History Characters / Arresteddevelopment

!Other Characters

!!Unsorted
[[folder: Ann Veal … ''her?'']]
-->'''Played By:''' Alessandra Torresani; Creator/MaeWhitman

* ButtMonkey
* TheDogBitesBack: Tricks GOB and Tony Wonder into [[spoiler:sleeping with each other]] when both attempt to use her against each other as revenge for GOB [[spoiler:leaving her at the altar]] and Tony [[spoiler:getting her pregnant]].
* {{Embarrassing|MiddleName}} {{Tomboyish|Name}} [[EmbarrassingMiddleName Middle Name]]: Paul.
* TheFundamentalist
* MayDecemberRomance: With [[spoiler:GOB '''''and''''' Tony Wonder.]]
* TheNondescript: "... who?"
* TheOtherDarrin: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Apparently the plan was]] to give her a new actress for ''every episode'' she appeared in, to make her status as the TheNondescript work on a meta level too, but in practice her second actress is used for the rest of the series.
* PhraseCatcher: “Who?”, “Her?”, “Egg?” “Bland?”
** “Who?”
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Ann and her mother have a decidedly unique interpretation of the word “secularity”.

[[folder: John Beard, his Hometown’s Leading News Anchor]]
-->'''Played By:''' [[AsHimself John Beard]]

* AdamWesting
* AscendedExtra: John Beard AsHimself ties Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn for most frequently credited SpecialGuest, yet he probably has a cumulative minute of screentime.
** He more properly fits the trope in season 4, as he has an actual role in the Tobias plot.
* AsHimself: John Beard was a real newscaster for the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles area’s local FOX affiliate and was active during ''Arrested Development''’s run. He relocated to Buffalo in the seven-year break between the show’s FOX cancellation and its Netflix resumption, but he still filmed all his parts.
* CoincidentalBroadcast
* KentBrockmanNews
* PungeonMaster: Justified, since most of the plot-relevant things that wind up on the news are featured in ‘lighter side’-type segments.
* SmugSnake

[[folder: Bob Loblaw, his ''Decent'' Lawyer]]
-->'''Played By:''' Scott Baio

* ActorAllusion: This isn’t the first time he’s been brought in [[Series/HappyDays to replace Barry Zuckerkorn]].
* AmoralAttorney: “Why should you go to jail for a crime somebody else … ''[[BaitAndSwitch noticed]]''?”
* DemotedToExtra: He only makes a brief appearance in season 4 thanks to the family rehiring Barry.
* ObliviousToLove: Lindsay prefaces her flirtations with him with that she’s looking into getting a divorce. He carries on with the rest of their interactions as if she’s consulting him as her divorce lawyer.
* PunnyName: Taken UpToEleven when we discover he has a law blog.
** If you don’t see what’s funny about his name, [[BlahBlahBlah try saying it out loud]]. Or view [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwWAsNZTnug this]] clip.

[[folder: Carl Weathers, his Brother-in-law’s Acting Coach]]
-->'''Played By:''' Carl Weathers

* CoolOldGuy
* TheDanza
* EatDirtCheap: The famous stew line. His love of Burger King also stems from this.

[[folder: Gene Parmesan, his Mother’s Private Investigator]]
-->'''Played By:''' Martin Mull
* BunnyEarsLawyer: His disguises are comically bad, but he did manage to track down George Sr. before GOB's bounty hunter did.
* MasterOfDisguise: Parodied. He constantly turns up in various disguises and faked accents. They are all blatantly obvious, and the narration {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this, with the narrator saying, “Gene was far from the best.” Despite this, they invariably fool Lucille, eliciting a scream of delight from her each time. However, he gets pretty much anywhere instantly, which is surprisingly so given his standard—
* PaperThinDisguise: As bad as his fake accents and his detective skills.

