The following is a list of characters from the HBO television show Boardwalk Empire. The show dramatizes the prohibition era in Atlantic City and the early history of the American Mafia. Many of the characters on the show are fictional. Some are (loosely) based on historical figures; of these, some use the name of the person upon which they are based, while others have had their names changed for the program.
Steve Buscemi portrays Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the corrupt treasurer of Atlantic County and its most powerful political figure. The character is based on Enoch L. Johnson.[1]
Michael Pitt portrays James "Jimmy" Darmody (seasons 1–2), a former Princeton student who served in World War I. After returning home, Jimmy is hired by Nucky Thompson as his driver. The character is based on Jimmy Boyd.[2]
Kelly Macdonald portrays Margaret Thompson (formerly Schroeder, née Rohan), a young Irish widow and mother, she turns to Nucky for help and eventually becomes his lover and later, his wife. The character is based on Florence Osbeck.[1]
Michael Shannon portrays Nelson Van Alden / George Mueller, a former Prohibition agent on the run after the murder of his former partner. Under the alias George Mueller, he inadvertently gets caught up in the conflict between Dean O'Banion and Al Capone. The character is based on William Frank.[1]
Shea Whigham portrays Elias "Eli" Thompson, Nucky's younger brother and former sheriff of Atlantic County. The character is based on Alfred "Alf" Johnson.[1]
Angela Darmody
Angela Darmody (Aleksa Palladino) is a main character in Seasons 1-2. She is Jimmy's wife and the mother of his young son.
In 1916, Angela is an artistic painter student at Princeton University who starts a romance with Jimmy Darmody. One day, she meets his mother Gillian and then witnesses Jimmy beat up Professor Noel Pearson because he tries to grope Gillian. After that day, Jimmy is expelled from the university and joins the War Front in WW1. During this time, it is revealed that Angela is pregnant with Jimmy's child Tommy Darmody. Angela also starts an affair with a photographer's assistant named Mary Dittrich but ends it once Jimmy comes back from war in 1918-1919. (Under God's Power She Flourishes)
When the series starts, Jimmy and Angela are living together for one month with Tommy. Following New Year's Eve 1919 and the start of Prohibition, Angela persuades Jimmy to get a proper job or go back to Princeton to finish his studies. He refuses both, saying that he is too old for school and wants to be Nucky's top hitman. Angela tells him to accept Paddy Ryan's assistant job for now. (Boardwalk Empire)
After Jimmy becomes a success as Nucky's top hitman, he starts to buy expensive gifts for the family, including some presents for Tommy. Angela asks him how he earns so much money. (The Ivory Tower)
After Nucky warns Jimmy to leave Atlantic City because of the FBI investigating them, he tells Angela that he is leaving and says goodbye to her and Tommy. He also meets Robert and Mary Dittrich along the way. Angela tries to persuade him to stay with them or let her and Tommy come with him, but he refuses and goes to Chicago all by himself. (Broadway Limited)
A month or so after Jimmy has left, Angela resumes her affair with Mary Dittrich and gets a sponsorship by Robert to put her paintings up and be a successful painter. One day, Gillian visits the house and gets Tommy to sleep with some alcohol. Angela confronts Gillian and talks to her about Jimmy leaving. Gillian just tells her to forget it and enjoy a drink with her. Angela refuses and instead goes to the art studio to meet Mary and Robert. (Nights in Ballygran)
Angela visits a naked bed Mary in her apartment one night and tells her of her quest for a job, as she cannott live with Nucky paying her money every day. She also worried about what would happen if Robert, Gillian, Jimmy or even Nucky found about her love affair with Mary. Mary tells her to calm down and says that Robert has an art critic friend named Jonathan who is coming to assess Angela's paintings in Greenwich Village in a few days. Finding this out, Angela thanks Mary and the two then kiss passionately and have sex on the bed. (Home)
A few days later when no letters from Jimmy come, Angela and Gillian are at the apartment. Gillian asks Angela about finding a new job and providing help for herself and Tommy. Angela tells Gillian about how some of her paintintgs might be sold at a Greenwich Village gallery, but Gillian tells her to try and look into stenography instead. (Hold Me in Paradise)
Another few days later, Angela is at home entertaining Mary and Robert. The two women kiss as Robert watches jealously and opens a wine bottle. Robert then asks if they could initiate a threesome. Their conversation is interrupted however by Jimmy returning home and telling Mary and Robert to leave, which they do. Angela is groped by Jimmy, ending with the two having sex on the kitchen table. Later, Angela visits Robert about her paintings, but he refuses to show them to the public, calling them a cheap imitation of painter Mary Cassatt. (Belle Femme)
That night, Jimmy watches Angela paint and again has sex with her. One morning, Angela, Jimmy and Tommy take a walk on the boardwalk where they pass the Dittrich Studio. Tommy points to the picture of Mary Dittrich, calling her "mommy's kissing friend." Jimmy thinks that it is Robert and goes inside and violently beats him with a tripod camera as Angela, Mary, Tommy and the boardwalk residents shockingly watch. Angela later meets Mary, who shares her plans to leave for Paris with her and Tommy. Angela agrees, saying that Jimmy is becoming very violent recently. (The Emerald City)
The next day, Angela plans to leave Atlantic City. She goes to the Dittrich Studio and meets Mary, who plans it fully. Robert overhears it from a corner and jokes around. At home, while Jimmy visits Commodore Louis Kaestner and Gillian, Angela packs her suitcase and takes Tommy to the Dittrich Studio, only to find it locked up and the lights out. The guard there tells her that Mary and Robert have left for Paris already. Angela returns home with Tommy and finds Jimmy sitting at the table. He questions where they were. After Tommy goes to sleep, he confronts Angela. (Paris Green)
On October 31, 1920, Angela dresses Tommy up as a pirate for Halloween. After he leaves, Angela talks with Jimmy about recent events. Angela says that she is worried about him and his behaviour lately, such as talking in his sleep and becoming a bit violent. She also asks why he didn't send any letters to her while he was in France and Chicago. Jimmy apologizes for those things and asks Angela if Mary was her romantic partner. Angela confirms it, saying that she was feeling lonely. Jimmy comforts her and says everything is alright now. Angela receives a letter from Mary, which says she is sorry for not taking her to Paris but she will still remember them. Upset after reading the letter, Angela throws it away and cuts off her hair. Jimmy comes home and is shocked at her new short hair but lovingly strokes it. (A Return to Normalcy)
By 1921, Angela moves to a beach house in Atlantic City along with Tommy with Jimmy purchasing it and starting a life there. (21)
One day, Gillian visits the house and talks with Angela while she makes lunch. Angela confronts Gillian about her behaviour with Jimmy, but Gillian just insults her and tells her that she used to kiss Jimmy's penis when he was a baby, shocking her. (Ourselves Alone)
Angela shows her painting skills once again when she paints Richard one day, sketching two pictures of him: one with his mask on and one without. She also learns that Richard used to paint before he was in WW1. The two talk about paintings in France and slowly form a friendly bond until Jimmy comes home with a sleeping Tommy. (What Does the Bee Do?)
