Carly Shay

Carly Shay was born on July 24, 1994 (age 16). She is the main protagonist of the iCarly TV series, and the second youngest member (older than Gibby) of the iCarly gang. She is the younger sister of Spencer Shay and the daughter of Colonel Shay and Mrs. Shay. She lives with her older brother, Spencer, in Apartment 8-C at Bushwell Plaza in Seattle, Washington, while their father is stationed on an Navy submarine; her mother is never mentioned. She is the best friend of Sam Puckett and former best friend of Missy Robinson, whom she hung out with during her childhood. She is also the best friend and ex-girlfriend of Freddie Benson who lives across the hallway (Apt. 8-D) and has had a crush on her since the day they met, though in recent episodes Freddie's crush is seen to have somewhat diminished. She is portrayed by Miranda Cosgrove as a teenager, and Jadin Gould as an eight-year-old in a flashback (iDon't Wanna Fight).

Personality
Carly is a kind, easy going, and caring person who would do anything for her friends. She usually hates getting into trouble and follows the rules, but has been shown to be a bit spoiled and bratty at times when she doesn't get things her way. For example, in iLook Alike, when Spencer refuses to let her go to a wrestling match, which leads her to disrespect his wishes and sneak out with Sam and Freddie anyway, which is out of character for the usually sweet, polite and rule-obeying girl. In iDate a Bad Boy, it is shown she is a bit shallow as she had a dislike of Griffin's obsession of collecting Pee Wee Babies.

Carly is a brunette with brown eyes.

She used to have asthma as revealed in iWanna Stay With Spencer, but has not had an asthma attack since she was seven years old.

Occasionally, she has to get between her best friends, Sam and Freddie, when the two argue too much. She gets good grades and usually stays out of trouble, except for when she takes the blame for Sam's wrongdoing. It was also revealed in iWanna Stay With Spencer, that she needed a tutor because she was having trouble in science.

One of Carly's most defining personality traits is her determination. She is easily grossed out by vermin, the gross videos Sam likes (except in iStage an Intervention, when she wanted to see a guy who could pull his lip down over his chin), or even when Spencer says "bowels" (iTake on Dingo). In iMake Sam Girlier, Sam tells Carly that she is "soft and girly and weak." and in iTake on Dingo, Sam called her "prissy." Carly agreed with this, referring to herself as "the prissiest." In the episode iHave a Lovesick Teacher, her teacher called her sassy.

It was shown in iSpace Out and confirmed in iSam's Mom that Carly suffers from claustrophobia and freaks out if she is locked in a small space for a long time; however, in iPsycho, she seems only mildly distressed when Nora locks her, Sam and Freddie in her dad's recording studio. But that could be because in iSpace Out, she could have possibly freaked out because of Sam and Freddie's fighting. In her blog "My Christmas Gift Dilemma," Carly indicated that she also has a fear of birds (ornithophobia), although it is not known how deeply this runs.

She takes really long showers when she is depressed or needs to think, as mentioned in iGive Away a Car. She once took a chair in with her when she was the shower for a very long time.

In iWanna Stay With Spencer, it was implied Carly used to be a sick child. According to Spencer, she has to take vitamins every day and suffers from allergies and asthma. She had her last asthma attack when she was seven years old. She likes to drink coffee, but Spencer gives her decaffeinated coffee although she is not aware of this.

Possibly her most prominent trait is that Carly, unlike Sam, is not tough (Sam once called her "weak and girly"), and even when furious, she has never physically attacked anyone on-screen (but tried to tackle Freddie in an angry manner in iThink They Kissed). However, on occasion, she will confront someone, even bullies and teachers, for her friends when it is needed, as shown in iHave a Lovesick Teacher and iMake Sam Girlier. She was also part of a girl mob (Sam and Shelby Marx) that beat up Nevel in iFight Shelby Marx although Nevel said he wasn't scared of her.

Carly shows singing ability in iDo, when she sings Shakespeare, and in iPie, when she tries to get people at a funeral to sing Amazing Grace.

Carly's star sign is a Leo.

Carly sometimes pokes people when she wants to get them to focus (iPromise Not To Tell).

Sam Puckett
Carly and Sam met when they were about eight years old, and Sam wanted to steal Carly's tuna sandwich. When Carly fought back, Sam was impressed and the two eventually became friends. To this day, they share a close friendship that some fans even think of as romantic, to a certain degree (see Cam Relationship).

Carly acts as a moral guardian to Sam, trying to keep her out of trouble and occasionally taking the blame for her pranks. Although Sam frequently causes Carly trouble, she likes her for being "creative, smart, fun and awesome". In iChristmas, it was shown that Carly's life would be very different without Sam; iCarly would never have existed and Carly would be dating Nevel Papperman. At times, Carly and Sam's fights are extremely bad, such as in iDon't Want to Fight and iSaw Him First. In iQuit iCarly, one of their fights even lead to a near-death situation for both of them. But their fights have always ended with their friendship becoming ultimately stronger, and they seem to be close as sisters as they look out for each other (see Cam Friendship).

