A list of Main Characters and Recurring Characters from the NBC series Las Vegas.
The central character of the series, Danny is a former Marine and childhood friend of Mary (unlike the rest of the cast, both of them are locals), who works at the Montecito as a member of the Surveillance and Security team. When Ed becomes President of Operations, Danny is promoted to Ed's former job of Security head. The show starts off with him giving voiceover explanations about what was happening, but this was quickly dropped part of the way into the first season. In the fourth season, Danny and Delinda get together and Delinda gets pregnant, and in the fifth season, he is promoted to Ed's old job as President of Operations.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Zigzagged with Danny and Mary. They grew up and spent all their time together and he protected her from her abusive father, but they never started a committed relationship. They made out the night before Danny joined the marines. Since then Mary harbors feelings for Danny, which he doesn't reciprocate. When she confronts him over it, she theorizes that he is afraid of commitment because of the way he lost his mother. They have sex again before his second tour. When he comes back he proposes to her, but it is primarily a sign of his shellshock, so they break it off. Danny and Mary have spontaneous sex in a closet in another episode. Then later on they spend a romantic weekend with each other, but still don't get a Relationship Upgrade. Then they both briefly get different love interests. Then Danny starts dating Delinda again, and keeps this a secret from Mary, who is hurt after she finds out. And finally, after four seasons of Will They or Won't They?, Mary leaves town in the season 5 opener.
- Cowardice Callout: Mary calls Danny a coward for running away from their potential relationship after they sleep together for the first time. Notably, Danny is leaving to join the Marines and fight in Iraq, making the c-word sting a little more.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Danny and Mike have a serious bromance.
- Shellshocked Veteran: In season 2, Danny returns to Las Vegas from a tour in Afghanistan with a massive case of PTSD after he had to call in an airstrike that killed everyone else in his unit. He eventually comes to terms with this after a near-suicide attempt and some heartfelt words with his boss Ed Deline, who has had to do similar things in his past job as a CIA agent.
The Head of Surveillance and Security at the Montecito, Ed is a no-nonsense ex-CIA agent who has the respect (and fear) of most of the old guard in Vegas, as well as virtually all of the new establishment. He is soon promoted to President of Operations, and becomes responsible for the day-to-day running of the casino.
- Field Promotion: Ed goes from chief of security to casino president on behalf of a mysterious owner who just bought a controlling interest in the Montecito.
- Retired Badass: Ed's jobs as Chief of Security and then President of Operations came after he'd left his first job: Chief of Counter-Intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency.
- Papa Wolf:
- Take the episode that starts with Delinda being kidnapped unless Ed steals money from the Montecito for the bad guys.
Ed: (calmly) I swear to God I will kill you.- This gets him in trouble a few episodes later when Danny tells Ed to give him and Delinda some space to which Ed agrees, then realizes Ed's installed spy cameras in their suite. He punches Ed in the face.
- Put on a Bus: After killing Mary's abusive father, Ed flees Las Vegas to escape prosecution. It's made clear that he's working for the CIA again, but it's never confirmed where.
- Stern Teacher: Ed takes Danny under his wing and tutors him to become his eventual replacement.
The Montecito's Special Events Director, who is responsible for planning and organizing conventions, weddings, and any other events taking place at the hotel.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Mary who is the most genuinely kind and sweet of the group has a fiery temper, is known to hold grudges, and murdered her abusive father to protect her sisters.