Angela is with Jimmy at the Memorial Day Meeting, listening to Nucky and Harry Daugherty talk about WW1 and war veterans. She also listens to Jimmy give a speech about his war experiences. (Gimcrack & Bunkum)
A few days later, Angela, Jimmy and Tommy are at an antiques store. She tells Jimmy to buy a music recorder, which he does, and says that it will introduce Tommy to classical music. At home, Angela answers the phone and says it is "Munya." Jimmy says it is Manny Horvitz. He goes into the next room to talk to him on the phone as Angela watches. (The Age of Reason)
Angela prepares to go to the beach with Tommy. Jimmy comes out of the shower and picks up a call from Al Capone. When Angela hears Jimmy swearing, she tells him to not do it in front of Tommy. She begins to leave and Jimmy tries to come with her. Since he is not dressed ready to go and his limp would delay them, he punches the wall in rage. At the beach, Angela meets a woman named "Molly." A sheriff's deputy tells "Molly" her bathing suit is too short. Angela pays her fine. It is revealed that "Molly"'s real name is Louise, that "Molly" is the name of a character she is writing about, revealing herself to be a novelist. Angela is interested and befriends Louise. Later that night, Louise takes her to a party where a man tries to dance with Angela but Louise tells him to go away. After he has gone, Angela and Louise kiss. They start dating, Angela's second affair behind Jimmy's back with her. Jimmy confesses to Angela what he does for a living, the plot against Nucky and what will happen when he becomes "The King of Atlantic City." (Two Boats and a Lifeguard)
Angela and Jimmy have a discussion in the beach house. Jimmy says that he is leaving town for a night or two to take care of a few business matters. Angela tells him that Tommy is staying with Gillian for a few days. She tells him a joke about a hotel guest and a receptionist, and Jimmy says it is funny. He kisses her one more time before leaving. That evening, Angela brings Louise to the house, where the two have sex (offscreen). Later that night, Manny Horvitz sneaks into the house and holds Angela at gunpoint and sees a figure is taking a shower. He shoots at the figure, but is shocked to discover that it was not Jimmy, but Louise. A devastated Angela asks for mercy, but Manny tells her Jimmy is responsible for this, and kills her with a gunshot to the head. Manny leaves her dead body lying on top of Louise's before leaving the Darmody beach house. (Georgia Peaches)
Jimmy is devasted over Angela's death, and thinks back to when they met at Princeton. Gillian, jealous of Angela's relationship with her son, makes a crude remark about Angela. An irate Jimmy strangles her until the Commodore attacks him. After a scuffle with the Commodore, Jimmy stabs him in the abdomen. Gillian tells him to finish the job, so Jimmy kills his father before collapsing to the ground. (Under God's Power She Flourishes)
One year after Angela and Jimmy's deaths, Tommy is adopted by Gillian, who says she is his new mother. She opens up a brothel in Commodore Louis Kaestner's old mansion. She makes Richard the caretaker and bodyguard of the mansion as well as Tommy's babysitter. One day, Richard shows Tommy one of Angela's old paintings he secretly took to the mansion. The two spend time sketching until Gillian comes into the room and takes Tommy away. Gillian later confronts Richard about talking about Angela and Jimmy with Tommy. She says to act like they never existed or she will fire him. Richard kills Manny Horvitz to avenge Angela and for being a part of Jimmy's murder (Resolution). When Richard finds out that Mickey Doyle claims to have killed Manny, he sneaks into Mickey's apartment and holds him at gunpoint. Richard brings Mickey to Nucky's office to confess his deception, confirming that Richard himself killed Manny. Richard reiterates that despite the confession, he will not pursue Nucky. (Bone for Tuna)
Vincent Piazza portrays Charles "Lucky" Luciano, a Sicilian-American gangster and close associate of Rothstein.
