The Cast Of Wizards Of Waverly Place What They Looked Like The First Episode And Now

Were you a fan of Wizards Of Waverly Place? That's basically a rhetorical question. The Disney show ran for four seasons from October 2007 until January 2012. The story was pretty hard to resist: Selena Gomez played Alex Russo, a teenager dealing with her magical powers along with her siblings, Justin (David Henrie) and Max (Jake T. Austin). The kids lived with their parents, Jerry (David DeLuise) and Theresa (Maria Canals Barrera), at Waverly Place in NYC's Greenwich Village. The family lived above their business, a sandwich store, and oh yeah, the mom and wife was actually a non-witch. That was just one charming and unique part of this show which captivated viewers.

There's always a lot of nostalgia for shows that we once loved, and this show is no different. The fact that it starred Selena Gomez has kept the series in the public eye. It was just plain fun to watch the teenage siblings try to hide their magical powers and who they really were. That stuff never gets old. While we're getting nostalgia, how about we look at what the cast looked like when the show first started airing and what they look like now? Check out these past and present photos of the cast of Wizards Of Waverly Place!

15 Selena Gomez: Alex Russo

Selena Gomez looks absolutely adorable in the photo of the left, back when she starred on this show as Alex Russo. She's definitely the biggest name of anyone who starred on the show so it's safe to say that she's done really well for herself. Her character was known for being a sweetheart who could also be pretty edgy. She goes after what she wants, loves art, and of course, gets out of binds with her magical powers.

Selena was pretty young when she starred on the show and since now she's 25 years old, it's clear that she's grown up a lot. Sure, we can tell that it's the same beautiful brown-eyed and brown-haired girl in both of these photos, but since she was 14 when the series started airing in 2008, she definitely looks older.

14 Lucy Hale: Miranda Hampson

Lucy Hale is another household name these days, thanks to her role as Aria Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars. She definitely looks young in the photo on the left from when she starred as Miranda Hampson on Wizards Of Waverly Place. Miranda only appeared in season one (actually, she was only in two episodes), and she was Justin's girlfriend. More specifically, she was a goth, which explains her outfit for sure.

Today, Lucy Hale is a super successful actress and PLL ran for seven seasons. She's currently starring in the show Life Sentence about a girl who learns that she's beat cancer and now has to deal with really living her life. She's 28 years old and just as beautiful as ever with her short hair and trendy style.

13 Jake T. Austin: Max Russo

Jake T. Austin played Alex's brother Max Russo, who is the youngest out of the three Russo kids. When the show begins, this character doesn't seem to be super smart, and you wouldn't exactly call her academic. It turns out that he just doesn't apply himself. His sister Alex and brother Justin often play pranks on him or try to trick him since they don't think that he's as smart as they are. Oh, siblings.

Jake T. Austin definitely looks super young in the photo on the left and more mature in the photo on the right. After Wizards finished, he was a voice actor for Rio and Rio 2. He is also known for starring as Jesus on The Fosters. Well, he starred as Jesus for two seasons, and then said goodbye to the show and was replaced by another actor.

12 Jeff Garlin: Uncle Kelbo

Jeff Garlin is another super famous face on this show, and most of us definitely know him as the hilarious actor that he is. When he was on Wizards of Waverly Place, he starred as Kelbo Russo, Jerry's brother and uncle to Max, Alex, and Justin. He was in the first three seasons.

His character is a wizard who is the life of the party… and also kind of immature. Okay, very immature. Since then, Jeff Garlin has starred in a ton of movies and television shows. He's seriously successful. As for TV, he starred on Mad About You and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and is currently the dad Murray on the hilarious show The Goldbergs. His movie credits include Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Safety Not Guaranteed, and Daddy Day Care.

11 David Henrie: Justin Russo

David Henrie played Justin Russo, one of the Russo teens on Wizards Of Waverly Place, and his character is known as kind of a dork. He's super intelligent and enjoys things like school, so yeah, that generally makes a TV or film character dorky. That's just the way that it goes.

David Henrie looks absolutely identical today to the way that he looked when he starred on the show. Seriously, even his hair still looks the same. Besides his role as Justin Russo, he has also won praise for being Ted's son Luke on How I Met Your Mother, so if we were thinking that he looks familiar, that's most likely why. He's 28 years old now, married, and has appeared in several TV shows and movies since his role as Justin.

10 Bill Chott: Mr. Laritate

Bill Chott also looks the same and we could say that he hasn't aged a day since his role as Mr. Laritate on Wizards Of Waverly Place. His character appears in all four seasons of the show and the Tribeca Prep High School principal. He's a big fan of Justin because he does so well in school and often has to deal with Alex when she gets sent to his office for troublemaking and various antics.

This is Bill Chott's most famous role for sure. Before he got some acting roles, he got his start in the improv community in Chicago. He was in the movies The Rum Diary and Dude, Where's My Car? and currently runs an improv school called The Improv Trick where he teaches in St. Louis and Los Angeles.

9 Jennifer Stone: Harper Finkle

Jennifer Stone looks amazing today with her gorgeous red/brown hair, and she looks a bit more elegant and glam than her adorable character, Harper Finkle. Harper is Alex's BFF and she also dates Zeke, although once upon a time she was majorly crushing on Alex's brother Justin.

