The Gilded Age (TV series)

Synopsis

Cast and characters

Main

• Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell, the matriarch of the Russell family, a "new money" family made rich by her husband George, a railroad tycoon. Bertha is determined to use her money and position to break into polite society that resists change at every turn.
• Morgan Spector as George Russell, Bertha's husband, and a classic robber baron. He is pleasant in company, but his utter ruthlessness in business has led to him acquiring millions, and is determined to win every challenge.
• Louisa Jacobson as Marian Brook, the orphaned niece of Agnes van Rhijn and Ada Forte who comes to live with her estranged aunts at East 61st Street following the death of her father. Through her paternal family, she descends from old money New York. She is engaged to her neighbor, Larry Russell.
• Denée Benton as Peggy Scott, An ambitious African American woman who works as Agnes van Rhijn's secretary. She attended the prestigious Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia and wants to become a successful journalist and writer.
• Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Vere, Duchess of Buckingham, Gladys is the younger child and only daughter of the Russell family, she grew up sheltered, under her mother's tight control. Gladys is married to Hector Vere, 5th Duke of Buckingham.
• Harry Richardson as Larry Russell, son of Bertha and George Russell, a recent Harvard University graduate eager to make his way in the world, he is engaged to Marian Brook.
• Blake Ritson as Oscar van Rhijn, Agnes's intelligent and charismatic son who is looking for a rich heiress to guarantee him a proper standard of living and act as a shield for his homosexuality
• Thomas Cocquerel as Tom Raikes, a sensible young lawyer, smitten when he meets Marian Brook, his late client's young adult daughter
• Simon Jones as Mr. Alfred Bannister, the Van Rhijns' self-aggrandizing English butler who keeps the rest of the staff in check
• Jack Gilpin as Mr. Church, the Russell family's butler, a supporter of Mrs. Russell, excelling at his job
• Cynthia Nixon as Ada Forte, is the younger sister of Agnes van Rhijn and comes from the Pennsylvanian Brook Family through her father and from the New Yorker Livingston Family through her mother. Prior to her marriage, she lived as a companion to her widowed sister in the Van Rhijn matriarch's Manhattan brownstone home.
• Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn, is the widowed matriarch of the Van Rhijn Family, an old money Dutch-American family from New York. She is a proud and stubborn socialite who clings to the values of the old having descended from the Brook and Livingston families. Mrs. Van Rhijn is the mother of Oscar van Rhijn.
• Ben Ahlers as John "Jack" Trotter, is a footman and a jack-of-all trades in the Van Rhijn Household, employed by Agnes van Rhijn in seasons 1 & 2, and Ada Forte from the end of season 2. He is usually called by his nickname Jack by his friends and other staff members. At the conclusion of the third season, John attains wealth due to his creation of a clock that operates without the need for oil.
• Michael Cerveris as Mr. Watson, George Russell's valet with a mysterious past
• Celia Keenan-Bolger as Mrs. Bruce, the Russells' housekeeper
• Debra Monk as Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Van Rhijn's catty lady's maid
• Donna Murphy as Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, a prominent American socialite and de facto leader of the elite group of New York society known as "The Four Hundred"
• Kristine Nielsen as Mrs. Bauer, Mrs. Van Rhijn's kindly cook, a German immigrant from Hanover who takes young Bridget under her wing
• Kelli O'Hara as Aurora Fane, Agnes's niece by marriage, who helps both Marian Brook and Mrs. Russell break into society
• Patrick Page as Richard Clay, George Russell's loyal secretary. He is fired by George in the third season after failing in acquiring a railroad land
• Taylor Richardson as Bridget, the Van Rhijn housemaid, troubled by an abusive past
• Douglas Sills as Monsieur Baudin, chef to the Russell household who initially presents himself as French before it is revealed that he is Josh Borden from Wichita, Kansas
• John Douglas Thompson as Arthur Scott, Peggy's father, a well-to-do pharmacist and pillar of the Black elite
• Erin Wilhelmi as Adelheid Weber, a German immigrant from Berlin, Gladys Russell's lady's maid
• Kelley Curran as Mrs. Enid Winterton , Bertha's ambitious lady's maid, who does not intend to be a servant forever. She is fired by Mrs. Russell but later re-emerges as the much younger wife of a rich widower. After her husband's death, Oscar van Rhijn proposes a marriage of convenience to her.
• Sullivan Jones as T. Thomas Fortune, publisher of the weekly New York Globe
• Ben Lamb as Hector Vere, 5th Duke of Buckingham. A member of the British aristocracy who is married to Gladys Russell.

