My Name is Earl was a comedy series that ran for four seasons on NBC. The story followed a small-time crook that had a stroke of good and bad luck at the same time: first he wins $100,000 in a lottery ticket, but then he is hit by a car as he celebrates and loses the valuable piece of paper. While in the hospital, he hears about karma for the first time, and makes a life-changing decision: he will make up for every bad deed he’s done so that he can pay off the karma he sent out into the world.
On a basic level, My Name Is Earl was a show about dumb people making bad decisions and sometimes learning the obvious in the process. On deeper analysis, however, it can be said that the series was ultimately about empathy: in order to make up for every person he’d conned, Earl was forced to spend some time with them and see the world through their eyes. Throughout the series, Earl learned that being a good person helps make the world a little bit brighter, and, at the very least, helps you sleep better at night.
Here are the characters that helped make this story great – and where are the actors now, twelve years later:
Earl Hickey (Jason Lee)
"You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting around the corner: karma. That's when I realized that I had to change. So, I made a list of everything bad I've ever done, and one by one I'm gonna make up for all my mistakes. I'm just trying to be a better person."
If you watch My Name Is Earl, especially on reruns, in the beginning of almost every episode you’ll hear this narration to the point of memorizing it. The reason behind it was simple: NBC needed a quick recap in order to catch first-time viewers up with the story. But this is also Earl in a nutshell. The series’ protagonist is a simple guy who got dealt a bad hand in life and decided to get by with small cons that would hardly make the eight o’clock news.
The great thing about Earl as a character is that, even though he was a bad guy prior to the story, you can’t help but root for him. Especially when you discover through flashbacks that he was a child of a broken home, and his cons were mostly harmless. Most of them are listed in episode titles such as “Stole Beer from a Golfer,” “Stole a [Police] Badge,” and “Made a Lady Think I Was God.” So going on this big, making-amends ride with him is fun, hilarious and sometimes touching.
Where is Jason Lee now?
Before My Name Is Earl, Lee was featured in minor roles in some Hollywood cult classics like Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky. During and after the show, he starred the high-grossing kid franchise Alvin and the Chipmunks. He also played a police detective with a love for blues in the short-lived TNT series Memphis Beat. Recently, he’s mostly been doing voice work on Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears and Paramount+’s new animated series The Harper House.
Randy Hickey (Ethan Suplee)
Most characters in My Name is Earl are not very bright, but Earl’s brother Randy is probably the least gifted intellectually. At the same time, he has a heart of gold and, the more episodes you watch, the more you realize that Randy was mostly peer-pressured into participating in crimes that his brother committed, and at times he serves as a moral compass for Earl, even after the ex-criminal decides to be a good person.
Randy becomes a sidekick in Earl’s mission, helping his brother atone for his sins as he himself learns the same lessons his brother does, finds love and discovers one of the all time best songs, Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time.”
Where is Ethan Suplee now?
If you’re a longtime My Name Is Earl fan and have been watching stuff, you’ve probably noticed Suplee a couple of times. He’s been in mainstream movies like Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, and Mark Wahlberg-led Deepwater Horizon. On TV, he spent some time on Netflix corridors, featured in Santa Clarita Diet, The Ranch and most recently Good Girls. His next movie will be Nick Cassavetes’ God Is a Bullet, also starring Maika Monroe and January Jones.
Joy Turner (Jamie Pressly)
While Earl decided to be a better person, Joy continued to be unapologetic, cruel, and doing whatever she could to get her way - and she was funny as hell in the process. Joy managed to hide for years the fact that she cheated on Earl, even though their son, Earl Jr. (Trey Carlisle) is Black. At the same time, there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her kids or the ones she cares about, which would make her kind of a trailer park version of Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
Pressly didn’t get half as much praise as she deserved for playing Earl’s unredeemable ex-wife. True, she was nominated for an Emmy twice and won in 2007, but the way she managed to deliver quick-witted dialogues with a heavy accent and always make them funny should have earned her a nomination for every season.
Where is Jamie Pressly now?
The actor has just ended a long run in CBS’s sitcom Mom, which aired its eighth and final season earlier this year. She entered the series as a recurring character in Season 2 and was promoted to regular in Season 3, then made it to the finish line. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she took a break for now, but according to IMDb she’s currently filming the comedy The Re-Education of Molly Singer.
Catalina (Nadine Velazquez)
Had My Name Is Earl been created today, we would have seen a much different Catalina. She's a maid who becomes a close friend to Earl and Randy when they move to the hotel in which she works. The problem with Catalina as a character is that many of her storylines centered around Latinx stereotypes like being a housecleaner, staying under the radar as an illegal immigrant, being deported, getting a green card marriage and other stuff. However, Velazquez knocked the role out of the park, and you quickly see her as a quick-witted character who always finds a way to outsmart whoever she needs in order to get what she wants.
Where is Nadine Velazquez now?
After My Name is Earl ended, Velazquez guest-starred in many series like CW’s Hart of Dixie, FX’s The League, and TNT’s Major Crimes. Now’s she’s set to play a pop superstar in ABC’s upcoming drama Queens, which premieres in late October.
Darnell Turner (Eddie Steeples)
Darnell is constantly underrated by all the other people around him in Camden County, because they can never see past the marijuana-smoking, easy-going, crab-selling guy who hardly ever says more than “Hey Earl”. But the truth is only known by us spectators for most of the series: Darnell is actually a very intelligent assassin from the CIA who graduated college at age 14, speaks seven languages, and is a martial arts expert. He ends up in Camden County under witness protection and keeps his secret for a long time.
Where is Eddie Steeples now?
Steeples has been featured in several titles after the end of My Name Is Earl. His longest gig on TV was on TBS’ The Guest Book, which ended in 2018. Currently, he is set to integrate the cast of crowd-funded Fallen Cards, a futuristic fantasy series.
My Name Is Earl was cancelled abruptly by NBC, and the story ended on a cliffhanger that never had a follow-up. Series creator Greg Garcia made numerous references to My Name is Earl in his next show, Fox’s Raising Hope, which can be considered the sister series and provides a sort of ending to My Name Is Earl in the pilot episode. Garcia is currently working on Sprung, a series about an ex-con who decides to turn his life around. Sound familiar?
You can stream all seasons of My Name Is Earl on Hulu.