[[folder: Sally Sitwell, his Childhood Crush]]
-->'''Played By:''' Christine Taylor

* ActorAllusion: In Season 4 [[spoiler: she is both partner and partner-in-crime to Tony Wonder, who is played by Taylor’s husband, Ben Stiller.]]
** She's also implied to be going bald. Christine Taylor previously played a bald woman in ''{{Friends}}''.
* AscendedExtra: Despite only appearing in two episodes throughout the first three seasons, she is given a much bigger part in Season 4, where she [[spoiler: becomes Lucille 2's campaign advisor, and then is revealed to be behind Tony Wonder's grand plan]].
* BaldWomen: [[spoiler: It’s strongly hinted in Season 4 that she’s inherited her father’s [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alopecia_universalis alopecia universalis]] and is starting to wear hairpieces, just like Stan]].
* BigBad: By the end of Season 4, it appears that [[spoiler: she will become this in Season 5]].

[[folder: Tony Wonder, his Older Brother’s Rival]]
-->'''Played By:''' Creator/BenStiller

* ActorAllusion: In Season 4 [[spoiler: he is both partner and partner-in-crime to Sally Sitwell, who is played by Stiller’s wife, Christine Taylor.]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Gob.
* InadvertentEntranceCue: {{Exploited|Trope}}. He loves to hide in hidden compartments just so he can make a grandiose entrance when someone says the word “Wonder.”
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: From Gob]] in Season 4. [[spoiler: They both have an interest in magic and they both have never felt genuine friendship. They even share a {{leitmotif}}.]]
* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: ZigZagged.]] He publicly comes out of the closet in Season Four; [[spoiler: and although this is revealed to be a publicity stunt, he and Gob develop genuine romantic feelings for each other, leaving Tony’s actual sexuality somewhat ambiguous.]]
* UnknownRival: Even before their shenanigans in Season 4, Gob keeps track of Tony’s career exploits and is highly jealous of him. But while the Narrator refers to their relationship as a “longtime rivalry”, when Gob auditions to be part of his magic DVD in Season 2 he mainly acts like an awestruck fanboy. Tony, by contrast, seems to barely know who Gob is but is intrigued by his act and not adverse to his success.
* WhatIsThisFeeling: [[spoiler: His reciprocated feelings for Gob]] in Season 4 [[spoiler: take them both by surprise.]]

[[folder: Stefan Gentles, his Father’s Prison Warden]]
-->'''Played By:''' James Lipton

* HopelessWithTech: Has a lot of trouble working with his Tablet.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He considers himself a brilliant scriptwriter and constantly tries to promote his work, mostly with little success.
* TrueArt: InUniverse. He is an aspiring scriptwriter, and considers his scripts to be this.

[[folder: Rita Leeds, his Ex-Fiancée]]
-->'''Played By:''' Charlize Theron

* CloudCuckoolander
* OneOfTheKids
* RummageSaleReject: How she dresses is pretty questionable, but Michael finds it charming.
* SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish: Subverted.[[spoiler: This is how the Bluths can’t recognize her as mentally retarded: her British accent.]]

* NakedPeopleAreFunny

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Thinking that GOB was a great guy.

[[folder: J. Walter Weatherman, his Father’s Lesson-teaching Device]]
-->'''Played By:''' Steve Ryan

* ArtificialLimb
* FakeArmDisarm: His prosthetic right arm detaches, and as such the lessons always end with it being ripped off somehow.
* HypocriticalHumor: At least two lessons he taught were about teaching lessons.
* MadLibsCatchphrase: “And ''that’s'' why you _________.”
* ScareEmStraight: His whole purpose on the show.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Every single bad thing you do will somehow lead to a man losing his arm, apparently. Or, in the case of leaving the front door open while the air conditioner is on, ''kill'' him.
* UncattyResemblance: In his introductory flashback, he is seen with a three-legged dog.
[[/folder]]

'''Possible unmarked spoilers''' below:

* HiddenBuxom: She typically wears non-revealing clothing, but whenever she doesn’t, it’s shown that she has large breasts. Now that Alia Shawkat is a grown woman rather than a teenager in season 4, there’s not much she can do to hide it anymore.

