Characters from To All the Boys I've Loved Before as well as its film adaptations, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You and To All the Boys: Always and Forever.
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The Song-Coveys
Lara Jean Song-Covey
Played by: Lana Condor, Isabelle Beech & Momona Tamada (young)
Dubbed by: Adeline Chetail (EU French)
The protagonist. Lara Jean is a romantic high school student with a penchant for writing love letters. When the five letters she has written to the boys she fell in love with get sent to their intended recipients, her life turns upside down.
- Affectionate Nickname: Lara Jean is "LJ" to those close to her. One of Peter’s friends calls her “Lar-Je” because it sounds like “largie” which is ironic since she’s small.
- Commitment Issues: In the first book, Lara Jean is scared of actually fulfilling a romantic relationship because the person she opens her heart up to could also leave. It's theorized as being the reason she subconsciously only falls for guys she knows she can't have (her sister's boyfriend, an already taken boy, a gay guy, etc). That way she doesn't have to actually make a genuine effort to pursue them and can simply live in her own fantasy. It's also suspected it may have stemmed from grief over her mother's death when Lara Jean was young.
- First Girl After All: The third book reveals that she is this to Peter, because she was the first girl who caught his attention, long before he became involved with Genevieve.
- Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: Lara Jean and Gen were friends in middle school, but had a falling out. Gen went on to be a bitchy popular girl who singles out Lara Jean for bullying.
- Genre Savvy: Fittingly for the protagonist of a teen romcom, Lara Jean is a born romantic and frequently watches romcom films or discusses romcom tropes.
- Green-Eyed Epiphany: Lara Jean didn't realize her feelings for Josh until he started dating Margot.
- Informed Ability: Lara Jean's being academically good pops up a few times over the course of the books and films, but it's not really demonstrated. For example, in the second book, Peter gives Lara Jean a poem, she thinks he's written it for her. But Chris, who's implied to be not as academically good as Lara Jean, is the one who points out it's just Annabel Lee with "Lara Jean" in place of "Annabel Lee".
- The Ingenue: Lara Jean is romantic yet also sheltered regarding love and sex. Although she has had a crush on five boys in her life, she never has the courage to confess because she is too shy.
- In Love with Love: Margot comments that Lara Jean is this, word-for-word, because she is too naive to see how love really works.
- Interchangeable Asian Cultures: Lara Jean's father is white, while her mother is Korean. Although this is not brought up frequently, Lara Jean laments that she has difficulty dressing up for Halloween, because no matter what costume she wears, everyone always assumes that she is dressing as an anime character.
- Second Love: She is this to Peter, as the girl whom he has a relationship with after he broke up with Gen.
- Sweet Baker: Lara Jean has a kind, gentle, and down-to-earth personality. She's also an expert baker and all the films show her baking.
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Has a tendency to do this. Lara Jean has watched too many romance movies and probably got all her knowledge about love from them.
Margot Song-Covey
Played by: Janel Parrish
Lara Jean's mature older sister, who is leaving to go to college in Scotland.
- Demoted to Extra: Not that Margot was very present in the first film, but she at least appeared at the start and at the end, and her presence was felt throughout the film. In the second, she only appears for a brief video call during Korean New Year as she helps her sisters with proper Korean attire.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Defied with her relationship with Josh. Margot broke up with him specifically to avoid this trope, because her mother said to her to "never have a boyfriend while in college".
- Promoted to Parent: After her mother died, Margot effectively became the mom of the house, particularly to Kitty, who was three years old when Eve died and has no memory of her. When she departs for college, everyone left behind in the Song-Covey house have to reconfigure their roles because the housekeeper is gone.
- Sibling Triangle: Although having broken up with Josh, Margot still loves him, so Lara Jean feels guilty when her love letter to Josh is sent and he begins trying to get close with her.
- Stranger in a Familiar Land: When she returns for Christmas, Lara Jean describes that Margot has changed from her time in Scotland and sometimes feels left out by all the things happening at home.
