Mona Vanderwaal (2024)

Mona Vanderwaal
General Information
Gender:	Female
Age:	24
Hair Color:	Black
Eye Color:	Brown
Marital Status:	Single
Birthday	October 8, 1993
Occupation(s):	Student A (formerly)
Nickname:	"A" Crazy (by Spencer) Madhouse Mona (by Caleb) Mona Monster (by Caleb) Freak (by everybody in school) Mona 2.0 (by Spencer) Ali Dee(nurse disguise is Radley)
Relationships
Family:	Leona Vanderwaal (mother)
Romances:	Noel Kahn (ex-boyfriend) Mike Montgomery (ex-boyfriend) Unnamed French Man (ex-boyfriend) Mason Gregory (ex-boyfriend)
Friends:	Hanna Rivers (best friend) Sean Ackard Aria Montgomery Spencer Hastings Toby Cavanaugh Alison DiLaurentis
Employer:	Red Coat(formerly)
Enemies:	Alison DiLaurentis (formerly) Caleb Rivers (formerly) Noel Kahn Kate Randall
Series Information
Interests:	Shopping FashionShopliftingStalkingThe Decathlon Team (Captain as of season 3)
Education:	Roosewood High School
Talent:	Shoplifting HackingVoice ImpressionsStalking the Liars
Series Information
Secret(s):	-Shoplifts -Ripped up Caleb's love letter (exposed)-Hit Hanna with a car (exposed)-Hacked into school database to help Emily-Blackmailed Vice Principal Tamborelli-She isA(exposed)-She takes orders from the main A Big A-Has a fake Radley Staff ID card that allows her to leave (exposed)-Was the Caleb imposter in This Is A dark Ride(exposed to the Liars)-She helped the liars by giving them Maya's website (possibly unbeknownst to Red Coat)
Status:	Deceased (book) Alive (series)
First appearance:	Pilot The First Secret (chronologically)
Latest appearance:	Till De’A’th Do Us P’A’rt
Portrayed By:	Janel Parrish

Mona Vanderwaal is a student at Rosewood High School and a former nerd who used to idolize Alison DiLaurentis. After Ali disappeared, Mona transformed herself to Rosewood's "It Girl/Queen Bee" along with her best friend Hanna Marin. She is the first "A" to be revealed, and was sent to Radley for psychological and emotional treatment. However, she has since been released. She is portrayed by Janel Parrish.

Biography[]

Mona was born on October 8, 1993. She was raised by a single mother named Leona and was quite close to her. In Middle School, Mona became best friends with Hanna Marin. In Freshman year of High School, however, Hanna and Mona became distant when Hanna started being friends with Alison DiLaurentis Alison often bullied and taunted weaker and unpopular students like Mona. Mona was made fun of for her tacky outfits, her frizzy hair which she usually tied in bunches, her glasses, her braces and her naivety. Soon, Mona had no friends and was permanently dubbed “loser Mona” in Freshman year. Mona often attempted to be friends with Alison but Alison just laughed and bullied her. Mona started playing dolls a lot after being shunned by Alison. Mona ultimately grew angry and miserable as she matured and realised that Alison would never accept her into her group. Mona decided to take down Alison by being A, an anonymous cyber-bully who sent her threatening texts, usually when Alison or someone who liked Alison made fun of her. After Alison went missing, Mona recruited her old friend, Hanna, to become the new joint Queen Bees of the school and replace Alison. Mona used Hanna’s knowledge of fashion and style which she learned from Alison to become popular. Mona’s braces were removed and she replaced her glasses with contact lenses and straightened her hair. She and Hanna spent the Summer losing weight and becoming skinny and “beautiful.” Due to the bullying and rejection she faced when Alison was around, Mona developed a complex in which she is not happy with her life. Although she does not show this side of her in public, this is why Mona felt such a need to remain popular, beautiful, and friends with Hanna. This is also why she continued being "A" because she was afraid that the Liars will steal Hanna from her, who was her only friend. She and Hanna became best friends when Alison's crowd was disbanded. Mona figures that Hanna would not give up the chance to become popular. Their friendship stays strong until the ever so infamous "A" begins torturing the girls, forcing Hanna to become closer to her old friends. The other Pretty Little Liars, besides Hanna, don't care much for Mona, and this is a source of conflict in certain episodes, but it ends up being much more severe then a simple annoyance when it is revealed that this is the very reason she became A; she was angry at the Liars for taking Hanna away from her after Ali's body was found. She can also speak French, hack computers, and do voice impressions. Mona was revealed to be "A" in the Season 2 finale. She considers herself a genius, but also has a personality disorder (according to Dr. Sullivan). Mona is under the influence of someone in a red coat whose identity has been revealed to be Charlotte Dilaurentis. Despite her being A, it appears that there is much more to the story to be revealed.

Apperances (43/95)[]

Season 1 (11/22)[]

• Pilot
• The Jenna Thing
• To Kill a Mocking Girl
• There's No Place Like Homecoming
• The Perfect Storm
• Keep Your Friends Close
• Moments Later
• Salt Meets Wound
• The Badass Seed
• Monsters in the End
• For Whom the Bell Tolls

Season 2 (15/25)[]

• It's Alive
• The Goodbye Look
• Never Letting Go
• Touched by an 'A'-ngel
• I Must Confess
• The First Secret
• A Hot Piece of A
• Let the Water Hold Me Down
• The Blond Leading the Blind
• The Naked Truth
• Breaking the Code
• Father Knows Best
• Eye of the Beholder
• If These Dolls Could Talk
• UnmAsked

Season 3 (14/24)[]

