Topanga Lawrence (character)

Topanga Lawrence Matthews
First appearance "Cory's Alternative Friends"
Last appearance "Brave New World (Parts 2 & 3)" (Boy Meets World)
"Episode #3.25" (Girl Meets World)
Created by Michael Jacobs
April Kelly
Portrayed by Danielle Fishel
Number of episodes 226
Information
Nickname(s) Babe (by Shawn and Minkus)
Tippy (by Jedidiah)
Topi (by Cory)
Topogigio (by Missy Robinson)
Myra Peterman
Shakira (by Riley)
Pangers, Tomato (by Eric)
Hair by (Shawn)
Aliases T.L. ("I Was a Teenage Spy")
WWII Topanga ("No Guts, No Cory")
Christmas Future Topanga ("A Very Topanga Christmas")
Eccentric Topanga ("Eric Hollywood")
Future Topanga ("Seven the Hard Way")
Trixie ("As Time Goes By")
Gender Female
Occupation Student (formerly) (Jefferson Elementary, John Adams High School, Pennbrook University of Philadelphia, New York University School of Law)
Law firm intern (formerly) (New York City)
Attorney (currently) (Junior Partner at Elliott Brown & Montgomery, New York City)
Co-owner of Topanga's (currently) (New York City)
Family Jedediah "Jed" Lawrence (father)
Rhiannon (Chloe/Miriam) Curtis Lawrence (mother)
Nebula "Nebby" Stop-the-war Lawrence (older sister)
Spouse(s) Cornelius A. "Cory" Matthews (November 5, 1999-present)
Significant other(s) Ronnie Waterman (dated)
Ricky Ferris (dated)
Children Riley Matthews (daughter)
August "Auggie" Matthews (son)
Relatives Alan Darnell Matthews (father-in-law)
Amy Matthews (mother-in-law)
Eric Randall Matthews (brother-in-law)
Morgan Matthews (sister-in-law)
Joshua Matthews (brother-in-law)
Prudence "Pru" Curtis (maternal aunt)
Rosie McGee Curtis (grandmother; deceased)
Bernice Matthews (grandmother-in-law)
Grandpa Poppy (grandfather-in-law; deceased)
Nana Boo Boo (grandmother-in-law)
Unnamed aunt-in-law
Wanda (cousin-in-law)
Charlie (great-grandfather-in-law; deceased)
Uncle Maury (great-uncle-in-law)
Hometown Cedar Heights, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Residence Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (briefly)
Greenwich Village, New York, New York

Topanga Lawrence-Matthews (Danielle Fishel) is a fictional character from the television series Boy Meets World and the spin-off series, Girl Meets World.

Topanga is Cory Matthews's main love interest. Her character underwent dramatic changes during the course of the series. When she was initially introduced in the first season, first as a guest character and later recurring, she was a hippy vegetarian and somewhat of an outcast, sitting at the table with the other "weird kids." Even her name was taken from a hippie hangout, Topanga, California. However, once the characters entered high school (and Danielle Fishel became a main character), she became more of a "regular teenage girl," and her beliefs about the environment and other topics were less emphasized. Much was now made of the fact that Topanga was the most attractive and the most popular girl at school, and academically successful. She also cut her trademark long hair in an episode in season 4 while trying to show Cory that true beauty is on the inside. She grows distant from her parents, whom she once was very close to; by the fourth season. In A Long Walk To Pittsburgh Part 1, her parents force her to move to Pittsburgh; but in part 2, she runs away from them back to Philadelphia to be with Cory. Her relationship with her parents became further apart after their divorce.

Also starting in high school, her on-again/off-again relationship with Cory became one of the major elements of the show. Their relationship seems to mirror traditional high school sweethearts, dealing with normal boyfriend/girlfriend problems; such as Cory suffers indecision between Topanga and another girl named Lauren (Linda Cardellini) which causes them to break up until reuniting in "Starry Night". The series tries to justify this by saying that Cory and Topanga first met as toddlers and became best friends, only to be driven apart as they grew older and Eric pressured Cory to think of girls as "icky". By the time of the first season episodes, Cory has apparently completely forgotten about Topanga and knows almost nothing about her.

Although Topanga was accepted to Yale University, she decided to attend Pennbrook University of Pennsylvania with Cory and their friends. She proposed to Cory at their high school graduation. They married during their sophomore year (during the final season), after which the show attempted to put them in stereotypical marriage problem situations. At the end of the series, she and Cory, along with Eric and Shawn, moved to New York City where Topanga pursued a law internship.

Shortly after the Boy Meets World finale, Topanga became pregnant and later gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Riley. Several years later, she had a second child, a son named August "Auggie" Matthews. In addition to raising the family, Topanga continues her pursuit of a career in law and eventually passes the bar exam. Cory and Topanga's marriage continued in Girl Meets World, by which point Topanga has become a successful attorney and soon the owner of a local Ukrainian bakery, while Riley is thirteen years old.

It is strongly implied that Topanga's name is the result of a journal entry by her maternal grandmother, Rosie McGee, concerning a chance encounter with a young artist in 1961.

She has, in her own words, a middle name even more embarrassing than "Topanga."

Trivia

References

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