You probably know her as the butter-sock-swinging Sam Puckett from iCarly, or maybe you’ve read her raw, chart-topping memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. But before the Nickelodeon fame and the "Spaghetti Tacos," Jennette McCurdy was just another kid actor trying to survive the grind of early 2000s television.
Honestly, most people don't even realize she was in Malcolm in the Middle. Even fewer realize she actually played two completely different characters on the show.
It wasn’t just a quick walk-on role either. These appearances happened right at the peak of the show's chaotic energy. Looking back at Jennette McCurdy in Malcolm in the Middle, you can see the early sparks of the comedic timing that would eventually make her a household name. But the behind-the-scenes reality of these episodes—specifically what she had to do to her physical appearance—is kind of wild.
The Role Everyone Remembers: Daisy (Female Dewey)
If you’re a die-hard fan, you definitely remember the Season 4 episode "If Boys Were Girls." It’s a classic. A pregnant, stressed-out Lois is wandering through a department store, hiding from her destructive sons, and starts hallucinating about what her life would be like if she had daughters instead.
Enter the girl versions of the Wilkerson boys.
McCurdy played Daisy, the female counterpart to Dewey. She was perfect for it. She had that same wide-eyed, slightly ethereal, yet deeply manipulative vibe that Erik Per Sullivan brought to the original character.
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The Wax Ear Incident
Here’s a detail that sounds like a fever dream but is 100% true. To make McCurdy look more like Dewey, the production team decided her ears didn't stick out enough. In her memoir, Jennette recalls how they used spirit gum and wax molds behind her ears to make them flare out.
It was uncomfortable. It was sticky. And for a young girl already dealing with intense pressure from her mother to be "perfect," it was just another day of being treated like a prop.
Despite the physical discomfort, she nailed the performance. Daisy was arguably the most "dangerous" of the daughters because, just like Dewey, she used her perceived innocence to play her siblings against each other. Watching her manipulate "Renee" (the girl version of Reese) and "Mallory" (the girl version of Malcolm) showed a level of nuance most 10-year-old actors just didn't have.
The "Invisible" Second Role: Penelope
Most fans stop at the Dewey-clone role, but Jennette actually came back to the show two years later. In Season 6, Episode 7, titled "Buseys Take a Hostage," she appeared as a character named Penelope.
This time, she wasn't part of a dream sequence. She was one of the students in the "Buseys" class—the special education group that Dewey ends up leading (and occasionally exploiting).
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Penelope was a very different beast:
- She wore thick, clunky glasses.
- Her hair was often messy or pulled back severely.
- She was part of the group that famously takes their teacher and the principal hostage using lanyards.
It’s easy to miss her here because she looks nothing like the Sam Puckett we’d see just a couple of years later. She was fully committed to the "weird kid" aesthetic. It’s a testament to the show’s casting that they brought her back for a totally unrelated role; they clearly knew she could handle the show's specific brand of offbeat humor.
Why These Cameos Actually Matter
Rewatching these episodes in 2026 feels different after reading her book. We now know that during the filming of Malcolm in the Middle, Jennette was dealing with an incredibly turbulent home life and a mother who was obsessively managing her career.
She has spoken about having a crush on Frankie Muniz during her time on set. It’s a sweet, humanizing detail in an otherwise heavy backstory. She described him as being incredibly kind to her, which stands out because child stars aren't always great to the guest actors.
What most people get wrong
There’s a common misconception that iCarly was her "big break." While it was her most famous role, her work on Malcolm in the Middle was her real training ground. Working on a single-camera sitcom with heavyweights like Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek is basically a masterclass in comedic timing.
You can see the DNA of Sam Puckett in these roles—the fearlessness, the ability to play "unattractive" for a laugh, and that sharp, cynical edge.
Actionable Takeaways for the Super-Fan
If you want to go back and spot her yourself, here is exactly where to look. Don't just scrub through the episodes; look for these specific moments:
- Season 4, Episode 10 ("If Boys Were Girls"): Watch the scene in the mall where the girls are trying on clothes. Look closely at Jennette's ears. Once you know about the wax molds, you can't unsee how much they match Dewey's.
- Season 6, Episode 7 ("Buseys Take a Hostage"): Look for the girl in the background of the classroom scenes wearing the glasses. She doesn't have many lines, but her facial expressions during the "hostage" negotiations are gold.
- Read the Memoir: If you haven't read I’m Glad My Mom Died, the chapters on her early guest-starring years provide a lot of context for why she looks so "on" in these roles despite what was happening behind the scenes.
Jennette McCurdy’s time on the show wasn't just a footnote. It was a bridge between being a "background kid" and becoming a lead actress. It's a reminder that even the biggest stars usually start out as the kid with wax behind their ears, just trying to make the director happy.
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To see the evolution of her career, compare these episodes to her work in the later seasons of iCarly. The growth in her physical comedy is massive, but the foundation was clearly laid in the Wilkerson household. Stop thinking of her as just a Nickelodeon star—she was a seasoned pro before she ever stepped foot on the iCarly set.