List of Quantum Leap (1989 TV series) characters
The following is a list of characters from the sci-fi/drama Quantum Leap, created by Donald P. Bellisario.
Main characters
Dr. Samuel Beckett
Dr. Samuel Beckett – The mastermind behind Project Quantum Leap who leaps back and forth within his own lifetime, putting things right that once went wrong. See main article for more.Admiral Albert Calavicci
Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci – Sam's right-hand man who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. Born in 1934 to an Italian father and Russian mother, he grew up in an orphanage. He joined the United States Navy and became a Rear Admiral. He was a womanizer, married several times, and was abusing alcohol when he met and befriended Sam Beckett on the Starbright Project. Sam helped Al turn his life around, and Al became Sam's constant companion and source of support, thinking of creative solutions to problems. In the revival, Al is mentioned to have died in 2021, in reference to Stockwell's death in real life.Ziggy
Ziggy – The supercomputer Sam designed to run Project Quantum Leap. The computer has a feminine personality and a massive ego; the latter feature is an accomplishment Sam is particularly proud of, as it makes Ziggy much more than a simple number-crunching machine. In early episodes, it is suggested that Ziggy is the computer's operator. But when Sam speaks to Ziggy directly, it shows that Ziggy is a self-operating computer who is capable of recognizing and expressing human emotions. Ziggy is programmed with historical information through Sam's life and has access to outside databases, and is able to project the likely effect of Sam's actions on history. While Al is with Sam, he gets information from Ziggy through a faulty handheld device. Al can get information from Ziggy through this device, or by simply asking out loud.Recurring characters
Project Quantum Leap
Dr. Donna Eleese – Born Donna Wojohowitz, she is Sam's wife and director of Project Quantum Leap in her husband's absence. Originally, Donna was not involved with the project, until Sam altered history, thus ensuring her involvement and getting rid of the Committee '.Dr. Irving "Gooshie" Gushman – Project Quantum Leap's head computer programmer and senior operations coordinator. A quirky man, Gooshie is often described as "a little guy with bad breath". He is the butt of jokes between Sam and Al. When he is seen, he tends to be in a state of worry due to Sam's present situation. Gooshie once filled in for Al as Sam's holographic contact when Al was busy attempting to track down a murderer who escaped the waiting room.Dr. Verbena Beeks – The project's head psychiatrist. It is her job to work directly with the person Sam displaces when he leaps as they are often in a state of shock and panic when they arrive.Tina Martinez – Tina is a medical technician that works on the Project. No one can enter the Imaging Chamber or the Accelerator Chamber without first being inspected by her. She is Al's girlfriend and is also having a secret affair with Gooshie. In the episode where Sam accidentally erased Al from existence, she was married to Gooshie.Friends and family
John Samuel Beckett – Sam's father, a gruff but kind dairy farmer in Elk Ridge, Indiana. He was named after his grandfather, a Civil War officer. When Sam leaps into his teenage self, he recalls that his father had died a few years later due to poor health. Sam fails in getting him to quit smoking and eat better. Thelma Louise Beckett – Sam's mother. After her husband's death, she moved to Hawaii to live with her daughter and her second husband.Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Beckett – Sam's older brother who was killed in Vietnam on April 8, 1970, until Sam changed history and kept his brother alive. However, this resulted in Al not being rescued and being held as a prisoner of war. His first wife then believed Al to have been killed in action and moved on with another husband, not knowing that Al was trying to get back to her.Katherine "Katie" Beckett – Sam's younger sister. To get away from trouble at home, she married an abusive alcoholic named Chuck at a young age. Years later she divorced him and eventually married an Air Force officer, Lieutenant Jim Bonick. After John Beckett's death, Thelma lived with Katie and Jim.Beth Calavicci – Al's first wife and the only woman he ever truly loved. When Sam meets Beth during a Season 2 leap, she believes that she is widowed as her husband, who was serving in military action in the Vietnam war, had been reported missing in action and presumed dead. Al pressures Sam into stopping her forming a relationship with another man, insisting that "her husband" was still alive. Sam figures out Beth's identity and refuses to fulfill Al's request, deeming it to be selfish. In his next two leaps, Sam tries to save his own brother in the Vietnam war. This accidentally thwarts a rescue attempt that would have rescued Al, causing him to become a war prisoner. When Al is freed and returns home, he learns that Beth thought he was dead and had remarried, so he chooses to leave her alone. Sam is given a chance to put this right, and then assures Beth that her husband Al is alive and is trying to get back to her.Sammy Jo Fuller – Sam's daughter due to his leaping. See 'Project Quantum Leap' above.Captain John Beckett – Captain John Beckett is a civil war officer and Sam's great-great grandfather. Sam leaps into him, making him the only leapee to have existed outside of Sam's own time. While he represents the North, he is taken hostage by a supporter of the Southern Army. Al confirms through Ziggy that his abductor is the Captain's future wife and Sam's great-great grandmother, who must ensure that she falls in love with the Captain. Otherwise Sam would prevent his own birth and potentially stop Project Quantum Leap from ever beginning and undoing every change Sam ever made.Antagonists