Lucy Danziger
Lucy Danziger (Paz de la Huerta) is a main character in Seasons 1-2. She is Nucky's mistress and a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer.
Lucy is first seen dancing with Nucky at the 1919 New Year's Eve Party, which is celebrating the onset of Prohibition and the lucrative bootlegging opportunities it will bring. In the new year, Nucky introduces Lucy to Margaret Schroeder. (Boardwalk Empire)
Preparing for an evening out in Nucky's suite, Lucy recommends that Nucky grow a mustache like the actor Douglas Fairbanks. When Margaret arrives to see Nucky, he asks Lucy to wait in the car.
Nucky entertains Lucy and a group of gamblers at Lolly Steinman's casino. Jimmy Darmody enters and gives Nucky $3,000. Nucky takes the money to the roulette table and loses it all on a single bet. Lucy comforts Nucky, and Jimmy is left alone at the table. (The Ivory Tower)
On the phone in his suite, Nucky agrees to make a donation of $1,000 to the premature baby hospital on the boardwalk. Eddie Kessler (Nucky's butler) goes to remove a tray from the bedroom, but Nucky chastises Eddie for taking it before he said he was finished. Lucy confesses that she finds the premature baby hospital spooky and then mentions that Broadway impresario Flo Ziegfeld is in Atlantic City casting for a production. Nucky says he thought Lucy was finished with dancing. She asks if that is what he wants, and he tells her to do whatever makes her happy. She says Nucky makes her happy and offers to have a baby for him. He is shocked, and she asks if he thinks she would be a bad mother. He says she has a loving disposition, but he is worried that it is not the right time. Nucky asks if they can revisit the issue after the election and Lucy agrees. She spills cream onto her breasts and licks it off, calling it delicious before undoing Nucky’s dressing gown and telling him he looks delicious too. Nucky later entertains guests in his suite at the Ritz Carlton. Eddie Cantor sings while Lucy and friends dance.
At La Belle Femme, the manager Madame Jeunet tells her new employee Margaret Schroeder that they have an important customer and gives her a selection of items to take through to the dressing room. Inside, she is met by an impatient Lucy. Lucy asks Margaret to undress her before recognizing Margaret. Margaret introduces herself. Lucy is unimpressed and gives Margaret instructions to take a cloak to the tailors. Posing nude, Lucy demands a “step-in” and is annoyed when Margaret does not recognize the item she means. Pointing it out, Lucy then demands that Margaret bend down to help her into the negligee. Lucy asks for Margaret’s opinion. She calls the garment flattering. Lucy reveals that she heard Nucky making the phone call to get Margaret the job. Margaret calls Nucky kind, and Lucy insults Margaret by saying that Nucky is susceptible to charity cases. (Broadway Limited)
At the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Nucky is standing in front of the bathroom mirror, practicing a surprised response for the birthday party he is throwing himself. Eddie calls from the bedroom of Nucky’s suite. Nucky is startled and asks how long Eddie has been there. Eddie has brought the guest list for Nucky to review. Nucky maintains that he was practicing a speech for the Restaurant Workers' Association when Eddie came in. Lucy comes in and announces that she is going shopping. Nucky gives her a handful of cash and tells her to get something pretty. She graphically references their sex the night before and Nucky is embarrassed.
Nucky delivers his practiced reaction when he arrives to his "surprise" birthday party. When the band is in full swing and the dance floor is busy, Nucky and Lucy eat dinner with Commodore Louis Kaestner, Frank Hague, Walter Edge and their dates. Hague tells a sexist joke involving domestic abuse. Edge turns the subject to Women’s suffrage, and Nucky recalls Edge as a supporter of the movement. Edge says that he is in public. Kaestner says he is for suffrage so long as women vote Republican. Hague says the Democrats have a similar attitude. Nucky believes the movement will succeed with 32 states having ratified already. Kaestner believes the suffragettes all need sex, and his date says that she does. Nucky says that they should not be afraid and just need to fulfil women voters' wants. Edge wonders what it is that women want, and Hague says it does not matter. Edge jokes that Hague is assuming that women have minds at all. Lucy says she has brains, but Nucky tries to quiet her. The Commodore asks for Lucy’s opinion on the League of Nations. Nucky explains that it was an international political summit in Paris three weeks prior. Lucy has no opinion but likes the sound of Paris and asks Nucky to take her there. Edge observes that she is a thinking woman. Nucky asks Lucy to fetch him a drink and glares at Kaestner before saying Lucy may not be the best example of woman voters.
Lucy has planned a surprise for Nucky and is having a second outfit delivered from La Belle Femme. Margaret brings the dress, who impresses Nucky and his guests with her ability to express political arguments. While Lucy is getting changed, Nucky and Margaret share a dance. As the song finishes, Nucky bows and thanks her for the dance. From the bandstand, Babette asks for attention as a cake is brought in. Lucy emerges from the top tier of the cake as the revellers sing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow”. Lucy dances for Nucky as Margaret looks on from the balcony. Nucky stares past Lucy at Margaret but does blow Lucy a kiss when she is finished. (Anastasia)
Nucky and Lucy share a poscoital embrace at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. He is dozing as she asks him what makes him feel good and worries about his faithfulness. She describes herself as a little tiger cub and rakes her nails down his chest, drawing blood. The pain brings Nucky to annoyed wakefulness. He tells her to calm down, puts on a robe and goes to the bathroom. Lucy smokes a cigarette, alone.
