Charlie McDermott started playing Axl Heck, the oldest of the three Heck siblings, on "The Middle" when he was just 18 years old. While fans of the show became familiar with Axl, the character was far from McDermott's personality. "Axl is an enigma to me for the most part," McDermott told the The Philadelphia Inquirer in a 2017 interview. "I think generally he makes decisions that I disapprove of ... but he's fun, too, in that aspect."

McDermott has acted here and there since the series finale of "The Middle.'" In 2018, he appeared alongside Mark Wahlberg in "Instant Family," and he played Ty in the Netflix mini-series "Unbelievable" the following year, per IMDb. However, the actor has since shifted his focus to other pursuits. "I would like to keep acting. But acting is so spontaneous," he also told The Philadelphia Enquirer. "When I was younger, I really wanted to have like a specific trajectory, but now it just seems impossible to ever do that, so I just want to keep working, and, hopefully, enjoy what I'm getting to do."

Besides acting, McDermott has also worked on music. In 2020, he released the digital album "Some Things Just Fall Out of Your Hands," for which he wrote, performed, and recorded all eight tracks.