  Recurring

• Audra McDonald as Dorothy Scott, Peggy's mother
• Jeanne Tripplehorn as Sylvia Chamberlain, a socialite excluded from high society due to past actions
• Ashlie Atkinson as Mamie Fish, American socialite and self-styled "fun-maker"
• Claybourne Elder as John Adams, Oscar's secret lover
• Katie Finneran as Anne Morris, determined to keep new money out of her circle
• Amy Forsyth as Carrie Astor, the fourth daughter of Mrs. Astor
• John Sanders as Stanford White, an up-and-coming American architect
• Zuzanna Szadkowski as Mabel Ainsley, George Russell's stenographer
• Linda Emond as Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
• Ward Horton as Charles Fane, Aurora's husband and one of the city's aldermen
• Rebecca Haden as Flora McNeil, a wealthy woman from New York City
• Nathan Lane as Ward McAllister, arbiter of social rules and style in old New York
• Robert Sean Leonard as Luke Forte, an unmarried clergyman from Massachusetts
• Christopher Denham as Robert McNeil, a wealthy banker who is trying to navigate New York high society with his wife
• David Furr as Dashiell Montgomery, a widowed cousin of the van Rhijns and Aurora Fane
• Matilda Lawler as Frances Montgomery, Dashiell's teenage daughter
• Jeremy Shamos as Mr. Gilbert, a financier working to open the new Metropolitan Opera House
• Laura Benanti as Susan Blane, a widow with whom Larry Russell becomes romantically involved
• Nicole Brydon Bloom as Maud Beaton, a young and wealthy socialite who attracts Oscar van Rhijn's attention
• Dakin Matthews as Joshua Winterton, a rich, elderly widower who marries Turner, Bertha Russell's lady's maid
• Rachel Pickup as Miss André, Bertha's new lady's maid
• Bill Camp as J. P. Morgan, a formidable foe to George Russell
• Jordan Donica as Dr. William Kirkland, a kind and handsome doctor from the prominent Kirkland family
• Paul Alexander Nolan as Alfred Merrick, a wealthy New York businessman
• Hannah Shealy as Charlotte Drayton , the third daughter of Mrs. Astor
• Phylicia Rashad as Elizabeth Kirkland, a woman from a prominent family in Newport with ties dating back to the American Revolution
• Jessica Frances Dukes as Athena Trumbo, Dorothy's cousin
• Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frederick Kirkland, patriarch of the Kirkland family
• Andrea Martin as Madame Dashkova, a medium who claims to be able to commune with the dead
• Hattie Morahan as Lady Sarah Vere, Hector's formidable sister

  Guest

• Michel Gill as Patrick Morris, Anne's husband and one of the city's aldermen
• Bill Irwin as Cornelius Eckhard, Ada's childhood acquaintance
• Sandra Caldwell as Ellen, the Scotts' maid
• Tom Blyth as Archie Baldwin, a young investment banker who attempts to court Gladys Russell
• Stephen Spinella as Julius Cuyper, an important and wealthy banker
• Jordan Waller as Oscar Wilde
• Michael Braugher as Booker T. Washington
• Amber Gray as Bea Sturt, a restaurant owner in Alabama
• Liz Wisan as Emily Warren Roebling
• Melanie Nicholls-King as Sarah J. Garnet
• Matt Walker as Billy Carlton, a young man from a wealthy family who Gladys Russell hopes to marry
• Victoria Clark as Joan Carlton, Billy's mother
• Bobby Steggert as John Singer Sargent
• Merritt Wever as Monica O'Brien, Bertha's estranged sister
• Michael Cumpsty as Lord Mildmay, a British nobleman
• LisaGay Hamilton as Frances Watkins Harper
• Peter McRobbie as Risley Sage
• Kate Baldwin as Nancy Adams Bell, John Adams' sister
• Marceline Hugot as Mrs. Foster, member of the New York Heritage Society
• Leslie Uggams as Ernestine Brown, a friend of Elizabeth Kirkland
• Dylan Baker as Dr. Logan, the Russell family doctor