At La Belle Femme, Lucy frustrates Madame Jeunet with her choosiness regarding lingerie. Jeunet asks Lucy to describe what she wants. Lucy asks why anyone buys underwear, and Jeunet offers that some want to conceal while others want to reveal. Lucy is the latter, requesting a vampy, sheer number with a cut-out crotch. Jeunet goes to fetch a suitable item, and Lucy turns to Margaret and criticizes her job. Margaret says that she has done worse, and Lucy says that she believes her. Jeunet produces an item, and Lucy insists on Margaret modelling it.
In the dressing room, Lucy critiques Margaret’s figure as she disrobes. She wonders why Margaret doesn’t wear a bra and says that you can tell that she has had children. Lucy says Margaret has the appearance of a servant, only suitable for a “quickie, bent over the kitchen table.” Margaret says the “he” doesn’t seem to mind. Lucy says that Margaret is ignorant and gives an insight into Nucky’s Catholic upbringing and occasional desire to change. Lucy says she can easily seduce Nucky away from this thinking. Margaret tells a story of a beggar who had trained a bantam rooster to play a song on a miniature piano. She describes how she was initially fascinated but soon became bored with the performance. Lucy asks what the point is, and Margaret tells her not to put too much faith in her powers of seduction. Margaret exits the dressing room and her job. This encounter prompts Margaret to accept Nucky's offer for them to move in together. (Family Limitation)
Lucy interrupts Nucky's meeting with Damien Fleming after struggling past Eddie. She angrily asks why Nucky is avoiding contact, and he points to Fleming and tells her that he is in a meeting. Lucy says that she does not care and that she loves him, wondering what Margaret has that she does not. Lucy profanely disparages Margaret, citing her job at La Belle Femme. Nucky asks Lucy to calm down, and Lucy says that she has left clothes in the suite. Nucky leads her away by the arm and promises to call her. Lucy whines that she wants to see a film, and he offers to do whatever she would like. Lucy says she wants to see “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” and he agrees that they will talk about it later. Lucy confesses she feels empty without him inside her, and Nucky says they will talk about that later too. Eddie pulls Lucy away, and Nucky apologises to Fleming. Later, Lucy cries as she watches “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” alone at the cinema. (Home)
Madame Jeunet approaches Margaret and Annabelle as they have tea in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton Hotel and asks Margaret for help. Margaret wonders what she needs help with as Lucy drunkenly walks out of La Belle Femme, calling after Jeunet. Annabelle tries a polite greeting, but Lucy shuts her down. Jeunet whispers to Margaret that Lucy is trying to use Nucky’s credit in the store despite his instruction to the contrary. Lucy haughtily tells them that Americans do not whisper. Jeunet tells Lucy that she has asked Margaret for help, and Lucy notes that she is very helpful, calling her Mrs. MacDougall. Margaret corrects Lucy, and Lucy loudly wonders if Schroeder is Irish for bitch, shocking the other customers. Margaret stands and tries to placate Lucy, who refuses to leave. Annabelle interjects, and Lucy calls her a false friend. Lucy tells Margaret that she is stupid if she thinks Nucky is her friend or that she understands him. Margaret slaps her hard across the face and tells her that their next conversation will be less pleasant before leaving. (Hold Me in Paradise)
Lucy encounters Nelson Van Alden at a speakesay. After he has several shots of whiskey, the two have sex at an apartment but he is ashamed of himself afterwards. (The Emerald City)
Lucy later finds Nelson at the post office, where he is conducting his investigation from. Lucy reveals that she is pregnant with his child, leaving Van Alden shocked and horrified at the consequences he must now deal with. (A Return to Normalcy)
In February 1921, a pregnant Lucy is living with Van Alden in his Atlantic City apartment. They have a financial arrangement for Lucy to carry the child for him. When he comes home one day, Lucy tells him to come sleep with her. Van Alden rejects her and walks away, feeling angry about what he did to her and himself. (21)
Lucy tells Van Alden that she got invited by the neighbors for a party, but Van Alden tells her to not talk to anyone. Lucy says she is tired of the isolation. increasingly bored and depressed, Lucy contemplates throwing herself down the stairs after Van Alden forbids her to try out for an upcoming musical. Van Alden later sends her a record player and some jazz records, which lifts her spirits. (A Dangerous Maid)
In the morning, Van Alden reads the bible in the apartment he is sharing with Lucy. She calls from the kitchen, asking him to buy lemons on his way home from work. He walks through to her and she asks if he heard her. He confirms that he did. Heavily pregnant with his child, she complains that she cannot get comfortable. Van Alden has little sympathy. He states they are not lovers but are merely in an agreement for Van Alden to give the child to his wife once it is born and for Danziger to remain in the apartment until that time. He points out that his subordinate Agent Clarkson is still in the hospital with extensive third degree burns and wonders at Clarkson's level of comfort. She apologizes and says she just wants to be done with the pregnancy. Van Alden goes to the hospital to visit Clarkson.
Lucy carries a plate to the sink. She pauses, drops the plate and cries out as her waters break. Lucy sits on a chair, alone in the apartment. She gets into bed and is struggling with her contractions. Lucy calls to her young neighbour across the alley for help, but the boy draws the curtains. Lucy gathers herself, brushes her hair before her mirror and then ties it back. She prepares her bed for the delivery of her baby. Lucy pants and moans through more contractions, gritting her teeth, gripping the bed sheets and dripping with sweat. Eventually her baby’s cries replace hers.