- Big Sister Instinct: Mary, who was sexually abused by her father when she was a kid, learns she has little half-sisters when her father attempts to "make amends". After learning this, she tearfully contacts her step-mother and informs her of what her father had done to her when she was her sisters age. After meeting her sisters, and immediately falling in love with them, when she learns from her step-mother that her father has begun abusing them too, she agrees to testify on their behalf. Ultimately after the trial goes lopsided, she outright murders him to protect them.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Zigzagged with Danny and Mary. They grew up and spent all their time together and he protected her from her abusive father, but they never started a committed relationship. They made out the night before Danny joined the marines. Since then Mary harbors feelings for Danny, which he doesn't reciprocate. When she confronts him over it, she theorizes that he is afraid of commitment because of the way he lost his mother. They have sex again before his second tour. When he comes back he proposes to her, but it is primarily a sign of his shellshock, so they break it off. Danny and Mary have spontaneous sex in a closet in another episode. Then later on they spend a romantic weekend with each other, but still don't get a Relationship Upgrade. Then they both briefly get different love interests. Then Danny starts dating Delinda again, and keeps this a secret from Mary, who is hurt after she finds out. And finally, after four seasons of Will They or Won't They?, Mary leaves town in the season 5 opener.
- Mistaken for Prostitute: A meta-example in the pilot. Danny McCoy, the main character and Narrator for the first few episodes, is going through his work day and introducing the various supporting characters. After talking with his buxom colleague Mary, she walks off with one of her (older, male) clients, and Danny turns to the audience with "No, I know what you're thinking, and don't go there. Mary's not a hooker, she's our Special Events Director". This was done because originally Mary was supposed to be an escort, and the pilot was filmed with this information, before her role was changed after it had been picked up.
- Obliviously Beautiful: Mary Connell, which isn't exactly atypical for abuse victims.Mary: Why is everyone so fascinated with my breasts?
- Put on a Bus: She leaves Las Vegas for good after she and Ed are implicated in the murder of Mary's abusive father.
- Rape as Backstory: Mary was molested by her father, which informed much of her character.
- Tsundere: Mary becomes this for a while after Danny and Delinda begin dating.
The Montecito's Casino Host, responsible for drawing "whales" (rich clients who gamble large amounts of money) to the casino and doing everything she can to keep them happy and betting.
- Femme Fatale: Sam Marquez works for a casino. Specifically, her job is to keep 'whales' - big spenders - happy. Once, she only slept with a guy because he was dying, and she has openly called herself a slut. Strangely, she rarely sleeps with any of the whales themselves, and had to start going to a therapist later in the series after she was abducted and nearly raped and killed.
- Heroic BSoD: Sam gets hit with one of these when she greets a visiting whale. She cheerfully asks where his wife and daughters are, only for the man to mournfully answer that they were all killed in a car wreck. Cut to a look of sheer horror on Sam's face.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sam Marquez had enough genuinely nice and selfless moments, where she did something kind even though there was nothing in it for her, to keep her from being a pure Jerkass or Ice Queen. It's also gradually revealed that she had a rough childhood and secretly values her friendships with her colleagues, making her bitchy public personality just a façade to seem tough and unscrupulous. She ends up receiving the most Character Development of anyone on the show.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: After Sam and one guy have sex, he wants to cuddle, but she zips up, adjusts her crotch, and moves on.
- Samus Is a Girl: In the pilot, Danny is surprised to learn that the super-host "Sam" is a hostess, as she'd previously maintained her mystique by posing as her own secretary.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted. In season 5 after Sam was kidnapped, nearly raped, and killed her rapist by throwing him out of his own flying plane mid-flight she went to a therapist to deal with the stress. One episode was told from her telling the therapist about her day and later she consulted him about a broken client who was contemplating suicide.
- Token Evil Teammate: Sam. While the other characters are charitable when the situation demands it she is an utter mercenary, using low, malicious and down right evil methods to get high rollers gambling and more importantly losing.
The Montecito's Head Valet, Mike is actually a genius graduate of MIT who moved to Vegas for the adventure. After Danny is promoted to Head of Security, he brings Mike upstairs as a member of the Security team. In the fifth season, the recently promoted Danny makes him head of Surveillance and Security.
- Almighty Janitor: Mike Cannon is an engineer, MIT graduate, and nerd. He starts the series as a valet. He's called in to help the actual security staff several times during the first season. Despite his initial reluctance — he actually likes being a valet, and doesn't want the potential pay cut — he eventually becomes full-time security staff. In the final season, he's actually promoted to head of security.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Danny and Mike have a serious bromance.
