This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters created by Joss Whedon and the writers of Mutant Enemy for the television program, Angel. For a more in-depth look at some of the minor characters on the show, please see the list of minor Angel characters. For the characters of Angel's parent show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, please see list of Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters and list of minor Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters.

Cast overview

Main characters

The principal cast of the first half of the show's final season from the show's opening sequence. From left to right: Gunn, Fred, Wesley, Angel, Lorne and Spike.

• David Boreanaz as Angel (1.01–5.22; After the Fall)

The titular main character, Angel is a vampire cursed with a soul who is prophesied to play a major role in the apocalypse. He spends most of his time during the series in fighting evil demons, sent on his path by visions from The Powers That Be. Angel's main motivation for his actions is a quest for redemption for the years he spent without a soul. Prior to his soul being restored he was Angelus infamously known as the most sadistic vampire in European history, "The Scourge of Europe", as well as "The Demon with the Face of an Angel", causing death and destruction wherever he went. Originally appearing in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel was written out of that show at the end of the third season so he could star in his own spin-off. Angel is originally hesitant to form friendships and allow anyone to get close to him after the events in Buffy. Over the course of his own series, Angel falls in love with Cordelia, fathers a son and gains numerous allies and friends, but is always forced to control the monster that hides within him. Like many characters on the show, Angel changes drastically, starting out as an almost reluctant hero, and ending up an altruistic hero who is, in Cordelia's words, "trying to save everyone on the planet."

Angel is the only character to appear in every episode.

• Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase (1.01–4.22, appeared in 5.12; After the Fall)

Cordelia Chase seeks to become a successful actress in Los Angeles after events in third season of Buffy. Contrary to that plan, however, she is sucked into Angel's life after almost being killed by a vampire. Initially more vain and self-centered (a facade she often tried to keep up in Buffy), Cordelia is forced to grow after the visions sent by The Powers That Be are bestowed upon her. During her tenure on the show, Cordelia undergoes this transformation, changing from high school popularity queen into a compassionate and nurturing figure. Events in the show's third season lead to Cordelia becoming a vessel for the being known as Jasmine in the fourth season, after which she falls into a coma. No longer a cast member in season five, she guest stars in the episode "You're Welcome", a send-off to her character, setting up the events for the series finale.

• Glenn Quinn as Allen Francis Doyle (1.01–1.09)

Allen Francis Doyle (more commonly known as just Doyle) is a half-demon, half-human hybrid and the original bearer of the visions from The Powers That Be. Doyle plays the Irish anti-hero, who would rather have a drink than fight the forces of evil. When put to the test however, Doyle shows a hero's heart, willingly sacrificing himself to save the lives of his friends in the episode "Hero", just after giving his visions to Cordelia. Archived footage of Doyle is used in two later episodes ("Birthday and "You're Welcome"), partially in remembrance of Glenn Quinn, who died in 2002.

• Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (1.10–5.22, appeared previously; After the Fall)

After the death of Doyle, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce shows up, touting himself as a "rogue demon hunter". Wesley teams up with Angel and Cordelia, spending much of the first season providing comic relief, but over the course of the second and third seasons, Wesley grows into the role of a capable leader, accompanied by a darkening of his personality. Originally a tried and true hero, Wesley's methods lead to him becoming more of an anti-hero. Wesley is ousted from the team after events in the latter half of the third season, and is only reluctantly accepted during the apocalyptic events of the fourth season. Wesley is reintegrated into the group during the final season.

Wesley appears in 100 of the 110 episodes, missing only the first nine episodes of the series and the fifth season episode "Destiny". He is the only character besides Angel himself to be a regular in all five seasons. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Wesley and Cordelia shared a mutual attraction that ended abruptly when their kiss had no spark.

• J. August Richards as Charles Gunn (2.01–5.22, recurring previously; After the Fall)

Charles Gunn (frequently referred to as simply Gunn) appears at the end of the first season as a young demon hunter from the streets, who grudgingly befriends Angel after the vampire helps him. Joining the cast in season two, Gunn must adjust to Wesley and Cordelia, who are primarily researchers, while he seeks more solace in the simple brawn work. After events in the second season leave the three alone, he becomes close friends with both, notably Wesley, a friendship that is all but destroyed by the end of the third season. After spending three years with the team as "muscle", Gunn quickly accepts the chance to become a highly knowledgeable lawyer during the fifth season, which ends up costing him severely in the end.