Katherine "Kitty" Song-Covey
Played by: Anna Cathcart
Lara Jean's precocious and excitable younger sister.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the book, Kitty sending out Lara Jean's letters was revenge for embarrassing her, while in the film it's an attempt to get her shy sister out of her shell (if partly so that Kitty can benefit from favors from Lara Jean's boyfriend-to-be.)
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Lara Jean's younger sister is prone to making her life harder. They bicker, albeit affectionately.
- Affectionate Nickname: Katherine only allows people close to her to call her "Kitty." When Peter asks if he can drive her and Lara Jean to school every day in exchange of giving him Yakult every day, she immediately includes Peter on the list.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite her constant bickering with Lara Jean, Kitty admits in Always and Forever, Lara Jean that, on a scale of ten, "eleven" is how much she is going to miss her when she leaves for college (she previously said "four").
- Ironic Name: Kitty is a dog person and has once stated that she doesn't like cats.
- Precocious Crush: She has a crush on Josh, who is eight years older than her.
- Puppy Love: In the third film, the tween Kitty enters into a long-distance relationship with a boy she met in Seoul.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Downplayed. Kitty still mostly acts like a child, but she has exhibited moments where she seems to be older than she appears, like noticing about people's chemistry.
Dr. Daniel Covey
Played by: John Corbett
The sisters' widowed father who works as an obstertician.
- Anger Born of Worry: In Always and Forever, Lara Jean, he lectures Lara Jean for coming home after hours after her trip to Chapel Hill. Lara Jean is shaken because her father rarely goes mad at her like that.
- Bumbling Dad: Dr. Covey is implied to be this by Lara Jean's sisters, due to their mother's passing. He provides for and loves them dearly, but is a little in the dark when it comes to girl stuff.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Downplayed with Dr. Covey. He does order Peter to keep his hands to himself while on his date with Lara Jean, but does so in a playful manner. And when she goes on the annual school trip, he gives her a number of condoms in case she does decide to have sex and will be safe.
- Foreign Culture Fetish: After his wife died, Dr. Covey makes sure that his children are in touch with their Korean heritage, including serving Korean food on the table every so often and visiting their maternal grandparents during the Korean New Year annually.
- Good Parents: Despite being an implied Bumbling Dad, Dr. Covey has shown to be a caring and loving father to his daughters. He even gives Lara Jean condoms if she decides to have sex because he knows (and accepts) that she's going to make her own life choices and wishes for her to be safe if she does. (He also gently tells her that he trusts her not to do anything to simply make a guy like her.) Although doing so greatly embarrasses Lara Jean for the obvious reasons.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: In the third book, he proposes to Ms. Rothschild at a hiking trip, with Lara Jean, Kitty, and Peter secretly recording.
- Her Heart Will Go On: It takes a long time, but he eventually decides to give love a second chance and date another woman after his wife's death.
Adler High School
Peter Kavinsky
Played by: Noah Centineo, Hunter Dillon (young)
Lara Jean's love interest and the second of her love letter recipients. Peter is a popular lacrosse player who agrees to fake date her in order to get his ex-girlfriend Genevieve off his back.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Although a nice guy overall, Peter is much more jock-like in the books, having a vain personality that Lara Jean notes a few times and is annoyed at. He also has a tendency to curse. The films downplay both of these traits.
- Big Man on Campus: Peter is a popular jock who is well-loved by the student body. He's even crowned prom king in the third book.
- Broken Ace: Implied with Peter. He's known to be a popular lacrosse jockey and is quite attractive but has some angst with his Disappeared Dad and Gen implies he's not as confident as much as he lets on.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Sometimes delves into this territory. He still sometimes nags Lara Jean about her former crush on Josh. In the third book, he is jealous at John Ambrose when Lara Jean reveals that he is going to the same college that she applies at (though she ultimately doesn't go to).
