Cast and characters Main

Cast and characters

Main

• Anna Faris as Christy Jolene Plunkett: a single mother who has gone five years without drinking and is still struggling with sobriety and a concurrent addiction to gambling. Now sober, she strives to be a good example to her son Roscoe, and regain the trust of her daughter Violet, who is revealed to be pregnant herself in the first episode. In addition, she is trying to iron out the rough edges in her relationship with her mother Bonnie, who she still struggles to forgive after a tumultuous childhood and long estrangement. Christy later finds out that her biological father, Alvin, ran out on Bonnie after she was discharged from the hospital on Christmas Eve after giving birth to Christy. She locates Alvin and finds out that he is a married father of two sons and runs an auto repair shop. Christy eventually develops a bond with Alvin, whom she introduces to her family, and comes to see him as the father she needs in her life. Like her mother, Christy also became a teenage mother when she had Violet at age 16-17. A former stripper, Christy is mostly seen working as a waitress. She is briefly promoted to manager (after Claudia divorces Gabriel), but eventually goes back to being a waitress. Christy later decides that she wants to go back to school to eventually become a lawyer, and she takes a second job working as an assistant for Steve Casper, eventually earning her bachelor's degree and then being accepted to law school.
• Allison Janney as Bonnie Plunkett: Christy's mother, a joyful if cynical recovering addict. She tries to regain the love and trust of her daughter, whom she was unable to properly nurture as a child. She was given up for adoption at age four and was in the foster care system, being passed around from house to house where she eventually ended up running off with Alvin at age 15. She ended up pregnant and had Christy at age 17. Alvin abandoned both of them at the hospital on Christmas Eve. Bonnie has stated that she almost put Christy up for adoption. A pleasant Jewish couple was going to adopt her, yet Bonnie could not go through with the adoption. From that point on, she attempted her best to raise Christy. However, Christy wound up raising herself as Bonnie preferred to party and drink rather than stay home. With time and much therapy, Bonnie managed to find the balance and now wants to catch up, revealing to Christy her past, including who her real father is and how to find him, as well as her past side career as a drug dealer.
• Sadie Calvano as Violet Plunkett (main cast seasons 1–3; recurring season 4; guest season 6): Christy's daughter and older half-sister of Roscoe. A senior in high school at the beginning of the series, Violet is hardworking, smart and sure of herself, though upset with her mother, who never had time to take care of her children and failed to fulfill a true motherly role despite now being sober for some time. After having her boyfriend Luke's baby, Violet made the decision to place her baby for adoption because she felt that this was the best way to break her family's repeated cycle of poor life choices and give her child a better chance than herself, her mother, or her grandmother ever had. During season 2, in a brief downward spiral of bad behavior, Violet cheats on Luke and he breaks up with her. She later gets engaged to Gregory Munchnik, a much older psychology professor at her university, but he breaks the engagement after she begins to party too hard, leaving her mother and grandmother wondering if she was just experiencing young life or developing a problem. Violet moves back in with Christy and Bonnie after her break up and after demanding that she get a job, Violet moves to Lake Tahoe to become a blackjack dealer at Harrah's. Violet, yet again, moves back to her mother and grandmother after wrecking her life in Lake Tahoe and gets back together and moves in with Luke after seeing that he has improved his life. Violet returns in Season 6 as the host of a successful podcast called "The Mother of all Problems" where she outlines in great detail all of Christy's terrible past actions; it is revealed that Christy and Violet haven't talked in over a year, and while Violet lets Christy on her podcast and gives her credit for turning her life around, she bluntly says that the past can't be changed and she thinks it's healthier to have no relationship with Christy in the future. Violet's father abused Christy, and Christy has lied to Violet concerning his whereabouts, taking her to a random man's grave and telling Violet that her father is dead.