• It Happened 'That Night'
• Blood Is The New Black
• Kingdom of the Blind
• Crazy
• The Lady Killer
• This Is A Dark Ride
• She's Better Now
• Mona-Mania
• Misery Loves Company
• Dead to Me
• What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind
• Will The Circle Be Unbroken?
• A Dangerous Game

Season 4 (4/24)[]

• 'A' is for A-l-i-v-e
• Turn of the Shoe
• Cat's cradle
• Face time
• Under The Gun
• Crash and Burn, Girl!
• The Guilty Girl's Handbook
• Into the Deep

Notes[]

• Janel Parrish had a recurring role for the first two season but was upgraded to a series regular for Season 3.
• In "Touched by an 'A'-ngel," we learn that Mona can speak French conversationally.
• Mona wanted to be friends with Hanna after she saw Hanna bow after doing a backflip on the trampoline and puking.
• In "The Naked Truth," we learn that Mona can do perfect impressions of people. We also learn like Caleb, she is quite good at hacking. She was able to easily access the school's private database even though she did not know the password.
• The lyrics Mona sang in "Kingdom of the Blind," are:
• In the eye abides heart
• Every pure and tender feeling
• All emotions worth revealing
• Through the eyes their charm impartwhich is a song by Beth Nielsen Chapmon, the song was written in 1841 was originally composed in German as “In den Augen liegt das Herz” by Franz von Kobell.
• Mona secretly gave Hanna a website and other words like "Maya knew." and "Not safe."
• In "Crazy," Mona says "I miss my dolls." In "The Lady Killer," once Mona gets to visit the new lair, we see her dolls of the girls in the dollhouse and their accessories laid out in front, as if Mona had just been playing with them.
• At the end of video Mona made in "She's Better Now", Mona is heard talking to an unknown person, who seems hesitant, and asked him/her to back out if they can't take it.
• Mona and Hanna's friendship seem to have survived throughout season 3, but ended officially (at least for now) in Mona Mania.
• Mona's personality is slowly revolving around Spencer (she joins the Decathlon Team, she starts to dress like her [scholarly and preppy], she listens to classic music, and even "admires" and "respects" her).
• Mona's last name was spelled Vanderwall in Season 1 & 2 but it was changed to Vanderwaal in season 3 for unknown reasons, most likely because that is how Sara Shepard spelled it in the series.
• Mona is set to become the 5th Pretty Little Liar as she is now being targeted by A as well.

Trivia[]

• Janel Parrish originally auditioned for the role of Spencer Hastings. After being informed she did not get the part, she re-auditioned for the role of Mona, and got the part.
• In "Never Letting Go," Mona mocks Aria at the fashion show dress rehearsal while Aria is practicing her catwalk: "Are your legs always that short, Aria?" In the same episode, Spencer alludes to Mona being five feet tall. Mona's and Aria's wikia page both show that they share the same exact height: 5'2"!
• Mona along with Hanna has appeared in character in commercials for TRESemme hair products including TRESemme Climate Control Mousse and TRESemme Fresh Start.
• Mona is up on her Wizard of Oz references, as she tells Lucas in "The Perfect Storm" to ask the wizard to make him a man. "A" is up on their Wizard of Oz references too, custom designing a fortune cookie that reads "There's No Place Like Homecoming." (Dorothy's words at the end of the film: There's No Place Like Home.") Also, in "Can You Hear Me Now?," "A" sends a flier towards the Pretty Little Liars that reads, "Ding Dong, the Bitch is Dead," a reprisal of the film's song "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead."
• Janel Parrish revealed in an interview that she did not know she was "A" until a week before they started filming for the finale, but she was always hoping that she was "A."
• Mona is released from Radley in She's Better Now which implies what the title meant.
• Mona favorite Holiday is Halloween, she likes it better than Christmas because it involves more makeup.
• Mona got kicked off the -A team at the end of the Season 3 finale
• Mona is now considered to be part of the liars group starting in Season 4
• A puts a doll of Mona with the liars in the doll house.
• She reveals somethings to the Liars, like The Queen of Heart is Wilden and Melissa and also Lucas gave Emily the massage
• Mona hid the lair but Toby finds it.
• She gives Hanna the video of Ashley and Wilden
• Mona does not know who pushed Ian off the bell tower
• The liars don't trust Mona even though she on their side
• After she was exposed as A and everything she did to the Liars was exposed, she was diagnosed with a Borderline Personality Disorder, which is why she got sent to Radley.

Book Comparisons[]

• In the show, Mona has dark hair and brown eyes. In the books, she has blonde hair and blue eyes.
• Mona, in the books, witnessed The Jenna Thing and received burns from the accident. While in the show, only Toby saw what The Liars did.
• In TV series, Spencer is the first to find out that Mona is A. In the books, it was Hanna.
• In the show, Mona dated Noel. In the books, she dates Noel's brother, Eric, before her death in Unbelievable.
• Mona dies after her reveal as "A" in the books. In the TV show, Mona is admitted to Radley Sanitarium.
• In the books, Mona becomes "A" as revenge for the Liars taking part in the blinding of Jenna Cavanaugh. In the TV show, Mona joins the "A-Team" because she feels that the Liars (possibly including Alison, as she received notes from "A" as well) "took" Hanna away from her.
• In the books, Mona is the first A, and seems to have no accomplice. In the show, Mona is in fact a member of the A-Team, which is composed of members working for the real A/Red Coat/Leader of the A- Team.
• In the Books Mona died when Spencer push her off the cliff, but in the show she lives
• Mona dated Lucas before Ali disappeared in the books. This never happened in the show.
• In the books Mona was much more reckless, getting wasted, helping Hanna crash Sean's car, and showing her underwear to guys for fun.

Gallery[]