My So-Called Life

:For information on the From Zero album, see My So-Called Life (album)

Characters

My So-Called Life had an unusually large and diverse cast of characters for a family-themed series. Most characters presented an expected archetypical aspect and a hidden unexpected side to their personality.

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• Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes, is a fifteen-year-old girl going through several common aspects of puberty and teenage angst including, among many others, the awakening of sexuality, the fall of parental figures from the superego, a propensity for abstract thought and a thirst for independence. Angela also has literary ambitions; this makes her numerous metaphysical considerations believable as coming from a fifteen year old. For example, some of these themes can be seen in one of her voice-over monologues in the pilot episode set during a family dinner: "I cannot bring myself to eat a well-balanced meal in front of my mother. It just means too much to her. I mean, if you start to think about, like, chewing, what it really is, how people just do it, like, in public."
• Patty Chase and Graham Chase, played by Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin, are Angela's parents. In a way, they are typical suburban American parents. But in other ways, they are an atypical family since Patty is the main bread-winner and, at the beginning of the series, employs her husband. Patty is the father-like authoritative figure, while Graham is a more mother-like affectionate parent who cooks and is far less strict than his wife.
• Danielle Chase, played by Lisa Wilhoit, is Angela's younger sister. She rarely influences the major storylines. There is an emphasis on how much she is ignored by her family.
• Rayanne Graff, played by A.J. Langer, is Angela's "new best friend" at the beginning of the series. She is wild, unpredictable, sexually active and irresponsible. She is in many ways the opposite of Angela. However, Rayanne's freedom comes along with a negligent single mother and teenage alcoholism.
• Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz, is Rayanne Graff's other best friend. He is a gay Hispanic fifteen year old boy raised by his uncle who physically abuses him. In 1994, when most of the show takes place, Rickie is as "out" as a teenager could be in his circumstances.
• Sharon Cherski, played by Devon Odessa, is Angela's ex-best friend. Their mothers are best friends. From Angela's point of view, Sharon represents a suffocating world of boredom and conventions as opposed to the wild world of Rayanne Graff. Yet most characters are mistaken when they assume that Sharon's life is devoid of passion. Sharon might be as passionate as Rayanne Graff, but is afraid to show it.
• Brian Krakow, played by Devon Gummersall, is the geek of the show. He is remarkably intelligent and conformist. He, much like Sharon, is mistakenly believed by other characters to be devoid of emotion. He is in love with Angela, but he has no hope of her noticing him as he knows he is unattractive.
• Jordan Catalano, played by Jared Leto, is one of the best remembered characters of the show, though he was possibly the least seen. He is one of the worst students at the high school, and on the brink of being expelled. He's nearly illiterate, and is mistakenly believed to be stupid because of this. Angela is in love with him. Although he appears to belong to a group of rebellious teens, he is tired of the meaningless acts of vandalism that his friends commit for fun, yet he has no reason to believe that his life will change.
• Tino was an oft-mentioned character who was never actually seen. Over the course of the show, each of the main teenage characters referenced Tino at least once. For instance, Tino was the lead singer of Jordan Catalano's band, "The Frozen Embryos".