Vanessa Doofenshmirtz

"Thanks, dad. You finally got one right..."

- Vanessa

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz is the daughter of Heinz and Charlene Doofenshmirtz. Her birthday is June 15th, and is sixteen years old as of "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together."

Personality and Traits
Vanessa tends to be sarcastic and generally acts like a normal teenager. She cares about her reputation, especially when her clothing gets switched with Candace's clothes. Vanessa has always hung out with the "goth" or "punk rock" crowd, as seen in her childhood photos and her group of friends ("Hail Doofania!", "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together", "Brain Drain").

Her desire to have a car of her own is quite clear. She tries to prove she is responsible enough to own her own car by trying to get a rare element (Pizzazium Infinionite) her father needs in the Superduper Mega Superstore ("Vanessassary Roughness"). This is also evident when Doofensmirtz told her he'd brought her a gift, she exclaimed "A car!" with excitement and was disappointed when she found out it was just a doll that she had wanted when she was 7. ("Finding Mary McGuffin")

She is, or at least was, on her school's swimming team. She also took ballet as a young girl and was in a school production. ("Finding Mary McGuffin")

Although she tries to deny it when around her father, she is a little evil, as evidenced in "Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!," she "rented" a scooter, pointed a hairdryer at Major Monogram, and took Agent P's hover car and in "Tree to Get Ready", as she zaps pegions, seeming to help her father. She also took the Mary McGuffin doll from a little girl, and has aided in parts of her father's plans. Also, she admits that she's at least a little evil.

Clothing and Appearance
Vanessa has blue eyes, very dark brown hair, which she wears long and freely down her back and curves. She wears a tight-fitting black leather jacket, black long pants and black boots that come up to just below the knees. She did not inherit her father's pointy nose. It has been shown that she had a very large head at a young age. She is more "developed" than Candace, as can be seen when their clothes were switched. ("Hail Doofania!") Her clothes make her look like a very gothic outsider.

Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Vanessa does not approve of her father's evil schemes, but often finds herself reluctantly participating in them anyway. She generally looks on when Perry the Platypus escapes and doesn't do anything to stop him when he is thwarting her father's evil schemes. Dr. Doofenshmirtz is under the impression that she has an interest in evil, which Dr. Doofenshmirtz calls the "family business". In a photo showing her and her father, she appears to have always had a sour disposition, especially around her father. Although after gazing at the picture, she gives a strange face, possibly of regret or confusion.

When Dr. Doofenshmirtz introduces her as his "assistant" to Perry, Vanessa says, "Whatever," and throws on earplugs to listen to her MP3 player, ignoring them both. Towards the end of the day, she is disgusted that her father installed a self-destruct button on his latest contraption. She declares, "I am so out of here. This is the worst 'bring your daughter to work day' ever!" This is the the first actual indication of their relationship. Vanessa is familiar with technology, as she is able to use the escape pod to flee from her father's evil hideout. ("S'Winter", "The Magnificent Few")

Vanessa gets frustrated or embarrassed by his behavior quite quickly, which is typical for a girl her age. She is especially annoyed with her father treating her like a little girl, whether it be by providing an overly girlish birthday party or him giving her a doll in her teen years. ("I Scream, You Scream", "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together", "S'Winter", "Hail Doofania!", "Finding Mary McGuffin")

Despite her annoyance towards her father, Vanessa does appreciate some of what he does for her. He taught her how to drive, and she understands that he really does try to look out for her best interests, thus allowing her to acknowledge that he's not always that bad of a father. Also, in a moment of kindness, she is seen cheering for him during the kickball game (though she admitted to the person next to her that she didn't actually think he would succeed). Perhaps the most elaborate example is when she helps her father find pizzazium infinionite in a store to prove herself responsible so she can get her own car. ("Vanessassary Roughness")

After a search that took years, her father gives her a doll that she had wanted when she was seven. Her father said to her: "Remember how you said if I got you a little Mary McGuffin doll, I'd be the world's greatest dad?" to which she replied sourly: "Yeah, when I was, like, seven". Even though it wasn't a car like she'd wanted and was something she no longer had interest in, she appreciated that he never forgot about it and took the time to find one for her. Later, the doll falls into the hands of a little girl, and after mulling over what to do for a moment she snatches it away; evidently it had much sentimental value to her. When Heinz finds out he happily takes it as a sign she's becoming "evil" and Heinz is shown saying that they could definately build on her act of evil. ("Finding Mary McGuffin"). Vanessa is upset that her father is always thinking about work, even on their vacation alone together. However, she is touched when he flies half-way around the world to find her again. Also, when he is about to be arrested by Major Monogram and Perry, she pulls out a hairdryer (which sort of looks like a ray gun) and helps him escape. Heinz takes this as a sign that Vanessa is, at least, a little bit evil, as Major Monogram and Perry hadn't known it was a hairdryer when she pointed it at them ("Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!").

Roger Doofenshmirtz
Unlike her dad, she actually likes her Uncle Roger. Oddly, this doesn't stop her from helping her father slightly with his plan to ruin him, but she does voice her disdain at having to be involved. ("Tree to Get Ready")

Charlene Doofenshmirtz
On a few occasions, Vanessa tries to prove to her mother that Dr. Doofenshmirtz is evil, much like Candace's attempts to bust her brothers (but far less frequently). Charlene dismisses Vanessa, usually by reassuring her that no one's truly evil. It appears that Charlene is under the impression that Vanessa thinks her dad is evil because of their divorce, as she tells Vanessa that her father split because of their differences, not because he was a bad person. It appears that she spends more time with Charlene since Vanessa is not featured in many episodes, although her parents alternate weekends. Her mother encourages her to donate to charity, which she appears to do fairly regularly. ("I Scream, You Scream", "Hail Doofania!", "Finding Mary McGuffin").