Today, Jennifer Stone is 25 years old. After starring on the show, she starred in the TV movie Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars and has a few television guest star credits to her name, including Without a Trace and House. She has been in a few TV movies, including Mean Girls 2. She reprised her role as Harper a few times for the TV movies Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex.

8 Dan Benson: Ezekiel "Zeke" Beakerman

Dan Benson played "Zeke" Beakerman on Wizards Of Waverly Place. He's Justin's BFF and the two of them take chemistry together. He appears in many episodes throughout the series.

The actor is now 30 years old and definitely looks very different now than he did when he was on the show. He's got the same brown hair but more facial hair for sure. He has a few film credits to his name, including Little Black Book, and has been in a lot of TV shows ranging from Zoey 101 to Phil of the Future and American Dreams. There isn't a lot of information out there about what he's up to these days, but he did appear in the 2018 movie Killing Diaz and was the voice of the character Ethan in a few episodes of Rick and Morty.

7 Maria Canals Barrera: Theresa Russo

Maria Canals Barrera played Theresa Russo, wife of Jerry and mom to the three Russo kids. She looked amazing when she starred on the show, as we can see from this shot of her in '80s-inspired workout gear, and, yup, she still looks amazing today.

Theresa is an interesting character since she's a mortal and has no magical powers, and she's a Mexican American. She's also super hilarious since she's a supermom who cares about her children so much that she can really be humiliating sometimes. Besides her Wizards role, Maria starred in the sitcom Cristela and had guest roles on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Big Bang Theory. She was a voice actor in a few Batman movies and also appeared in Larry Crowne and America's Sweethearts.

6 Skyler Samuels: Gertrude "Gigi" Hollingsworth"

Skyler Samuels played Gertrude "Gigi" Hollingsworth in seasons one and two of the show. Simply put, she and Alex Russo are total and complete enemies. Their feud goes back super far (Gigi has been mean to Alex since they were in kindergarten). Whenever Gigi is in an episode, she's trying to embarrass Alex, but despite her character's mean girl status, the actress is so charming we can't help but like her.

Skyler looks really adorable on the show since she was much younger then (she's 23 now and would have been 12 when the series began). She has done really well and her TV credits include The Gates, Scream Queens, and The Nine Lives Of Chloe King. She also has a degree from Stanford in Marketing and Intellectual Property.

5 David DeLuise: Jerry Russo

David DeLuise played Jerry Russo, aka dad to Max, Alex, and Justin and wife of Theresa. We can definitely say that he basically looks the same as he did back then. He has a very sweet, youthful face.

Jerry is a fascinating character because he's no longer a wizard. When the series begins, it becomes clear that in order to marry Theresa, who isn't a witch, he would have to become mortal as well. He decided to do that (oh, the things that we do for love… ). While his wife is always showing her children with love and affection, Jerry is a bit more strict with them, and he's often shown getting super frustrated by their antics. It's pretty cool that the parents don't have powers but the teenagers do, which is just one reason that this is such an amazing show.

4 Bridgit Mendler: Juliet van Heusen

Bridgit Mendler appears from the second season until the fourth as Juliet van Heusen and is super cool: she's a vampire. She's different, though, because she's actually a super sweet vampire. She was allowed to keep her soul, which explains it. She and Justin Russo date throughout the series.

After Wizards, Bridgit stared on another Disney show called Good Luck Charlie. She played a character named Teddy Duncan from 2010 to 2014. Most recently, Bridgit has appeared in the musical drama Nashville and the sitcom Undateable. She's also a singer. She looks amazing today and looks very similarly to the way that she did back on the show, just a bit older. So do we think that it's time to rewatch this amazing, magical show or what?!

3 Ian Abercrombie: Professor Crumbs

With a name like Professor Crumbs, we just knew that we would love this character, and we did. Ian Ambercrombie's character is WizTech's headmaster and people say that this is a nod to the Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore. When he teaches the kids how to be a wizard, he's usually got a muffin in his hands, which is why he has the name that he does. How cute is that?!

The actor passed away in January 2012 of kidney failure when he was 77 years old. He starred in a cult horror movie called Army of Darkness in the '90s that brought him a lot of fame and attention. He was also Mr. Pitt on Seinfeld for seven episodes (yup, he was Elaine's hilarious boss).

2 Josh Sussman: Hugh Normous

We can totally tell that this is the same guy -- just look at that hair, which is literally unchanged -- just a bit older. Josh Sussman played Hugh Normous on the show in seasons one, two, and four, and was a friend of Alex's. If his name sounds familiar, that's because it's supposed to be a play on the word "enormous."

Besides rocking the same awesome hairstyle, Josh Sussman starred on Glee as Jacob Ben Israel, the high school newspaper editor who was big on news and gossip. He has appeared on a bunch of other Disney TV shows, including Sonny with a Chance and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, and was also on the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh. His most recent role was his Glee one, which ended in 2014.

1 Amanda Tepe: Montone Woman/Various Roles

Sometimes actors play a whole bunch of different characters on the same TV show, and we just get used to them. We consider them to be part of the fabric of the show's setting and couldn't imagine them not being there. One such character was played by Amanda Tepe, and she was a lot of different people.

She is credited as "Montone Woman" because her characters, ranging from a dog show security guard to a frozen yogurt store manager to a waitress and hot dog vendor, speak in that kind of voice. These days, Amanda Tepe looks amazing and much more glam than her character. She has a lot of TV credits to her name, including Entourage and That's So Raven, along with two acting degrees.