List of characters in Taken

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This is a list of characters from the science-fiction television series Taken

Contents 1 The Clarkes 2 The Crawfords 3 The Keys 4 Other characters

[edit] The Clarkes

Sally Clarke

Played by Catherine Dent.
Sally is a lonely woman, since her husband Fred is always out of town. When she meets John, her life is turned upside down, and they form a special bond, even though they know each other briefly. She becomes pregnant with Jacob, a human-alien hybrid. Years later after Jacob's birth, Owen Crawford comes to search for Jacob. He uses Sally to get closer to Jacob. She falls for Crawford's charm but discovers his real intentions later on.

Fred Clarke

Played by Alf Humphreys.
Fred is Sally's husband. Fred was constantly away on business, and his relationship with his wife and children were strained considerably. Fred died some time between Jacob's conception and Christmas 1958.

Tom Clarke

Played by Ryan Hurst as Adult Tom, and Kevin Schmidt as Young Tom.
The son of Sally and Fred, Tom was always skeptical of his mother's belief in aliens from outer space, and makes it his life-long quest to debunk alien theories wherever they spread. After Owen Crawford destroys Sally's life, Tom swore to ruin his. He doesn't stop with Owen; he is a constant obstacle to Eric Crawford's research. He changes his alien-sceptic views when he realizes his brother Jacob is half-alien and devotes his life to uncover and spread the truth about the alien sightings as a best-seller writer. He tries to protect his niece Lisa from the Crawfords. Tom is the only major character to survive the entire length of the series.

Becky Clarke

Played by Chad Morgan as Adult Becky, and Shauna Kain as Young Becky.
Traditionally fiercely protective of her younger brother Jacob, Becky breaks it when she finds herself falling in love with Eric Crawford and becomes his lover, but in the end she decides to not leave her husband and children for him. Her relationship with her family is strained ever since.

Jacob Clarke

Played by Anton Yelchin as Young Jacob, and Chad Donella as Adult Jacob.
Young Jacob is an alien-human hybrid, growing up he was always different from all the other children. Shy and anti-social, he was bullied. That all changes when he demonstrates his vast psychic powers. Jacob, or Jack, as he is known by friends and relatives, he is wise beyond his years, and has a powerful, telekinetic and telepathic insight he inherited from his alien father, John. When necessary, Jacob can overload adversaries with memories of both their greatest fears and futures, driving them temporarily insane. These abilities come at a cost; overusing them can cause him severe cranial trauma, risking death. Eventually, his powers debilitate his health and take his life.

Carol Clarke

Played by Sadie Lawrence.
Carol is a kind woman who married Jacob, not realising that part of him is from another world. After she widows from him, she remarries to Danny Holding.

Lisa Clarke

Played by Emily Bergl as Adult Lisa, Alexandra Purvis as Lisa, age 13, and Taylor-Anne Reid as Lisa, age 11.
Despite being the daughter of a half-alien, she doesn't inherit any of his more unusual qualities. However, she is protected from the Crawfords by the aliens, and they save her from death, when she gives birth to Allison (Allie). Lisa meets Charlie Keys on board the spaceship when he gets abducted. They conceive Allie on the spaceship, having no memories of their meeting outside of the spaceship. Later, Lisa finds that she has a psychic link with her daughter. As a teenager, Lisa likes to wear a Hüsker Dü t-shirt from the Metal Circus era. Her comment to Nina about seeing Hüsker Dü "last year" in Sacramento indicates she would have been to the 27 Feb 1985 show ^[1].

[edit] The Crawfords

Captain/Colonel Owen Crawford

Played by Joel Gretsch.
A captain who eventually climbs the military ladder to be colonel in the United States Air Force, Owen happens across the crash site in Roswell in 1947. His ruthless qualities come out of the dark, and are shocking to the core. He stops at nothing to learn the secrets of the visitors from outer space, even if it means sacrificing his family. Owen tries to have an affair with Sally Clarke, until he is stopped by Jacob. Tom destroys Owen's career in revenge. In 1970, Owen dies from a heart attack after learning of his son, Sam's death. His other son, Eric knows Owen knew about his fate, and curses him until his father's last breath.