[[folder: Lucille “Lucille 2” Austero, his Mother’s Rival]]
-->'''Played By:''' Liza Minnelli

* AscendedExtra: In Season 4, after becoming the major shareholder in the company. In fact, most of the season's storyline revolves around her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She refuses to sell her Bluth shares when she finds out Lucille took advantage of her.
** [[spoiler: She delivers a withering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Lucille in Season 4, while being deposed as a defense witness]].
* SitcomArchnemesis: With Lucille Bluth as social friends and passive-aggressive rivals.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Lucille. She begins to give as good as she gets in the later seasons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Steve Holt, his Niece’s Crush]]
[[spoiler:Also his nephew]]
-->'''Played By:''' Justin Grant Wade

* FutureLoser: In Season 4, Steve has finally gotten out of high school, works as a pest exterminator, has gained some weight, and his hairline is starting to recede just like he feared it would. Arguably a subversion, since he's still cheerful, energetic, self-employed and successful. Which is altogether more what the rest of his biological family can say.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Season 4 reveals he’s the very picture of someone who peaked in high school.

* LovableJock: He’s dumb as a box of hair but still quite likeable and friendly. As well as surprisingly tolerant when he thought Lindsay was transgender (ItMakesSenseInContext).
* LukeYouAreMyFather:[[spoiler: He is Gob’s son.]]
* {{Malaproper}}: “There’s no ''me'' in ''team''!”
** There’s no “i” in “win”!

* YankTheDogsChain: In Season 4. For a moment it looks like Gob is going to make a serious attempt to reconnect with him, but he eventually bails out on Steve and even berates him later for not sending him any birthday cards through the years. Then Maeby doesn’t recognize him despite him doing his trademark pose.
-->“Heck of a birthday this is shaping up to be …”

[[folder: Ann Veal … ''her?'']]
-->'''Played By:''' Alessandra Torresani; Creator/MaeWhitman

* ButtMonkey
* TheDogBitesBack: Tricks GOB and Tony Wonder into [[spoiler:sleeping with each other]] when both attempt to use her against each other as revenge for GOB [[spoiler:leaving her at the altar]] and Tony [[spoiler:getting her pregnant]].
* {{Embarrassing|MiddleName}} {{Tomboyish|Name}} [[EmbarrassingMiddleName Middle Name]]: Paul.
* TheFundamentalist
* MayDecemberRomance: With [[spoiler:GOB '''''and''''' Tony Wonder.]]
* TheNondescript: "... who?"
* TheOtherDarrin: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Apparently the plan was]] to give her a new actress for ''every episode'' she appeared in, to make her status as the TheNondescript work on a meta level too, but in practice her second actress is used for the rest of the series.
* PhraseCatcher: “Who?”, “Her?”, “Egg?” “Bland?”
** “Who?”
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: Ann and her mother have a decidedly unique interpretation of the word “secularity”.

[[folder: Barry Zuckerkorn, his Family’s Lawyer]]
-->'''Played By:''' Henry Winkler

* ActorAllusion[=/=]CastingGag: In a couple of scenes he briefly slips into [[Series/HappyDays Fonzie]]’s trademark poses and mannerisms. The most overt reference has him literally jumping over a [[JumpTheShark shark]].
* AmbiguouslyJewish
* AmoralAttorney
* ArmoredClosetGay
* CasanovaWannabe: He often makes uncomfortable passes at other men in the form of {{Freudian Slip}}s, and has a reputation as a bit of creep as a result.
* LazyBum: At one point he’s so lazy that he won’t even read the settlement George Sr. has been given.
* ThePeepingTom: Season 4 has him facing charges of sneaking into the grounds of the local high school to spy on the football team's dressing room, and it is heavily implied that he in fact did so.
* :PutOnABus: Michael fires him in the season 3 premiere.
** TheBusCameBack: Lucille has rehired him in season 4, following her being arrested for hijacking the ''Queen Mary''.
* SmallNameBigEgo
* TimeShiftedActor: In Season 4, Young Barry is played by Max Winkler, Henry Winkler’s son, in flashbacks.
* TransparentCloset

[[folder: John Beard, his Hometown’s Leading News Anchor]]
-->'''Played By:''' [[AsHimself John Beard]]