Freddie Benson
Carly is very aware of Freddie's crush on her, and sometimes exploits that he would do anything for her if she says "Please? For me?" in a sweet, cute voice. They keep up a good friendship, though, and know they can rely on each other when it's necessary. Freddie and Carly have in common that they can maintain pretty good grades, don't like getting in trouble, and both live in Bushwell Plaza. They are really good friends (See Creddie Friendship), and once shared a slow dance alone together after both their dates didn't work out. They were a couple once, after Freddie saved her life (see iSaved Your Life) but Freddie broke up with her because he wasn't sure if she loved him. He told her that he wanted to wait until he could be sure it wasn't just "hero worship" and he wasn't taking advantage of her.

Carly has shown possible jealousy over two girls that Freddie has been attracted to (iBeat the Heat, iHire an Idiot) as Freddie has been of guys that Carly likes in previous episodes. Carly has also been seen flirting with Freddie (iSaved Your Life, iSam's Mom, etc). Carly and Freddie agree to retry their relationship once the "hero thing" wears off in iSaved Your Life, but it hasn't been used as a plotline since. Evidence of whether or not they still harbor feelings for each other is currently unknown. (For more on their relationship, See: Creddie)

Spencer Shay
Carly and her brother usually have a very strong relationship and often have fun hanging out together. Carly acts as the voice of reason or as an emotional support when needed. This is shown in iGet Pranky when she tries to get Spencer to stop pranking people. She can also rely on him when she has trouble. She is used to him letting her have a lot of freedom and gets irritated when he doesn't give her what she wants, as shown in iLook Alike. Their brother/sister relationship is very important to the show, (See Sparly).

Gibby Gibson
Carly and Gibby have known each other for four years. She has shown a little attraction to Gibby, and Gibby might have an attraction to Carly. They are very good friends, and he's a recurring guest on her webshow. Carly once mentioned that Gibby was "sweet, cute, and fun". (See Cibby).

Boyfriends/Dates/Crushes
Ben Huebscher (First kiss) In iKiss, Carly tells Sam and Freddie that her first kiss was with a boy named Ben Huebscher, who she kissed under a kumquat tree and he tasted like potato salad. It is unknown whether they were dating or not. He is named after an iCarly writer.

Freddie Benson (2005-present; Best Friend, Ex-Boyfriend,Possible Crush)

Freddie has had a huge crush on Carly ever since he met her. At times, he looked through his peephole and waited for her to come home. Carly never seemed threatened by this behavior, but rather amused. The first hint that Carly returned his feelings for her was when they slow-danced in iSpeed Date. They were in a relationship in "iSaved Your Life", but Sam convinced Freddie that Carly was only touched that he saved her life and wasn't in love with him, but with what he did. They broke up afterwards, but said they could possibly date again when Carly is over the whole hero thing and still has romantic feelings for him. It currently remains unknown if either of them still harbor romantic feelings for each other. (Also, see Creddie).

Jake Crandle (2007; Crush)

In "iLike Jake", she had a crush on Jake and he liked her back. After Jake saw Carly kiss Freddie on the nose (for helping to make Jake's singing voice sound good for the web show), he believed that they were a couple. Because of this, Jake decided to get back together with his ex-girlfriend, leaving Carly single.

Gibby Gibson (2008-present; Friend, Date)

In iWin a Date Gibby chose Carly as his date, probably by mistake, although maybe he chose Carly on purpose, despite her obvious hints that she wasn't Shannon. They went on a triple date to The Cheesecake Warehouse: Carly and Gibby, Sam and Reuben, Freddie and Shannon. Carly tried to help Shannon to like Gibby. After that, Carly and Gibby become good friends. (Also, see Cibby)

Shane (2008; Crush, Date)

She went out with him for a brief time in "iSaw Him First," but since Sam was also dating him at the same time, the two of them fight and decide that the one who kisses him first gets to date him. Shane broke up with them when he found out about their competition for him but when he was in the hospital Carly kissed him while he was unconcious.

Nevel Papperman (2008-2011; Alternate Reality Boyfriend, Enemy; Admirer)

Nevel kissed Carly on the cheek in iNevel, and has tried to get kisses from her ever since, but Carly constantly refuses. In the episode iChristmas, if Spencer was born normal, Nevel was going to be Carly's boyfriend.