Ed's daughter, Delinda becomes the Entertainment Manager of the Montecito, overseeing the running of the casino's clubs, restaurants and shops. She has a short-lived affair with Danny at the beginning of the first season, but they later fall in love and get back together.
- Alliterative Name: Delinda Deline
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Delinda, who is a member of Mensa, but usually acts very flighty and has a short attention span. She used to be a psychology major, and can still reel off several concepts from the field at the drop of a hat, but quit because it was boring.
- Daddy's Girl: Whenever Ed and Jillian argue, Delinda tends to side with her father. She viewed their life of travel as a constant adventure and doesn't understand why her mother is tired of it.
- Ethical Slut: Delinda. Sam would be one, but she bends the interpersonal ethics at times, though it's usually funny.
- Genius Ditz: Delinda is specifically described as having a genius IQ. She is very good at running restaurants, fashion, and sex, while appearing to be a ditzy blonde.
The Pit Boss of the Montecito, she oversees all betting on the floor and monitors the tables to ensure there is no cheating. Her father was a CIA agent who worked with Ed, and after his disappearance, Ed took her in and raised her like a daughter. She is of course very close to Ed, and she and Delinda consider each other sisters.
- Put on a Bus: In the season 2 finale she discovers that Ed lied to her about her family and she hops on a plane to the United Kingdom to find them. She doesn't return to Las Vegas.
A gold digger who inherited her husband's fortune when he passed away and uses it to buy the Montecito at the start of season 3. She quickly gives every other character a headache with her massive ego.
- The Caligula: The Montecito’s other owners have ranged from reasonable (Gavin Brunson) to friendly (Casey Manning) to aloof but thoughtful (AJ Cooper), but Mancuso gradually devolved into outright megalomania during her stay.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: She is fatally blown off the Montecito's roof and carried by the wind into another casino.
- Gold Digger: She married an 83-year old billionaire who left his entire fortune to her. She invests in the Montecito to prove to the world that she's more than just a "hot piece of ass".
- Karmic Death: After her megalomania is exposed, with her openly stating she has begun her plans to take over the entirety of the Las Vegas Strip, she immediately is killed in a bizarre incident, involving the roof of the Montecito, long cape-like sleeves, and a gust of wind. Her death is even underscored by "Optimistic Voices" and the leitmotif of the "Wicked Witch of the West", from The Wizard of Oz.
- Non-Idle Rich: If nothing else, she gets some points for actually doing something with the money she inherited from her billionaire husband. Sam admits that Monica could just as easily have retired on it.
- We Can Rule Together: She wants Danny, her new President of Operations, to be "by her side" as she expands her empire. Moreover, she wants them to be lovers, which Danny really is not looking forward to.
A Wyoming cattle baron who buys the Montecito at the outset of season 5, little is revealed about him except that he is a former Marine and claims he got into the hotel/casino business because he wanted to learn about it. He prefers being called "Cooper" instead of "A.J.", is prone to shaking things up at the Montecito, and has a mysterious connection to Piper.
A new character introduced in the season 5 premier, Piper is a Concierge, focusing on getting the guests whatever they want (separate from Sam, who only worries about her whales).
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Piper in season five seemed to fill the occupational role Mary had before she left, but Piper's backstory is more reminiscent of Nessa's with Cooper being connected to her past as Ed was to Nessa's.
- Tell Me About My Father: Piper mistakenly believes for a while that Cooper is her father; it turns out he's not, but that Piper's father was his best friend and Cooper promised the man he'd watch after her.
- Asian Rudeness: Sheesh, Polly, not everybody wants to hear about your sex life!
- Malaproper: Polly the beautician, a woman who speaks near-perfect English, except with a Korean accent. Problem is, she has no appropriateness filter. Take the time her friend Sam is offered a drink by a cute guy in Traffic school. Polly complains that no one offered to buy her a drink. Paraplegic Mitch offers to buy her one.Polly: No thanks. Wheelchair give me bruises.
