CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony E. Zuiker and executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue, William Petersen, Cynthia Chvatal, Naren Shankar, and Don McGill, among others. It follows Las Vegas criminalists (identified as "Crime Scene Investigators") working for the Las Vegas Police Department as they use physical evidence to solve murders. Gil Grissom, a forensic entomologist, D.B. Russell, an esteemed botanist, and Julie Finlay and Catherine Willows, blood spatter experts with extensive knowledge of criminal psychology, head a team who are on the case 24/7, scouring the scene, collecting the evidence, and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery. Grissom and Willows were based upon real LVMPD Crime Scene Analysts David Holstein and Yolanda McClary.[1]
Main cast
editCSI originally starred William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger alongside an ensemble including George Eads, Gary Dourdan, and Paul Guilfoyle. Jorja Fox joined the cast in episode two of the first season, whilst Eric Szmanda and Robert David Hall recurred throughout the first two seasons of the show before being promoted to regular status starting with the third. Louise Lombard, who first appeared in season five, joined the cast starting with season seven. The first major cast overhaul came with the show's eighth and ninth seasons. Lombard departed the cast in the first episode of season eight, whilst Fox departed in episode seven of the same season. Wallace Langham joined the main cast following Lombard's departure, having recurred since the third season. Fox would return for guest appearances during the ninth season in order to facilitate the departures of both Gary Dourdan and William Petersen, who were replaced by Lauren Lee Smith and Laurence Fishburne, respectively. Smith departed the cast at the end of her first year, and was replaced by a returning Jorja Fox, who featured in a recurring capacity. Liz Vassey and David Berman, who had recurred from season six, and season one, respectively, also joined the cast starting with season ten. Like Smith, Vassey departed the cast after a single season, and was replaced by Fox, who rejoined the main cast. William Petersen would appear in voice clips sporadically over the next three seasons. Fishburne departed the main cast at the end of season eleven, a season that featured guest appearances by Elisabeth Harnois and Louise Lombard, and was replaced by Ted Danson. Danson made his main cast debut alongside Elisabeth Harnois at the start of the twelfth season. Series lead Marg Helgenberger departed the main cast in the twelfth episode of season twelve and was replaced by Elisabeth Shue. Season thirteen saw Jon Wellner join the main cast after eight years a guest star. Helgenberger returned for a single episode in season fourteen, while Paul Guilfoyle departed at the end of the same year, followed by Elisabeth Shue and George Eads at the end of the fifteenth season. The show's finale, a two-hour film, featured the return of Helgenberger, Petersen, and Guilfoyle. The series finale marked their final appearances, as well as the final appearances of Fox, Szmanda, Hall, Langham, Berman, Harnois, and Wellner. Ted Danson went on to reprise his role of Russell during season two of Cyber.
| Character | Actor | First episode (credited) |
Final episode (credited) |
Seasons | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale | ||||
| Gil Grissom | William Petersen | "Pilot" (S1E01) | "Immortality" (guest) "One to Go" (S9E10; main credits) |
Main | Voice | Guest | |||||||||||||
| Catherine Willows | Marg Helgenberger | "Immortality" (guest) "Willows in the Wind" (S12E12; main credits) |
Main | Guest | |||||||||||||||
| Warrick Brown | Gary Dourdan | "For Warrick" (S9E01) | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Nick Stokes | George Eads | "The End Game" (S15E18) | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Jim Brass | Paul Guilfoyle | "Immortality" (guest) "Dead in his Tracks" (S14E22; main credits) |
Main | Guest | |||||||||||||||
| Greg Sanders | Eric Szmanda | "Immortality" | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Sara Sidle | Jorja Fox | "Cool Change" (S1E02) | Main | Recurring | Main | ||||||||||||||
| Al Robbins | Robert David Hall | "Who Are You?" (S1E06) | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Sofia Curtis | Louise Lombard | "Formalities" (S5E07) | "Father of the Bride" (S11E20) | Main | |||||||||||||||
| David Hodges | Wallace Langham | "Recipe for Murder" (S3E11) | "Immortality" | Recurring | Main | ||||||||||||||
| Riley Adams | Lauren Lee Smith | "Art Imitates Life" (S9E03) | "All In" (S9E24) | Main | |||||||||||||||
| Raymond Langston | Laurence Fishburne | "19 Down" (S9E09; guest) "The Grave Shift" (S9E11; main credits) |
"In a Dark, Dark House" (S11E22) | Main | |||||||||||||||
| Wendy Simms | Liz Vassey | "Secrets and Flies" (S6E06) | "Pool Shark" (S11E02) | Recurring | Main | ||||||||||||||
| David Phillips | David Berman | "Friends and Lovers" (S1E05) | "Immortality" | Recurring | Main | ||||||||||||||
| D.B. Russell | Ted Danson | "73 Seconds" (S12E01) | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Morgan Brody | Elisabeth Harnois | "Cello and Goodbye" (S11E21) | Main | ||||||||||||||||
| Julie Finlay | Elisabeth Shue | "Seeing Red" (S12E14) | "The End Game" (S15E18) | Main | |||||||||||||||
| Henry Andrews | Jon Wellner | "Iced" (S5E23) | "Immortality" | Recurring | Main | ||||||||||||||
Crossover characters
editSeveral main characters from other series have appeared over the course of CSI's sixteen-season run.
