List of Six Feet Under characters
The following are a list of descriptions for characters on the HBO television series, Six Feet Under which aired from 2001–2005 for five seasons.
Major characters
Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher, Jr.
(Peter Krause), the son who returns to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to learn his father has died. It could be argued that Nate is the "main character" of the show since the series began with his return home from Seattle. Nate assumes responsibility after his father's death and joins brother David in running Fisher & Sons (later Fisher & Diaz). Soon after being home for a while he becomes diagnosed with AVM, a fatal brain condition which he could die from at any given moment if not taken care of. He had a difficult time explaining this to his family, who were supportive, and his fiancèe, Brenda. He soon broke off his engagement with her off with after learning she has committed infidelity, although Nate was also unfaithful when he slept with his ex-girlfriend Lisa, getting her pregnant. His surgery was a success and he soon married Lisa when their daughter Maya was three months old. Their relationship became tumultuous and just as things seemed to get better she was reported missing. A month later she was found dead. Soon after, Nate struggles as a single parent but soon however rekindles his relationship with Brenda and the two become engaged for the second time. The two marry six months later. Their wedding is darkened by Brenda's miscarriage the previous day. Several months later, after suffering from a fatal brain hemmorhage, Nate slips into a coma briefly but soon after dies due to the return of his AVM, leaving behind his loving family, wife and daughter. On his deathbed, he dumped Brenda.
David Fisher
(Michael C. Hall), the other son (four years younger than Nate) who is co-operator of Fisher & Sons (later Fisher & Diaz) and is in a relationship with Keith, a police officer. Soon after his father's death, David became angered at the fact that his brother, Nate had come back into the picture after coming and going as he pleased since 1984. David also struggled with the fact that he was gay and had a difficult time coming out, which his lover Keith so desperately wanted. David soon came out to his family, who were accepting, but he was exiled from his Episcopalian church (where he served as deacon). David has since moved on experiencing difficulty and happiness with Keith, and pain through a traumatic experience involving himself and a carjacker. David has since gotten closure out of the ordeal, and has adopted two children with Keith; brothers Durrell and Anthony.
Ruth O'Connor Fisher Sibley
(Frances Conroy), the widow of Nathaniel and mother of three who had an ongoing affair with a hairdresser while her husband was alive. Since then, she has attended a self-help seminar called The Plan, remarried to George Sibley and started a friendship with an adventurous woman named Bettina. After George suffered a mental breakdown she felt smothered taking care of him, and after he got better the two separated.
Claire Fisher
(Lauren Ambrose) a rebellious 21-year-old, who is into drugs, sex, and bad relationships. She is the most creative in the family being inspired by those closest (such as her family, Aunt Sarah, Billy). At one time dating the bitter high school student Gabe, she engaged briefly in a complex relationship with Brenda's brother Billy. Soon after her art gallery opening, she left art school after being abandoned by her friends and the faux reality of her education. Claire soon broke up with Billy after finding him difficult to deal with a complication from not taking his medication.
Federico Diaz
(Freddy Rodriguez), the extremely skilled restorative artist who is an asset to the Fisher's, a father and a partner in the business. He was extremely close to Mr. Fisher who supported him through college. Federico was recently separated from his wife Vanessa when she discovered he was cheating on her, though he moved back in when she discovered it was too hard to raise their children alone.
Brenda Chenowith Fisher
(Rachel Griffiths), Nate's wife, (formerly his long-time girlfriend) who could possibly be described as the most psychologically interesting character on the show. Her parents are wealthy psychiatrists while her brother is a successful photographer, struggling with bipolar disorder. Currently, Brenda is studying to be a cognitive therapist and trying to establish a firm family with Nate something she feels she has never had.
Keith Charles
(Mathew St. Patrick), David's tempestuous lover, who has anger issues. He was a police officer before moving on to work in private security. After years of dealing with anger, Keith sought help with a therapist and became more loving to David and tried to reconnect ties with his abusive father who refused. After David's tragic incident, Keith decides to try to fill the void with happiness, thus offering the discussion of adoption and/or surrogacy. After some legal complications they adopted two young children, though Keith finds himself having trouble controlling his anger when it comes to disciplining them.
George Sibley
(James Cromwell), Ruth's second husband, who has had 6 wives and a past unknown to his new spouse. He has two children from a previous marriage: a son, Brian and a daughter Maggie, a lovely traveling pharmaceutical representative. Before marrying, George dated a woman and soon after got her pregnant, thus a son Kyle. Before Kyle was born however he signed away his custodial rights. Therefore later in Kyle's life, he intensely hated his father and sent boxes of feces to the Fisher home. The two later reconciled. More recently he suffered a nervous breakdown and went into shock therapy, still recovering from the wounds of his mother's suicide when he was a child in 1953. It soon became too much for Ruth to take care of him, and the two separated. After becoming adjusted, he drops a bomb on Ruth that he is engaged for the eighth time. To try to save his next wife from pain and suffering she endured, Ruth goes to talk with his fiancèe Joy and manages to sabotage the engagement causing an counterattack from George.