Van Alden arrives home with the promised lemons. He notices the broken china and finds Lucy cradling the baby in the bedroom. She tells him she delivered the baby herself and that it is a girl. He smiles and goes to fetch a doctor. Lucy kisses her daughter's forehead. While Van Alden is gone, his wife Rose arrives at the apartment. Rose had been unaware of Van Alden's arrangement with Lucy. His strange behaviour caused Rose to come to Atlantic City.
Van Alden returns home with the promised doctor. He goes through to the bedroom and finds Rose mopping Lucy’s brow. Rose turns around and observes that Lucy has a mild fever. Rose offers to leave the doctor to his work and walks into the hallway with her husband. Van Alden claims that he did this for her, saying they will take the child. Rose storms off. (The Age of Reason)
After giving birth to her child, Lucy tells Nelson that it is her time to leave now, but he forbids that from ever happening. Lucy then goes to Nucky's office at the Ritz-Carlton, telling him how Van Alden is forbidding her from leaving when he agreed she could leave after the baby has been born. Nucky gives her the money she needs to leave. Lucy packs her stuff up, pins something on the wall, and gives the baby to her neighbor Alfreda Short to watch. She leaves the apartment.
Van Alden discovers that Nucky provided the needed money to Lucy. Van Alden returns home and hears a baby being rocked on a cradle happily. Thinking it is Lucy, he goes closer, only to see that it is Alfreda cradling the baby. Van Alden, shocked at this, asks Alfreda where Lucy has gone. Alfreda responds by saying that she just left for a "formula run" but she will never be coming back. Van Alden finds a diaper hung up alongside a script for A Dangerous Maid along with it, indicating that Lucy has made him take care of the baby and will never come back into his or Nucky's lives again. (Peg of Old)
Eddie, after hearing that Billie Kent has become Nucky's mistress, asks her if she has ever heard of Lucy. Billie denies she has, and Eddie responds by saying that the next one won't remember a thing about her either. (You'd Be Surprised)
At a party at Van Alden's house, Van Alden and Lucy's daughter Abigail mentions to Van Alden/George Mueller, his new wife Sigrid Mueller, Eli Thompson, Eli's wife June Thompson and her half-brother and the son of Van Alden and Sigrid, Chester Mueller, that her mother was a "dancer." (King of Norway)
Albert "Chalky" White
Michael Kenneth Williams portrays Albert "Chalky" White, Nucky's counterpart in Atlantic City's black community.
Edward "Eddie" Kessler
Anthony Laciura portrays Edward "Eddie" Kessler, Nucky's German personal assistant and valet. The character is based on Louis Kessel.[1]
Paul Sparks portrays Mickey Doyle, an Atlantic City bootlegger. The character is based on Mickey Duffy.[1]
Louis Kaestner
Dabney Coleman (seasons 1–2) and John Ellison Conlee (season 5) portray Commodore Louis Kaestner, Nucky's mentor and predecessor in Atlantic City, Jimmy's biological father. The character is based on Louis Kuehnle.[1]
Jack Huston portrays Richard Harrow (seasons 1–4), a former Army marksman who allies with Jimmy and later Nucky. Disfigured during the war, he wears a mask over half of his face.
Gillian Darmody
Gretchen Mol portrays Gillian Darmody, Jimmy's mother and an old friend of Nucky's. She is also Luciano's former lover.
Owen Sleater
Charlie Cox portrays Owen Sleater (seasons 2–3), an Irish immigrant and IRA member. He has an affair with Margaret, while working his way up in Nucky's organization.
Jeffrey Wright portrays Dr. Valentin Narcisse (seasons 4–5), a Harlem racketeer who challenges Chalky. The character is based on Casper Holstein.[3]
William "Willie" Thompson
Kevin Csolak (season 3) and Ben Rosenfield (seasons 4–5) portray William "Willie" Thompson, Eli's oldest son and Nucky's nephew who becomes an assistant U.S. Attorney in New York City.
Recurring characters
Introduced in season one
Meyer Lansky
Anatol Yusef portrays Meyer Lansky, a young protégé of Rothstein and partners with Luciano. The character is based on Meyer Lansky.[1]
Enid Graham portrays Rose Van Alden (seasons 1–2), Nelson's ex-wife.
Ethan Thompson
Tom Aldredge (seasons 1–2) and Ian Hart (season 5) portray Ethan Thompson, Nucky and Eli's father. The character is based on Smith E. Johnson.
Mrs. McGarry
Dana Ivey portrays Mrs. McGarry (season 1), a prominent leader of the Women's Suffrage and Temperance Movements. The character is based on Susan B. Anthony.[1]
Isabelle Jeunet
Anna Katarina portrays Isabelle Jeunet (seasons 1, 3), a French woman who owns an haute couture shop on the boardwalk.
Louanne Pratt
Johnnie Mae portrays Louanne Pratt (season 1), Commodore Kaestner's maid.
Eric Sebso
Erik Weiner portrays Agent Sebso (season 1), Van Alden's partner.
Mary Dittrich
Lisa Joyce portrays Mary Dittrich (season 1), a photographer's assistant and Angela Darmondy's lover.
Kevin O'Rourke portrays Edward L. Bader (seasons 1-4), the Atlantic City mayor.
Jim Neary
Robert Clohessy portrays James Neary (seasons 1–2), one of Nucky's political cronies and ward bosses
Harry Daugherty
Christopher McDonald portrays Harry M. Daugherty (seasons 1–3), a U.S. Attorney General.
Introduced in season two
Leander Cephas Whitlock
Leander Cephas Whitlock (Dominic Chianese) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-4 and in flashbacks in Season 5 where he is portrayed by Jordan Lage. He is an Atlantic City lawyer and ally to the Commodore.