- CSI: Miami stars David Caruso (Horatio Caine), Emily Procter (Calleigh Duquesne), Adam Rodriguez (Eric Delko), Rory Cochrane (Tim Speedle), and Khandi Alexander (Alexx Woods) appear in season 2, episode 23: "Cross Jurisdictions".
- CSI: NY star Gary Sinise (Mac Taylor) appears in season 13, episode 13: "In Vino Veritas".
- CSI: Cyber star Patricia Arquette (Avery Ryan) appears in both season 14, episode 21: "Kitty", and season 15, episode 6: "The Twin Paradox".
- CSI: Cyber star Ted Danson (D.B. Russell) first appeared in the lead role on CSI, starring from season 12, episode 1: "73 Seconds" through "Immortality".
- Without a Trace star Anthony LaPaglia (Jack Malone) appeared in season 8, episode 6: "Who and What...?"
- Level 26 character Black Sqweegel appears in season 11, episode 4: "Sqweegel". He is played by Daniel Browning Smith.
Police officers
editDue to the content of the series, a number of police officers are required to support the principal cast. Detectives, such as Frankie Reed and Sam Vega, are often seen arresting and interviewing suspects alongside the criminalists. Sheriffs and Undersheriffs act as an administrative and supervisory arm of the LVPD and often appear adversarial to the CSIs. Officers are most often seen entering and searching properties, although sometimes they are also seen involved in car chases or other forms of high speed pursuit.
| Character | Actor | First Episode (credited) |
Final Episode (credited) |
Seasons | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale | |||||
| Sheriffs and Undersheriffs | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Conrad Ecklie | Marc Vann | 1.07 "Blood Drops" |
"Immortality" | |||||||||||||||||
| Brian Mobley | Glenn Morshower | 2.03 "Overload" |
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| Rory Atwater | Xander Berkeley | 4.07 "Invisible Evidence" |
5.07 "Formalities" |
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| Jeffrey McKeen | Conor O'Farrell | 6.06 "Secrets & Files" |
13.01 "Karma to Burn" |
|||||||||||||||||
| Sherry Liston | Barbara Eve Harris | 12.04 "Maid Man" |
12.22 "Homecoming" |
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| Sergeants | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Ray O'Riley | Skip O'Brien | 1.01 "Pilot" |
4.03 "Homebodies" |
|||||||||||||||||
| Barclay | Lex Medlin | 10.18 "Field Mice" |
10.23 "Meat Jekyll" |
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| Detectives | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Vega | Geoffrey Rivas | 1.16 "Too Tough to Die" |
12.20 "Altered Stakes" |
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| Cyrus Lockwood | Jeffrey D. Sams | 02.16 "Primum Non Nocere" |
03.22 "Inside the Box" |
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| Lou Vartann | Alex Carter | 4.09 "Grissom v. The Volcano" |
13.11 "Dead Air" |
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| Chris Caviliere | José Zúñiga | 4.16 "Getting Off" |
10.11 "Sin City Blue" |
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| Carlos Moreno | Enrique Murciano | 10.04 "Coup de Grace" |
13.03 "Wildflowers" |
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| Frankie Reed | Katee Sackhoff | 11.06 "Cold Blooded" |
11.14 "All That Cremains" |
|||||||||||||||||
| Kevin Crawford | Alimi Ballard | 13.09 "Strip Maul" |
15.16 "The Last Ride" |
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| Daniel Shaw | Mark Valley | 15.01 "The CSI Effect" |
15.18 "The End Game" |
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| Police Officers | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Joe Metcalf | Joseph Patrick Kelly | 1.20 "Sounds of Silence" |
15.15 "Hero to Zero" |
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| David Fromansky | David Andrews | 4.02 "All For Our Country" |
4.14 "Paper or Plastic" |
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| Andy Akers | Larry Sullivan | 4.07 "Invisible Evidence" |
15.12 "Dead Woods" |
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| Larry Mitchell | Larry Mitchell | 6.02 "Room Service" |
16.02 "Immortality Part II" |
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| Daniel Pritchard | David Gianopoulos | 8.17 "For Gedda" |