* AdamWesting
* AscendedExtra: John Beard AsHimself ties Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn for most frequently credited SpecialGuest, yet he probably has a cumulative minute of screentime.
** He more properly fits the trope in season 4, as he has an actual role in the Tobias plot.
* AsHimself: John Beard was a real newscaster for the UsefulNotes/LosAngeles area’s local FOX affiliate and was active during ''Arrested Development''’s run. He relocated to Buffalo in the seven-year break between the show’s FOX cancellation and its Netflix resumption, but he still filmed all his parts.
* CoincidentalBroadcast
* KentBrockmanNews
* PungeonMaster: Justified, since most of the plot-relevant things that wind up on the news are featured in ‘lighter side’-type segments.
* SmugSnake
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Kitty Sanchez, his Father’s Secretary]]
-->'''Played By:''' JudyGreer

* BeautifulAllAlong: Subverted with Kitty, who is played by an attractive actress. When Gob gets her drop the glasses and let down her hair, he finds out that she is crossed-eyed and her hair is a puffy, unruly mess, prompting him to quickly tell her “OK, glasses on! Hair up!”
* BigBreastPride: After getting breast implants she refuses to stop flashing Michael anytime he doesn’t give into her demands to show him “what [he’s] missing” and [[MyEyesAreUpHere then get angry at him for staring at her breasts.]]

* CatchPhrase: Considering the above, she could be angry. But no, she’ll [[BlatantLies take it in stride]], and let you “TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THESE! Because it’s the last time you’re ever going to see them!” In season four she becomes fond of ending sentences with “you pig,” generally when she’s disgusted by (perceived) sexist behavior.

* StalkerWithATestTube: And she eventually gets what she’s after, albeit, by accident.

[[folder: Marta Estrella, his Crush]]
-->'''Played By:''' Leonor Varela; Patricia Velásquez

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Thinking that G.O.B. was a great guy.
* TheOtherDarrin: Portrayed by two different actresses, with a third given a brief appearance in a montage of Michael’s former girlfriends in season 3.

[[folder: Bob Loblaw, his ''Decent'' Lawyer]]
-->'''Played By:''' Scott Baio

* ActorAllusion: This isn’t the first time he’s been brought in [[Series/HappyDays to replace Barry Zuckerkorn]].
* AmoralAttorney: “Why should you go to jail for a crime somebody else … ''[[BaitAndSwitch noticed]]''?”
* DemotedToExtra: He only makes a brief appearance in season 4 thanks to the family rehiring Barry.
* ObliviousToLove: Lindsay prefaces her flirtations with him with that she’s looking into getting a divorce. He carries on with the rest of their interactions as if she’s consulting him as her divorce lawyer.
* PunnyName: Taken UpToEleven when we discover he has a law blog.
** If you don’t see what’s funny about his name, [[BlahBlahBlah try saying it out loud]]. Or view [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwWAsNZTnug this]] clip.

[[folder: Carl Weathers, his Brother-in-law’s Acting Coach]]
-->'''Played By:''' Carl Weathers

* AdamWesting
* CoolOldGuy
* TheDanza
* EatDirtCheap: The famous stew line. His love of Burger King also stems from this.

[[folder: Gene Parmesan, his Mother’s Private Investigator]]
-->'''Played By:''' Martin Mull
* BunnyEarsLawyer: His disguises are comically bad, but he did manage to track down George Sr. before GOB's bounty hunter did.
* MasterOfDisguise: Parodied. He constantly turns up in various disguises and faked accents. They are all blatantly obvious, and the narration {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this, with the narrator saying, “Gene was far from the best.” Despite this, they invariably fool Lucille, eliciting a scream of delight from her each time. However, he gets pretty much anywhere instantly, which is surprisingly so given his standard—
* PaperThinDisguise: As bad as his fake accents and his detective skills.

[[folder: Sally Sitwell, his Childhood Crush]]
-->'''Played By:''' Christine Taylor

* ActorAllusion: In Season 4 [[spoiler: she is both partner and partner-in-crime to Tony Wonder, who is played by Taylor’s husband, Ben Stiller.]]
** She's also implied to be going bald. Christine Taylor previously played a bald woman in ''{{Friends}}''.
* AscendedExtra: Despite only appearing in two episodes throughout the first three seasons, she is given a much bigger part in Season 4, where she [[spoiler: becomes Lucille 2's campaign advisor, and then is revealed to be behind Tony Wonder's grand plan]].
* BaldWomen: [[spoiler: It’s strongly hinted in Season 4 that she’s inherited her father’s [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alopecia_universalis alopecia universalis]] and is starting to wear hairpieces, just like Stan]].
* BigBad: By the end of Season 4, it appears that [[spoiler: she will become this in Season 5]].