George Remus
George Remus (Glenn Fleshler) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3 and a guest character in Season 4. He is a major bootlegger based in Ohio who refers to himself in the third-person and is based on a real-life historical figure of the same name. Remus first appears in the show in the Season 2 premiere episode where he has a meeting with Al Capone and Johnny Torrio at The Four Deuces in Chicago where he talks to them about getting bootlegged alcohol from him and his medicinal alcohol store and pharmaceutical empire in Ohio and how the alcohol could be more less of cost and better quality than Nucky Thompson's alcohol to which Torrio and Capone agree to have him as a partner in their business. A few months later in Ohio, Remus calls Nucky and argues with him about the finder's fee in Atlantic City (especially the Ritz-Carlton), and how it is never there in Ohio before telling him that he is soon going to knock him out of the bootlegging game as there are more vast resources in Ohio than Atlantic County, and the fact that his alcohol is more wider and of higher quality whilst he also calls Nucky petty, causing Nucky to insult him and hang the phone abruptly on him soon afterwards. It is implied here that Remus and Nucky have known each other for quite some time and that Remus has visited Atlantic City before and may or may not have met Commodore Louis Kaestner.
After Nucky's assassination attempt and near-death experience at Babette's, Remus starts to do more business with Torrio and Capone and also decides to do with Jimmy Darmody, the newest and youngest bootlegger in Atlantic City to make more business. He has a meeting at Jimmy's house with Capone, Mickey Doyle, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky about the bootlegging routes and how his alcohol is going to come before leaving and getting acquainted with Luciano and Lansky. However, after Nucky's comeback and Jimmy's defeat and ultimate death, Remus decides to be bootlegging partners with the former and joins him alongside Luciano, Lansky, Arnold Rothstein, Frankie Yale, Joe Masseria, Masseria's top right-hand man and enforcer Gyp Rosetti, the Chicago Outfit and Waxey Gordon from Philadelphia.
At the start of Season 3, Remus attends Nucky's New Years Eve Party on December 31st 1922 and talks with the other mobsters also attending about what is going on in the business. He is a bit shocked when Nucky mentions that he is going to only import alcohol through Rothstein and witnesses Gyp's angry tirade after hearing it. Remus tries to calm down Gyp but is shut down by him. During this time, he also becomes a part of the "Ohio Gang" consisting of him, Harry Daugherty, Jess Smith, Warren G. Harding secretly and secretly undercover Gaston Means whom he trades alcohol with. A few months later, Nucky arrives in Washington, DC to confront Harry about removing his political power and giving the treasury seat to Damien Fleming and interrupts Remus, Harry and Jess in a meeting, telling Remus to go back to Ohio and insulting him again, however he continues on being a member of the gang and conspiring against Nucky with Harry and Jess. A few weeks later, George is arrested by Deputy DA Esther Randolph on orders of dismantling corruption in politics and the Harding administration and taken to jail.
Remus finally appears briefly midway through Season 4 where he tells Randolph, Agent Warren Knox/James Tolliver and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover about Nucky's empire in Atlantic City, how it works and who is involved in it. His third-person way of talking is also shut down by Hoover who assigns Knox/Tolliver to infiltrate Nucky's organization more and more given what is said about it whilst Remus is taken back to his prison hotel room and put back into jail.
Dunn Purnsley
Dunn Purnsley (Erik LaRay Harvey) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-4. He is a career criminal and later Chalky's second-in-command. Dunn is from Baltimore. He first appears at the start of Season 2 where he is in jail and insults his cell mate Chalky White alongside his 6 other ones which he commands. After ripping a page from Chalky's book and making mean comments to his wife, Dunn is cornered and beaten by the other 6 inmates, sick and tired of his abuse and knowing and finding a leader in Chalky. The beatdown leaves Dunn bloodied, injured, unconscious and having some of his teeth removed. After being released from jail, Dunn stops being a criminal and starts working at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Atlantic City as a chef in the Food and Beverages section, getting frequently oppressed by his manager and the owner of the section. One day, having enough of the constant abuse, Dunn tells his fellow black cooks to rebel against the white Ritz-Carlton owners as a stand for their rights. He asks Chalky this and after Chalky gives him permission, Dunn and the other black workers take over the Ritz-Carlton after beating up the abusive Food and Beverages Owner and soon get into a huge fight with the white townspeople of Atlantic City on the Boardwalk with Dunn beating up Deputy Raymond Halloran. After the battle, Dunn gains Chalky's respect and becomes his right-hand man. At a meeting with Jimmy Darmody and Richard Harrow, Dunn and Chalky tell the 2 to capture the KKK who shot and destroyed Chalky's bootlegging warehouse months ago. Later on, the KKK members are delivered to Chalky and Dunn by Jimmy and Richard who watch as Dunn brings them out and kills them alongside Chalky and his other henchmen.
