The 5 Best 'Shameless' Characters Of All Time

As the title suggests, Shameless is a show all about Chicago residents who are all unapologetically (and shamelessly) themselves. Throughout the show's 11 seasons, we followed the Gallagher family and their supporting characters on the quest to merely survive in the rough South Side of Chicago. While watching the Gallagher family we saw drugs, alcohol, weapons, sexual mishaps, teen pregnancies, infidelity, and just about every kind of criminal behavior you could think of.

While you can easily shrug off every character as being a terrible person, there are some gems that managed to rise to the surface. With this list we'll walk through the 5 best characters Shameless showcased during its life on Showtime. While you might not agree, it's hard to ignore that these characters are perhaps the least shameless of them all.

5. Mandy Milkovich

Mandy Milkovich was pretty easily written off of the show as just another Milkovich disaster. Unfortunately for her, fans seem to forgot everything she did for the Gallagher family - often at the expense of herself. Not only did she take a lot of heat off Ian when he was in a secret relationship with an older man, she managed to single handedly get Lip to go to college.

Despite Mandy's violent and hostile upbringing, she managed to do her best to be a good person in the midst of chaos. Her relationship with Lip (when he wasn't being a jerk) is one of the most pure the series has ever seen. It's one of those relationships that probably should have continued, but we all know how Gallagher's are when they find something good for them.

We'll choose to ignore the whole hitting Karen with her car thing.

4. Liam Gallagher

Liam is by far the most captivating member of the Gallagher family, in my opinion. Out of all the show's characters, Liam underwent perhaps the most drastic transformations from the beginning to the end. As he aged, he proved himself to be one of the most industrious Gallagher's (if not the most) and he rose to become Frank's most beloved child. All because he did what he could to stick by his father despite everyone saying he shouldn't have.

Aside from that, Liam brought a lot of attention to the importance of culture and his self awareness was admirable. The way he connected with other Black characters and found a way to be proud of who he was in a sea of white people was a great thing to see.

3. Mickey Milkovich

Yeah, I know. Mickey started his tenure on Shameless as a pretty lousy human being who was always managing to get himself into trouble. This includes stints in juvie and prison. However, the tough guy that the entire South Side loved to hate actually turned out to be a pretty decent guy. That is once he let his guard down.

After suffering as a closeted gay man, Mickey finally found that being happy was possible and he found his happiness, of course, with a Gallagher. Mickey's evolution is one of the more realistic portrayals as it takes time to unlearn things that you grew up learning. In his case this included homophobia, racism, substance abuse, criminal activity, and physical violence. At the end of the day, Mickey really loved Ian and he fought through his own personal demons to be available for who eventually became his husband.

2. Fiona Gallagher

Fiona is a difficult character to tackle and I'm sure a lot of eyebrows just raised at me putting her at #2, but hear me out...

There was always a tornado surrounding Fiona and from the start, she never asked to be a 21-year old caring for 5 children. She was thrust into a parental role after addict parents skipped out on raising kids they probably should have never had. While any lesser person would have said, "well that's what foster homes are for," Fiona stuck it through and eventually became her sibling's legal guardian.

While Frank is often regarded as the main character of Shameless, I always saw Fiona as the main face of the series. She also gave the biggest insight of how it really was having Frank and Monica as parents - mostly because she was old enough to remember and share. Sure she made mistakes along the way, but Fiona never lost the edge of wanting more for herself and for her siblings. When all was said and done, no one died in her care and everyone always had food, clothes, and shelter. That's pretty impressive, if you ask me.

1. Sheila Jackson

The first 5 seasons of Shameless would not have been nearly what they were if it wouldn't have been for Sheila Jackson. She's not only one of the most original characters modern TV has seen, but she's easily the most kind-hearted person in the South Side. Seeing how Sheila spends a majority of her time on the show as a severe agoraphobic, we see most of her life within the confines of her home.

She unknowingly invites the ticking timebombs known as Frank and Lip Gallagher into her house, but Sheila wouldn't have almost become a member of the Gallagher family herself if she wouldn't have. Ignoring the fact that she's a secret dominant with an obsession with fancy cooking, her gentle nature ultimately enabled Frank to stay alive as long as he did. The way she handled him was always with grace and a soft hand. I missed her witty remarks and somewhat comical phobias ever since she drove off in that RV.

Honorable Mention - Carl Gallagher

Carl has always been an underrated character, in my opinion. While he starts out as a total psychopath in the making, by the end of the series he's made quite the transformation. Carl goes from a school bully to a convicted juvenile delinquent to a Chicago police officer. Throughout the changes, he always had a heart of gold. Whether it was caring for Frank before the liver transplant or finding ways to use his badge for good and not evil, Carl Gallagher barely misses the list as one of the best Shameless characters.