Anne Crawford

Played by Tina Holmes.
Anne is a warm-hearted woman who easily falls for Owen's charms. She eventually discovers that she was blissfully ignorant of the fact that he married her so he could advance up the ranks of the Air Force's alien project, then in the hands of her father, Col. Campbell. As a result, Anne's mental stability spirals, and meets a shocking fate: she is shot by her own husband, who makes it look like she was having an affair with Captain Bowen.

Eric Crawford

Played by Andy Powers as Adult Eric, Nolan Funk as Teenage Eric, and Cody Shaer as Young Eric.
Not quite as ruthless as his father Owen, Eric is a confused, angry man who felt unloved by his parents, especially Owen. For this reason he becomes extremely jealous of his brother Sam. Eric inherits the extraterrestrial project from his father, after he blackmails the General into giving in to him using Owen's records. He loses the project after the aliens take all the proof away until an incident with a space mission puts him back on the job. Eric's past and his obsession with the project and with discovering what proof Tom Clarke is hiding leave him estranged with his wife Julie, and his relationship with his daughter, Mary gradually turns to ice, with tragic results: he's killed under orders from his daughter.

Sam Crawford

Played by Ryan Merriman as Adult Sam, Branden Nadon as Teenage Sam, and Trevor Pawson as Young Sam.
The kind and understanding Sam grows up to be a young journalist. He is always dismissive of his father and brother's projects. That is until he happens across a newspaper article about an ancient Inuit ruin, whose symbols resemble those on the piece of metal Owen keeps in his personal safe. Sam embarks on a journey to Alaska to find the truth, with fatal consequences.

Julie Crawford

Played by Emily Holmes.
Julie thought that the Eric she married was the perfect man, but the life she envisions crumbles. Her relationship with her daughter, Mary, however, is very strong, although she doesn't realize how much Mary has inherited from her grandfather.

Mary Crawford

Played by Heather Donahue as Adult Mary, and Anysha Berthot as Young Mary.
Owen's monstrous legacy is carried onto his granddaughter, Mary. Although her relationship with her mother is strong, she feels estranged by her father, Eric. An outstanding student in biochemistry, Mary jumps on board Eric's project, making several major breakthroughs in association with fellow scientist and secret lover Dr. Chet Wakeman. Mary coldbloodedly experiments on several of the 'taken', and relentlessly hunts down the current generation of the Keys and the Clarkes - especially Allie. She is eventually arrested for her crimes.

[edit] The Keys

Captain Russell Keys

Played by Steve Burton.

Braving the deadly skies above France as a B-17 bomber Captain in 1943, Russell and his crew are abducted by aliens disguised as German doctors. After dispatching the aliens, Russel is never the same when he comes home. The aliens are interested in him and his descendants because most people who come into contact with their technology get sick and eventually die (such as the rest of his B-17 crew) but his physiology is more tolerant to it. Upon discovering that his comrades had died, he leaves his family to become a drifter, hoping the aliens never find him. Alas, he is proved wrong, and is taken several times and experimented on, and the two eventually discover the implants in their brains. Russell tries to defend his son, Jesse, from the aliens, though continues to fail, his frustration over this, combined with Jesses' advice, driving him to approach Owen Crawford and offer up his implant, despite knowing its removal would kill him, in exchange for Jesse' protection. Owen agrees, and Russell is taken to a secret surgery headed by Air Force doctors led by Doctor Kreutz. Russell, noticing Owen isn't present, realizes he has been betrayed, though it physically overpowered, forced into unconsciousness and operated on. The negative effects of the implant drive all present insane and cause them to kill eachother; one shooting several oxygen tanks that destroys the entire building, killing all including Russell. Jesse suffered immense emotional guilt of his fathers' death, and, when the abductions centered on him, the alien's summoned an image of Russell to force an emotional response (as part of their experiment).

Kate Keys

Played by Julie Benz.

After anxiously waiting for Russel's return from Europe, Kate is saddened to find he comes home a changed man. She is constantly concerned about his state of mind, and is worried that he can't tell her what's been haunting him for so long. After Russel flees, she divorces him and remarries to Sheriff Bill Walker.

Jesse Keys

Played by Desmond Harrington as Adult Jesse, James Kirk as Teen Jesse, and Conner Widdows as Young Jesse.