09.01 "For Warrick" |
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| Officer Shelly | Shelli Bergh | 11.20 "Father of the Bride" |
12.05 "CSI Down" |
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| Lewis Norman | Lewis T. Powell | 12.06 "Freaks & Geeks" |
14.20 "Consumed" |
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| Paul Kimball | Peter Onorati | 12.22 "Homecoming" |
13.01 "Karma to Burn" |
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Relatives and friends
editCSI focuses on the characters personal lives as well as their professional, therefore friends and relatives are seen often. Characters such as D.B. Russell, who have a stable home life, require large supporting families, while social introvert Gil Grissom's sole recurring social partner is Lady Heather, a dominatrix. This list is not definitive, and characters who have appeared only once are not listed.
| Character (actor) |
First episode (credited) |
Final episode (credited) |
Seasons | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale | |||||||
| Lindsey Willows (Katie Stevens, Kay Panabaker & Madison McReynolds) |
01.01 "Pilot" |
16.02 "Immortality Part II" |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Kristy Hopkins (Krista Allen) |
01.13 "Boom" |
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| Eddie Willows (Timothy Carhart) |
01.06 "Who Are You?" |
03.15 "Lady Heather's Box" |
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| Sam Braun (Scott Wilson & Dwier Brown) |
02.01 "Burked" |
11.02 "Pool Shark" |
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| Hank Peddigrew (Christopher Wiehl) |
02.04 "Bully for You" |
03.17 "Crash and Burn" |
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| Heather Kessler (Melinda Clarke) |
02.08 "Slaves of Las Vegas" |
16.02 "Immortality Part II" |
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| Ellie Rebecca Brass (Nicki Aycox & Teal Redmann) |
02.10 "Ellie" |
14.22 "Dead In His Tracks" |
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| Lily Flynn (Anita Gillette) |
05.22 "Weeping Willows" |
12.11 "Ms. Willows' Regrets" |
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| Bill Stokes (Andrew Prine) |
05.24 "Grave Danger Vol. I" |
05.25 "Grave Danger Vol. II" |
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| Jillian Stokes (Lois Chiles) |
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| Tina Brewster (Meta Golding) |
06.04 "Shooting Stars" |
13.07 "Fallen Angels" |
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| Eli Brown (Terrell Ransom, Jr) |
09.01 "For Warrick" |
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| Gloria Parkes (Tracee Ellis Ross) |
11.14 "All That Cremains" |
11.22 "In a Dark, Dark House" |
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| Charlie Russell (Brandon Jones) |
12.07 "Brain Doe" |
13.06 "Pick and Roll" |
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| Olivia Hodges (Jaclyn Smith) |
12.18 "Malice in Wonderland" |
12.22 "Homecoming" |
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| Barbara Russell (Peri Gilpin) |
12.22 "Homecoming" |
14.06 "Passed Pawns" |
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| Kaitlyn Russell (Mia Hays) |
13.01 "Karma to Burn" |
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| Maya Russell (Brooke Nevin) |
15.13 "The Greater Good" |
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| Elisabetta Hodges (Catrinel Marlon) |
13.12 "Double Fault" |
14.04 "Last Supper" |
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| Nancy Brass (Annabella Sciorra) |
13.22 "Skin in the Game" |
14.01 "The Devil and D.B. Russell" |
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Criminalists
editIn addition to the CSIs and technicians of the main cast, several recurring actors appear in these roles. Characters such as Michael Keppler and Ronnie Lake appear for only a short period of time, for specific storylines, while other characters like Mandy Webster and Archie Johnson appear consistently in order to provide a specialty that is absent from the lead characters' résumés. As the series progresses, the number of supporting characters drops dramatically.