In Season 5, Sam discovers a leaper from another project. This leaper project seems to follow the same structure and scientific principles as Quantum Leap, but is dedicated to the opposite goal of putting wrong what once went right. The participants sometimes make reference to unspecified authority figures who torture them greatly if they fail.Alia – Sam's counterpart, a beautiful and deadly woman who is leaping around in time, committing terrible acts in an attempt to get home. Alia and Sam see each other as their respective leapees until they make physical contact. The first time Sam touches Alia, their genuine identities are revealed simultaneously. After meeting and failing to kill Sam twice, Alia abandons her old ways and tries to escape the ones controlling her leaping with Sam's help. At the end of "Revenge of the Evil Leaper" her leap is accompanied by a blue hue rather than her usual red hue, implying she has escaped the Evil Leaper project. It is implied that Alia was an unwilling participant in the project.Zoey – Alia's holographic partner. She is a cruel and sadistic woman who, after Alia breaks free of their project's control on her, leaps back in an attempt to kill Alia herself. Unlike Sam and Al, Zoey is clearly in charge of her respective pairings. She manipulates Alia and cares little about her feelings. While Zoey is a hologram, she can see Sam if Alia can, but Sam remains unable to see or hear her.Thames – When Zoey leaped, a darkly comical man named Thames became her hologram.Lothos – The other project's computer system, analogous to Ziggy, though unlike her seems to have more control over his respective project and their members. Though never seen on the screen he had a rather strong influence on the Evil Leaper project as those who worked under him regarded him as knowing everything and never making mistakes. Like Ziggy however he seemed to have some sort of ego as he was capable of regret as it was said he regretted sending Alia as the Leaper and regarded it as a mistake. Lothos seemed capable of having direct control over the leapers as Zoey once claimed to Alia that he could send her "back to her worst nightmare", and Alia once feared that he himself put her in the women's prison. He also was capable of causing simultaneous torture to both Alia and Zoey through two points in time. However he was not all powerful as he was unable to stop Sam from rescuing Alia from the project, and was once Jammed from performing a search and lock due to special circumstances.Guest characters
Below is a list of all of the people displaced during Project Quantum Leap, commonly referred to as "Leapees" by fans of the show.Season 1
Captain Thomas "Tom" Stratton – Air Force test pilot on a program to break faster than Mach 3. Appeared in "Genesis Part 1" and first half of "Genesis Part 2".Timothy "Tim" Fox – A minor league baseball player near the end of his career. Appeared in the second half of "Genesis Part 2"Dr. Gerald Bryant – A once-respected English Lit. professor having an affair with one of his students. Appeared in "Star-Crossed".Clarence "Kid" Cody – A professional boxer on the take from the mafia.Dr. Daniel Young – A large animal veterinarian in rural Texas.Frankie La Palma – A handsome Mafia hitman.Geno Frascotti – A feared Mafia don.Jesse Tyler – A black chauffeur/houseman to a wealthy, elderly Southern woman.Cameron Wilson – A teenaged gearhead.Nick Allen – A private investigator in love with his late partner's wife.Season 2
A firefighter – A firefighter rescuing an old woman's cat from a tree.Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" McBride – A New York police detective on his honeymoon to Niagara Falls.Chad Stone – A professional movie stuntman.Charlie MacKenzie – A recently discharged sailor returning home with a Japanese war bride.Samantha "Sam" Stormer – A professional secretary at a Detroit automotive manufacturing company.Andrew Ross – A blind classical concert pianist.Chick Howell – A deejay at a rock-n-roll radio station.Rabbi David K. Basch – A rabbi trying to guide his family through a difficult time.James "Jimmy" LaMotta ‡ – A dockworker with Down syndrome.Leonard Dancey – A lawyer defending a black woman accused of murdering her white lover.Raymond "Ray" Hutton – An actor traveling with a road show of Man of La Mancha.Dr. Timothy Mintz – A paranormal researcher investigating a possible haunting.Knut "Wild Thing" Wileton – A college student, fraternity president and all-around party animal.Linda Bruckner – A real estate agent and single mother.Eddie Vega – A high school football quarterback.Peter Langly – An FBI Agent guarding a federal witness.George Washakie – A Native American man who is on the run with his dying grandfather.Melvin Spooner – A mortician/coroner investigating the death of a young woman.Charlie "Black Magic" Waters – An ageing professional pool shark.Victor Panzini – A performer in a once-famous aerial act."Buster" – A bouncer helping his girlfriend kidnap a baby.Phillip Dumont – A man trying to win back his ex-wife from her mafia fiancé.Detective Jacob "Jake" Rawlins – A San Diego narcotics detective.Season 3
