. Cher Horowitz, Clueless

Cher gets treated as a ditzy airhead repeatedly in her life but she’s actually very smart. In a conniving kind of way. She knows how to manipulate her teachers to get better grades and she has good opinions on relationships and dating.

8. Penny, Inspector Gadget

Inspector Gadget was one of my favorite shows as a kid. And Penny was my favorite character. She was the smartest person on the show (well maybe not smarter than Brain) and she made me to desire a magic electronic notebook (and I now have an iPad so I’m basically there).