Lenore Mantino is a film major at New York University, and is Eli Goldsworthy's former roommate. She is friends with Eli and J.J.. Lenore made her first appearance in the Degrassi Mini Eli: Dorm Life.
Character History
Season 13
In You Oughta Know, her voice can be heard in the background when Eli is skyping with Clare. Eli and Lenore were throwing a New Wave marathon party for the midterms before Clare called. She urges Eli to hurry up with his call.
In Black Or White, she calls Eli while he is on his date with Clare, and Clare finds her cigarettes in his bag. Later, Eli admits to cheating on Clare with Lenore once because he missed Clare.
In Spiderwebs, Eli reveals that her full name is 'Lenore Mantino', and that some clothes came off while he hooked up with her.
In No Surprises, Clare asks Eli if his friend Lenore could finish the film project, but Eli states that they have been working on it around the clock.
In Everything Is Everything, Clare mentions to Drew that she's still hurt when Eli cheated on her with Lenore.
In Sparks Will Fly (1), Clare mentions to Alli that Eli kissing Lenore could be one of the problems that their relationship is falling apart.
In Sparks Will Fly (2), after Clare breaks up with Eli and he confronts her about it, Clare says that ever since he kissed Lenore, it has been confusing. Later, Eli says that Lenore was strictly a one time thing.
In Thunderstruck, while in New York, Clare learns that Eli is not dating Lenore, and Eli tells her that Lenore "didn't hold a candle to Clare Edwards".
Degrassi Minis
Lenore strips down to get more comfortable to watch Harmony Korine.
In Meet the Roommate, Eli sinks to the floor on the wall outside of his room, and Lenore begins talking to him. She introduces herself as Lenore, and Eli asks if it is too late to change rooms. Lenore says it is too late since it is part of the university experience, though she figures out what J.J. had been doing that had freaked out Eli. When J.J. decides to move out, Lenore moves in with Eli. Eli and Lenore decide to have a Harmony Korine marathon together, and Eli is at a loss of words when Lenore begins stripping down to her underwear. Lenore tells him that he should mention if he is uncomfortable, but Eli says nothing, and instead asks if she has any popcorn.
Lenore upset with Eli.
In J'adore Lenore, Lenore approaches him and gets on top of the handcuffed Eli, while putting a sock in his mouth, and confronts Eli about avoiding her. She tells him that he needs to talk to her, and he struggles to talk with the sock in his mouth. Lenore removes it from his mouth, and he tells her that this isn't okay with him, before admitting that he was avoiding her since she always brings up "the thing" whenever they were around each other. He calls their kiss a mistake, and she tells him that the kiss felt like something that they both wanted to do for a long time. Eli confesses he told Clare about it and that he made up with Clare, which cause Lenore to leave the room, upset.
While talking to J.J., Eli realizes that he shouldn't have kissed Lenore, who unbeknownst to him was listening in the doorway. Lenore re-enters the room, and Eli tells her that long distance relationships are hard while he made a mistake, he still loves Clare. J.J. gets up, and Lenore frees Eli, saying she'd rather have him in her life as a friend than not at all. She promises to move out within a week, and J.J. would move back in. Lenore leaves again, and J.J. asks Eli if he is done with the handcuffs.
The three have fun while playing a drinking game.
In Moving On, Lenore barges into the room, while Eli is on the phone with Clare, and hangs up his phone. She tells him that they are going to distract him with a drinking game called "Never Have I Ever". Lenore explains the game, but Eli reveals that he has already played it.
Before long, the three are drunk. Lenore takes a turn, saying she has never streaked through the school, and both Eli and J.J. take a shot. J.J. goes next, saying he has never kissed someone of the same gender, though he and Lenore both take a shot. J.J. reveals to the other two that he is bisexual. Eli takes his turn, saying he has never impregnated or been impregnated by someone. Lenore hesitantly takes a shot, revealing that she has previously been pregnant in the past. Eli apologizes to her, but she calls the event a mistake and has moved on. Eli starts thinking about Clare again and calls her, though J.J. and Lenore try to stop him. After he hangs up, both J.J. and Lenore call him an idiot, to which Eli says, "I know."
In Rewrites, Eli and Lenore are trying to film a play, based on his and Clare's relationship, of Eli's for a project with J.J. and Kira. Kira, however, stops filming, not because of J.J., but because she doesn't understand her character. She thinks the ending is too perfect, and questions Eli if is re-writing his own life to have a perfecting endings, which upsets Lenore. She halts production, assuring Kira that she isn't fired, and tells the crew to give them 24 hours for a rewrite of the script. J.J. start blabbering, and Lenore pays him $20 to stop talking, which he does and walks off with Kira asking about her opinion on public nudity.
Lenore tells Eli that she is in love with him.
Lenore storms off into her dorm room, but Eli follows her. Eli asks her what she is doing since they have a deadline, but Lenore tells him that Kira is right about the script not working, using characters to speak for Kate and Eli, she says that Kate (Clare) is not getting back together with Ethan (Eli). She says they aren't getting back together because Kate made her choice and Ethan should recognize it, continuing saying if Eli had half a brain than he would realize that there is someone right in front of him who loves him, referring to herself. Eli is shocked, and Lenore confesses her feelings to him, asking him to take a chance on her. Eli seems to mull over the decision, and confesses to her that he wouldn't have survived the first semester without her or J.J. He tells her he cares about her and is insane for not walking over to her and kissing her, but she interrupts him, telling him to kiss her. Eli is about to kiss her, but is stopped when he gets a call from Clare.
Trivia
- Lenore and J.J. are the first characters to be introduced in a Degrassi Mini before appearing in the series.
- She is a smoker, as are Malika and Fitz.
- Lenore has been pregnant before. The circumstances and details of her pregnancy are unrevealed, other than how she views the event as a mistake in her life. Despite insisting she has moved on, she is shown to be genuinely sad and upset when reminded of it, clearly still affected by the memory.
- She has kissed a girl before, but she has so far appeared to be straight.
- It is revealed in "Rewrites" that she has feelings for Eli.
Interaction
| Friendships | Relationships | Conflicts | Attractions | Love Triangles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eli-Lenore Friendship | Eli-Lenore Friendship | Clare-Eli-Lenore Love Triangle | ||
| Lenore-J.J. Friendship |