The son of Russel and Kate, Jesse always admired his father for his heroism during the Second World War. Jesse finds himself taken by visitors from outer space, and each abduction sends him into a spiral of depression, anxiety, and rage. He is particularly traumatized by his experiences in Vietnam, when the aliens save him from a burning Buddhist temple, but let his squadmates die. He becomes a heroin addict after the war, but is rehabilitated by a nurse named Amelia. Jesse tries to protect his son, Charlie, from being abducted, but to no avail. Ultimately, his experiences wind him up in a mental hospital until his death.

Amelia Keys

Played by Julie Ann Emery.

Amelia meets Jesse in the hospital where she works. She takes care of him and helps him overcome his addiction to drugs. However, she is concerned by Jesse's increasingly erratic behaviour, especially towards their son, Charlie. Amelia finally believes Jesse when Eric Crawford's agents come after him, and she leads Charlie to live in obscurity.

Charlie Keys

Played by Adam Kaufman as Adult Charlie, and Devin Douglas Drewitz as Teen Charlie.

Like his father Jesse, Charlie is tormented by his abductions by the aliens. Despite that, he has an intriguing experience with Lisa Clarke while abducted, and the two share a special bond. Charlie was a school teacher, but his desire to expose the aliens' activities render him jobless, and is forced to run from the government. He meets Lisa in real life when he's studying Dr. Penzler's abductees group. After he and Lisa go through hypnotherapy, he discovers that Allie is his daughter and tries to keep her safe.

Allie Keys

Played by Dakota Fanning as Allie, and Elle Fanning as Allie, age 3.

Although her mother didn't inherit Jacob's alien abilities, Allie did. Allie is somewhat wise beyond her years and has the ability to not only read minds, but can also manipulate time and space, warp reality, and has healed her father Charlie. Allie is the centrepiece of the alien's experiments, but not even she knows what lies in store for her. She is also taken by Mary Crawford and then by the army, who use her as a bait to lure the aliens into a trap. But she deceives them all and escapes with her parents. In the end, however, she has to leave with the aliens to save everyone. But she leaves behind a promise to return.

[edit] Other characters

Alien Visitor 'John'

Played by Eric Close.
When 'John's' alien spacecraft crashes in the New Mexico desert near Roswell, killing his companions, he assumes the form of a human. He falls in love with Sally Clarke, and gives her a child, Jacob. John leaves shortly afterward, but the two have a special bond. Sally Clarke gives him one of her star earrings. Jacob helps his mother see him again on her deathbed. He returns later to help his great-granddaughter, Allie. He teaches her to block her signal and he tells her that, unless she calls them, they wouldn't be able to find her, just before he leaves to protect them.

General Beers

Played by James McDaniel.
A high-ranking officer in the US Army, General Beers shuts down Mary Crawford and Dr. Wakeman's FBI alien project. He moves operations to North Dakota, in a bid to lure the aliens into a trap, using Allie as bait. His plan seems to succeed when the UFO crashes, but it turns out it was Allie who deceived them.

Lieutenant/Captain Howard Bowen

Played by Jason Gray-Stanford.
One of Col. Owen Crawford's two closest lackeys. He's right when he says, "That is one nasty son of a bitch". He is killed by Owen during his scheme to deal with his wife, Anne.

Col. Thomas Campbell

Played by Michael Moriarty.
An Army Air Corps Colonel in the intelligence division and Capt. Owen Crawford's superior. He takes control of everything related to the Roswell crash and leaves Crawford out of it. Crawford then seduces and marries his daughter Anne and blackmails Campbell into assigning him as head of the project.

Dewey Clayton

Played by Timothy Webber.
A local hunting guide in North Dakota that Charlie and Lisa hire to find Allie after the US Army shuts down the road that leads to the area they have Allie in. He is shocked to find out about the aliens.

'Doc'

Played by Jay Brazeau. He is only seen for a short time during the series.

Gladys & Mavis Erenberg

Played by Carol & Helen Infield Sender.
Gladys & Mavis are the famed Erenberg twins, and they're psychically linked to each other. They are taken to New Mexico as guinea pigs in Owen Crawford and Dr. Kreutz's alien program. They demonstrate their abilities when one of the twins visualises a bunch of flowers, while the other draws a mentally accurate depiction. Crawford and Kreutz hope the Erenburg twins could fly the alien ship that crashed near Roswell. But those who enter the base don't come out alive...

