Cast
editName | Portrayed by | Seasons | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
Officer Thomas "Tom" Hanson Jr. | Johnny Depp | Main | ||||
Sergeant Judith "Judy" Hoffs | Holly Robinson | Main | ||||
Officer Douglas "Doug" Penhall | Peter DeLuise | Main | Also starring[a] | |||
Sergeant Harry Truman "H.T" Ioki/Vinh Van Tran | Dustin Nguyen | Main | ||||
Captain Richard Jenko | Frederic Forrest | Main[b] | ||||
Captain Adam Fuller | Steven Williams | Main[c] | ||||
Officer Joseph "Joey" Penhall | Michael DeLuise | Main[d] | ||||
Officer Anthony "Mac" McCann | Michael Bendetti | Main[e] | ||||
Sal "Blowfish" Banducci | Sal Jenco | Recurring | Guest | |||
Detective Dennis Booker | Richard Grieco | Recurring | ||||
Jackie Garrett | Yvette Nipar | Recurring | ||||
Officer Dean Garrett | David Barry Gray | Guest | Recurring | |||
Officer Kati Rocky | Alexandra Powers | Recurring |
Main characters
editTom Hanson
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Johnny Depp | 1-4 | 23 |
Thomas Hanson, Jr. is a second-generation police officer hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was killed in the line of duty when Tom was a teenager. Assigned to uniformed patrol fresh out of the police academy, Tom’s inexperience and overzealousness leads to three veteran cops being inadvertently injured. With no other cops willing to take him on as a partner, Tom reluctantly accepts a reassignment to the Jump Street Chapel program. Jeff Yagher was originally cast as Tom Hanson in the pilot. He was replaced after the original pilot episode was filmed, and his scenes were reshot with Johnny Depp.
Judy Hoffs
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Holly Robinson | All 5 | 142 |
Judith Marie Hoffs
Doug Penhall
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Peter DeLuise | All 1-4 guest star, season 5 |
Douglas Penhall
Harry Ioki
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Dustin Nguyen | 1-4 |
Harry Truman Ioki (real name: Vinh Van Tranh)
Richard Jenko
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Frederic Forrest | 1 | 5 |
Captain Richard Jenko is the captain of the Jump Street Chapel program and the unit’s originator. He is a hippie who employs unorthodox ways of getting the job done, and frequently went undercover alongside his officers. He also a musician who plays guitar in a garage band when he’s off-duty. Frederic Forrest left the series after the first five episodes, and Jenko is killed (off-screen) in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
Adam Fuller
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Steven Williams | All 1-5 |
Captain Adam Fuller replaces Richard Jenko as Jump Street’s commanding officer. In every way, he is the opposite of Jenko—he institutes a more traditional, by-the-book administrative approach with a firm hand to guide the young officers. Fuller is introduced as a 16-year police veteran who began his career with the NYPD, though this part of his backstory was retconned several times. Fuller is also a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he served as a member of the Army. He is divorced, the end result of an affair he had with a former female partner, and has a son named Kip. Fuller develops strong relationships with each of the core officers and is especially close to Judy Hoffs, who he views as a younger sister. Tom Hanson gives him the nickname “Coach”.
Tommy McCann
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Michael Bendetti | 5 |
Anthony McCann, who goes by either "Tommy" or "Mac" is a transfer from Newark, New Jersey. After a rough start working alongside Judy Hoffs and Doug Penhall, he begins to settle in with his new unit. McCann is the only officer seen in all 21 episodes produced for Season 5.
Joey Penhall
editPortrayer | Seasons | No. of episodes |
---|---|---|
Michael DeLuise | 5 |
Doug's younger brother, Joey Penhall joined Jump Street midway through Season 5. We immediately learn that Joey and Doug have been estranged for several years. In his first Jump Street assignment, Joey joins a religious group suspected of being a cult, and goes so deep undercover that Doug struggles to get him out. In the process, the Penhall brothers begin the mend their relationship. After appearing on a handful of episodes, Michael DeLuise leaves the series and Joey Penhall disappears without explanation.