[[folder: Tony Wonder, his Older Brother’s Rival]]
-->'''Played By:''' Creator/BenStiller

* ActorAllusion: In Season 4 [[spoiler: he is both partner and partner-in-crime to Sally Sitwell, who is played by Stiller’s wife, Christine Taylor.]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To Gob.
* InadvertentEntranceCue: {{Exploited|Trope}}. He loves to hide in hidden compartments just so he can make a grandiose entrance when someone says the word “Wonder.”
* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: From Gob]] in Season 4. [[spoiler: They both have an interest in magic and they both have never felt genuine friendship. They even share a {{leitmotif}}.]]
* SuddenlySexuality: [[spoiler: ZigZagged.]] He publicly comes out of the closet in Season Four; [[spoiler: and although this is revealed to be a publicity stunt, he and Gob develop genuine romantic feelings for each other, leaving Tony’s actual sexuality somewhat ambiguous.]]
* UnknownRival: Even before their shenanigans in Season 4, Gob keeps track of Tony’s career exploits and is highly jealous of him. But while the Narrator refers to their relationship as a “longtime rivalry”, when Gob auditions to be part of his magic DVD in Season 2 he mainly acts like an awestruck fanboy. Tony, by contrast, seems to barely know who Gob is but is intrigued by his act and not adverse to his success.
* WhatIsThisFeeling: [[spoiler: His reciprocated feelings for Gob]] in Season 4 [[spoiler: take them both by surprise.]]

[[folder: Stefan Gentles, his Father’s Prison Warden]]
-->'''Played By:''' James Lipton

* HopelessWithTech: Has a lot of trouble working with his Tablet.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He considers himself a brilliant scriptwriter and constantly tries to promote his work, mostly with little success.
* TrueArt: InUniverse. He is an aspiring scriptwriter, and considers his scripts to be this.

[[folder: J. Walter Weatherman, his Father’s Lesson-teaching Device]]
-->'''Played By:''' Steve Ryan

* ArtificialLimb
* FakeArmDisarm: His prosthetic right arm detaches, and as such the lessons always end with it being ripped off somehow.
* HypocriticalHumor: At least two lessons he taught were about teaching lessons.
* MadLibsCatchphrase: “And ''that’s'' why you _________.”
* ScareEmStraight: His whole purpose on the show.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Every single bad thing you do will somehow lead to a man losing his arm, apparently. Or, in the case of leaving the front door open while the air conditioner is on, ''kill'' him.
* UncattyResemblance: In his introductory flashback, he is seen with a three-legged dog.

[[folder: Rita Leeds, his Ex-Fiancée]]
-->'''Played By:''' Charlize Theron

* CloudCuckoolander
* OneOfTheKids
* RummageSaleReject: How she dresses is pretty questionable, but Michael finds it charming.
* SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish: Subverted.[[spoiler: This is how the Bluths can’t recognize her as mentally retarded: her British accent.]]

!!Lindsay Bluth Fünke[[spoiler:/Nellie]]

Michael's niece, Maeby is the daughter of Lindsay and Tobias. A BookDumb and materialistic girl as a result of her upbringing and neglect as a child.

[[folder: The Narrator, the ...narrator]]
-->'''Played By:''' Creator/RonHoward

* ActorAllusion: Tons.
* CelebrityParadox: Bizarrely, despite that the narrator makes constant references to Howard’s career and more-or-less subtly portrays Howard in a positive light throughout Season 4, he still refers to the Ron Howard appearing in the actual show in third person.
* DeadpanSnarker
* EndOfSeriesAwareness
* LemonyNarrator: Especially when commenting on ''others''’ narration.
* NoFourthWall
* SelfDeprecation: Ron Howard takes a pretty good beating in season 4, though this paradoxically makes him one of the more reasonable and well-adjusted characters in the series, [[AuthorAppeal probably on purpose]].
[[/folder]]

* HypocriticalHumor
-->[''reading from Jessie’s smear article''] ''“Lindsay’s a combative, entitled princess”?! I should hire someone to kick your ass for that!''