Griffin (2009; Ex-Boyfriend)

She dated him in "iDate a Bad Boy" until she found out he collected PeeWee Babies. She tried to make the relationship work, but then Griffin overheard Carly and Sam making fun of his PeeWee Babies and then broke up with her. He comes back in "iBeat the Heat" and tries to kiss her, but she rebuffs him. (Also see Criffin)

Austin (2009; Date) Carly chose him as her date in "iSpeed Date." At the end of the episode, she dumped him because he kept interrupting her with random sentences whenever she wanted to say something.

Adam (2010; Major Crush)

Carly loved Adam in IStart a Fanwar. He seemed to be interested in her, too, but in the end, he was attacked by Creddie fans and Carly just left after Sam said “he belongs to them now". (Also, see Cadam)

Steven (2011; Boyfriend)

Carly loves Steven in iParty with Victorious. She says his nose goes pink when he gets embarrassed, and she thinks its adorable. He seemed to be interested in her, too, but he also has a liking for Tori Vega, which leads to complications.

Enemies

 * Nevel Papperman
 * Tasha (iNevel)
 * Valerie (iWill Date Freddie)
 * Ms. Briggs (iSpy a Mean Teacher, iHave My Principals)
 * Mr. Devlin (iPromise Not to Tell)
 * Jonah (iHate Sam's Boyfriend)
 * Amber Tate (iCarly Saves TV)
 * Zebo (iCarly Saves TV)
 * Kyoko and Yuki (iGo To Japan)
 * Wade Collins (iRocked the Vote) - Enemy of David Archuleta.
 * Missy Robinson (IReunite with Missy)
 * Chuck Chambers (iTwins)
 * Mr. Howard (especially in iHave My Principals)
 * The Petographers (iMove Out)
 * Nora Dirshlitt (iPsycho)
 * Aspartamay (iStart a Fanwar)
 * Jocelyn (iMake Sam Girlier)

Gallery
Click here to view Carly's Gallery

Trivia

 * Carly has had multiple near-death experiences: in iWanna Stay with Spencer (nearly getting hit in theCarlyintrouble.jpg head with a hammer); in iQuit iCarly (almost falling off a window washer platform, along with Sam); and in iSaved Your Life (almost getting hit by a taco truck, but rescued by Freddie, off-screen).
 * Carly's head has nearly been hit twice: in iWanna Stay with Spencer (nearly getting hit with a hammer) and iStart a Fanwar (a fan threw a chair at Carly at Webicon).71336_2997072613.jpg
 * She and Sam had been friends five years before the episode iDon't Want to Fight. Carly and Sam have now been best friends for eight years.
 * She and Sam have broken up as best friends twice in the series. Once in iDon't Want to Fight, and again in iQuit iCarly.
 * Carly is fond of Build-A-Bra and Glitter Gloss which are both stores at the Crown Ridge Mall.
 * Carly has a bikini with a floral design, skirt bikini bottom, and a g-string in the back. (iHatch Chicks)
 * Carly has shown her midsection the most out of any female on the show, due to her wearing a bikini (iHatch Chicks), a hula skirt with a coconut bikini top (iSaw Him First), and a two-piece mixed martial arts outfit (iFight Shelby Marx).
 * She is an avid believer in Bigfoot (iBelieve in Bigfoot).
 * Her great-grandmother gave her a heavily insured diamond incrusted watch when she died, although it seems Spencer and Carly did not go to her funeral. It came in handy when her room was destroyed in a fire and her heavily insured diamond incrusted watch was destroyed in the fire. It was insured for $82,000. (iGot a Hot Room)
 * She appears to really like bad boys, like Griffin, possibly because they are like her best friend Sam.
 * Despite the fact that Carly's birthday is on July 24, in iScream on Halloween, she says she's a Capricorn (which would place her birthday in early January or late December). On iCarly.com, her birthday originally was said to be January 14, but it was changed shortly before the finale of Season 3, probably to make it closer to the airdate of iGot a Hot Room.
 * Carly cries 4 times in the series; iGot a Hot Room because her room burned down, iChristmas because she wanted things back to the way they were, iQuit iCarly because she and Sam almost fell to their deaths off of a window washer, and also because she was sorry for getting in a fight with Sam, and iTake on Dingo because the hobo pulled her hair and kept trying to climb into the hotel room.
 * Carly is the youngest of the iCarly trio (Sam, Freddie and herself), as her birthday is in July and Freddie and Sam's birthdays are in February and April, respectively. Though again it is thought that her birthday may be in January, so her age as opposed to that of her friends is debatable.
 * She loves the band Cuttlefish.
 * Carly's only younger counterpart was presented on iDon't Want to Fight, in a flashback showing when Carly and Sam met.
 * In iOwe You, Spencer says Carly used to be a Sunshine Girl.
 * Although Carly is the main character in the series, she no longer appears in new iCarly.com segments due to Miranda Cosgrove's busy schedule.