Recurring characters
editSal “Blowfish” Banducci (Sal Jenco): Sal is the janitor (or “maintenance engineer” according to his official civil service title) assigned to work at Jump Street Chapel. Though he mainly serves as comic relief, Sal becomes involved in several story lines as his role evolves into a friend and confidant to the officers and Captain Fuller. Sal is the only civilian who interacts regularly with the police officers, and at times assists them in advancing their cases. He has a wife, Rosa (played by Mindy Cohn in two episodes), and four children, and is devoted to his family in spite of one instance of infidelity. Sal’s nickname is derived by his ability to press his face against a glass panel and elongate his mouth and cheeks, mimicking a blowfish. (Seasons 1-5)
Dennis Booker (Richard Grieco): Rookie officer Dennis Booker joins the Jump Street team in the third season, initially as a replacement for Penhall. Though he initially has trouble integrating himself with the established officers—especially Penhall and Hanson—he wins them over with his work ethic. When the officers go on strike against the City, Booker emerges as a leader when he speaks out against the City’s plan to force strikers to return to work without a contract. After helping to put Hanson behind bars for killing another cop, Booker uses unconventional and rogue methods to prove Hanson’s innocence. Though successful in getting Hanson’s conviction overturned, Booker is demoted from Jump Street; he declines the reassignment and resigns from the force, setting up the plot for the spin-off series Booker. (Season 3)
Dorothy Pezzino (Gina Nemo): Doug Penhall’s high school girlfriend who unexpectedly returns after leaving a failed relationship. Though they frequently argue and fight, Dorothy loves Doug and tries to influence him into emerging from what she sees as immature tendencies. The couple eventually move out of Doug’s loft and rent a house, as a step towards building a future together. Dorothy kicks Doug out following another argument, and later leaves town. (seasons 2, 3)
Amy Pearson (Dorothy Parke): Tom meets Amy, an administrative assistant for the local Big Brothers program, when he applies to volunteer. Their brief relationship ends tragically when Amy is killed during a convenience store robbery while Tom watches helplessly. (Season 2)
Jackie Garrett (Yvette Nipar): Jackie is a deputy district attorney who becomes a love interest for Tom Hanson. Jackie also assists the Jump Street team in the advancement of a case against a popular high-school football coach, and aids Judy when she files harassment charges against a municipal auditor she briefly dated. Jackie's relationship with Tom ends when he accuses her of betraying his professional trust. (Season 3)
Captain Briody (Frank X. McCarthy): A senior officer in the Metropolitan Police Department. (seasons 1, 2, 4)
Michael Davis (Michael Laskin): a city Councilman who is a vocal opponent of the Jump Street program, believing it to be a waste of municipal resources. When Jump Street investigates the football coach at his high school alma mater, Davis uses his influence and has the probe shut down. After he is elected Mayor, Davis suffers a personal tragedy when his son—previously the target of a Jump Street probe—dies of a drug overdose, forcing him to turn to the unit for help in finding his son's dealer. (seasons 2, 3)
Marta Cabarrus (Kamala Lopez): Marta is a refugee from El Salvador hoping to gain permanent political asylum after she was imprisoned and tortured in her home country on suspicion of speaking out against the civil war. In a five-day period, Doug befriends, arrests, and marries Marta. Despite the marriage, she is deported to El Salvador and taken prisoner once more upon her return. She is later killed by her abductors. (Seasons 4, 5)
Clavo (Tony Dakota): Clavo is the son of Marta’s sister, a soldier in the rebel group fighting the Salvadoran government, who asks Doug to take Clavo back home with him to raise away from war-torn El Salvador. (Seasons 4, 5)
Tyrell "Waxer" Thompson (Reginald T. Dorsey): Hanson's first Jump Street bust, school drug dealer Waxer escapes from state custody and goes after Hanson for revenge. (seasons 1, 2)
Kenny Weckerle (Brandon Douglas): Despite a privileged upbringing, Kenny develops an addiction to heroin–which causes his dealer Waxer Thompson to extort Kenny when he's unable to pay for his drugs. Hanson attempts to befriend Kenny and protect him from Waxer, and saves Kenny's life after he nearly overdosed. Eventually, Kenny's parents admit him into rehab, where he is abused and tormented by his doctors. Working off the clock, Hanson attempts to save him once more. Hanson's efforts fall short when Kenny dies in a non-drug-related accident. (seasons 1, 2)
Ronnie Seebok (Josh Richman): A teenage drug kingpin once arrested by Hanson, Ronnie later kills another Jump Street officer but ends up on death row for an unrelated murder; Hanson witnesses his execution by lethal injection. (seasons 2, 4)
Russell Buckins (Angelo Tiffe): A aspiring writer and mischievous friend of Tom Hanson, whose madcap adventures nearly costs Tom his police career on two different occasions. (Seasons 2, 3)
Dean Garrett (David Barry Gray): A uniformed rookie officer befriended by, and referred to Jump Street by Doug Penhall. Garrett was adopted and grew up in Moonachie, New Jersey, near New York City, and is a fan of the New York Yankees and New York Giants. (Season 4, 5)
Kati Rocky (Alexandra Powers): Rocky is an undercover FBI agent who meets Judy Hoffs and Dean Garrett while working on the same case. She later joins Jump Street on the referral of Hoffs, and works on undercover case with Dean Garrett. (Season 4, 5)
Spencer Phillips (Kurtwood Smith): Phillips is an FBI agent who assists the Jump Street team on several cases involving minors who may have been kidnapped and have crossed state lines. (Season 2)
Midway through the first season, Frederic Forrest was replaced by Steven Williams. On the show, Forrest's character Richard Jenko is killed by a drunk driver.
Johnny Depp left the series at the end of the fourth season, but was credited in the first two episodes of the fifth season, despite not having appeared.
David Barry Gray's character was introduced at the end of the fourth season and starred in two episodes of season five with Alexandra Powers. Both episodes were filmed before the fourth season had ended but were not shown until the start of season five. Neither actor was approached in regards to portraying their character in the show's fifth and final season.