* OutnumberedSibling: The only female Bluth child. [[spoiler:And she isn't even a Bluth when it comes down to it.]]

* RevengeRomance: She married Tobias because she knew it’d drive her parents crazy.

Lindsay, Michael's twin sister, is a materialistic charity worker whose relationship with her husband is rocky at best. She can act like a {{Jerkass}} at times, especially when neglecting her teenage daughter Maeby, but she has a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold heart of gold]]. [[spoiler:She was actually the daughter of Stan Sitwell, and was adopted by the Bluths as an infant.]]

!!Lindsay Bluth Fünke[[spoiler:/Nellie Sitwell]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: In “Development Arrested”[[spoiler: George Michael punches GOB out cold when he realizes that his uncle has been dating Ann behind his back]]. In “Blockheads”[[spoiler: he punches Michael square in the face when he realizes that his father has been dating Rebel behind his back despite knowing full well that his son was involved with her]].

* WhiteSheep: Unless you count crushing on his cousin against him (and trying to start a relationship with her), he’s by far the nicest, most decent, and most normal of the Bluths.[[spoiler: Subverted in Season 4, where after a lot of pushing, his natural Bluth dishonesty comes out.]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In season 4.[[spoiler: As the narrator notices, Tobias does finally get a starring role in a TV show like he always wanted. [[MistakenForPedophile Unfortunately]], this is John Beard’s ''To Entrap a Local Predator''.]]

** JerkassWoobie: You sometimes feel bad for him given how much both his parents treat him like dirt.

Lindsay, Michael's twin sister, is a materialistic charity worker whose relationship with her husband is rocky at best. She can act like a {{Jerkass}} at times, especially when neglecting her teenage daughter Maeby, but she has a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGod heart of gold]]. [[spoiler:She was actually the daughter of Stan Sitwell, and was adopted by the Bluths as an infant.]]

* OlderThanHeLooks: He's actually [[spoiler:18]] in Season 1, a fact which is only known by Lupe and makes him [[spoiler:eligible to take the money from his trust fund.]]

[[folder: Annyong, his Adopted Brother]]
-->'''Played By:''' Justin Lee

* BestServedCold: [[spoiler: Spends months living with the Bluths, and later hiding in the walls, waiting for his chance at revenge.]]
** [[spoiler:Gets a piece of this himself on Season 4 when he’s footed with a $700 bill for using the Bluths’ membership card. Goodbye, Annyong.]]
* ChekhovsGunman
* FunnyForeigner
* PokemonSpeak: Subverted: everyone thinks he’s continually saying his name but ‘Annyong’ is actually the Korean word for ‘hello’.
** His real name is [[spoiler: Hel-loh, which loosely translates to ‘one day’.]]
** This is illustrated when Michael takes a date to a Korean restaurant, and when he walks in the door, everyone says “Annyong!” Presumably he understands them, because he waves back to them. Why he never explained this to the rest of the family is a mystery, but perhaps he was just snickering behind their backs.
* PutOnABus: Lucille mentions she sent him off to a boarding school. [[spoiler: He was actually hiding in the walls to gather evidence to exact {{revenge}} on the Bluth family]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Due to ‘Annyeong’ being the most common spelling of the Korean word. Also applies to his real name, which is usually Romanized [[spoiler: ‘Haru’]].
[[/folder]]

!!Played by: Will Arnett

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/AliaShawkat

!!Played by: Creator/WillArnett

!The Bluth Family General

[[foldercontrol]]

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/JasonBateman

* BewareTheNiceOnes:[[spoiler: Season 4 implies that, after a series of injuries and degradation, he murdered Lucille Austero. Knowing the series, there may be more to it than that, but at the very least he does threaten her.]]

* ControlFreak: As the series progresses.

* DrivenToMurder: As of season 4’s finale, [[spoiler:all evidence points to him as Lucille Austero’s murderer to get out of a $700,000 debt.]]

