Stephanie Tanner

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Jodie Sweetin as Stephanie Tanner, shown in the opening credits of the second season

Stephanie Judith Tanner, portrayed by Jodie Sweetin, born 19 January 1982 was the middle daughter in the TV show Full House. As the daughter of Pam and Danny Tanner, she was D.J.'s younger sister and Michelle's older sister, portraying her character through a significant range of ages for a girl growing up - from a kindergartner at age 5 to a young adolescent teenager in junior high school at age 13.

Stephanie often struggled with being the middle child, and even tried to get married in one episode when she was six, figuring a husband would have to pay attention to her (Middle Age Crazy). She was the feistiest of the girls, a trait she inherited from her mom, and while she was kind of wild in seasons six-eight - getting her ears pierced without permission, joyriding, etc. - she was still quite well behaved and very hard on herself when she did mess up. She blamed herself a lot for just cutting off a lock of Jesse’s then long hair in Cutting It Close, even before he broke his arms in a motorbike accident going to his hairdresser’s. When she backed Joey’s car into the kitchen (Honey, I Broke the House), she ran away, although once Jesse convinced her to return home and confess, she learned she’d be loved no matter what, a theme central to the show.

Stephanie was very athletic, as she is seen scaling the curtains in the room she shares with D.J. in the first episode, she pitches on a baseball team for two years, and she performs ballet so well she has the chance to go to New York to a special school one summer, though she declines because it takes too much time from everything else.

Stephanie could also be a good choreographer. Because in the episode with her dance recital, she messes up on purpose and Danny says, ("You had that routine down pat"), although he could have meant that she had the real dance down-pack.

In the Full House books based on the show, that wild streak is not present in grades six and seven, the grades which overlap with seasons seven and eight of the TV series, but the character still has her trademark excitability and tendency to ramble, along with even an occasional "How rude!", her catchphrase from the early days of the show. The first Full House book independent of her was Phone Call From A Flamingo, and featured what would be a recurring theme in many Stephanie books, as she battles a rival gang of snobby girls in middle school. Other times, that excitability leads her to get into things way over her head, leading to comical results.

In books and TV, Stephanie is an excellent student, too; she could read at age four, and is an accomplished storyteller and journalist, especially in the books, where she takes after D.J. just like Michelle in some ways. Stephanie also starred in a commercial while in kindergarten. The character of Stephanie is the most outwardly developed, perhaps, of any of the main characters, which is logical, considering that the show was originally to be built around Jodie Sweetin^{[citation needed]}; and still was at times in later years, even with the growing popularity of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

Steph's catch phrases were "How rude!" and "Well, pin a rose on your nose."

Stephanie's most coveted possession, and her best friend, is her teddy bear: "Mr. Bear". As is revealed in one episode, the bear was given to her by her mother shortly after Michelle's birth, which may explain the connection to the bear, especially considering this event was not long before her mother's death, which likely makes this one of the last gifts that Stephanie received from her.