• Amy Acker as Winifred "Fred" Burkle (3.01–5.15, recurring previously; After the Fall)

Winifred Burkle (more commonly called Fred) is originally a shy girl with troubles of fitting into the group but is shown to be extremely intelligent. She is saved from the demon world of Pylea by the Angel team in the last episodes of the second season. As the series progresses, however, Fred grows to become a capable and sociable person, providing a stable but quirky personality to group. She becomes the subject of a love triangle during the third and fourth season which has severe effects on the make-up of the team and becomes somewhat of a focal point in the series. In the latter half of the fifth season however, she is infected by the legendary demon Illyria, who takes over her form, destroying Fred's soul.

• Vincent Kartheiser as Connor (4.01–4.22, recurring previously and afterward; After the Fall)

Connor is the son of Angel and Darla. He first appeared in the third season as a baby, left in the care of Angel after Darla sacrificed herself in order to give birth to the child. Cared for and loved by the entire Angel crew, it came as a great shock when Wesley kidnapped Connor in hopes of protecting the child from a prophecy that cited Angel would kill him. Unbeknownst to Wesley, the prophecy had been a fake created by Daniel Holtz, mortal enemy of Angel, and Sahjhan, a demon whom Connor was actually prophesied to kill in the future. Sahjhan opened a portal to the hell dimension, Quor-Toth, and Holtz took the boy and jumped inside to escape capture. After spending years in Quor-Toth being raised by Holtz to become "The Destroyer", a vicious demon hunter, the two were able to return to the normal world. While only a few months had passed for Angel and crew, Connor was now in his late teens. Holtz was able to manipulate Connor into trying to kill Angel, but after Angel was saved, Connor grudgingly came to accept his father and joined the crew with a certain reluctance in the fourth season. Connor would play another important part in the season's final story, as he became father to the season's main adversary: Jasmine. After Jasmine's defeat, Angel allowed Wolfram & Hart to alter Connor's memories, giving him a normal human life, a spell that would ultimately be broken by Wesley during the show's fifth and final season. With two sets of memories mixing, Connor lives a confusing but content life, making an appearance in the series finale.

• Andy Hallett as Lorne (4.14–5.22, recurring previously; After the Fall)

Lorne is the pacifist and music-loving empathy demon originally opens up a violence-free karaoke bar called Caritas, open to both demons and humans, where he reads people's futures by their singing. He is introduced in the second season, still referred to as The Host then, he is not credited as a regular until the latter half of the show's fourth season. Originally an occasional supporting character, Lorne moves in with the team during the third season, when Caritas is destroyed. Although quickly accepted by the others, he has trouble adjusting to the violent lifestyle that accompanies the group. Lorne comes into his own finally when the team became the owners of Wolfram & Hart's Los Angeles branch, becoming head of the entertainment division. After the events of the fifth season's latter half, Lorne reevaluates his life and decides that he no longer has a place among the team. Andy Hallett died in 2009.

• James Marsters as Spike (5.01–5.22, recurring previously; After the Fall)

Spike is a vampire who fought to regain his soul and also an old companion/bitter enemy of Angel. He appears on Angel in the show's fifth and final season. He initially appears as an incorporeal being, per events of Buffys final episode "Chosen", and must deal with the tug of the afterlife, more specifically; hell. However, when Spike is made corporeal again, he comes to serve as a constant reminder of Angel's past deeds, but also the hero that Angel no longer sees himself as being. As such, Angel must question his actions past and present, the meaning of the Shanshu Prophecy, and finally, the corrupting nature of Wolfram & Hart. Although the two remain rivals, they have an unshakable bond that makes them brothers in arms right up to the end.

• Amy Acker as Illyria (5.15–5.22; After the Fall)

As a result of Fred inhaling Illyria's essence, her body is used as the host, with Illyria inheriting her human emotions, her legacy living on in some way. Although Illyria herself initially opposes the team, she joins them after she finds she has nowhere else to go, and gradually becomes accepted, standing by the team in the final moments of the series.

• Mercedes McNab as Harmony Kendall (5.17–5.22, recurring previously)

Harmony Kendall is the type of woman that never moved on after her popular high school years. She is still vapid, shallow and remains eternally at the age of a high school senior. Bitten by a vampire during the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harmony has made recurring appearances on both shows, displaying the same ineptitude for being a vampire as she did for being a mortal. Taken from the Wolfram & Hart secretary pit by Wesley to work for Angel, Harmony earnestly tries to be accepted by Angel and the others, including former boyfriend Spike.