* TheDutifulSon

* HopelessWithTech: In Season 4.

* OnlySaneEmployee

* SurroundedByIdiots
* TokenGoodTeammate

[[folder: Lindsay Fünke, his Twin Sister]]

[[spoiler:Adopted by the Bluths as an infant.]]
-->'''Played By:''' Creator/PortiaDeRossi

* DumbBlonde
* EvilCostumeSwitch[=/=]EvilMakeover: [[spoiler:See GenerationXerox]].

* EightiesHair: In flashbacks.

* ItsAllAboutMe

* LazyBum

* OutnumberedSibling: The only Bluth daughter.[[spoiler: And not even by blood.]]

* ReallyGetsAround: She tries to, but only seems successful at bedding Tobias, and that’s saying something.
** [[spoiler:As of season four, she finally succeeds with Marky Bark and Herbert Love.]]

* SexlessMarriage
* TheSlacker

* TheSociopath

* StrawmanPolitical: Left-wing version. More specifically, she’s what some would call a ‘limousine liberal’, an upper-class liberal who doesn’t practice what she preaches. For instance, in one episode she claims to be an animal rights activist, and when Michael points out that her boots are made of ostrich, she basically replies that she’s only interested in saving ‘cute’ animals. Of course, the main reason she advocates all these causes is to thumb her nose at and feel superior to her family.[[spoiler: Subverted in season 4, where she ends up as an ultraconservative Republican candidate, not out of a change in ideology, but because she embraces her selfishness and realizes that she never cared about those causes.]]

[[folder: George Oscar “GOB” Bluth II, his Older Brother]]

-->'''Played By:''' Will Arnett

* AccidentalMarriage: To a woman who sells trained seals.
** ActorAllusion: … and was portrayed by Amy Poehler, to whom Will Arnett was in fact married at the time. Gob even lampshades it when admitting he doesn’t know her name and announcing a desire to make a pun on it when he learns what it is.

* AnswersToTheNameOfGod: In “Colony Collapse”, Gob refers to the Biblical figure Job...and pronounces the name [[FunetikAksent wrong]]. When someone tries to correct him, he thinks he’s being addressed.

* EpicFail: His illusions. The more spectacular they're supposed to be, the worse they end up going.
* GutturalGrowler

* JerkAss

* LargeHam

* LukeIAmYourFather: It transpires that he fathered [[spoiler:Steve Holt in high school.]]

* SmallNameBigEgo
* SmugSnake

!!!Franklin Delano Bluth, GOB’s puppet

[[folder: George Michael Bluth, his Son]]

[[spoiler:AKA George Maharis]]
-->'''Played By:''' MichaelCera

* AccidentalMarriage: [[spoiler:With Maeby in the Season 3 episode 'Fakin' It'. They didn’t know the priest was real (and the priest wasn’t told it was a mock wedding)]].

* TheComicallySerious
* TheDanza: Sort of.
* DiggingYourselfDeeper: He turns it into an ''art form'' in season 4. [[SubvertedTrope In the sense that, he does it as a performance (to come off as a risk-taker) and he continuously gets away with it by digging even]] ''[[SubvertedTrope deeper]]''.[[spoiler: The season finale implies that it will indeed catch up to him.]]

* HollywoodNerd
* KissingCousins: Maeby…

[[folder: Mae “Maeby” Fünke, his Niece]]

* BrokenMasquerade: Her job as a movie producer comes to a close when [[spoiler:George Michael sends her colleagues invitations to her 16th birthday party]].

* DeadpanSnarker

* FatalFlaw: For all her independence and intelligence, her need for her parents’ attention cripples her severely.
** This gets REALLY bad in Season 4: She repeats senior year multiple times and even follows Lindsay to India because she's so desperate for her parents to notice her.
* HiddenBuxom: She typically wears non-revealing clothing, but whenever she doesn’t, it’s shown that she has large breasts.
** Now that Alia Shawkat is a grown woman rather than a teenager in season 4, there’s not much she can do to hide it anymore.
* HighSchoolHustler
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold

* LaserGuidedKarma:[[spoiler: In season 4, tries to seduce a man who she thinks is an undercover cop into sleeping with her so she can blackmail him for statutory rape. However, it turns out that he’s really only 17 (his bracelet indicated his membership in an anti-bullying organization) and since she’s 23 is arrested and taken to jail by a real undercover cop for being a sexual predator.]]