Sam Beckett – Sam's 16-year-old self.Herbert "Magic" Williams – Navy SEAL stationed in Vietnam.Father Frank Pistano – A recently ordained Catholic priest.Karl Granson – A professional fashion photographer.Joshua Rey – A horror novelist.Darlene Monty – Miss Sugar Belle, a contestant in the Miss Deep South pageant.Raymond "Ray" Harper – A black medical school student with a white girlfriend.Harry Spontini – A professional magician fighting for custody of his daughter.Shane "Funny Bone" Thomas – A member of a roving motorcycle gang.Reginald Pearson – The personal assistant to a ruthless businessman."Butchie" Rickett – A 13-year-old boy on vacation with his family.Billie Jean Crockett – A pregnant teenager estranged from her father.Kenny Sharpe – An actor on the children's television series Time Patrol.Rod McCarty – A performer with the Chippendales dance company.Joey DeNardo – A lounge musician working under the name Chuck Danner.Gilbert LaBonte – The owner and proprietor of the LaBonte Quilting and Sewing Academy.Jeffrey "Tonic" Mole – The lead singer of a glitter rock band, King Thunder.Gordon O'Reilly – A professional bounty hunter.Jesus Ortega – A death row inmate.Terry Sammis – A wrestler performing under the name Nikolai Russkie.Eddie Elroy – A college student and part-time atom bomb shelter salesman.Sam Bederman – A depression patient at a mental hospital.Season 4
Captain Thomas "Tom" Jarret 1 – A recently liberated WWII prisoner of war.A stand-up comic – An entertainer working the Catskills dealing with a bitter custody hearing.Lester Fuller – A minor league baseball player trying to get back into the majors.Archie Necaise – A police deputy working in a town in the path of a hurricane.Clyde – A civil servant and recent inductee into the Ku Klux Klan.Frank Bianca – A professional hairdresser born Maurice Liptschitz.Katie McBain – A rape victim.Bobo – A chimpanzee in the early stages of Project Mercury.Detective Jack Stone – A police detective working on a gruesome murder investigation.William "Billy" Beaumont – A con-artist claiming that he can make rain.Chance Cole – A prisoner being held past his sentence at a forced labor camp.Joseph "Joe" Thurlow – A young actor in a relationship with an attractive older woman.Thomas "Tommy" York – A Naval cadet under investigation for being a homosexual.Dylan Powell – An aging television reporter covering the story of a serial murder.Tyler Means – A former Old West gunslinger with an old partner who has come looking for revenge.Cherea – A member of a rhythm and blues girl group.Eddie Brackett – The co-pilot of a small aircraft over the Bermuda Triangle.Roberto Guttierrez – A sensationalist reporter with a bizarre talk show.Max Greenman – A taxi driver ferrying a woman claiming to be an angel.Kyle Hart – A soap opera actor kidnapped by an obsessed fan.Dr. Dale Conway – An archeologist uncovering a cursed tomb in Egypt.Davey Parker – A stand-up comedian with a loud-mouthed partner.Ensign Al "Bingo" Calavicci – A Naval pilot on trial for the murder of a superior officer's wife.Season 5
Lee Harvey Oswald – An emotionally disturbed man believed to be the sole assassin of President John F. Kennedy.Clint Hill – A Secret Service agent on President Kennedy's protection detail.Nikos Stathatos – A sailor marooned on an island with a beautiful but shrewish heiress.Ronald Miller – A double-amputee recovering at a military hospital.Leon Stiles – A serial killer holding a woman and her daughter hostage.Maxwell "Max" Stoddard – An old man with a UFO fixation.James "Jimmy" LaMotta – a previous Leapee with Down syndrome.Connie LaMotta ² – Homemaker and sister-in-law to Jimmy LaMottaSheriff Clayton Fuller – Small town sheriff with a troubled but loving daughter.Deputy Sheriff William "Will" Kinman – Deputy sheriff trying to protect his fiancée from an angry mob.Lawrence "Larry" Stanton III – Lawyer defending a woman for the murder of her long-time aggressor.William "Willie" Walters, Jr. – Part of a trio of bank robbers with a room full of hostages.Martin "Marty" Elroy – A traveling salesman with two wives and families on the verge of meeting.Margaret Sanders – A homemaker and casual participant in the Women's Liberation Movement.Dr. Ruth Westheimer – Famous sex therapist.Lord Nigel Corrington – Eccentric artist and occultist believed to be a vampire.Arnold Watkins – A college student moonlighting as a heroic vigilante, the Midnight Marauder.Dawn Taylor ² – A college student dating the head of a fraternity.Elizabeth "Liz" Tate – A prison inmate accused of murdering another inmate.Angela Jensen ² – A prison inmate accused of murdering another inmate.Clifton Myers ³ – The warder of a women's prison that sexually abuses the prisoners.Dennis Boardman – Bodyguard to Marilyn Monroe.Henry Adams – A Vietnam veteran living in isolation in the mountains.Captain John Beckett – Sam's ancestor fighting in the Civil War.Elvis Presley – 19-year-old amateur musician on the verge of getting discovered.‡ Sam leaped into Jimmy again at a later date.
1 Displaced by Al and later by Sam.
² Displaced by Alia.
³ ''Displaced by Zoey.''