| “ | It's just that I'm really struggling with my racial identity right now. My mom's white. My dad's black. I'm voiced by a white actress who's 37 years old. Eh, it's all very overwhelming. | ” |
—Missy Foreman-Greenwald in A Very Special 9/11 Episode
| ||
Melissa "Missy" Foreman-Greenwald is one of the main characters in Big Mouth, and a close friend of Andrew, Jessi, and Nick. She's an emotional and geeky girl with a big heart who's relatively far behind in terms of physical development. She had Connie at the start of the series but as of "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Connie had inexplicably left and been replaced with Mona.
She was voiced by Jenny Slate from seasons 1-4, before her voice actor was replaced by Ayo Edebiri, who voiced her from season 4 onwards.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
Missy Foreman-Greenwald was born in 2004 to Monica and Cyrus, and raised in a very progressive and open-minded household in Westchester, New York. Throughout childhood, Missy was encouraged to get involved in academics (notably the sciences) and to be comfortable with her body and sexuality. At some point in her childhood, she purchased a Glow Worm (who she'd eventually name Wiggles), who she's had a fondness forever since. As seen in "Dark Side of the Boob", Missy learned to masturbate at a really young age, by humping her glow worm toy, Mr. Wiggles. Monica knew about this and she nicely told her that "'playing with Mr. Wiggles'is something we only do when we're alone in out rooms." as a polite way of keeping her from being embarassed in public.
Teenage Years[]
As a teenager, Missy attended Bridgeton Middle School and was friends with Jessi, Nick, Andrew, and Jay and joined the school music club along with Lars and Caleb. When she started going through puberty, Connie became her hormone monstress. During her time in middle school, Missy would occasionally daydream and have fantasies about her being the captain of a spaceship and one of her comrades being Nathan Fillion, a celebrity who she has a major crush on.
Romantic Life[]
In "Ejaculation", Missy got together with Andrew at the school dance and unbeknownst to her, caused Andrew to jizz his pants. In "Sleepover: A Harrowing Ordeal of Emotional Brutality", Missy and Jessi had a sleepover with Devin and Lola, only to get herself bullied by Devin and Lola. In "Girls Are Horny Too", Missy read an erotic book called The Rock of Gibraltar. After an incident at a party with Andrew went a bit too far, (she became a "mons pusher" and forced Andrew onto him), Cyrus and Monica told her that she needed to dump him, which she did in "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah". Missy took it surprisingly well but Andrew was painfully heartbroken. In "The Pornscape", Missy let Andrew know that despite not wanting to get together with him, she thinks they can still be good friends.
In "My Furry Valentine", Missy started going out with Lars. In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Missy got the role of the female lead in the school play. Lars was being a sexist, overprotective boyfriend to her at this time, so she dumped him and shortly afterward, went out with the play's male lead, Nick Birch. At this time, Missy got a new hormone monstress, named Mona. Their relationship was short lived, as in "Super Mouth", Nick admitted that he didn't really like her and just got caught up in the moment. This made Missy so sad and upset that she resented Nick, Andrew, and Lars and went into her summer hating all of them.
Racial Identity[]
In "The Hugest Period Ever", Missy went to Atlanta, Georgia to visit her paternal family. Lena and Quinta took notice of how "white" she was, acting like nobody, not even the blacks, should say "The N Word" and not being able to tell the difference between pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie. Missy's cousins taught Missy how to be black, by having her use better shampoo that worked on her hair, having her wear her hair in braids, getting her to ditch her iconic overalls, and have her take on a whole new personality, where she would act a lot more sassy, crass, and self-righteous.
In "A Very Special 9/11 Episode", Missy was put-down by Devin, who insulted her new hair, saying that she never thought of her as a "black-black girl". After DeVon heard what his girlfriend said about Missy, he went up to her later to comfort her, knowing that she must be feeling pretty bad. Missy opened up to DeVon about how she was struggling to find her racial identity in her very mixed up life, which was just as overtly black as it was white and DeVon helped her by giving her a crash-course in code switching. Missy said that she talked to black people with the same verbiage she used when talking to white people, which was laughably wrong, according to DeVon. DeVon later took her to Lena's apartment, where a bunch of black people were just hanging out. There, Missy felt very included for the first time in her life and compared her whereabouts to Wakanda. Lena was talking all race and Missy learned a few new things about her black culture and really got in touch with who she really was as a black girl. Later that day, Devin insulted her again but this time, Missy bit back by cussing her out and flipping her off in front of all the other kids. Everybody laughed with Missy and Devin was put into her place. After DeVon congratulated Missy on her courageous act, she started to fall for him, telling Mona that she found his nipples to be very adorable.