Lieutenant/Captain Marty Erickson

Played by John Hawkes.
The second of Col. Owen Crawford's two closest lackeys. He suspected Col. Crawford killed his wife and Captain Bowen, but only told Eric several years later after the Colonel's death. Eric got him arrested as accomplice of the crime.

Dr. Ellen Greenspan

Played by Brenda James.
A doctor in Jacob's school that saves him when Bowen and Erickson came after him.

Dr. Helms

Played by Andrew Johnston.

Danny Holding

Played by Byron Lucas.
A musician neighbor of Carol Clarke who often babysits Lisa and eventually becomes Carol's second husband.

Nina Toth

Played by Camille Sullivan (adult) and Brittney Irvin (teenager).
Best friend of Lisa since their teenager years at school and shares a love of the music of Hüsker Dü.

Lieutenant Lou Johnson

Played by Ryan Robbins.

Dr. Kreutz

Played by Willie Garson.

Formerly an aerospace engineer for the Nazis, Dr. Kreutz escaped to America after the end of World War II. He comes to work under Colonel Crawford after the Roswell landings in 1947. Dr. Kreutz is a rather stern and cold man, and offhandedly sacrifices test subjects. He is killed in an explosion along with the mad victims of the experiment on Russel Keys.

Lester

Played by Frederick Koehler.
Up in the frozen forests of Alaska, dwells Lester. He is an alien-human hybrid, but unlike Jacob Clarke, he was born horribly deformed more alien outside then inside. Lester has the appearance of a mutated human-alien, he has the bone-chilling psychic ability to kill whoever looks him in the eye. Absolutely terrified of himself, he hides in a small shack in the woods. He builds an Inuit-inspired tomb for his dead twin brother (who was also deformed), hoping to revive him with magic. Lester and his twin brother are failed experiments of the aliens, and therefore of no importance.

Patricia

Played by Janet Wright.

Dr. Harriet Penzler

Played by Gabrielle Rose.
A psychological counsellor, Dr. Penzler is engrossed by hearing the experiences of the 'taken', and has opened a therapy group so abductees can talk about their experiences. She also uses hypnosis on the members of the group to recollect their memories. However, some of the members of the group find their confidence in her testing... She's killed by a government agent while hypnotizing Lisa to help her find Allie.

Lieutenant Pierce

Played by Michael Soltis.
A young soldier that takes care of Allie while she's under the US Army custody. He reads the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to her. When the UFO crashes, he's one of the soldiers chosen to go inside. After Allie's deception is uncovered, he helps her and her parents escape.

Dr. Powell

Played by Terry Chen.

Dr. Quarrington

Played by Malcolm Stewart.

Ray

Played by Brian Markinson.
Ray is an angry and confused man who pretends that he was abducted by aliens, but was in fact a victim of child sexual abuse. He attempts to create a media spectacle by holding the therapy group hostage in a bid to prove to himself that is a sane man. Allie convinces him to surrender.

Sue

Played by Stacy Grant.
Captain Crawford's girlfriend, until he becomes interested in Anne, a marriage that could help his career. Sue finds a piece of alien technology and gives it to him. He promises her to rekindle their relationship, but he brutally kills her to marry Anne.

Private William Toland

Played by Jason Grayhm.

Sheriff Bill Walker

Played by Ian Tracey.
Second husband to Kate Keys.

Captain Walker

Played by Roger Cross.
One of the soldiers that guards Allie while in custody of the US Army. After the UFO crashes, he leads the soldiers chosen to go inside.

Dr. Chet Wakeman

Played by Matt Frewer.
Despite being a highly intelligent and rather blackly humorous character, Dr. Chet Wakeman can be rather sadistic. Wakeman, being a scientist, has a grossly childlike fascination with the aliens, and will sacrifice absolutely anything to have a share in the alien experience. As a result, he gleefully sentences test subjects - both human and animal - to their deaths in order to extract research data, and to satisfy his curiosity. Although he is Eric Crawford's friend, their friendship cools over the years, especially when Wakeman becomes very close with Eric's daughter Mary, and the two have an affair for several years, until she shoots him in the back when he tries to warn Charlie Keys and Lisa Clarke, killing him.

Lieutenant Williams

Played by Tobias Mehler.
One of the soldiers that guards Allie while in custody of the US Army. After the UFO crashes, he's one of the soldiers chosen to go inside.