Alexandra Margarita "Alex" Russo^[1] is a fictional character on the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, portrayed by Selena Gomez^[2]. The middle child and only female out of the three Russo siblings, she is sly, outgoing, and usually underachieves when it comes to regular high school. She often gets into trouble because of her constant schemes (usually involving magic).

In 2008, AOL named her the twentieth greatest witch in television history.^[3]

[edit] Personality

Alex is part Mexican and part Italian, much like Selena Gomez is in real life. She was born in a taxi cab due to her father's lack of proper timing. She was born in Cab # 804.^[4] Alex is typically portrayed as a mischievous troublemaker. She is usually mean and apathetic towards others. Her parents describe her as someone who only cares about herself, and Justin describes her as a "snarky, apathetic slacker.^[4]". She is usually seen with her wand in her sock or shoe. Alex also loves shopping and fashion and is often seen wearing peace signs along with her outfits. It is known that her hobby is poking things with a stick (as shown in the episode "Racing" when she pokes Justin with the Transport Stick when he's on the ground), though she hasn't been able to make money out of it yet, as she tells Dwayne Johnson in the season two episode "Art Teacher". In the season one episode "Potion Commotion", she drank both halves of a love potion and became obsessed with herself (so much so that when she made a reference to herself, her head expanded).^[5] Even after the potion wore off, she expressed love towards herself by sending herself multiple amounts of flowers.^[5] Other episodes of the series sometimes show Alex to be conceited in a similar manner. She appears to hardly ever think of anyone other than herself and can be seen occasionally as a spoiled brat. When asked by her father why she could not be more like Justin, Alex sarcastically replied, "'Cause I don't wanna grow old alone."^[6]

Alex is hardly ever shy when it comes to boys; she once went as far as to kiss a random boy named Matt to get back at Justin (David Henrie), after he discovers that Alex had never had her first kiss in the season one episode "First Kiss".^[7] Alex claims everyone takes her advice as she knows a lot about fashion, relationships, girls, and guys, but above all she can be very sneaky and tricky.^[7] So much, that she's even willing to admit that she's usually up to no good, and feels disturbed when others say that she is good. Her best friend since childhood is Harper (Jennifer Stone), who often tries to keep her out of trouble. Her temporary best friend at Wizard School is Hugh Normus (Josh Sussman), as she said in one episode, that he was "the worst best friend ever". Though she continues to torment her older brother Justin, the two seem to have a close bond that neither seem to have with any other character on the show. Her enemy since kindergarten is Gigi Hollingsworth (Skyler Samuels), who spilled juice on Alex's blanket and told everybody that Alex had an "accident" at nap time.^[2]

Alex often uses magic to solve her problems, which frequently ends up giving her even more problems than she began with. Her tendency to use magic without permission is often caused by her lack of work-ethic and respect for the rules. Alex hardly ever considers the consequences of magic and is often unprepared when the situation goes haywire, which usually requires the help of her more knowledgeable brother Justin. In "Wizards vs Vampires" it was revealed that she has a criminal record with the Wizard Police. She is very skilled at "Make-'em-Ups", when a wizard can make up their own emergency spell.^[8] Riley (Brian Kubach) had been Alex's crush for most of the first season, and to impress him, she calls herself his good luck charm and attempts to magically win his baseball game.^[9] She had also got him jealous by enchanting a mannequin to come alive and date her—after he breaks up with her—in the episode "Alex's Spring Fling".^[10]

She is a Daddy's Girl and according to her father, Jerry (David DeLuise), she uses her puppy dog eyes to get out of trouble. She can't tell when her dad's being overprotective, she just thinks he's being crazy and doesn't make the situation better by saying she's growing up. In "You Can't Always Get What You Carpet", however, she tells her dad she will always be his little girl. She isn't fazed much when he's overprotective and still does whatever it is he doesn't want her to do. For example in "Alex's Brother Maximan", Jerry hears Alex tell her mom that her boyfriend, Dean (Daniel Samonas), wants to kiss her, and he says "Kissing? Who are you kissing?" Later in the episode, she does kiss Dean, but when her dad questions it, she tries to change the subject.^[11]