Recurring

• Elisabeth Röhm as Kate Lockley (Seasons 1–2; After the Fall)

Kate Lockley is a police detective that meets Angel in the first season's second episode, Kate acts as a contact with the police. There are initial hints of a romance between the two, but those disappear when Kate learns of Angel's status as a vampire. Soon, she becomes obsessed with the occult, falling into a negative spiral only enhanced by her distrust of Angel and the death of her father, the man who had single-handedly raised her and was also a retired but respected police officer. Her obsessions grow to become a general hatred for vampires, including Angel, and the law firm of Wolfram & Hart. Angel, similarly obsessed with the firm, ignores Kate, and thereby almost arrives too late when she attempts suicide. Able to save her, the two reconcile, but Kate decides to leave Los Angeles, she has already been fired from the L.A.P.D., and does not reappear again. Before she leaves, she strengthens Angel's faith in the higher powers by mentioning that he was able to enter her apartment even though she never invited him in, implying that the higher powers granted him an exception.

• Julie Benz as Darla (Seasons 1–5)

Darla is Angel's sire and current lover. She is resurrected as a human in the first season finale, and is then employed by Wolfram & Hart to manipulate Angel. Appearing at various intervals during the early season two episodes, Darla is able to drive Angel into a paranoid and obsessive frenzy. During this time, Darla struggles with her human soul, and eventually learns that she is suffering from a fatal form of syphilis, as she did before being sired by the Master. Before Angel can really help her, she is targeted by Wolfram & Hart, who enlist Drusilla to sire Darla once more. Losing her soul again, Darla engages in a cat and mouse game in the process with Angel. In "Reprise", she and Angel have a one-night stand, after which Angel threatens to kill her. She returns in the third season, pregnant with their child.

• Matthew James as Merl (Seasons 2–3)

Merl was a demon informant for Angel during season 2, when he split from the rest of the Angel Investigations crew. Angel often abused Merl in various ways, such as dunking his head underwater. He was eventually killed in the season 3 episode, "That Old Gang of Mine", though not before Angel apologized to him for his cruel behavior. He appears in six episodes during seasons 2 and 3.

• Brigid Brannagh as Virginia Bryce (Season 2)

Virginia Bryce was introduced in the season 2 episode, "Guise Will Be Guise", in which Wesley (then masquerading as Angel), Cordelia, and Gunn were hired to protect her by her father. Her father then attempted to sacrifice Virginia at his birthday celebration, but the ritual failed. Virginia later learned that Wesley was not Angel, but forgave him and started to date him until she realized that Wesley's job was more dangerous than she originally believed.

• Julia Lee as Anne Steele (Seasons 2 and 5)

Anne Steele originally appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in two episodes; in both instances, she is saved by Buffy Summers. Anne, who is prone to changing her name, later used Buffy's middle name as her own. Anne is later seen on Angel, as a youth counselor at a homeless teen center. Anne seems friendly with Gunn, and later with the rest of the Angel Investigations team. She appears in three episodes of Angel including the series finale "Not Fade Away".

• Mark Lutz as Groosalugg (Seasons 2–3; After the Fall)

Groosalugg is a half-demon/half-human who was originally from Pylea, Lorne's home dimension. He was the greatest warrior in Pylea, though was harshly treated by the priests who ruled the dimension. Soon after, he met Cordelia (who accidentally fell into Pylea through a portal), and the two had a short relationship before Cordelia went back to her own dimension. The Groosalugg later returned in season 3 in Los Angeles, and rekindled his relationship with Cordelia, though the two later ended it when Cordelia's increasing feelings for Angel became clear.

• Jennifer Griffin as Trish Burkle (Seasons 3, 5)

The mother of Fred, Trish first appears with her husband Roger during the third season where they track Fred to LA after her five years missing. They learn the truth of her disappearance and her role with Angel Investigations, accepting she belongs with them now. Trish appears twice in flashbacks in the fifth season to Fred leaving home. She and Roger again visit LA in the antepenultimate episode, unaware of Fred's death, and are fooled by Illyria masquerading as her.

• Alexa Davalos as Gwen Raiden (Season 4; After the Fall)

Gwen Raiden is a young woman with the ability to funnel electricity. Introduced as a thief in her first appearance, she eventually assisted Angel in the fight against the machinations of the Beast, and even shared a kiss with Angel. She had an interest in Gunn, whom she slept with. Gwen's powers often helped her professional career as a thief, though they were also considered a curse as for a long time, she could not touch anyone without electrifying them. Gwen later reappeared in After the Fall in which she is involved with Angel Investigations.

