Theresa Russo

Theresa Russo
	WBWP; Alex vs Alex;
	Character Statistics
Full Name:	Theresa Russo
Gender:	Female
Age Group:	42-43 (Season 1); 43 (Season 2); 44-45 (Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and Season 3) ; 45-46 (Season 4) ; 60-61 (WBWP Season 1); 61 (WBWP Season 2)
Birthday:	c. 1965
Height:	5'6"
Eye Color:	Brown
Hair Color:	Brown
Interests:	Popularity; Tennis
Dislikes:	Magic (sometimes); Magic being used in the house; Cucuys; Living with wizards (sometimes)
Lives In:	57 Waverly Place, New York City
Species:	Human; Guinea Pig (temporarily, in Report Card)
Occupation:	Owner of Waverly Sub Station (formerly; retired)
	Relationships
Unnamed Father; Magdalena (mother); Ernesto (brother); Jerry Russo (husband); Justin Russo (older son); Alex Russo (daughter); Max Russo (younger son); Roman Russo (grandson); Milo Russo (grandson); Billie Russo (granddaughter); Hank Russo (father-in-law); Rose Russo (mother-in-law); Kelbo Russo (brother-in-law); Megan Russo (sister-in-law); Damian Pennwolf (son-in-law); Giada Russo (daughter-in-law); Carmela (cousin-in-law); Francesca (cousin-in-law); Bianca (cousin-in-law); Gino (cousin-in-law); Ignatius Russo † (great-great-grandfather-in-law)
Friends:	Harper Finkle; Zeke Beakerman; Juliet van Heusen; Mason Greybeck
Nemesis:	Alucard van Heusen (formerly); Cindy van Heusen (formerly); Giselle
	Production Info
Portrayed by:	Maria Canals-Barrera
Season(s):	WOWP 1, 2, 3, 4; WBWP 1
First Appearance:	WOWP Crazy 10-Minute Sale ; WBWP When You Wish Upon a Squonk
Last Appearance:	WOWP Who Will Be The Family Wizard; The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex

"Knock it off!"

―Theresa Russo

Character	Gallery

Theresa Russo is one of the main characters and the pentagonist of Wizards of Waverly Place and a special guest on Wizards Beyond Waverly Place. She is the daughter of Magdalena and the sister of Ernesto. Theresa is married to Jerry Russo and is the mother of Justin, Alex, and Max Russo. She is the paternal grandmother of Roman and Milo Russo, the maternal grandmother of Billie Russo, and the mother-in-law of Giada Russo and Damian Pennwolf. She used to be the owner of the Waverly Sub Station alongside her husband Jerry Russo. As a mortal, she possesses no powers but encourages her children's discovery of things such as school and their Latino heritage (Alex and her brothers are half Mexican from Theresa's side of the family). She does not like magic, and can't stand it when she finds "magic running amok in the house." She is portrayed by Maria Canals-Barrera.

Background and Personality[]

She is of Hispanic/Latina-Americna descent. Theresa can be fussy, emotional, caring, and is smart, intelligent, can be pretty embarrassing, goofy, silly, more on the wild side, sometimes can be a bit vain and self-centered and is stern, protective, and obsessive. Theresa lives in Waverly Place in Manhattan with her husband, Jerry Russo, and their three children: Justin, Alex, and Max. Unlike her children, she is a mortal and Jerry gave up his powers so he could be with her. However, all three of her children still inherited his magic abilities.

Biography[]

Theresa Russo was born in 1965 into a non-magical Hispanic/Latin American working-class family. According to family anecdotes, she was born on a stormy early morning, during which rain leaked through the roof of her family’s home. She grew up as the eldest child of Magdalena and an unnamed father, alongside her younger brother, Ernesto.

In the late 1980s, shortly after graduating from college, Theresa met Jerry Russo while on vacation in the Caribbean. At the time, Jerry had already won the family wizard competition against his siblings, Kelbo Russo and Megan Russo. However, in order to marry Theresa, a mortal, Jerry chose to give up his magical powers. The couple eventually settled in Manhattan, where they raised their three children: Justin, Alex, and Max Russo.

The Russo family lived above their family business, the Waverly Sub Station, a sandwich shop founded in the 1950s by Jerry’s father, Hank Russo. Theresa and Jerry ran the restaurant together for many years before eventually retiring and passing ownership on to their youngest son, Max. Theresa and Jerry are the grandparents of two grandsons, Roman and Milo Russo, born to their eldest son Justin and his wife, Giada, as well as one granddaughter, Billie, born to their daughter Alex and her husband, Damian Pennwolf.

Relationships[]

Family

Magdalena and Unnamed Father (parents)

TBA

Ernesto (brother)

TBA

Justin Russo (oldest son)

TBA

Alex Russo (daughter)

TBA

Max Russo (youngest son)

Theresa, while she has their hands full with their chaotic and mischievous son, love him very much and try her best to treat him with the same respect she gives to their other two children. She can be frustrated, annoyed, and sometimes utterly confused by Max's behavior. However, despite all of this, Max and Theresa are shown to have a good mother-son relationship.

Megan Russo (sister-in-law)

TBA

Kelbo Russo (brother-in-law)

TBA

Giada Russo (daughter-in-law)

"Yeah. And for you. We’re mortals who married into wizard families. I know what you're going through. And you can talk to me anytime."

