Characters of South of Nowhere
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- This is a list of characters from South of Nowhere, the American television program created by Thomas W. Lynch.
[edit] Carlin family
[edit] Spencer Carlin
Spencer and her family moved from a small town in Ohio to Los Angeles, California. Season 1 focused on the issue of her own sexual orientation and relationship with her new best friend Ashley Davies. Spencer was shortly attracted to Ashley's ex-boyfriend Aiden Dennison while maintaining an awkward, semi-romantic relationship with Ashley. In the season 1 finale, Spencer came to the conclusion that she isn't straight, and she and Ashley kissed.
In the season 2 premiere, it is revealed that they slept with each other. When Spencer's mother, Paula, walked in on them in a compromising position, Ashley was somewhat violently thrown out of the house and Spencer was kept away from Ashley. Her mother attempted to bring in a therapist to "fix" her, but her father, Arthur, wouldn't stand for it. Spencer couldn't deal with the situation at home anymore, and when Ashley came by to run away with her, she lept at the chance. After returning home, Spencer patches things up with her mother, and she and Ashley are out of the closet, but not truly free. To compound things, a love triangle between Ashley, Spencer, and Aiden forms as Aiden still has feelings for Ashley that she has been returning. Season 2 ends with Spencer pleading Ashley to decide between herself and Aiden just before the prom shooting happens.
In the beginning of season 3, Spencer breaks up with Ashley due to her lack of support and communication for the two to three months following the prom shooting and Clay's death. Ashley and Aiden begin dating once again, while Spencer and Ashley try to maintain their friendship. Spencer meets a girl named Carmen while at Chelsea's studio. After a session of painting and getting to know each other, the two girls kiss.
Spencer is portrayed by Gabrielle Christian.
[edit] Glen Carlin
Glen is the athlete of the family and the eldest child. He played basketball for the school team while attending King High and maintained a rivalry and friendship with Aiden, the former star of the team before Glen's arrival. In season 1, he began dating Madison Duarte after she broke up with Aiden in favor of Glen's position on the team. When he tore his ACL in a pickup game of basketball, Madison immediately broke up with him. He became addicted to painkillers and was briefly arrested for attempting to buy more from a drug dealer. Glen soon began rehab three times a week, and at the end of season 2, he announces at prom that he has signed up for the army.
Glen is generally supportive of his siblings and initially liked Ashley, but when he first realized what was going on between Ashley and Spencer, he was not pleased with the idea of his sister being a lesbian. After Spencer accidentally received a black eye from the gay bashing of another male student, Glen became angry and cold towards both girls. He went so far as to fight with his brother Clay in the hospital, claiming that Spencer was not truly Clay's sister due to his being adopted. He eventually made up with Clay and Spencer and warmed up to Ashley again and finally appeared to accept Spencer's sexual orientation.
In the season 3 premiere, after graduating, Glen got a job at a sporting goods store with the help of Aiden. He was contacted by the army soon after to begin boot camp and began having second thoughts about enlisting. He finally reveals to his family what he has done and manages to get out of the army when his father, Arthur, explains to the sergeant that Glen initially joined with a fake I.D. and was underage. He also began helping and spending time with Chelsea Lewis in the aftermath of Clay's death.
Glen is portrayed by Chris Hunter.
[edit] Clay Carlin
Clay is the only black kid in an all-white family. He was eight when the Carlin family adopted him. After moving to Los Angeles, Clay was forced to deal with many issues concerning race and discrimination. He befriended Sean Miller and began dating Chelsea Lewis. Clay also searched out his biological mother, Cecily Jordan, who reveals that she initially gave Clay up because she wanted him to have a better life than what she could give him. After a rocky start, Cecily moves to L.A. to be closer to Clay and be in his life. They slowly started to repair their relationship.
In season 2, Clay lost his virginity to Chelsea and it was later revealed that Chelsea was pregnant. He was initially shocked when Chelsea decides that she may not want the baby, and did not know what to do when she became distant towards him. Clay came to the conclusion that he loved Chelsea and would support her and her decision about the pregnancy no matter what it was. He, along with Chelsea, also realized Spencer's true feelings for Ashley before Spencer came out. Unlike Glen he was extremely supportive and accepting of his sister's sexual orientation the entire time.
In the season 3 premiere, it was revealed that Clay died from his wounds as a result of the drive-by shooting on prom night. A memorial at King High was made to him and the other victims of the shooting, as well as a fictional MTV True Life documentary.
Clay is portrayed by Danso Gordon.
[edit] Arthur Carlin
Arthur is the father of the Carlin family and was a "hero" social worker back in Ohio. However, after moving to L.A. because of his wife's job, he is having trouble adapting to big city life. Arthur keeps the family together, and sticks up for his daughter Spencer whenever Paula tries to start fights with her about being gay. Arthur tries everything to keep the family together, and it usually works. Even when his wife was cheating on him with another doctor at the hospital she works at, he tried to fix that problem. And it worked.
Arthur is portrayed by Rob Moran.
[edit] Paula Carlin
Paula is the main reason the Carlin family moved so that she could begin a new job in the E.R. in Los Angeles. Her new job has put a large strain on her family life, as well as her marriage. At the end of the episode "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are", she discovered her daughter and Ashley are together.
Paula is portrayed by Maeve Quinlan.
