20 Beloved TV/Movie Geeks

01 of 17

Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory

In truth, just about everyone on The Big Bang Theory is an adorable geek — even comparative regular girl Penny (Kaley Cuoco). But Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) take their geekishness to such gut-busting extremes, they've become TV's First Couple of Nerddom. —Adam B. Vary

02 of 17

Hermione Granger, The Harry Potter series

Though occasionally an insufferable know-it-all, Hogwarts' most clever student (Emma Watson) taught us many things: House-elves have feelings; Hogwarts, A History can always help one out; friendship — especially with a boy with a scar and a ginger slacker — is forever. Most magical, she taught us to never be ashamed of who we are or what we believe in, no matter how much teasing we may endure. —Erin Strecker

03 of 17

Neal Schweiber, Sam Weir, and Bill Haverchuck, Freaks and Geeks

Not a pocket protector in sight here! Judd Apatow's Freaks and Geeks portrayed high school as it really is, particularly for his rag tag gang of geeks. These characters (played by Samm Levine, John Francis Daley, and Martin Starr) hit close to home, and made mathlete a household word. —Laura Hertzfeld

04 of 17

C-3PO, Star Wars

The gleaming machine man called C-3P0 (or ''See-Threepio'' for you old school Sith) is vainglorious, exasperating, judgmental, and persnickety. He's hyper-adept at the obscure (the binary language of moisture vaporators) and oblivious to the urgent (which almost left his friends flattened in the Death Star's trash compactor). He never dates, he's useless in a fight, and his best friends don't seem to like him. Yes, there's no doubt about it: In the search for interstellar nerdery, this is the 'droid we were looking for. —Geoff Boucher

05 of 17

Abed, Community

As the pop culture know-it-all to end all pop culture know-it-alls, Abed (Danny Pudi) is more than a walking Wikipedia: he's a unique creation, a fictional character who's perfectly aware of all the tropes of fiction (and isn't afraid to invoke them in everyday conversation). A TV landscape without him could only exist in the darkest timeline. —Hillary Busis

06 of 17

Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's Day Off

If Ferris (Matthew Broderick) is slacker-cool incarnate, then Cameron (Alan Ruck) represents his neurotic foil. He's wracked with trepidation and some serious daddy issues, but at least he's willing to mix it up in Ferris's wilier escapades. Bonus points for trashing that Ferrari. —Josh Stillman

07 of 17

Seth Cohen, The O.C.

While geek culture was making its way toward the mainstream in 2003, Newport outcast Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) was an early beacon of hope for nerdy guys everywhere. He perfectly captured the zeitgeist — and the hearts of teen girls. He invented a holiday (Chrismukkah), championed quirky music (Death Cab for Cutie), had a plastic horse friend (Captain Oats), and even got the girl (Summer Roberts). —Erin Strecker

08 of 17

Josie Geller, Never Been Kissed

As a newspaper copy editor who goes undercover at a high school and vows not to relive her ''Josie Grossie'' years, Josie (Drew Barrymore) teaches us more than the proper use of ''nauseated.'' She's proof that it does get better — when you can legally date the hot teacher (Michael Vartan) who's old enough to your mind. —Mandi Bierly

09 of 17

Hiro Nakamura, Heroes

Sure, we fell out of love with NBC's comics-inspired show right around the time Hiro (Masi Oka) got transported to feudal Japan for, like, a jillion episodes. But we never fell out of love with Hiro himself — a naïve, eager nerd who proved that being a superhero can actually be fun. Somebody please tell that to Christopher Nolan. —Hillary Busis

10 of 17

Doc Brown, Back to the Future

It takes a special nerd to invent a time machine — and a pretty cool one to do it out of a DeLorean. Marty McFly's trusty, resourceful older partner in adventure in the Back to the Future movies (Christopher Lloyd) is a wild-eyed genius who has dogs named Copernicus and Einstein, knows how to generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity and utters sentences like ''The temporal displacement occurred exactly 1:20 a.m. and zero seconds!'' But this geek is far from meek — he plutonium-punk'd Libyan terrorists. Great Scott! —Dan Snierson

11 of 17

Nelly Yuki, Gossip Girl

Any character who's always referred to by her full name is inherently hilarious, but the real reason Blair's former minion and Yale University spot-stealer (Yin Chang) is awesome is because she showed up to exact revenge on Queen B as a Women's Wear Daily reporter in season 6! Hell hath no fury like a geek-gone-chic scorned. —Annie Barrett

12 of 17

Ronald Miller, Can't Buy Me Love

Future McDreamy Patrick Dempsey played the leader of the ''Nerd Herd,'' who makes a $1000 pact with a cheerleader to date for one month. Had she seen his exemplary African Anteater Ritual dance prior to the deal, we're confident she'd have done it for free. —Annie Barrett

13 of 17

Jessie Nichols, NTSF:SD:SUV

A totally nerdy lab tech, Jessie (Rebecca Romijn) enjoys LARPing. She also wears glasses. What a weird-looking nerd, that Jessie Nichols. —Darren Franich

14 of 17

Lamar, Revenge of the Nerds

Without him, Lambda Lambda Lambda never would have won the annual Greek Games and gained control of the Greek Council. Why exactly is Lamar (Larry B. Scott) our favorite Tri-Lamb? He stayed true to himself and had things tailored to him, whether it was that javelin designed for his ''limp-wristed throwing style'' or that rap that fit his high Michael Jackson-esque voice. —Mandi Bierly

15 of 17

Q, Skyfall

That accent! That big tuft of chocolate brown hair! That accent! As Q in the biggest James Bond installment yet, relative newcomer Ben Whishaw showed his geek prowess as MI6's gadget master, unlocking codes and following endless electronic trails to help steer Bond to safety. He's a computer security genius, and Q just goes to show that sometimes the sexiest secret agent men do sit behind a desk. —Laura Hertzfeld

16 of 17

Anyone played by Alyson Hannigan

Remember that one time at band camp? We do, too. The feistiest redhead on the block has played nerds from American Pie's naïve Michelle Flaherty to the witchcraft-obsessed Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to sassy kindergarten teacher Lilly on How I Met Your Mother, who's never far from a quick pun. Sweetening the geek deal? She?s married to her former Buffy co-star Alexis Denisof. —Laura Hertzfeld

17 of 17

Anyone played by Anthony Michael Hall

Hall referred to himself as ''the King of the dipsh--s'' in Sixteen Candles, and that pretty much sums up his appeal in the '80s. His characters (including The Breakfast Club's Brian Johnson and Weird Science's Gary Wallace) were always clever, articulate, and brave enough to get a girl, if not THE girl. —Mandi Bierly