- Lovable Jock: Proves to be a nice guy despite being a popular lacrosse player at school.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: He initially dates Lara Jean to make Gen feel envious, but starts to fall for her for real.
- Second Love: He is one to Lara Jean, whose first crush is Kenny from the summer camp.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: In the books, he can't say a sentence without cursing at least once. Averted in the films where he curses once in a while.
Josh Sanderson
Played by: Israel Broussard, Christian Michael Cooper (young)
Lara Jean's childhood friend and crush and the fifth of her love letter recipients. He and Margo break up at the beginning, just before he receives Lara Jean's love letter.
- Adaptational Heroism: Josh in the film isn't that romantically interested in Lara Jean, compared to the book version where her letter gets him curious about her as a rebound from Margot and he even forces a kiss on her. Film Josh pretty much just wants to understand what on earth is going on, at worst is overprotective of her from Peter, and when he hears the whole truth has no hard feelings about any of it.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Peter's Veronica and Lara Jean's Archie. Josh is Lara Jean's dependable neighbor and childhood friend, while Peter is the popular jock at school.
- Boy Next Door: He is literally the Song-Covey's next-door neighbor and a dependable boy that they all love.
- Chick Magnet: All three of the Song-Covey sisters have romantic feelings for Josh.
- Demoted to Extra: Josh still appears in the second book but his screen time is considerably lessened. By the third book, he completely disappears and is only sparingly mentioned by other characters. In the films, Josh only appears in the first installment.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: It's implied that Josh came to reciprocate Lara Jean's feelings, but doesn't pressure her into it. Instead, he encourages her to go and talk to Peter because he realizes he's simply too late for his chance with her now.
- Sibling Triangle: He previously dated Margot but starts to have feelings for her sister Lara Jean, who has been in love with him for a while. To top it off, their sister Kitty also nurses a crush on him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The first book made a point that Josh was essentially part of the Covey family, but he's Demoted to Extra in the second book and completely absent in the third. This is justified as he's a year older than Lara Jean and has already graduated by the time the third book starts. But his absence is still kind of jarring, especially since John makes one last appearance.
Christine "Chris" Donati
Played by: Madeleine Arthur
Lara Jean's best friend.
- Clashing Cousins: She and her cousin Genevieve clash both because of personal reasons and because they have differing opinions regarding Lara Jean.
- Deadpan Snarker: Chris has a very "over it" personality and often reacts to things by snarking in a droll voice.
- Opposites Attract: Chris is carefree and wild while Lara Jean is reserved and sheltered. Lara Jean doubts that they would have became friends if they met as teenagers instead of kids.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: As the fiery one to Lara Jean's reserved one, she is the red oni to the latter's blue oni.
- Übermensch: Chris is not concerned by her status in school and does as she pleases. In the third book, Chris happily says that, upon graduation, she will move to Latin America (initially Costa Rica before she settles on the Dominican Republic) to work and not go to college.
Genevieve "Gen" Mitchell
Played by: Emilija Baranac, Rhys Fleming (young)
A pretty and popular girl at school. She is Lara Jean's former close friend, Chris's cousin, and Peter's ex-girlfriend.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the books, Gen never makes up with Lara Jean and is shameless about what she has done to her. In the films, they eventually have a reconciliation and slowly repair their friendship. In the third film, Gen even invites Lara Jean to come to New York and study together at NYU if she gets accepted.
- Alpha Bitch: A bitchy and popular girl at Adler High who is transparently jealous of Lara Jean.
- Clashing Cousins: She doesn't get along with her cousin Chris, who is best friends with Lara Jean.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Gen is very clingy towards Peter, in spite of the fact that she broke up with him. Peter takes advantage of this for his Operation: Jealousy plan with Lara Jean.
- Freudian Excuse: In the second book, it is revealed that Gen's father is cheating on his wife with a college student.
- Hypocrite: Gen becomes jealous at Lara Jean for "dating" Peter despite the fact that she broke up with him first.