In Season 3, at first, Dunn notices Chalky talking to his upcoming son-in-law Samuel Crawford and laughs to himself when Chalky talks about his daughter Maybelle to Samuel and how she is disinterested in people like him and more interested in mobsters and bootleggers like Chalky. That night at a dancing cafe, Dunn helps Chalky beat up a man with a switchblade after he purposefully slashes Samuel's cheek and later on, witnesses Chalky tell off his daughter for her "interests", how Samuel almost died, Chalky's cheek scar and how the lifestyle with a mobster really is. A few weeks later, Dunn helps Chalky to intimidate Eddie Cantor for Nucky Thompson after Eddie refuses to cast Billie Kent in his movie, causing Eddie to cast her after. Dunn decides to help Chalky with his black nightclub idea. When Nucky and his recently injured and bumbling German butler Edward Anselm "Eddie" Kessler arrive at Chalky's hideout to escape from manic Italian gangster Gyp Rosetti and his henchmen, Chalky, Dunn and Chalky's henchmen hide them in the house with Samuel who helps cure Eddie from his injuries whilst outside, Chalky, Dunn, Gyp, Gyp's right-hand man Tonino Sandrelli, Chalky's henchmen and Gyp's henchmen confront each other. Dunn notices Gyp try and buy out Chalky to get to Nucky and Eddie and sees Chalky's loyalty to Nucky when he refuses anything from Gyp, causing the latter to go away. Later on, Chalky and Dunn help Nucky by hiding him out in a warehouse where his nephew William "Willie" Thompson works at and put Eddie on bedrest. They are then visited from Chicago by Al Capone, his henchmen and Nucky's younger brother and Willie's father Elias "Eli" Thompson. Over the next few days, Dunn helps Chalky out with killing Gyp's and Joe Masseria's henchmen to end the war between Nucky and Gyp. He gets into a brief rivalry with Capone however the 2 and Chalky manage to work things out in the end and after Gyp and Masseria's lairs are ruined, Dunn, Capone, Chalky and all their henchmen help Nucky and his associates by shooting and murdering all of Gyp and Masseria's henchmen whilst they are trying to escape from Atlantic City before going back to their homes after gaining each other's trust.
In Season 4, set 1 year after Season 3, Dunn helps Chalky with waiting tables, assisting him around and being the doorman for the Onyx Club (Atlantic City's first black-owned nightclub). One day, whilst Chalky, Dunn and the manager for the entertainment Dickie Pastor and his wife Alma are looking at a bunch of black tap dancers test perform to see how they will help show their skills to the club, Dunn gets a love note from Alma to come to her room and when he's in her room, has sex with her only to be stopped by Dickie who points a gun at Dunn and tells him to continue on having sex. Dunn, scared, beats Dickie to death in a fit of rage whilst Alma runs away. Dickie's body is later found by Chalky and Nucky who both chide Dunn for his incompetence and later on, hide Dickie's dead body in a place where it can't be seen. Chalky and Dunn then meet Harlem drug dealer, Doctor of Divinity and follower of Marcus Garvey Dr. Valentin Narcisse who tells them that he killed Alma who was going to press false charges on Dunn as she told him before he tells Chalky to let him a bit on the nightclub deal before leaving to go back to Harlem, promising Chalky and Dunn to get an amazing dancer to help the club move on from Dickie and Alma's deaths. A few weeks later, Dunn and Chalky are introduced to and meet Narcisse's new lead dancer for the club Daughter Maitland who, as Dunn notices, Chalky is enamored by. During this time, Dunn also gets acquainted with Narcisse because of him having had enough of Chalky's sometimes verbal abuse and the fact that Narcisse is offering him a bigger deal as a right-hand man than Chalky ever did. One night when Chalky is out, Dunn goes to Harlem to talk to Narcisse. After a rocky start, the 2 get along with a walk-through Harlem as Narcisse explains to Dunn Marcus Garvey's teachings, the black rights vote and the type of black person to obey white people (named a Guppie) like Chalky who obeys Nucky. Narcisse shows Dunn a Guppie which causes Dunn to beat him up and gain Narcisse's trust, becoming his right-hand man and one of his main drug runners whilst at the same time, also acting as Chalky's right-hand man and assistant and starting to slowly betray him behind his back to go to Narcisse's side.
A few months after this, drugs become more popular and slowly start to ruin Atlantic City's black community whilst Narcisse's influence starts to become more powerful over Chalky's. Dunn helps in this especially by dealing drugs and helping Narcisse wipe out Deacon Lemuel Cuffy after he finds out about their scheme and before he goes to inform Nucky about it. After a few days, Chalky, Dunn and all of Chalky's henchmen raid a drug den set up in Atlantic City by Narcisse and secretly Dunn. Dunn kills some of the members to not let information about his role in the drug den spread out and he also witnesses Chalky destroy all the heroin and other drugs picked out to the awe of Narcisse who tells Dunn to finally betray Chalky once and for all by assassinating him so he can take leadership of the black community. That night, Dunn tells Chalky his car is ready, however, before the assassination could happen, Chalky tells him he knows his role in his feud with Narcisse and how Dunn has betrayed him. This then causes Dunn to attack and start physically fighting Chalky to kill him, however, before he could kill him, Daughter Maitland comes to Chalky's rescue and stabs Dunn brutally through the back. Dunn gets up and looks horrified at the 2 before falling to death in front of them, dying of his stab wounds.
Katy
Katy (Heather Lind) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3. She is Margaret's housemaid and Owen's lover.
Joe Masseria
Joe Masseria (Ivo Nandi) is a recurring character in Seasons 3-4 and a guest character in Seasons 2 and 5. He is an Italian mafia boss and bootlegger.