* WiseBeyondTheirYears

** OlderThanTheyLook: In Season 4[[spoiler: she managed to redo senior year in high school for five years by posing as 17.]] Not that anyone isn't suspicious. Rumor around the school is there is an undercover cop among them. Of course Maeby is suspected by a couple of girls because at 23, its getting harder for her to pass as 17.

[[folder: Byron “Buster” Bluth, his Younger Brother]]

-->'''Played By:''' Tony Hale

* AnArmAndALeg: Loses his hand when a [[IncrediblyLamePun loose seal]] bites it off.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: How Gob, Michael and Lindsay see Buster. While the other three, for all their faults, are capable of at least having adult conversations with each other, Buster’s arrival is like that of a helpless child showing up.
* ArtificialLimbs: Wears a HookHand after losing his real one to a seal. The army later gives him a freakishly large bionic hand.
* BerserkButton: Calling him [[spoiler:a monster]] in Season 4.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: He puts [[spoiler:Herbert Love]] in a coma at the Cinco de Cuatro party after being continually treated like dirt by him.
* ButtMonkey

* HookHand: [[spoiler: He gets one after a seal bites off his hand in Season 2]].
** [[spoiler: [[IAmAMonster I’M A]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiv1UP-oHvs&feature=related MONSTEEEER!]]]]

* LukeIAmYourFather: Note the {{Leitmotif}} whenever Buster talks to Oscar in season two.

[[folder: Tobias Onyango Fünke, his Brother-In-Law]]

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/DavidCross

[[folder: George Oscar Bluth Sr., his Father]]

-->'''Played By:''' Jeffrey Tambor

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:After his escape to Mexico, he bribes the local authorities to stage his funeral]].
* JerkAss
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At times, he shows he does care about his kids and grandchildren.
* ManipulativeBastard

* YourCheatingHeart

[[folder:Lucille Bluth, his Mother]]

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/JessicaWalter

* TheChessmaster
* ControlFreak

* EvilMatriarch
* EvilOldFolks

* LadyMacbeth

* RichBitch
* SmugSnake
* TheSociopath

!!Supporting Characters

[[folder: Oscar George Bluth, his Uncle]]
-->'''Played By:''' Jeffrey Tambor

* ActingForTwo
* ButtMonkey: Constantly gets mistaken for George Sr. by the cops, and is the victim of two [[TwinSwitch Twin Switches]] by George Sr. so the latter can avoid prison.
* LukeIMightBeYourFather: Believes he is Buster’s father and anvilizes this idea through the show.

* TheSixthRanger
* TheStoner

* TookALevelInJerkass: In season 4, where he gets fed up with George Sr.’s TwinSwitch act, and exploits it for his own ends instead. He also rekindles his affair with Lucille, but starts one with Lucille 2 at the same time.
* TwinSwitch: George Sr. cons him into taking his place in prison.
** George Sr. later pulls it again as a part of his Sweat and Squeeze scheme, but as Oscar’s self-confidence grows he ends up turning the tables on George Sr. and exploits this for all it is worth.

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Is revealed to be behind all of the corruption in the Bluth Company.]]

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Maeby shows shades of this, especially in early episodes. Season 4 then heavily deconstructs it; she tries so hard to draw George Michael out of a shell that no longer exists that[[spoiler: he decides to part ways with her because all she accomplishes is putting a ridiculously unwarranted amount of pressure on him. Her ‘manic pixie’-dom makes it impossible for her to listen to George Michael’s objections until he has to forcibly fire her from his ‘company’.]]

* StoicSpectacles

* MayDecemberRomance: With [[spoiler:Ann.]]

** ActorAllusion: … who was portrayed by Will Arnett’s then-RealLife wife, Amy Poehler. Gob even lampshades it when admitting he doesn’t know her name and announcing a desire to make a pun on it when he learns what it is.