This Back To The Future Character Stole The Show In Just 28 Seconds (& Most Fans Don't Know Their Name)

Published Oct 17, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

Is Back to the Future the most rewatchable movie trilogy of all time? There’s certainly a very good case for it. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale managed to make what should have been a fairly high-concept sci-fi feel like an energetic, accessible family blockbuster (admittedly with some dark turns and others that might make viewing it with your mother a little uncomfortable). And for the last 40 years, fans have repeatedly returned to Hill Valley for near-annual rewatches.

It’s not just about comfort watching either: every turn of Back to the Future, Part II, and Part III brings something new to the table. There are so many visual gags, performance quirks, and subtle details that multiple watches are necessary, but once you get into double figures, you start to notice entirely different things. Yes, the main narrative is great, and Marty McFly and Doc Brown are iconic characters, but Zemeckis’ world was richly populated with characters beyond just them.

Some supporting characters get very little screentime, but still manage to leave an impact. Everyone remembers, for instance, that a very young Elijah Wood appears in Back to the Future Part II. And when you spend more time fixing your gaze to the edges of the frame, you’ll fall further in love with the other human vignettes across Back to the Future’s eight timelines. Who wouldn’t want to know more about Goldie Wilson’s inspirational rise to the mayoral office? What a shame we didn’t learn more of Biff Tannen’s colorful sidekicks.

The very fact that these minor figures are still interesting comes down to the writing and the casting behind them, and of all of them, there is one legendary supporting character in Back to the Future Part II who has earned himself a strange legend and become a meme in the years since release: the mysterious “Wallet Guy.”

"Wallet Guy" Became One Of Back To The Future's Best Scene-Stealing Characters

During Back to the Future Part II’s chaotic ending, Marty McFly returns to the 1955 Enchantment Under the Sea dance to take back Biff’s Sports Almanac and restore the good 1985 timeline from the end of the first movie. After his father punches Biff to the ground, Marty takes the opportunity to go through his pockets to retrieve the Almanac, but Biff wakes up as Marty reassures the crowd that he “knows CPR.”

Another bystander, played by the then 24-year-oldWesley Mann, asks “what’s CPR” as Marty knocks Biff back out and takes the Almanac, before fleeing. A meme was born as the character - later christened “Wallet Guy” by fans, but officially credited as “CPR Kid” by the movie - says, “Hey, did you just take his wallet? He just took that guy’s wallet.” When we cut back to the scene, he wakes Biff up, tells him Marty stole his wallet, and then for a fourth time, turns to someone off camera and says “I think he took his wallet,” with an odd expression. In just 28 seconds total, the so-called “Wallet Guy” captivated fans so much that Googling him now brings up countless videos discussing him.

The interest comes from the strange delivery, which was a result of Bob Zemeckis' specific notes to Mann as he made him repeatedly deliver the line. There's also the question of why he doesn’t know who Biff is, referring to him only as “that guy” despite clearly attending the school. Wesley Mann has since given interviews about the performance, though he didn’t play the character in the original movie. In Back to the Future, “Wallet Guy” was played by an uncredited actor who is seen in the same brown suit, running up and bending down to see what had happened after Biff had been knocked out.

Years after the movie’s release, as interest in the minor character grew, it was actually Back to the Future fans who found the missing details of his identity. In the official film novelization, it’s officially revealed he’s called Lester. But he’ll forever be known as “Wallet Guy” to the fanbase.

The Back To The Future Part II Novel Reveals More About Lester

The novelization also reveals more of Lester’s backstory, and why he helps Biff and rats Marty out. It turns out he too was bullied by Biff, and he sells Marty out to try and buy himself a couple of weeks of safety. Craig Shaw Gardner’s novel adds the details to the scene:

“That kid took something off you while you were laying there," Lester exclaimed, almost clapping his hands that he might actually be right for a change. "I knew it was your wallet!" Biff scowled at Lester. "What kid?" Biff demanded. "Who?" "A little guy in a leather jacket," Lester replied. "I don't know his name." He backed up a little, despite himself. Biff wouldn't hurt him, would he? Lester was helping him!

"Where did he go?" Biff asked darkly. Oh, good. Biff wasn't going to beat up Lester. He was going to beat up the other guy. He pointed at the back door of the gym. "That way." Biff pushed Lester out of the way, and lumbered toward the gym. Lester grinned. He had done a good thing. Now maybe Biff and his boys wouldn't beat him up again for two weeks, maybe three! Biff growled as he flung the fire door aside. Boy, Lester thought, he wouldn't want Biff beating him up when he was angry. This could get really serious!

This actually makes a lot more sense than the movie version, though it changes Lester from a chaotic enigma into a coward. It does, however, further show Biff’s lore as a bully, establishing that it’s not just George McFly that he terrorizes at school.

Back To The Future's Side Characters Are A Huge Part Of Its Appeal

The immortal legacy of “Wallet Guy” is only part of the treasures that can be found in the supporting cast and minor characters. The world of Hill Valley is populated by lots of weird and memorable background figures who contribute to making it feel vibrant and lived in. Every rewatch offers the chance to appreciate a new face as we get only small flashes of their lives.

There are major side figures like Strickland, of course, whose fascinating backstory is only hinted at in the movies. There’s also a strange tragedy about not knowing how their interactions with Marty and Doc reshaped their lives in the new timelines, especially given Doc’s constant warnings about not changing anything to avoid the terrible temporal consequences. Naturally, that rule is broken repeatedly.

Obviously, we get to see how it impacts Marty’s life, and Doc’s after Back to the Future Part III’s ending when he saves Clara from death and takes her on his time-travelling adventures with their sons Jules and Verne. But there are others who are as notable as Wallet Guy who would have had their lives completely changed by meeting Marty, like the panicked middle-aged couple in 1955 who Marty flags down immediately after arriving in the past. They’re inexplicably terrified, and drive off as the woman screams frantically, suggesting some unseen terror had been sweeping through Hill Valley to make everyone jumpy.

And then there’s the Peabodies, the farmer and his family, who encounter Marty and the DeLorean after he crashes into their barn and believe he’s a genuine alien. That sort of first contact is the kind of thing that leaves a mark, but we only see them for a few seconds. It’s these questions and micro performances that make Back to the Future so rewarding with multiple rewatches.

Back to the Future Part II

9/10

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  Michael J. Fox

  Doctor Emmett Brown

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  Marty McFly / Marty McFly Junior / Marlene McFly