• Jenny Mollen as Nina Ash (Season 5; After the Fall)

Introduced in the season 5 episode, "Unleashed", Nina Ash was a young art major who became a werewolf. Nina became involved with Wolfram & Hart in exchange for shelter during the full moon. Angel later began dating Nina, with their relationship lasting until the end of the series. Nina left Los Angeles with her sister and niece in order to get away from the then-upcoming apocalypse. Nina later appeared in After the Fall, and provides shelter for demons and humans alike. At this point, Angel and Nina are no longer a couple, and she later marries someone else.

Villains

Because of the nature of the Wolfram & Hart organization, they appeared in every season of Angel, providing him with a constant opposition. During the show's fifth season, Angel and his crew become the runners of Wolfram & Hart, but still fight against it in the form of its corruptive effect and their liaison to the Senior Partners, Eve.

Characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• Seth Green as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne (Season 1)

Daniel "Oz" Osborne appears in the first season episode "In the Dark", crossing over from Buffy to give Angel the Gem of Amarra, which will grant him virtual immortality, thus eradicating any vampire weaknesses, such as sunlight or being killed via wooden stake. The Gem is stolen by Spike, also crossing over from Buffy and Oz assists the Angel crew in their search for him. Oz leaves Los Angeles again after the adventure is over, and Angel decides to destroy the Gem after he has taken it back from Spike.

• Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers (Season 1)

Buffy Summers appears in two episodes of Angel's first season, first in "I Will Remember You", where she and Angel rekindle their love after he becomes human as a result of a Mohra demon's blood. After Angel learns from The Oracles, conduits to The Powers That Be that Buffy will die if he remains human, he asks them to turn back time, and prevents himself from being affected by the Mohra blood. She returns in "Sanctuary" to oppose Faith, leading to a conflict between Angel that was resolved in the following crossover, in the Buffy episode "The Yoko Factor". Buffy was at first thought to have appeared in the fifth season episode "The Girl in Question", but Sarah Michelle Gellar did not appear in the role, and in the Buffy Season Eight comics it was also revealed to be a decoy and not the real Buffy.

• Eliza Dushku as Faith Lehane (Seasons 1–2, 4)

Faith Lehane first made the jump to Angel in its first season, in the episode "Five by Five", hired to kill Angel. After kidnapping and torturing Wesley, she engages Angel in combat, secretly acting on a death wish. Angel is able to convince Faith to walk the path of redemption, the plot of the following episode "Sanctuary". Thanks to Angel's faith in her, Faith agrees to turn herself in and go to prison for her crimes, and Angel occasionally visits her, as he does in "Judgment". Faith returns in the show's fourth season, in the episode "Salvage", broken out of jail by Wesley in order to hunt down and bring in Angelus. Almost at the cost of her own life, they (with some assistance by Willow) succeed to re-ensoul Angel, and Faith goes with Willow to Sunnydale to help fight against The First Evil and Caleb which occurs in the seventh season of Buffy.

• Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenberg (Seasons 2, 4)

Willow Rosenberg first appeared on the phone in the season two episode "Disharmony", calling with Cordelia about Harmony. She again appeared, but in a non-speaking role, at the end of the second season finale "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb", to tell of Buffy's death in "The Gift", over on Buffy. Willow's last appearance is in the fourth season episode "Orpheus" to re-ensoul Angel as she did in the second season of Buffy. During this short time with the team, she connected with the members of Angel's crew, notably Wesley (in fact, Alexis Denisof, the actor portraying Wesley, is married to Hannigan in real-life), who shared their respective experiences with the darkness inside them. As an extra to the adventure, Willow was able to take Faith back to Sunnydale to aid in the ongoing events of the seventh season of Buffy.

• Tom Lenk as Andrew Wells (Season 5)

The last of the Buffy alumni, Andrew Wells appears twice in the show's fifth and final season. First in the episode "Damage" as a representative for Buffy's gang to pick up new rogue slayer Dana. It is Andrew that expresses the group's new distrust for Angel's team, reuniting with the resurrected Spike at the same time. Andrew ultimately tricks Angel's team into giving up Dana after he appears with a large group of slayers. Andrew returns in "The Girl in Question", as a support to the Buffy decoy (as revealed in the Buffy Season Eight comics), giving Spike and Angel some advice on life and telling them it is time to let Buffy move on (for now).