―Theresa to Giada in When You Wish Upon a Squonk

For many years Giada had no idea that her and her mother-in-law Theresa have something in common that they are both mortals who married into a family of wizards because her husband Justin never told her the truth about his family history that he comes from a family of wizards. In When You Wish Upon a Squonk, Giada's parents-in-laws Jerry and Theresa come to visit to celebrate Giada's husband Justin Russo making the Tribunal and Theresa tried to help Giada out around the house with her new busy schedule, while Justin was busy with his new job at the Tribunal.

Roman Russo (grandson)

Theresa seems to have a good relationship with her oldest grandson and loves him deeply.

Milo Russo (grandson)

Theresa seems to have a good relationship with her youngest grandson and loves him deeply.

Billie Russo (granddaughter)

When first meeting Billie, Theresa gave her a big hug and said that she had heard so much about her, in which Billie replied what do you hear cause whatever it is, I didn’t do it, in which Theresa then agreed that Jerry was right that she is just like Alex.

Friends

Love Interests

Jerry Russo (husband)

Appearances[]

Wizards of Waverly Place[]

Season 1[]

Crazy 10-Minute Sale (first appearance)
First Kiss
I Almost Drowned in a Chocolate Fountain
New Employee
Disenchanted Evening
You Can't Always Get What You Carpet
Alex's Choice
Curb Your Dragon
Movies
Pop Me and We Both Go Down
Potion Commotion
Justin's Little Sister
Wizard School (Part 1)
Wizard School (Part 2)
The Supernatural (mentioned)
Alex in the Middle
Report Card
Credit Check
Alex's Spring Fling (mentioned)
Quinceañera
Art Museum Piece

Total: 19/21

Season 2[]

Total: 23/30

Season 3[]

Total: 22/28

Season 4[]

Total: 20/27

Total Episodes: 84/106

Wizards Beyond Waverly Place[]

Season 1[]

Everything is Not What it Seems (mentioned)
Mortal Vibes Only (mentioned)
Saved by the Spell (mentioned)
We're Gonna Need a Bigger Float (mentioned)
Abraca-Disaster! (indirectly mentioned)
When You Wish Upon a Squonk

1/21

Season 2[]

Ooze!...I Did it Again (mentioned)
Spells Like Halloween Spirit (mentioned)
The Wizard at the End of the World: Part Two (indirectly mentioned)

Films[]

Trivia[]

Theresa shares many characteristics to the character Darrin Stephens from Bewitched. Both are humans who married a magical being, and have children with powers. Just like Darrin, Theresa dislikes magic and tries to discourage the use of it in her home whenever possible. However unlike Darrin, Theresa has shown to be more tolerant of its use, especially considering her husband gave up his magic to be with her.
Her mother said in a speech at Alex's Quinceañera that Theresa was born at 6:02 pm, on a rainy day. She could hear the leaky roof.
- Her father would give that "leaky roof" speech for any special occasion, so Theresa already knew it. Given he did not show up for Alex's quinceañera, Theresa's father is likely deceased.
She is two months younger than her husband.
She was wildly popular in high school, which she mentions several times. This is because she was the first girl admitted into a formerly all-boy high school, which she forgets to tell people.
She thinks that because she's not a wizard, she can't get in trouble for wizard laws.
Out of all the main characters, she appears in the least amount of episodes, unlike Alex who appears in every single episode.
She revealed that she doesn't like the Sub Station, and wants the Sub Station to be destroyed permanently, as seen in the episode Wizards Unleashed.
She's only taught a brief wizard lesson until the kids start fighting and lets Justin teach it.
She is said to be a fast swimmer in Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana, always winning first place, mostly because she was afraid of swimming and couldn't wait to get out of the water.
She doesn't like when her children use magic around the house.
She wanted to have a Quinceañera for her 15th birthday, but her family couldn't afford to give her a party.
She is the one Alex usually comes to when she has a problem that is non-magical.
In Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, it was revealed that she met Jerry in the summer after finishing college.
She is quite similar to her daughter Alex Russo, as both are sarcastic and are known for their strong opinions regarding magic.
She is similar to her daughter-in-law Giada Russo, as both are humans who married wizards.
Theresa is similar to Amy Duncan from Good Luck Charlie.
Theresa is similar to Eva Madden from the Disney original series the Villains of Valley View in being both married people on the opposite sides, with Jerry being a wizard, who gave up his powers and became a mortal in order to marry her because she is a mortal and Wizards can’t marry non-magical beings, and Vic was a superhero, who had his powers taken away from him after choosing the supervillain Surge, who he had fallen in love with and became a supervillain, and both have three kids, an oldest son, one daughter, and an youngest son, all with powers, but while Theresa does not have powers, but Eva does.
In Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, she took up tennis.
Unlike her own mother, Magdalena, Theresa prefers her grandchildren call her "Abuelita" rather than grandma.

References[]

↑ Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie: Jerry first met Theresa on vacation at a resort the summer after Theresa graduated from college. This means she was at least 22-23 years old, around 24 when they got married and 25 when Justin was born.

[1] Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie: Jerry first met Theresa on vacation at a resort the summer after Theresa graduated from college. This means she was at least 22-23 years old, around 24 when they got married and 25 when Justin was born.

[1]