List of Oz (TV series) characters

The characters of Oz, fictional characters on the television series about prison life, are a diverse mixture of inmates from various gangs and prison staff.

Contents

Sponsors

Due to Emerald City's unconventional configuration and routine, each new inmate is given a sponsor to help them get acclimated. Inmates are generally paired with sponsors of similar nationality, background, race, and/or religion, to help them acclimate with the help of someone with similar interests and beliefs. Specific requests for current Emerald City prisoners to be paired up with inbound inmates have occasionally been made and granted. Below is a list of inmates and sponsors.

Inmate Sponsor
Tobias Beecher Dino Ortolani
Donald Groves Bob Rebadow
Paul Markstrom Jefferson Keane
Scott Ross Mark Mack
Ryan O'Reily Vernon Schillinger
Jackson Vahue Augustus Hill
Chris Keller Tobias Beecher
Raoul 'El Cid' Hernandez Miguel Alvarez
Jiggy Walker Bob Rebadow
Jaz Hoyt Jim Burns
Antonio Nappa Chucky Pancamo
Hamid Khan Kareem Said
Carlo Ricardo Raoul 'El Cid' Hernandez
Malcolm Coyle Kenny Wangler
Supreme Allah Kareem Said
"Desmond Mobay" Augustus Hill
Ralph Galino Chucky Pancamo
Guillaume Tarrant Jaz Hoyt
Ronald Barlog Tobias Beecher
Adam Guenzel Tobias Beecher
Daniel Meehan Ryan O'Reily

Main characters

Inmates

Character: Portrayed by: Appears in seasons:
Augustus Hill Harold Perrineau 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Physically disabled—but socially astute—narrator of the show. Though he dies at the end of season 5 he remained on the show throughout season 6 as the narrator.
Tobias Beecher Lee Tergesen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Was a middle class lawyer in denial about his alcoholism until landing in prison forced him to confront himself and become self-sufficient. His character undergoes the most drastic changes throughout the seasons, during which he becomes a drug addict, falls in love with a man and finds Islam. His relationship with Keller and blood feud with Schillinger is the series' dominant story arc, beginning in the first episode and not being resolved until the series finale when he accidentally kills Schillinger in an acted fight in a play
Vern Schillinger J. K. Simmons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Leader of the Aryan Brotherhood, Schillinger commits atrocities against other inmates because of race, sexual orientation, or overall weakness. However, he is double-crossed by Keller and accidentally killed by Beecher during a production of the play "Macbeth"
Ryan O'Reily Dean Winters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
An Irish hoodlum who does what it takes to survive. Compared to Othello's Iago by show creator Fontana, he is responsible for almost every death in the show's first season.
Bob Rebadow George Morfogen 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
An elderly inmate serving life for murder. He was sentenced to death originally, but in 1965 he survived a botched execution and had his sentence commuted. He is fantastically intuitive (some think as a result of the botched execution), which in the first couple of seasons he explains by nonchalantly saying "God told me"; later he begins to doubt the source and the veracity of his insights.
Kareem Said Eamonn Walker 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
A brilliant Muslim leader with a powerful voice and a conviction that other people's racism will absolve him. He is responsible for the death of Simon Adebisi, however it was ruled to be self-defense. However, he is shot and killed by Lemuel Idzik.
Miguel Alvarez Kirk Acevedo 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Goes through a process of losing masculine credibility within the Latino gang, then tries to redeem himself after cutting out a respectable prison guard's eyes. He briefly escapes from prison but is eventually recaptured.
Cyril O'Reily Scott William Winters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ryan O'Reily's mentally handicapped brother who was incarcerated after blindly following Ryan's orders to murder the husband of Dr. Gloria Nathan, with whom Ryan is obsessed. He was mentally incapacitated in a gang fight. He kills an inmate out of self defense of his brother, but gets sent to death row and finally executed after a long legal battle.
Chris Keller Christopher Meloni 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
A bisexual serial killer who preyed upon gay men in the outside world while hiding his sexual orientation through a series of marriages. Perhaps the most amoral figure in the entire milieu, he is a master of emotional manipulation and only seems to really enjoy himself when those who care about him are made to suffer. His relationship with Beecher is also a big part in many episodes. He commits suicide in the series finale when Beecher told him he would never forgive him for being sent back to OZ.
Simon Adebisi Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje 1, 2, 3, 4
A gigantic, deranged maniac of Nigerian descent; incarcerated for decapitating a police officer with a machete. His flirtations with insanity and religion are transient. However, Adebisi remains one of the most powerful inmates within the walls of Oz up until his death when he is killed by Kareem Said.

Prison staff

The corrections officer (COs) are mostly white (predominantly Irish and Italian) with many black and some Latino officers. The warden, Leo Glynn is African American and started off his career as a CO at Oz. Most of the COs come from lower socio-economic classes. Some are amoral and prone to corruption. The main unit manager, Tim McManus, is the only authority figure who has not started off as a guard and this therefore gives him a different point of view about how to deal with the inmates. The rest of the non-correctional staff, such as Dr. Gloria Nathan and psychiatrist Sister Peter Marie ("Sister Pete") Reimondo, have a much more humane view of prisoners, and often push Glynn and the others to see the inmates as human beings. Overall, different factions within the staff are almost always at odds, trying to manage internal problems while keeping the public calm regarding the way the prison is being managed.

Others