Tony Almeida


Anthony "Tony" Almeida is a fictional character portrayed by Carlos Bernard on the television series 24. Almeida appeared in a total of 126 episodes, the second highest number of episodes of any character in the series, behind Jack Bauer and just ahead of Chloe O'Brian. Despite initially having friction with Jack Bauer, he eventually develops a strong friendship with Jack and becomes one of the few people Jack trusts unconditionally with his life. However, the loss of his wife Michelle Dessler and unborn son at the hands of a government conspiracy drives him into despair and then rage. His descent into darkness and evil to seek revenge against those responsible for destroying his life is widely lamented by fans and showcases a dark contrast to Jack whose life has also been ruined by the government.

Characterization

Tony Almeida was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1972 to an Italian mother and Portuguese father. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and engineering from San Diego State University and a Master of Science degree in computer science from Stanford University. He served in the United States Marine Corps and attended Scout Sniper and Surveillance and Target Acquisition training. He was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant and worked as a systems analyst before being hired by CTU. He was previously on more episodes than any other character, second to Jack Bauer, but was surpassed by Chloe O'Brien.

Appearances

''24'': Day 1

Tony Almeida is a systems analyst and third-in-command at the Counter Terrorist Unit's Los Angeles headquarters, and is romantically involved with fellow agent Nina Myers. Tony consequently has animosity towards the series' protagonist, Jack Bauer, who was formerly in a relationship with Nina.
Just after midnight, word arrives of an imminent assassination attempt on Democratic presidential candidate David Palmer. When Jack is forced to cease contact with CTU, Tony and Division become suspicious and place CTU under lockdown while George Mason interrogates key staff members. Tony's suspicions are aroused further when Jack returns and sneaks Nina out of headquarters at gunpoint. Shortly thereafter, Tony and Nina interrogate Jamey Farrell, leading her to confess to her involvement with Ira Gaines, the terrorist behind the kidnapping of Jack's wife and daughter. Jamey dies in an apparent suicide soon after this.
After Jack succeeds in rescuing Kim and Teri Bauer, both Alberta Green and Ryan Chappelle encourage Tony to report Jack for unnecessarily endangering Senator Palmer. However, Tony refuses. Kim and Teri flee from a CTU safe house when it is attacked by hitmen working for Gaines' employers, Andre and Alexis Drazen. After a confrontation by Nina, Tony visits Jack's home and saves both Teri and Phil Parslow from being killed by Jovan Myovic.
Before the day's end, Palmer is saved and the Drazens are killed. However, Nina is revealed to be a second mole working for the Drazens, having killed Jamey and staged Jamey's suicide when Jamey exposed her. Jack realizes this by viewing security tapes which show Jamey's murder. Nina is captured, though not before she kills several people while attempting to escape, including Teri. When Jack points the gun at Nina for her betrayal, Tony and George dissuade Jack from pulling the trigger. Tony can only watch in disgust and disbelief as the woman he thought he loved is led away.

''24'': Day 2

Tony becomes the new chief of staff and Mason's second-in-command at CTU, and is present when Jack returns to the agency to assist in hunting down Second Wave, a Middle Eastern terrorist organization that plots to detonate a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles. When Kate Warner reports Reza Nayieer to CTU, Tony questions Reza and the Warner family. Though financial records link Reza to the leader of Second Wave, Syed Ali, Reza denies any involvement with terrorists. It is later revealed that Reza is indeed innocent and that his fiancée, Marie Warner, was the one collaborating with Ali.
Near the beginning of the second season, Mason was exposed to lethal dose of plutonium, leaving him with radiation sickness. Mason eventually passes along the leadership of CTU to Tony, and leaves the agency. One hour later, in a noble effort to remove the nuclear bomb from a populated area, Mason crashes a plane carrying the bomb into the Nevada desert, sacrificing his own life as it detonates. Under Tony's command, CTU receives recordings of a meeting between Ali and representatives from three Middle Eastern countries at Cyprus.
Jack learns from Jonathan Wallace that the Cyprus recordings were false. After learning the truth himself, Tony, along with Michelle Dessler, begin covertly assisting Jack, and are eventually forced to physically incapacitate Chappelle. After Chappelle is found by Carrie, he orders their arrest. However, when Mike Novick orders Chappelle to assist Jack, Tony and Michelle, they are given immunity and reinstated. With Tony and Michelle's assistance, Jack and Sherry Palmer, the president's ex-wife, are able to get a recording implicating Peter Kingsley, the true manipulator of the day's events, and prevent a war with the Middle East.
Throughout the day, Tony and Michelle begin to realize that they share a mutual attraction. At first, Tony keeps his distance out of hesitancy after what happened with Nina. After receiving parting advice from Mason, however, Michelle expresses an interest. The two become romantically involved and later marry.