- Karma Houdini: Gen posted the "sex tape" of Lara Jean and Peter. However, she never faces the consequences for this and Peter even keeps her involvement a secret (until the sequel that is).
- Took a Level in Kindness: After some steps to reconciliation in the second film, Gen is surprisingly nice in the third film after she and Lara Jean bond over potentially going to college together. Even though she insults Chris when she shows up, Lara Jean is surprised to see the cousins having a good time together.
Lucas James
Played by: Trezzo Mahoro
The fourth of Lara Jean's love letter recipients. He is gay, and they develop a close friendship instead.
- Ascended Extra: In the first film, Lucas plays a larger role as Lara Jean's black and Gay Best Friend, in contrast to the first book where he pretty much disappears after asking about her letter. She even tells him about the scheme, if only towards the end. Averted in the later books as he appears more often.
- Gay Best Friend: Following their Incompatible Orientation, Lucas and Lara Jean become good friends. Along with Chris, he comments on her life affairs in the second and third films.
- Gayngst:
- Downplayed. Lucas is out to most of the students and his mother (with his father "kinda knowing"), but still asks Lara Jean to not speak about it too much, both explaining that it's because of "high school".
- In P.S. I Still Love You, when Lara Jean complains about her love life, Lucas mentions that she is lucky to have choices, as the school only has three openly gay guys, himself included.
- One of the Girls: He mainly hangs out with Lara Jean and Chris.
- Race Lift: Lucas is white in the books (Lara Jean mentions him having blue eyes at one point) but black in the films.
- Sorry, I'm Gay: Lucas, Lara Jean's homecoming crush, tries to let her down gently by telling her he's gay. She's long been over him, though.
- Twofer Token Minority: In the first film, he's one of very few black characters and many of his lines revolve around his homosexuality. In the subsequent films his role is mainly to support Lara Jean.
Trevor Pike
Played by: Ross Butler
Peter's best friend.
- Lovable Jock: He is part of the track team. When Lara Jean fakes being injured during the Assassins game to help Chris catch him, Trevor is genuinely concerned and attempts to help her, and is rather hurt when the truth is revealed.
- Promoted to Love Interest: He is made Chris' love interest in the films.
- Remember the New Guy?: In the films, Trevor appears as Peter's best friend and was in Lara Jean's sixth grade friend group in the second film despite being unmentioned in the first film. Not the case in the books as he is mentioned in passing by Lara Jean.
Other Characters
Trina Rothschild
Played by: Sarayu Blue
The Song-Coveys' next-door neighbor who eventually forms a relationship with Dr. Covey.
- Ascended Extra: She is just a minor character in the first book but has her role considerably expanded in the sequels.
- Good Stepmother: She and Dr. Covey get engaged and married in the third book, and she proves to be a great budding maternal figure for the girls despite remarking that she is "new to this stepmom thing".
- The Klutz: She tends to fumble over things while going to work, which the Covey sisters take note as they meet her everyday.
- Last-Name Basis: She insists to be called "Trina". Kitty catches this right away, but Lara Jean tends to slip up and has to be corrected many times. She mentally notes that, to her, Trina will always be "Ms. Rothschild".
- Second Love: She is one to Dr. Covey, being the only woman he eyes on after his wife's death.
Mrs. Kavinsky
Played by: Julia Benson
Peter's mother who owns a jewelry store.
- Demoted to Extra: She only appears once in the first film, despite being a constant presence in the books.
- Love-Obstructing Parents: Downplayed. She acts civil to Lara Jean, but has dropped a few hints that she doesn't completely approve her relationship with her son, especially after their first breakup. In the third book, she politely tries to make Lara Jean break up with Peter so he will be discouraged from transferring to UNC.
- Unnamed Parent: Her first name is never revealed.
Owen Kavinsky
Played by: Joey Pacheco
Peter's younger brother.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Peter treats him like this.
- Brutal Honesty: He tells Lara Jean to her face that she wears more makeup than Gen.
