Charles Joseph McDermott Jr. (born April 6, 1990) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He is best known for portraying Axl Heck, the eldest child of the Heck family, in the ABC sitcom The Middle (2009–2018). He received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance in the independent drama Frozen River (2008).
McDermott's other film appearances include The Village (2004), Sex Drive (2008), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Instant Family (2018) and Countdown (2019). He wrote, directed and starred in the independent comedy ImagiGary (2015), and played Ty in the Netflix crime drama miniseries Unbelievable (2019).
In 2020, McDermott began releasing independent folk music, starting with the album Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands. His second album, Blind Warm Weight, followed in 2022. He has described songwriting as an important creative outlet following his long-running role on The Middle.