Adversaries
editThroughout the series, the CSIs have been forced to confront several recurring adversaries. These characters are usually serial killers, and their motives and M.O. vary greatly.
| Character (actor) |
First episode (credited) |
Final episode (credited) |
Seasons | Alias | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Finale | ||||
| Paul Millander (Matt O'Toole) |
01.01 "Pilot" |
02.13 "Identity Crisis" |
The Bathtub Killer | ||||||||||||||||
| Jerrod Cooper (Garland Whitt) |
01.02 "Cool Change" |
— | |||||||||||||||||
| Judge Cohen (Harrison Young) |
01.04 "Pledging Mr. Johnson" |
N/A | |||||||||||||||||
| Tony Thorpe (Aldis Hodge) |
01.16 "Too Tough to Die" |
09.02 "The Happy Place" |
The Parking Garage Rapist | ||||||||||||||||
| Tammy Felton (Brigid Brannagh) |
01.17 "Face Lift" |
02.09 "And Then There Were None" |
Bonnie | ||||||||||||||||
| Darin Hanson (Larry Holden) |
Clyde | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kevin Greer (Taylor Nichols) |
03.06 "The Execution of Catherine Willows" |
05.06 "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?" |
The Blue Paint Killer | ||||||||||||||||
| John Mathers (Victor Bevine) |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Cameron Klinefeld (Rudolf Martin) |
04.01 "Assume Nothing" |
04.02 "All For Our Country" |
The Klinefelds | ||||||||||||||||
| Mandy Klinefeld (Sandra Hess) |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Stuart Gardner
(Scott Alan Smith) |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||||
| Walter Gordon (John Saxon) |
05.24 "Grave Danger, Part 1" |
05.25 "Grave Danger, Part 2" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Marlon West (Doug Smith) |
06.18 "The Unusual Suspect" |
08.07 "Goodbye & Good Luck" |
The West Siblings | ||||||||||||||||
| Hannah West (Juliette Goglia) |
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| William Cutler (Currie Graham) |
06.23 "Bang-Bang" |
06.24 "Way To Go" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Joe Hirschoff (Kevin Rahm) |
07.01 "Built to Kill, Part 1" |
07.02 "Built to Kill, Part 2" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Natalie Davis (Jessie Collins) |
07.24 "Living Doll" |
09.07 "Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda" |
The Miniature Killer[2] | ||||||||||||||||
| Terry Lee Wicker (John Hawkes) |
08.06 "Who & What" |
Without a Trace 06.06 "Where & Why" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Lou Gedda (John Capodice) |
08.09 "Cockroaches" |
08.17 "For Gedda" |
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Thomas Donover (Jimmi Simpson) |
09.09 "19 Down" |
09.10 "One To Go" |
The Dick & Jane Killer Copycat | ||||||||||||||||
| Nate Haskell (Bill Irwin) |
09.09 "19 Down" |
11.22 "In a Dark, Dark House" |
The Dick & Jane Killer | ||||||||||||||||
| Charles DiMasa (Matt Ross) |
10.17 "Irradiator" |
10.23 "Meat Jekyll" |
Doctor Jekyll | ||||||||||||||||
| Jason McCann (Justin Bieber) |
11.01 "Shock Waves" |
11.15 "_targets of Obsession" |
— | ||||||||||||||||
| Laura Gabriel (Annabeth Gish) |
12.09 "Zippered" |
12.12 "Willows in the Wind" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Ronald Basderic (Adam Harrington) |
13.02 "Code Blue Plate Special" |
13.15 "Forget Me Not" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
| Matthew Tarland (Lucas Kerr) |
13.22 "Skin in the Game" |
14.01 "The Devil and D.B. Russell" |
The Inferno Killer | ||||||||||||||||
| Daniel Larson (Eric Roberts) |
15.18 "The End Game" |
— | |||||||||||||||||
| Jared Briscoe (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) |
15.01 "The CSI Effect" |
15.13 "The Greater Good" |
The Gig Harbor Killer | ||||||||||||||||
| Paul Winthrop (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) |
15.18 "The End Game" |
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| Dalton Betton (Doug Hutchison) |
15.19 "Immortality, Part 1" |
15.20 "Immortality, Part 2" |
N/A | ||||||||||||||||
Footnotes
edit- ^ Staff (December 5, 2000). "Meet the Real C.S.I.". KLAS-TV. Retrieved March 16. 2015.
- ^ Crabtree, Sheigh (16 May 2007). "The devil is in 'CSI's' details". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 December 2023.