[edit] King High School
[edit] Ashley Davies
Ashley comes from a rich family due to the fact that her father is a famous rock star, Raife Davies, played by C. C. DeVille. However, she faces many family issues, mostly neglect from her mother Christine due to her sexual orientation. She formerly dated Aiden Dennison and it is revealed that she was once pregnant with his child. After she lost the baby, she decided that she's "mostly into girls" and has referred to herself as "a gay lesbian". At first she became Spencer's best friend and helped her discover her sexual identity. At the end of the first season, after Spencer comes to the conclusion that she is into girls, Ashley and Spencer kiss. In the beginning of the second season, Ashley's father is killed in a car crash and she is shocked to discover he had another child at the same time as her birth, her newly discovered half-sister, Kyla. She doesn’t get along with Kyla but they eventually learn to live together. She runs away with Spencer after Paula discovers that Spencer and Ashley are together. She is torn between the choice of Spencer or Aiden.
Ashley is portrayed by Mandy Musgrave.
[edit] Aiden Dennison
Aiden was the former star of the basketball team before Glen came along. At the time he was dating Madison, although he is still not over his breakup with Ashley. Once Spencer came on the scene he became friends with Spencer and began hanging out with her and Ashley, causing Madison to break up with him over jealousy. Following his breakup with Madison, he became primarily focused on Spencer. However, after discovering that Spencer would rather be with Ashley than him, he slept with Madison, but soon broke up with her. He started dating Kyla Woods but decided to stop when he finds out that she has left town for a while to see her ex-boyfriend. The two started to date again and went to Prom together, despite his love for Ashley, which is revealed to everyone at the prom.
Aiden is portrayed by Matt Cohen.
[edit] Madison Duarte
Madison is the stereotypical "queen" cheerleader. At the start of the series, she dated Aiden. However, once Glen became the new basketball star, she moved on and began dating Glen. However, after Glen injured his knee and lost any chance getting a scholarship to a respectable college, she resumed dating Aiden. Aiden ended up dumping her, but she still refused to go back out with Glen. Madison finds out about Kyla's ex-boyfriend and slyly reveals this to Aiden. Her parents lost their money which caused drama for Madison. She was forced to get a job and was later fired after she was caught stealing money. She was then kicked off the cheerleading squad. Her parents then sent her to a hospital because they were afraid she was going to hurt herself. When she returned to school, she had no friends, only a reluctant Aiden who sat with her at lunch. She went to Prom with Glenn. She also apologized to Spencer and Ashley for always taunting them about their sexuality, much to Ashley's shock.
Madison is portrayed by Valery Ortiz.
[edit] Kyla Woods
Kyla is Ashley's long-lost half-sister, who appears after the death of their father, Raife Davies. She leaves her home in Baltimore but still keeps in touch with her mother Ann. She starts dating Aiden but returns to Baltimore for a while to formally break up with the boyfriend that she left, though she doesn't mention him to Aiden. Madison lets it slip that Kyla still had a boyfriend back home and Aiden breaks up with Kyla once she gets back to town. They decided to start over as friends and they later got back together, as Aiden's feelings for Ashley resurfaces. She and Spencer have started to form a friendship. She and Ashley have also started to form a more sister-like relationship with each other.
Kyla is portrayed by Eileen April Boylan.
[edit] Carmen
Carmen is a new student at King High who first appears in season 3. She meets Chelsea in the administration office where they have a short chat. Later she finds Chelsea struggling to sketch an image and ends up posing briefly for her. Chelsea invites Carmen to her studio to paint and while there, Carmen meets Spencer. While Spencer keeps her company, Carmen reveals that she moves around frequently and has had a girlfriend in the past. They bond during their painting session and share a kiss. They start dating. Paula walks in on her painting a picture of Spencer half naked. She gets jealous when she sees Ashley and starts to freak out. During an argument over Spencer's relationship with Ashley, Carmen shoves Spencer into a wall, and after that they break up and Carmen moves away to San Diego.
Carmen is portrayed by Brooke Vallone.
[edit] Sean Miller
Sean is Clay's best friend and helps him deal with many race-based issues. While being very smart, he tends to sometimes hang out in the wrong areas and/or get himself into trouble.
Sean is portrayed by Austen Parros.
[edit] Chelsea Lewis
Chelsea was dating Clay and also helped him through many of the issues he faced following the move from Ohio. She is currently pregnant with Clay's baby. She wanted to have an abortion at first, but support from Clay as well as his death have changed Chelsea's mind.
In the season 3 episode "Fighting Crime," Chelsea loses her baby after someone rams into Glen's car while she's sitting in it. It would've been a girl.
Chelsea is portrayed by Aasha Davis.
[edit] Sherry Pena
Sherry is one of the popular cheerleaders at King High and was Madison's best friend. She and Madison made things difficult for anyone they don't like; therefore, Ashley and Spencer usually get taunted by them about their sexuality. She eventually became captain of the cheerleader squad and kicked Madison off the team.
Sherry is portrayed by Marisa Lauren.
[edit] Boz
Boz is Sean's more street-savvy cousin. He is often involved in some type of controversy or trouble, but is nonetheless loyal to those he hangs around. He serves as the voice for those in lower economic bracket. He is a "street kid with a heart of gold."
Boz is portrayed by Quentin Prescott Price.
[edit] Miscellaneous characters
[edit] Cecily Jordan
Cecily is the biological mother of Clay Carlin. She gave him up for adoption because she believed he would have a better life with a family that could support him. When Clay attempted to find her later, she was initially unreceptive to him. After having a chance to think about things, she moved to L.A. to be closer to Clay and tried to be a part of his life. The two slowly repaired their relationship and she offered advice to him on Chelsea's pregnancy.
Cecily is portrayed by Tempestt Bledsoe.