• Nate Corddry as Gabriel (main cast seasons 1–2): the manager of the restaurant where Christy works. Married to a domineering woman who scares him somewhat, Gabriel and Christy are carrying on an affair which Christy later ends but which Gabriel himself frequently and desperately tries to renew: they briefly resume their affair in season 2 when Christy is promoted as his replacement. He is a hardworking, competent manager, but often put in his place by his subordinates, particularly Chef Rudy.
• Matt Jones as Baxter (main cast seasons 1–3; recurring season 4; guest seasons 5 and 6): Christy's ex-husband and the father of Roscoe. Sweet and charming, but very unstable, he is unable to maintain a serious relationship or steady work for much longer than a month. Loves easy life and frequently gets into fraudulent deals to make money. Despite his flaws, he is a loving father who usually comes through for his son. During season 2, under the influence of his wealthy new girlfriend Candace, Baxter gives up his slacker ways and becomes a car salesman.
• French Stewart as Chef Rudy (main cast seasons 1–2; guest seasons 3, 5, and 6): the head chef for the restaurant where Christy works as a waitress. A dominant and difficult self-made man, Rudy acts superior in his relationships with others. He is boastful and arrogant, often yelling at his subordinates without mincing words and will not hesitate to humiliate anyone who opposes him. He is secretive about his past and distant from people, but briefly dates Bonnie at one point: during this time, he is revealed to be a (bi)sexual fetishist with expensive tastes and hobbies who enjoys stealing food from the restaurant.
• Spencer Daniels as Luke (main cast season 1; recurring season 2; guest season 4): a young student who loves to enjoy life and adventure. He had been dating Violet for a little over a year and got her pregnant. Luke is considerably airheaded, smoking marijuana often, but always tries to prove to Christy that he is not as crazy as he appears: he seems to genuinely love Violet, staying beside her and supporting her throughout her pregnancy, and he is often more sensitive towards Christy than her own children are, perhaps because his parents are religious fundamentalists with whom he does not connect. In season 2, Violet, during her downward spiral, cheated on Luke and he broke up with Violet. By season 4, Luke has apparently cleaned himself up and got a high-paying job with a video game company, driving Violet to get back together with him. Violet reveals in season 6 that she and Luke have ended their relationship.
• Blake Garrett Rosenthal as Roscoe Plunkett (main cast seasons 1–3; recurring season 4): Christy's son by Baxter and half-brother of Violet. He experimented with marijuana at age twelve. He has not appeared since season 4, and it is stated he went to live with Baxter and his new wife Candace.
• Mimi Kennedy as Marjorie Armstrong-Perugian (recurring season 1, main cast season 2–present):^[6] Christy's and Bonnie's AA sponsor. She had problems with alcohol and drugs in the past and is a breast cancer survivor, and also a mother to a son whom she currently has no relationship or contact with. Through Christy she meets Victor Perugian, Christy's former landlord, whom she eventually weds and then cares for after he suffers a stroke.
• Jaime Pressly as Jill Kendall (recurring season 2, main cast season 3–present):^[7] An AA member whom Christy sponsors, Jill is a wealthy divorced socialite who is prone to relapses. Pressly announced her pregnancy in June 2017. The writers incorporated her pregnancy in Season 5 as a weight gain, much like Jane Leeves' character Daphne Moon in Frasier.
• Beth Hall as Wendy Harris (recurring season 2, main cast season 3–present):^[8] A member of the AA group, often subdued and prone to constant crying (particularly in seasons 2 and 3). She is a registered nurse (with a hidden sadistic streak that emerges when in uniform) and a member of Mensa. The running joke in the series is that no one, including her friends, listen much to her or want her around more than minimally possible.
• William Fichtner as Adam Janikowski (recurring season 3, main cast season 4–present):^[9] Bonnie's latest love interest and later fiancé, a wheelchair-bound ex-stuntman, whom she met over the phone after he dialed the wrong number. In season 6, he uses his life savings to open a bar called The Barrelworks.