In "Horrority House", Missy drank ayahuasca and passed out. During her time unconscious, she had a vivid dream about getting lost in a dark and scary house of mirrors, shrouding her with a crowd reflections, depicting several different versions of herself from the past, all wearing different costumes. This was representative of Missy's identity crisis, not knowing who she was as a person. Eventually, Missy made a literal breakthrough when she shattered all the mirrors and put them all together like a puzzle to make a mosaic reflection of herself, which included bits and pieces of all of her various versions, indicating that Missy is a multilayered girl, who can be anything and everything she wants. Missy truly embraced her new self by making out with her mosaic reflection, which enlightened her into waking up from her dream, now with a new voice actor, which only further exhibited her development as a character.
In "What Are You Gonna Do?", Missy started a diversity club at school, where she would gather together students of all different races and cultures to talk about their differences and help bring people together in racial harmony. She asked Nick if he wanted to join but he declined at first, not wanting to have to sit around and apologize for his privileged all day but out of guilt, he later hesitantly joined the diversity club.
Appearance[]
Missy has thick curly brown hair, large, light brown eyes, a medium-brown complexion and a short and scrawny build. And on her buckteeth are mock dental braces Since the beginning of the show, she wore navy blue overalls on top of a bright yellow shirt and matching headband.
Starting with "The Hugest Period Ever", Missy was encouraged by her cousins to change her appearance because of her racial identity. From then on, Missy wore her hair in cornrows, tied up with orange hairbands. She also wears orange earrings, dark blue jeans, orange and white sneakers and a yellow crop top instead of her trademark overalls, which she had then sold to Goodwill.
Since "Re-New Years' Eve", her hair is kept in a wild style.
Personality[]
Missy is a nerdy, talkative and sweet girl with a strong moral compass. Despite her conventional appearance, her late start in puberty and geeky demeanor prevent her from being considered popular among the male students in her class. She is very intelligent and quick at coming up with solutions. She is also a surprising romantic, constantly carried away with fantasies about her "crushes"; namely, Nathan Fillion, Gustavo and Andrew. Before Season 4, she was quite ignorant to racism and didn’t know a lot about black culture because of her parents.
Relationships[]
Friends[]
- Jessi Glaser - Missy is best friends with Jessi. In "Sleepover: A Harrowing Ordeal of Emotional Brutality", Missy had a sleepover at Jessi's house, where they had lots of fun before Devin and Lola started bullying Missy by posting embarrassing videos of her on a sugar rush, making out with Jessi's dog on the internet. Missy started crying and got upset with Jessi for supporting the Devin and Lola's bullying. Jessi made a tearful apology, which ended with all the girls hugging and crying and making up. In "Girls Are Horny Too", Missy infodumped on Jessi about The Rock of Gibraltar and got her interested in the book, herself. In "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah", Missy went to Jessi's bat mitzvah.
- Andrew Glouberman - Missy and Andrew are good friends, both being nerds with shared interests in science, history, and musical arts, namely jazz. In "Pillow Talk", Andrew joined the jazz club. In "Requiem for a Wet Dream", the two of them became boyfriend and girlfriend, who had their first kiss in "The Head Push" and were a happy couple until "I Survived Jessi's Bat Mitzvah", when their parents agreed they should break up. Not wanting to break up, Missy and Andrew continued their relationship in secret, without the knowledge of their parents. However, Missy eventually had a change of heart in the end and dumped Andrew on her own terms. Although Andrew was painfully heartbroken, Missy moved on quite well and left her ex-boyfriend, crying in the dust.
- Nick Birch - Missy started off as mere acquaintances with Nick, knowing him mutually through Andrew. In "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", Missy and Nick landed the roles of Meredith Johnson and Tom Sanders, respectively, in the musical theater adaption of Disclosure. They worked well together in the play and it was obvious they were just friends. However, after the play was canceled, Nick and Missy ended up kissing and becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. This relationship lasted until "Super Mouth", when Nick let it slip that he didn't really love Missy and that he just got caught up in the moment. Missy was so upset about this, she burst into tears and ran away. After this, she started hating Nick, going into that summer, believing him to be a "shitty little idiot". When Missy returned to school the following semester, she was very brazen and shut him out completely. However, the funeral of Andrew's zayde in "The Funeral" brought them together as friends again.
- Jay Bilzerian - In "Girls Are Horny Too", Missy and Jay bonded over writing an erotic love story together and have been friends ever since.
- Caleb - Caleb is in jazz club with Missy. In Missy's recurring fantasies about being the captain of her own spaceship, she envisions Caleb as the pilot.
- Lars - Lars is in jazz club with Missy. In "My Furry Valentine", they started dating but they broke up in "Disclosure the Movie: The Musical!", when Lars turned out to be a toxic and controlling abuser of a boyfriend.
- Matthew MacDell - Missy and Matthew worked together as sports commentators in "Am I Normal?". Matthew made a racist joke about black people, which Missy took some offense to.