Supporting Characters
Vanessa Diaz
(Justina Machado), Federico's wife and high school sweetheart; she works as a registered nurse. His moods and decisions outside of the home are often closely affected by her advice and attitude. In recent times, Federico's infidelity has caused the couple to separate and consider divorce. However after finding it very difficult to live on her own and raise her sons alone, she asks an estranged Federico to move back in which he gladly accepts.
Nathaniel Samuel Fisher, Sr.
(Richard Jenkins), Patriarch of the Fisher family and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home until his death on Christmas Eve, 2000. Though he is dead, he is still a presence in most of the Fishers and lives on in their hearts as a guide and advisor to his surviving members. In many of the early episodes, family members would have lengthy conversations with the senior Nate, on their way to reconciling themselves with his death.
Maggie Sibley
(Tina Holmes), George's daughter. A traveling pharmaceutical representative from Arizona, Maggie has moved to Los Angeles permanently to help take care of her ailing father.
Sarah O'Connor
(Patricia Clarkson), Ruth's younger artistic sister who left Ruth alone to deal with sick relatives. Years ago, Sarah baby-sat Ruth's sons and they got into trouble (with a fifteen year-old Nate losing his virginity to one of her older friends); Ruth once resented Sarah for both of these reasons. Years pass and the two finally reconcile after Ruth attends a self-help seminar and Sarah returns from Spain. Soon after, Ruth discovers that Sarah has developed a drug addiction to the pain killer, Vicodin. Weeks after going through withdrawal, Sarah soon goes into drug rehabilitation which puts her life into full perspective.
Bettina
(Kathy Bates), Sarah's caretaker with whom Ruth begins a friendship.
Lisa Kimmel Fisher
(Lili Taylor), Nate's old friend from Seattle who became pregnant by him. They later married after the birth of their daughter, Maya. Their marriage was a turbulent one, as Lisa was worried about Nate's remaining feelings for Brenda. Lisa later went on a trip and never returned; her body was eventually discovered, and a guilty Nate assumed that Lisa had killed herself because of him. Nate later came into conflict with Lisa's family on how she wanted to be buried; Lisa had told him that she wanted to buried in the wilderness with no chemicals or preservatives, while her family wanted her cremated and buried in their family mausoleum. Nate went on to bury Lisa as she had wanted, while giving her family the cremains of an unclaimed body. It was later insinuated that she was killed by her sister's husband, who she had a brief affair with before getting married to Nate. Lisa is another deceased character who appears in recurring visions, frequently to Nate or Brenda.
Billy Chenowith
(Jeremy Sisto), Brenda's younger brother, who is a bipolar artist and often has violent and scary episodes. He has been prescribed psychiatric medication to control his disorder, but frequently causes problems by failing to take them as needed. Billy's episodes have proved chronic, including critical events in the life of his family. In one example, he allegedly burnt down a section of the family home in 1986. It was due to another incident, in which he carves a tatoo off of his back and attempts to do the same to his sister, which leads his family to have him committed. (The tattoos were of their favorite fictional characters: Nathaniel and Isabel -- there is a strong implication that the two siblings were intimately involved during their childhood, though Brenda has denied that anything sexual went on between them.) Billy is also an alumnus and teacher at LAC-Arts, where Claire Fisher attended college until late 2004. Billy first met Claire in 2001 at Brenda's, and struck up a good friendship until Billy quickly ended it. After being institutionalized, the only person he could talk to was Claire. After he was released he rekindled the relationship, and the two began dating two years later, and briefly cohabitated. He disliked the effect his medication has on him, which culminated at a dinner with old friends, where he realized he was no longer the person he used to be. He then slipped into the familiar habit of not taking his medication, and became increasingly violent. Soon after, Claire realized this and broke it off with him for her own safety.
Margaret Chenowith
(Joanna Cassidy), Brenda and Billy's dysfunctional mother and a psychologist. In the 1960s, she met her future husband, Bernard Chenowith in therapy when she was working as an intern. The couple later married in 1967. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths had become a topic of discussion after allegedly allowing their daughter Brenda to undergo testing by the controversial Gareth Feinberg, PhD who later wrote Charlotte: Light and Dark, Brenda resents her parents for those reasons. The couple separated briefly in 2002 after Bernard lied of his infidelity. The two later renewed their vows and soon after Bernard died of cancer in early 2003. Since then, Margaret has moved on and began dating her son's former lover (and art teacher), Olivier Castro-Staal.
