Olive is a fifth-grade student who moves easily among her school's various friend groups. She has a friendly personality and varied interests. When her teacher announces an upcoming variety show, she experiences an identity crisis as her classmates divide into exclusive cliques. She wears her hair in braids and bangs and prefers colorful sweaters.

Olive's mother is perceptive and highly attuned to her daughter's emotional state. She dresses conventionally and holds a traditional view of social dynamics. She values the benefits of fitting into a defined group. She frequently offers practical, direct interventions to solve Olive's social problems, though Olive often finds these suggestions overbearing.

Aunt Molly is Olive's artistic, nonconformist aunt who helps her manage the complexities of middle school social life. She wears crop tops, boots, and dyes the front half of her hair green. She draws on her own experiences of feeling out of place to provide Olive with a model for authentic self-expression. She encourages Olive to do her own research and find her unique path.

Goober is Olive's playfully messy younger brother. He has a goofy grin featuring a missing tooth. He possesses an empathetic side. He checks on Olive when she feels sad and expresses genuine interest in her activities.

Emilie is a fifth-grade student who usually sits with Olive at lunch. She joins Franny and Ava in forming a cheerleading routine for the upcoming school variety show. Backstage at the event, she makes new friends with Olive's help.

Franny is a student who shares a lunch table with Olive. Following the variety show announcement, she enthusiastically forms a cheerleading act with Emilie and Ava.

Ava is one of Olive's friends from the lunch table who forms a cheerleading act for the variety show. She communicates her frustrations directly when Olive hesitates to join their routine. She initiates an honest conversation about their friendship.

Beth is one of Olive's closest friends who shares an interest in music and pop culture. She teams up with Chanda to perform a lip-sync to a song by the Crystal Girls for the variety show.

Chanda is a close friend of Olive's who bonds with Beth over their shared pop culture interests. She participates in a lip-sync routine to a pop song.

Sawyer is a student who forms a karate group for the variety show with Trent. He happily demonstrates his routine to Olive but does not think to invite her to join.

Trent is a friend of Olive's who teams up with Sawyer to perform a karate routine for the variety show. Like Sawyer, he eagerly shows off his skills but inadvertently excludes Olive from the group.

Grace is a bus-riding friend of Olive's who plays the clarinet. She teams up with another student to perform a musical number for the school variety show.

Willow is a friend of Olive's who cuts their phone conversation short to take a call from Hugh. She later forms a magic act with Hugh for the school variety show.

Hugh is a student who connects with Willow over the phone. He later partners with her to perform a magic act in the variety show.

Mr. Florez is Olive's fifth-grade teacher and the coordinator for the school's annual variety show. He is a supportive educator who encourages his students' creative ideas.

Megan Howard is the charismatic television host of an old variety show. She introduces acts with humor and flair. She asks performers funny questions and maintains a confident stage presence.

Matt is a childhood friend of Goober. He meets up with Goober at the park while Olive and her mother sit on a nearby bench.

Dave is a student participating in the variety show. Backstage, Olive introduces him to Emilie, and the two instantly hit it off.