Alex is often depicted as a slacker, somewhat more so with regular high school than in wizardry and witchcraft school. If Alex does not want to do anything that is school-related, she will make an excuse or scheme about why she does not want to do it, and how unnecessary she finds it or will just simply not do it. She will often rebel against mandatory assignments with glee and has been known to avoid any ambition in attending her classes or being on time, freely admitting that she intentionally arrives in school during third period ^[4]. Alex never likes doing work. She has even resorted to trying extreme measures in order to get out of a school project, once going as far as attempting to injure herself on purpose by jumping off the stage after she is named as Harper's replacement as Tinker Bell in the school production of Peter Pan (this after she already auditioned to be Harper's understudy, thinking that she would not have to do anything in the play), when Harper accidentally falls off the stage during rehearsal. Art is her favorite school subject and is pretty much the only class she takes seriously.^[12][13]

Alex is also often quick on her feet when making some type of excuse, such as when she almost exposed Justin as a wizard in the season one episode "The Supernatural", claiming that Justin was taking a spelling test after almost stating that he had cast a spell in order to make himself an ace baseball pitcher. At times, Alex also works together with her younger brother Max to play tricks on Justin, and they can be seen laughing together at his expense. Despite her less than kind behavior, Alex hates "fake" people. In the season two episode, "Alex Does Good," she is disgusted with the do-gooder club she is forced to join, since they are only doing good deeds to earn awards. Later, she even refuses a ribbon to protest their behavior (though she quickly changes her mind and accepts it, when she finds out that if she doesn't participate in the "Happy Helpers Club" in every way, she'll get suspended). Alex is also very much like her aunt Megan, as both love art and hate hard work. In fact, Max said that Megan is just like Alex's twin only older in "Retest", though the key difference between the two is that Alex is capable of apologizing for her actions, something that Megan never learned to do.

Despite her frequent unkindness and pranks, Alex is far from heartless. She deeply cares for Harper, going so far as to reveal her secret to her in "Harper Knows" out of guilt for lying, and loves Justin dearly despite their constant antagonism. Alex can also feel remorse and guilt for her actions and has apologized and taken responsibility for them, and often goes out of her way to set things right whenever her disregard for the consequences directly affect her friends and/or family. Though these instances are rare, Alex does occasionally use magic unselfishly or with good intentions, such as in "Taxi Dance", where she repairs Cab 804 to allow herself and her family to continue to cherish the memories of her birth. Despite her poor work ethics, Alex has been shown to be highly intelligent; for example, in "Don't Rain on Justin's Parade - Earth", she shows great detective skills by quickly deducing those responsible for several accounts of school property damage by simple observation when Mr. Laritate is stumped by everything ^[14].

During the Wizards of Waverly Place movie, Alex is the one who gains her full powers. Although at the ending, she "rewinds" time which causes the competition, to decide who gets full powers, to have never happened. (The competition was taken early as a desperate attempt to save the Russo's family from never existing.) Therefore, all three still possess their powers. In the movie she says that Justin was everything that she ever wanted to be and she was jealous of how smart he was and how kind he is, while Justin responds in kind saying how he is jealous of how everything comes easy to her, especially magic, which is why he strives so hard to be perfect.

After her parents complain how she never has never been in any school clubs, she lied and said she was in reading club and tried to steal the award from Justin's room and scratch out his name and put hers. Justin, however, created Frankie (FrankenGirl) to guard his room, who became fast-friends with Alex. Justin then put a spell on Frankie to like cheerleading and she wanted Alex to be on the squad with her. In "Monster Hunt", Alex gets jelaous of Justin when he moves forward in the wizard traning so she creates a spell song where she can remember the spells she learn, hopefully to catch with him.