Recurring

• Kristen Johnston as Tammy Diffendorf (season 5–present): Bonnie's old acquaintance from the Foster system who is initially in prison, but gets released in season 6. After temporarily living in Bonnie and Christy's apartment, she moves in with Marjorie.
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Nora Rogers (season 5–present): Christy's no-nonsense new sponsor, who works as a weather woman, and finds herself violating her established rules about not interacting with sponsees outside of AA with Christy.
• Lauri Johnson as Beatrice (season 3–present): A waitress who works at the diner where the AA members usually go.
• Charlie Robinson as Mr. Munson (season 2–present): A blind tenant in the apartment building where Christy and Bonnie live, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War and is battling prostate cancer.

• Sam McMurray as Ned (season 6), one of the Gamblers Anonymous members where Christy attends, who always advises her.
• Susan Ruttan as Lucy (season 6), one of the Gamblers Anonymous members.
• Reggie de Leon as Paul (seasons 1–3, 5): Chef Rudy's silent and often submissive sous-chef.
• Kevin Pollak as Alvin Lester Biletnikoff (seasons 1–2): Christy's father and Bonnie's ex-boyfriend who abandoned them when Christy was born. When Christy found Alvin he was married with two sons. Despite that, he loves Christy and does what he can to be in her life and help out, including fixing up a used car to give her and attempting to reach out to her children as a grandfather. He and Bonnie initially treated each other with contempt and hatred over the various mistakes each of them has made in their past, but they rekindled their relationship after his wife left him and he survived a heart attack. In season 2, Alvin suffers a fatal, second heart attack while in bed with Bonnie.
• Octavia Spencer as Regina Tompkins (seasons 1–3): A fellow AA member and money manager who embezzled from her clients and faces a long prison sentence. While a close if questionable friend to Christy, Regina and Bonnie typically hold each other in contempt, but beneath the surface, they bear some affection for each other. In the middle of season 2, she is given early parole and becomes a born-again Christian, eventually moving in with Jill. Regina drifts apart from her friends after she decides she is no longer an alcoholic, essentially choosing wine over her friends, and struggles alone with the dissonance after moving into her own apartment and out of Jill's mansion.
• Courtney Henggeler as Claudia (seasons 1–3): Gabriel's wealthy and snobbish ex-wife, who took over the restaurant from him and briefly appointed Christy as manager.
• Mary Pat Gleason as Mary (seasons 1–5): A fellow AA member who is frequently interrupted by Bonnie when she shares her problems with the group, as those problems tend to be bizarre and creepy even by addict-story standards.
• Don McManus as Steve Casper (seasons 1–4): A fellow AA member, Steve is a competent but creepy lawyer and occasionally aids Christy, who becomes his intern and trainee in season 2. He has a casual sex relationship with Bonnie in season 3. In season 4, he is shown to be in Mexico, escaping some legal trouble of his own.
• Sara Rue as Candace Hayes (seasons 2–4): Baxter's wealthy new wife, under whose influence he has reformed. She delivers many subtle jabs at Christy's poverty and seems to be trying to force Christy aside to replace her as Roscoe's mother. The hostility becomes much more obvious in season 3, when Candace's wealthy father Fred (Harry Hamlin), starts dating Christy and Candace accuses Christy of only being with him for his money.
• Jonny Coyne as Victor Perugian (seasons 2–4): Christy's Armenian former landlord who becomes attracted to Marjorie, marrying her in season 3. He doesn't like Bonnie, Christy, Jill or Wendy and the feelings are mutual. In season 5, he suffered a stroke (off camera). In season 6, he suffers a second stroke (off camera) and passes away.
• Amy Hill as Beverly Tarantino (seasons 2–5): A tenant in the apartment building where Christy and Bonnie live; she dislikes Bonnie and is always trying to get her fired from the manager position.
• David Krumholtz as Gregory Munchnik (seasons 2–3): Violet's older Jewish ex-fiancé, a psychology professor at the college she attends.
• Emily Osment as Jodi Hubbard (season 3): A young drug addict whom Christy and Bonnie try to help get sober. She later dies from a drug overdose.
• Missi Pyle as Natasha (seasons 4–5): Emily's biological mother, an alcoholic whom Christy knows from her stripping days. Christy helps Natasha get sober and get custody of her daughter back.
• Julia Lester as Emily (seasons 4–5): Jill's teenage foster daughter and Natasha biological daughter.
• Leonard Roberts as Ray Stabler (seasons 4–5): Bonnie's half-brother who is a successful lawyer.
• Steven Weber as Patrick Janikowski (season 5): Adam's younger brother and Christy's love interest.

Notable guests

• Jon Cryer and Lisa Joyner as themselves (S01E01): customers at the Rustic Fig.
• Justin Long as Adam Henchy (S01E03, S01E06, and S01E08): Christy's love interest.
• Ed Asner as Jack Bumgartner (S02E05): a tenant in the apartment building where Bonnie and Christy resides.
• Beverly D'Angelo as Lorraine Biletnikoff (S02E09, S02E11 and S02E12): Alvin's ex-wife, who hates Christy and Bonnie.
• Colin Hanks as Andy Dreeson (S02E09): Christy's potential love interest whose idea of a fun night is not exactly what she expected.
• Ellen Burstyn as Shirley Stabler (S03E01): Bonnie's biological mother, who put her in foster care when she was very young.
• June Squibb as Dottie (S03E01): a woman who, Christy thinks, might be the ideal grandmother.
• Judy Greer as Michelle (S03E03): a sloppy drunk that Christy and Bonnie meet in a bar and try to help get sober.
• Linda Lavin as Phyllis Munchnik (S03E07 and S03E21): Gregory's mother and Violet's would-be mother-in-law.
• Harry Hamlin as Fred Hayes (S03E08 and S03E09): Candace's father and Christy's love interest.
• Rosie O'Donnell as Jeanine (S03E10 and S04E02): an ex-girlfriend of Bonnie who she and Christy lived with. She and Christy maintain an aunt-niece relationship.
• Joe Manganiello as Julian (S03E11): a newcomer to Alcoholics Anonymous who Christy takes under her wing.
• Rhea Perlman as Anya Perugian (S03E12): Marjorie's Armenian sister-in-law and Victor's sister.
• Richard Schiff as Robert (S03E20): Bonnie's Communications Director in a White House dream that she had.
• Bradley Whitford as Mitch (S04E09 and S06E13): Adam's friend who is a Hollywood director with a fondness for alcohol.
• Nicole Sullivan as Leanne (S04E09 and S06E13): Mitch's hard-drinking wife who was once involved with Adam.
• Chris Pratt as Nick Banaszak (S04E11): Marjorie's nephew, a charming but Lennie Small-esque horse-riding instructor whom Christy pursues, despite Marjorie declaring him off-limits.
• Wendie Malick as Danielle Janikowski (S04E15 and S04E16): Adam's ex-wife whose friendly relationship with him confounds Bonnie.
• Michael Angarano as Cooper (S05E03 and S05E10): Christy's younger classmate at law school and love interest.
• Kristin Chenoweth as Miranda (S05E14): Jill's inner strength advisor who met her at the latter's weight loss retreat.
• Patti LuPone as Rita Gennaro (S05E19): the demanding new owner of the building that is managed by Bonnie.
• Constance Zimmer as Natalie Stevens (S06E03): Christy's rigid professor at the Law school, who is also an alcoholic.
• Rainn Wilson as Trevor (S06E17): Bonnie's therapist who helps her with the ADD