- DeVon - In "A Very Special 9/11 Episode", DeVon saw how Missy got slammed by Devin and went to comfort her. Missy opened up to DeVon about how she was struggling with her racial identity and DeVon helped teach her about embracing her black culture by teaching her about code switching and accompanying her to Lena's party, where they celebrated the anniversary of the release of The Blueprint. This really helped Missy learn about who she was and made her feel like she was in Wakanda. She thanked DeVon for teaching her about how to be black and told him that he didn't need to code switch for her and instead, he could just be himself. Additionally, she let DeVon know that he shouldn't be married to Devin. Mona encouraged Missy to start fantasizing about DeVon, sexually but Missy refused as he was a married man. However, she did admit to thinking his nipples were cute. Missy's earlier comment about DeVon's relationship with Devin ultimately convinced him to divorce her in "Four Stories About Hand Stuff".
Enemies[]
- Devin - Devin is mean and arrogant to Missy, calling her flat and making fun of her hair in "A Very Special 9/11 Episode". However, Missy counters her insults and humiliates Devin, no longer demeaning herself because of her.
- Shame Wizard - In "Dark Side of the Boob", the Shame Wizard knocks Wiggles off the shelf so Missy can take him to school, consequently causing her to sleep with him and masturbate in front of her classmates. This has led her to think she's a pervert, with Shame Wizard humiliating her and calling her a dry humper.
Love Interests[]
- Andrew Glouberman -
- Nathan Fillion -
- Lars -
- Nick Birch -
- DeVon -
Family[]
Hormone Monsters[]
- Connie - Missy was Connie's client during Season 1, being shown a few times alongside her. However, after she breaks up with Andrew, Connie loses Missy and is no longer her hormonal monster.
- Mona - Mona appears in Disclosure the Movie: The Musical! on Season 3 after Missy got excited acting in the theater musical, noticing a sexual attraction for Nick Birch. Missy didn't usually like it when Mona acted impulsively, but most of the time she was just as excited as she was.
Trivia[]
- Missy is mixed-race since her father is Black and her mother is White.
- She is also Jewish since her mother was raised Jewish, but is no longer practicing.
- Her father is of the Christian Faith as revealed in "Dadda Dia!" but he views the church as sexiest and tries to keep Missy away. This means she, along with Delilah, is interfaith.
- "Twenty-Two and You" reveals that she has 30% Nigerian ancestry.
- Missy is a part of the Jazz Club, along with Andrew, Caleb and Lars.
- Missy takes Capoeira lessons, as she demonstrates to Jay in "Steve the Virgin".
- Missy mentioned these Capoeira skills again in "Horrority House", threatening to use them on Mirror Missy.
- In "What Are You Gonna Do?", she used these skills to kick Nick out cold.
- Missy is only one of the three characters (along with Andrew and Lola) who does not have a sibling.
- It was implied by Andrew that Missy is 6 months older than him so her birthday is somewhere in December.
- As of June 24th, 2020, Jenny Slate (Missy's voice actor) publicly announced that she would be retiring her role as Missy, due to Slate being a white actress and her character being black. She considered interracial voice acting to be racist and felt as though quitting her job was the right thing to do in lieu of the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter political movement. [1] Following her resignation, Jenny's role of Missy's voice actor was assumed by Ayo Edebiri.
- Jenny stopped voicing Missy halfway through the Season 4 episode "Horrority House", where her character had a dream about discovering her true self. Upon waking up from that dream, Missy's voice actor had then been replaced mid-episode with Ayo Edebiri, who continued to voice her from that point onto the rest of the series.
- Missy is one of the characters to have their voice actresses changed in Season 5. The other character who had their voice actress changed is Leah Birch where Chloe Fineman becomes Leah's voice actress in Season 5 after Kat Dennings (Leah's Season 1-4 voice actress) quit voice acting due to being busy with other projects.
- As of "The Hugest Period Ever", Missy got makeover which Missy's parents do not approve of (particularly her white mother, Monica Foreman-Greenwald) as they want her to grow up in a post-racial household instead of following traditional Black culture. Devin also disapproves of Missy's appearance, saying she never thought Missy was a "Black Black girl". On the other hand, Devon likes this appearance and speaks with Missy and even becomes friends with her because of her recognition of her racial identity.
- Cyrus is the only person to refer to Missy as "Melissa" when he called her by her full name in "Thanksgiving" in response to Missy smoking her cousins' marijuana.
- Missy is the only main character whose appearance has changed over the seasons.
- Missy got her first period in "Vagina Shame".
- Missy is currently homeschooling, after overcoming her dread for high school.
- She is named after one of the show's producers, Abe Foreman-Greenwald.
- She is raised as a vegan/vegetarian.