- Strong Family Resemblance: According to Lara Jean, he looks like a 12-year-old Peter.
John Ambrose McClaren III
Played by: Jordan Burtchett, Pavel Piddocke (young) (first film), Jordan Fisher
The third of Lara Jean's love letter recipients. He used to live in Lara Jean's neighborhood and was friends with her, Peter, Gen, Chris, Trevor, and Aline, but moved away during middle school.
- Betty and Veronica:
- A weird example. Personality-wise, he is the Betty to Peter's Veronica and Lara Jean's Archie, as he is the kind love interest who has had a crush on Lara Jean for a long time (while Peter only started to pay attention to her after he broke up with Gen). He and Lara Jean share the same studious and shy personality, while Peter is untamed and carefree. However, when it comes to familiarity, he is the Veronica to Peter's Betty, because he comes back to Lara Jean's life as a pen pal, while Peter is her established relationship.
- Lampshaded in P.S. I Still Love You, when Lucas outright compares John and Peter to Betty and Veronica, respectively.
- Birds of a Feather: He shares the same personality as Lara Jean, which makes them naturally close to each other.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has light blond hair and is an extremely nice guy.
- Long-Distance Relationship: With his new girlfriend Dipti in the third book, as she moves to Michigan to attend college while he stays in Virginia.
- New Old Flame: A middle school to high school version. Lara Jean is in a relationship with Peter, but starts to have nebulous feelings about John Ambrose when they meet again and she realizes that her crush on him was reciprocated.
- Pen Pals: Initially with Lara Jean, until he shows up for the time capsule unearthing.
- Pretty Boy: He is tall but not very muscular. Kitty describes him with the trope's exact words.
- Race Lift: John Ambrose is a blond-haired fair-skinned boy in the books. In the first film, he is still white, but the recasting with Jordan Fisher in the second film made him Ambiguously Brown.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Ultimately becomes one to Lara Jean. There is nothing wrong with him and he has a great chemistry with Lara Jean; it's just that she decides she likes Peter more than him.
- Stutter Stop: During middle school, he had a stutter, which his friends found endearing. He stated that he participated in the Model UN to improve his speech and he seems to be speaking well come high school.
Edith Sinclair McClaren-Sheehan, "Stormy"
Played by: Holland Taylor
An eccentric resident of the Belleview retirement home. She is John Ambrose's step great-grandmother, being his great-grandfather's second wife.
- Cool Old Lady: Stormy latches on to Lara Jean, regales her with her romantic escapades, gives her advice, and gives her a makeover in the third act.
- Passed in Their Sleep: In Always and Forever, Lara Jean chapter 21, Lara Jean receives a text message from John Ambrose saying that Stormy died in her sleep. Lara Jean subsequently attends her memorial service at Belleview, where she reconnects with John Ambrose.
- Racist Grandma: Downplayed. During an argument she has with Alicia Ito, the elderly Stormy accuses Lara Jean of agreeing with Alicia because they are both Asian. Lara Jean is slightly stung, though she is glad that at least Stormy did not use the term "Oriental".
- Really Gets Around: She is really proud describing her various flings and marriages. In P.S. I Still Love You, Lara Jean and John Ambrose catch her going to Mr. Morales' room at night.
- Sexy Stewardess: Stormy is a former Pan-Am flight attendant. Lara Jean uses the PC term "flight attendant" when asking about her previous job, but Stormy dismisses the modern term as "PC nonsense". She proudly uses the old school term "stewardess" and refers to such women as being "the showgirls of the skies".
- Shipper on Deck: Not so subtly tries to pair Lara Jean with John Ambrose.
Ravi
Margot's new boyfriend from the United Kingdom who is two years older than her.
- Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the films.
- Foreign Fanservice: Lara Jean gushes about his Britishness, particularly how he expresses gratitude by saying "cheers". According to her, it's like having a Prince William in the house.
- Nice Guy: He attempts to make acquaintances with his girlfriend's family, even when Kitty does not warm up to him at first.