It is revealed in Doll House that Alex didn't know about magic when she was 5, causing fans to wonder when she found out. A softer, childish Alex is also revealed in the episode, when she eagerly tries to get into a small fight with Justin and jumps happily when he snaps at her, going to the point where she actually hugs him, despite of the fact that she states in many episodes how much she hates hugs. This implies that she loves bickering with him and that all the fights and the pranks she pulls on him are a way of getting his attention.

It is possible that Alex and Justin were created to act as foils, as the two are near-polar opposites in terms of personality; Justin is responsible, kind, unselfish, sensible, and hard working, while Alex is selfish, immature, mischievous, sarcastic, impulsive and overall lazy.

[edit] Alex's Love Interests

• Brad Sherwood (Shane Lyons, season 1) – seen in "Potion Commotion"; Alex tried to get Brad to like her with a love potion, but she accidentally drink both halves of the potion and fell in love with herself. Later, Brad came over to her house and gave her chocolates, on the same night of Justin's interview for the World School Summit. She soon found out that Brad only came over just to sabotage Justin's interview. Alex then broke up with him, even though they were never going out.
• Riley (Brian Kubach, season 1) – long term; first seen in "I Almost Drowned in a Chocolate Fountain", where he and Alex went on a so-called 'date'. In "The Supernatural", Alex got Riley to believe that she was his good luck charm in baseball, and charmed the ball so his team would win each time. They broke up in "Alex's Spring Fling", but Alex made Riley jealous by dating mannequin she brought to life, and they got back together.
• Manny Quin (Matt Smith, season 1) – A male mannequin that Alex used magic on to come to life, and briefly dated to make Riley jealous in "Alex's Spring Fling".
• Dean Moriarty (Daniel Samonas, season 2) – long term; first seen in "Smarty Pants", last seen in "Wizards vs. Vampires: Dream Date". Dean discovered Alex liked him in "Graphic Novel", and admitted he liked her in "Racing". They started dating in "Alex's Little Brother". Dean apparently moved away (though has not been mentioned since "Saving WizTech") and he came back in "Wizards vs. Vampires: Dream Date" (because Alex was using magic to control his dreams to go on dates with him). They broke up because Dean wasn't acting as romantic as he was in his dreams Alex was controlling. When she broke up, at first he acted all cool, but when Alex went into yet another dream, but let Dean control it this time, he says the reason he acted that way was because he was hurt. They break up properly and Dean disappears in his dream.
• Ronald Longcape, Jr. (Chad Duell, season 2) – seen in "Saving WizTech". Alex liked Ronald when they met, but she was still in a relationship with Dean. Ronald then shape-shifted into Dean (he froze the real Dean inside gelatin) and broke up with Alex so he could convince Alex into coming to WizTech with him. Ronald used her as part of his evil plan to take over WizTech, but his plan was foiled by Alex's love for Dean.
• Mason (Gregg Sulkin) - He appears in season 3 episode "Alex Charms a Boy". He is a transfer student from England, perfect in every way except for his artistic vision. Alex casts a spell on Mason, so that she becomes the inspiration for all the art he creates in their school art class. In season 2 episode "Future Harper", Harper from the future asked Alex if Mason has already broken up with her, but Alex hasn't met him yet.

[edit] Mortals who know Alex and her family's secret

• Theresa Russo (Maria Canals Barrera) – Alex's mother.
• Ms. Jennifer "Jenny" Majorheily (Heidi Swedberg and Gilland Jones) – Alex's former art teacher who was turned into a 40-year-old woman by T.J. Taylor.
• Harper Finkle (Jennifer Stone) – Alex's best friend. Alex reveals her secret in the 8th episode of season 2.
• Information Lady from Volcano Land (Amanda Tepe) - Alex gets the information lady from Volcano Land to tell Justin about how a volcano can drain a wizard from their power.

[edit] Reference