Manny Horvitz
Manny Horvitz (William Forsythe) is a recurring character in Season 2 and a guest character in Season 3. He is a Ukrainian Jewish gangster from Odessa, Russian Empire (modern day Ukraine) living and working in Philadelphia, working as a butcher as a front for his criminal activities. Manny reveals that when he was living in Odessa as a kid, he would have to fight everyday and suffer for everything in the streets. He then married a woman by the first name of Emma somewhere in the late 19th century and had a daughter with her somewhere in the late 1890s. At the same time, Manny moved to Philadelphia in 1899 with his wife, daughter and friend and right-hand man Herman Kaufman and became a gangster partnered up with Waxey Gordon in bootlegging and other operations whilst he also operated a butcher shop as a front organization and became friends with Polish immigrant and bootlegger Mickey Doyle (real name Kuzik). However, as the years went by, Manny and Waxey's relationship deteriorated and they became rivals in crime.
He first appears in Season 2 in 1921 where Jimmy Darmody, Richard Harrow and Mickey Doyle visit him at his butcher shop and tell him to get alcohol from their warehouse, Manny agrees, with Jimmy agreeing to a bigger deal and then leaving with the other 2. Manny also warns Jimmy about what would happen to him if he never pays him. Eventually, Jimmy's warehouse explodes and Manny calls to ask him about his deal and the debt he has to pay to him. Jimmy tells him that he saw Herman Kaufman at a meeting with Waxey and other famous gangsters. Manny, realizing that Herman has betrayed him, kidnaps him and hangs him upside down in his meat locker. He then calls Jimmy who comes over to his meat locker and helps him kill Kaufman, explaining to him that this is what he does to people who betray him. Later, Manny, Jimmy and Richard try to stop alcohol supplies going to Nucky Thompson and have a shootout with Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, causing them to come to a standstill and give the supplies to Thompson anyway. A few weeks later, Manny arrives at the Commodore's mansion where he meets Jimmy and Mickey and threatens Jimmy to give him his share of the debt by him telling him a story of how one time a hunter had come into his shop to cut some dead animal however the person had made his friend kill it for him. Later on, Manny arrives at Jimmy's inauguration party at Babette's. Jimmy facing enough pressure already and drunk, throws Mickey down the stairs and injures him whilst also insulting Manny and walking off.Later on, Manny is attacked at his butcher shop in Philadelphia by an assassin named Alfred Gordetsky sent by Waxey Gordon and Jimmy, however manages to kill him and his acquaintance. After finding out Jimmy's location in Atlantic City and house address by interrogating Mickey, Manny arrives at Jimmy's house late at night and catches his wife Angela. Someone then walks out of the shower, Manny, thinking it is Jimmy, shoots and kills the person, revealed to be Louise (Angela's lover and mistress). Angela cradles Louise crying whilst Manny, distraught over what he has done asks if Angela knows where Jimmy is and then kills her to not let her tell the authorities on him, leaving her and Louise's dead bodies behind at the house and running away. After the murder and trying to evade authorities, Manny hides out at a religious Jewish temple where he is found by Nucky, Mickey and Nucky's right-hand man Owen Sleater who tell him to put fake handcuffs on and come with them to where Jimmy is so that they can kill him. Manny agrees with the offer and the 3 (excluding Mickey) and including Nucky's brother Eli Thompson, drive out to the Atlantic City War Memorial where they meet Jimmy and witness Nucky finally kill him before leaving the spot.
After that, Manny leaves Philadelphia and moves with his wife and daughter to Atlantic City, becoming the owner of 1 of Nucky's warehouses over there partnered with Mickey. At the start of Season 3 in December 1922, Manny and Mickey catch a robber by the name of Nate Konig trying to rob their alcohol supplies and bring him to Nucky who after finding out who Nate's partner-in-crime was, has Manny kill him. Nucky later assigns Manny to kill the second robber, Rowland Smith for him which Manny agrees to despite him wanting to celebrate New Year's Eve with Emma. At night, right before the start of 1923, Manny walks outside his house to kill Rowland wearing his new hat that his wife gave him, only to see his driver killed and to then be assassinated and murderered by Richard Harrow. Later on, Mickey mentions that he killed Manny however Richard has him brought to Nucky and reveal that in fact Harrow killed Manny, not Mickey. Nucky also goes and kills Rowland eventually to end the whole robbery situation.
Esther Randolph
Esther Randolph (Julianne Nicholson) is a recurring character in Seasons 2-3 and a guest character in Season 4. She is an Assistant Attorney General who investigates Nucky for election fraud. The character is based on Mabel Walker Willebrandt.
Introduced in season three
Billie Kent
Meg Steedle portrays Billie Kent (season 3), a young Broadway actress who begins an affair with Nucky. Killed in an explosion meant for Nucky. The character is based on Billie Dove.
Gaston Means
Stephen Root portrays Gaston Means (seasons 3–4), a con artist, FBI agent, and "fixer" for bootleggers.
Brian Geraghty portrays James "Jim" Tolliver (season 4), an FBI agent under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover posing as a corrupt prohibition agent under the name Warren Knox in Atlantic City.
Daughter Maitland
Margot Bingham portrays Daughter Maitland (seasons 4–5), a singer and ward of Dr. Valentin Narcisse who begins an affair with Chalky White.
Introduced in season five
Arquimedes
Paul Calderon portrays Arquimedes (season 5), Nucky Thompson's personal bodyguard.
Travis Tope portrays Tommy Darmody/Slim (season 5), the son of James and Angela Darmody.
↑ Louis Kaestner is portrayed by John Ellison Conlee in season 5.
↑ Willie Thompson is portrayed by Kevin Csolak in season 3.
↑ Ethan Thompson is portrayed by Ian Hart in season 5.
↑ Leander Cephas Whitlock is portrayed by Jordan Lage in season 5.
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