Johnny
Vanessa has a crush on Johnny. Later it is revealed that Johnny is Vanessa's boyfriend. She implied that while she was partying with her friends at a dump. ("Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together", "Brain Drain")

Lacey
Lacey is a friend that Vanessa talks on the phone with while she is wearing Candace's clothes. Although not stated on-screen, she could very well be considered Vanessa's version of Candace's friend Stacy Hirano based on how Vanessa talked with her that day. ("Hail Doofania!")

Perry the Platypus
Vanessa is usually indifferent to Perry as well as anything concerning her father's numerous evil schemes. On one occasion she thanked Perry for helping her father decorate for her birthday party ("Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together"), and she seems to always say hello to him when their paths cross ("Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!").

Candace Flynn
Vanessa and Candace have met on more than one occasion. They meet for the first time on the ski lift in Phineas and Ferb's massive backyard ski resort. Both of them expressed annoyance towards the "schemers" of their respective families: Candace's brothers and Vanessa's father ("S'Winter"). They both have similar desires to expose the "schemers" to their mothers, although Vanessa tries to prove her father is evil, while Candace merely wants to "bust" her brothers ("I Scream, You Scream"). Their traditional clothing was accidentally switched at the laundry much to their dismay, since their tastes in clothing are vastly different. They briefly meet at the laundromat, noticing the other wearing their clothes ("Hail Doofania!"). Candace and Vanessa fought over a Mary McGuffin doll in the charity store. The doll literally fell into the hands to a little girl. While Candace decided that she was too old for dolls, Vanessa snatched the doll from the girl and made her cry. The incident might indicate the evil side of Vanessa's personality, although it was probably duе to the fact that Vanessa had some sentimental attachment to the doll, a present for her that her father had been searching for, for years. Needless to say, Dr. Doofenshmirtz was very pleased with his daughter's evil conduct. ("Finding Mary McGuffin"). They are both seen sitting beside each other in the plane going around the world and she remembers Candace's name. They also decide to stay by the plane together instead of going to meet Uncle Sabu and asks what Ferb is short for. Candace simply replies, "I... don't... know.". ("Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!")

Ferb Fletcher
Ferb first encountered Vanessa while picking up blueprints at the Blueprint Heaven. Ferb was so distracted by her charm that he ended up getting the wrong blueprint, ruining the plans of both Phineas and Dr. Doofenshmirtz ("I Scream, You Scream"). Ferb test-drove Meap's intergalactic spaceship around downtown Danville. When he spotted Vanessa on the street, he backed the ship up to her, lowered his dark glasses, adopting a cool-guy demeanor, which impressed Vanessa and made her smile ("The Chronicles of Meap"). Vanessa learned Ferb's name during a chance encounter at the Superduper Mega Superstore. Ferb saved her from a rampaging lawnmower and helped her obtain a canister of Pizzazium Infinionite for her dad. She rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek ("Vanessassary Roughness"). Vanessa has also wondered what Ferb is short for, as she asks Candace ("Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!"). Oddly, Candace doesn't know either.

Jeremy Johnson
When Jeremy goes to Doofenshmirtz's home to teach guitar lessons, Vanessa suddenly shows interest in him and his guitar, but quickly loses interest when he says he doesn't like hard rock. ("The Lizard Whisperer")

Background Information

 * Dan Povenmire stated that he likes to think that Vanessa and Ferb will end up together when they are older (presumably beyond the scope of the show), when "that age difference won't be so much".
 * Vanessa is voiced by Olivia Olson, the daughter of script supervisor Martin Olson.
 * She appears to be left-handed. She can be seen writing with her left hand during the song "Busted".
 * Like her mom and dad she has a more yellow skin than other characters.
 * She wears Gothic clothing, with tight-fitting, black clothes and thigh-high high-heeled black boots.
 * Vanessa is a good singer. ("I Scream, You Scream", "Vanessassary Roughness", "Finding Mary McGuffin")
 * She was originally introduced as Dr. Doofensmirtz's assistant in "The Magnificent Few", but was revealed to be Doofenshmirtz's daughter at the end of the episode.
 * For a woman that wears high-heels and tight-fitting clothes she can run pretty fast ("Vanessassary Roughness").
 * She has a friend named Lacey, just like Candace, she has a friend with a name ending on the same homophonic sound, Lacey and Stacy.

Trivia

 * Her voice actress, Olivia Olson, also plays as the vampire Marceline on the animated show Adventure Time with Finn and Jake, who is also goth like Vanessa.
 * Thomas Sangster, the voice actor for Ferb, played opposite Olivia Olson in "Love Actually", where he is a young boy crushing on a girl, similar to Ferb and Vanessa's relationship. The difference is that they're the same age and that it's confirmed that she returns his feelings.

Appearances

 * "The Magnificent Few"
 * "S'Winter"
 * "I Scream, You Scream"
 * "Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together"
 * "Tree to Get Ready"
 * "Boyfriend From 27,000 B.C."
 * "Hail Doofania!"
 * "The Chronicles of Meap"
 * "Thaddeus and Thor"
 * "That Sinking Feeling"
 * "Oh, There You Are, Perry"
 * "Vanessassary Roughness"
 * "Finding Mary McGuffin"
 * "The Lizard Whisperer"
 * "The Lemonade Stand"
 * "Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!"
 * "Brain Drain"
 * "Rollercoaster: The Musical!"
 * "Candace Gets Busted"
 * "A Real Boy"