''24: The Game''

While Jack Bauer is often pre-occupied with other tasks such as leads to save his daughter or find more information about the terrorist threats, Tony has been out in the field as extensively as both Jack and Chase Edmunds. Throughout the day, Tony apprehended Joseph Sin-Chung, who was currently posing as a crew member of the apprehended cargo boat named Lee Jin-Yu. He prevented a terrorist threat at a metro station prior to the capture of CTU. During the hour that CTU was held hostage, Tony guides Kim Bauer to encrypt the hard-drive containing the data of the undercover CTU agents, significantly slowing down the terrorists' progress in getting the information.
Shortly after Kim's return to CTU, Tony leads one of the tactical teams disarming one of the bombs at a construction site situated along a fault line. Hours after the threat, Tony had to rush to the scene of a crime, which involved a hostage situation with Governor James Radford. After restraining as many confused gunmen as he could, he had to negotiate with the leader, who was merely a desperate man trying to save his sick son. Tony succeeds in calming down the gunman, but the gunman is found dead by the time Tony busts open the locked door. He started becoming suspicious of Radford as he checks the gunman's body. Tony's suspicions came true when an assistant of Governor Radford calls telling him to meet her at Fisher Pier, which was happening approximately at the same time as Chase Edmunds's return to C.T.U.
Tony met up with the assistant and was given a keycard to Radford's office, with the assistant suspecting that Radford was involved in terrorist activity. The suspicion came true as a helicopter ambushed the pair, killing the assistant. Tony barely escapes with his life and drives off to the Governor's office building. After dealing with various gunmen under Radford's payroll and rescuing any trapped civilians, Tony found evidence that showed Radford's involvement with the terrorists. It turned out that Radford was seen conversing with Peter Madsen, Joseph Sin-Chung, and an unknown third man. Tony attempts to track Radford and manages to eavesdrop on Radford's conversation with the unknown man. Radford attempted to walk out, but the assassin Mandy already kills Radford before Tony could do anything. Tony's evidence proved invaluable since CTU was later able to identify the third man as Max.
While Jack and Chase were busy at Fort Lesker, Tony, Michelle, and Chappelle have information that Kate Warner is still alive, but Chappelle restricted Tony from notifying Jack under the guise of completing the established mission. A few hours later, the trace was complete being located at Max's yacht. After berating Chappelle out of disgust, Tony heads back out to the field one more time to assist Jack and Chase at the L.A. Docks in a CTU helicopter. Tony picks up Chase first, and pilots the chopper to have Chase provide support fire for Jack before picking him up.
Tony maneuvers the helicopter around the yacht allowing Chase to mow down gunmen firing at them, while Jack abseils onto the deck of the yacht. As the day ends, Tony stays on the yacht with Kate to clean up the mess while Chase pilots the helicopter with a wounded Jack to a nearby hospital.

24: Day 3

Tony fields promotion offers from several CTU regional divisions. Despite this, he, Jack Bauer and Gael Ortega organize a covert sting operation designed to keep the deadly Cordilla virus out of the hands of the Salazars, a Mexican crime family. During the operation, Tony is shot in the neck in a shopping mall and incapacitated, leaving him comatose. After awakening, Tony returns to his CTU post to resume the operation. Tension mounts between Tony and Michelle over his health and his secrecy towards her. Michelle is later trapped inside a hotel as it becomes infected with the virus, and asks Tony to authorize the use of suicide capsules to the infected patrons.
Against Jack's explicit wishes, Tony uses Kim in a field operation as a replacement for Jane Saunders, the daughter of rogue MI6 agent Stephen Saunders, in an attempt to secure collateral against him. Just as the FBI prepares to corner Saunders, he reveals that he has captured Michelle and will kill her unless Tony aids his escape. Tony acquiesces, allowing Saunders to evade the FBI and free Jane from CTU custody. Jack realizes Tony's motives, and convinces him to work with CTU on a sting. At the arranged meeting, CTU intervenes and captures Saunders. However, Tony is arrested for treason.