Dr. Bernard Asa Chenowith
(Robert Foxworth), Brenda and Billy's father who worked as a celebrity psychiatrist with his wife Margaret, whom he met when she was a college intern. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths made headlines when they allowed their daughter to undergo testing by the controversial Dr. Gareth Feinberg for her brilliant, yet uncontrollable behavior. Bernard and Margaret briefly separated in 2002 for reasons of infidelity however soon after the two reconciled and renewed their vows, he succumbed to stomach cancer in 2003.
Olivier Castro-Staal
(Peter MacDissi), Teaches Form in Space at LAC-Arts, former teacher of Claire, Russell, and Billy Chenowith. Olivier is also bisexual, who has had flings with Russell and Billy and is now living with Billy's mother, Margaret.
Russell Corwin
(Ben Foster), Claire's classmate at art school and one-time boyfriend.
Edie
(Mena Suvari), A free-spirited lesbian artist who becomes a friend and one time lover of Claire.
Anita Miller
(Sprague Grayden), Claire's former best friend and roommate. The two met at art school and have developed a Laverne and Shirley-like relationship. The relationship was broken off when Claire was abandoned by her friends including Anita and soon Claire left art school for good.
Parker McKenna
.jpg){kind=link}
(Marina Black), was Claire's best friend during her high school years. Parker is a very rich, beautiful and rebellious transfer student from a private school who attempts to start a friendship with the unlikely Claire Fisher. The friendship blossomed, however after finding out that Parker had cheated on her SATs and had been accepted into better colleges than Claire the friendship was broken off until Claire learned it was better to have one friend than no friends at all. After Claire enrolled in art school, Parker was caught and enrolled in a community college. The two have not spoken since graduation.
Gabriel Dimas
(Eric Balfour) Claire's boyfriend when she was a high school senior. Claire thought she was in love. However when Gabe told the entire school she slept with him and sucked his toes, an upset Claire got her revenge by throwing a severed foot from a deceased person into his locker. The two remained silent until the death of Gabe's brother, when the two reconnected. Soon after, Gabe overdosed on drugs and Claire tried to help him. However, he just dug deeper and deeper into a hole. Since then, Claire has received "closure" from a fantasy scene that shows she believes Gabe has died and feels better in death than he did in life.
Nikolai
(Ed O'Ross)- the Russian owner of Blossom d'Amour Flower Shop where Ruth Fisher once worked. In addition to being Ruth's lover for almost two years, Nikolai was in serious debt which included several encounters from the Russian mob. Ruth takes this as an oppourtunity to expand their relationship further, but instead causing more tension when Ruth pays off Nikolai's debt with Nathaniel's life insurance policy. Several weeks after their break-up, Ruth resigns from Blossom d'Amour so that she can spend more time with her newborn grandchild, Maya.
Anthony Charles-Fisher
(C.J. Sanders)- David and Keith's adopted 8 year old son. The couple meet young Anthony at an "Adoption picnic" where David sparks an instant bond with the boy. After learning Mary, David and Keith's surrogate mother announces her pregnancy, the plans to adopt Anthony slowly fade away. However after Mary gets her menstrual period, Keith and David adopt Anthony but learn he also has an older brother, Durrell.
Durrell Charles-Fisher
(Kendre Berry)- David and Keith's adopted 11 year old son. At first when going back to adopt younger brother Anthony, David and Keith had not realized they would be adopting his older brother also. After two weeks of Durrell testing the waters and Keith's patience, Keith believes its time for the brothers to go. David then sticks up for the boys in front of Keith and the social worker where the adoption becomes permanent. Slowly, Durrell becomes comfortable in his surroudings after David and Keith set some boundaries and show Durrell some support and nurturing.
Carol Ward
(Catherine O'Hara), Lisa's "quirky" former boss, who annoyed Lisa with numerous jobs and wants. She was also very hostile to Nate about parking situations and living arrangements. After releasing a large load of emotional baggage on Lisa, who at the time was a newlywed and a young mother, Lisa quit in a huff explaining to Nate that it was not good for baby Maya to be around so much hostility, clearly something Carol has revealed. Carol later appeared in Episode 52, in a video flashback to 2002 revolving around Nate and Lisa's wedding where she expresses her views on relationships and marriage.
Maya Fisher
(Brenna Tosh) and (Bronwyn Tosh), Nate and Lisa's daughter.