CSI: Crime Scene Investigation/Characters

Dr. Gilbert "Gil" Grissom (William Petersen)

 * Adorkable
 * Alliterative Name
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Berserk Button: Drug dealers, especially those who sell to young people, and scientists who sell their integrity for personal gain.
 * And anyone who tries to hurt Sara
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: He quotes Shakespeare, loves crossword puzzles, and races cockroaches for fun.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: His feelings for Sara in the first couple of seasons, even being so unsure about a possible commitment to the point where he rejects her initial advances.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * A Father to His Men: His paternal leadership style, especially visible with Greg, Nick and Warrick.
 * Flanderization In regards to his stoicism. In the first season, he was prone to bouts of anger (once slapping a coffee pot of Ecklie's hand, enraged) and happiness (even--gasp--smiling! With teeth and all!). By Season 3, his character was shaped into being level-headed at all times, even in normal conversation. Justifiable in that he starts to retreat emotionally during his struggle with his hearing loss.
 * Game of Nerds: He likes baseball
 * Intelligence Equals Isolation: Especially in the earlier seasons. Despite his intelligence and expert grasp of human nature, Grissom lead a very isolated life, and rebuffed most opportunities of interaction outside of the workplace. He even turned down Sara's initial dating requests in Season 3.
 * Married to the Job : For most of the series, at least until he married Sara. Catherine used to tell him to take his head out of his microscope once in a while.
 * Memetic Mutation: Grissom literally Growing the Beard. It's arguably second to Chuck Norris.
 * Nice Hat: Seen sporting a straw sunhat in more than one episode. It was once complimented by a hooker.
 * And that hat belongs to Petersen himself acquired from his own travels.
 * Not That Kind of Doctor
 * Papa Wolf: Pretty much the only way to get him riled up is to either threaten one of his teammates, especially Sara, or do anything to endanger children
 * Platonic Life Partners: With Catherine. They are obviously best friends, but there's also no hint of sexual chemistry between them.
 * Put on a Bus: If he comes back...
 * He did have a cameo in season 12's "The Two Mrs.Grissoms"
 * Quip to Black: Famous for it -- used to be the Trope Namer
 * Sarcasm Failure: When he doesn't use the above
 * Science Hero
 * Seeker Archetype
 * Serious Business: Racing cockroaches. One of the first time we see him take some time off and puts Catherine in charge is when he goes to a conference to race his vermin. It doesn't go so well ("Stage fright.")
 * Silver Fox: Despite his nerdiness and aloofness, he still gathers a lot of female admirers (in-universe and out), even when he shies away from the unwanted attention.
 * The Smart Guy
 * The Spock
 * The Woobie

Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger)

 * Action Girl: She can stand up for herself when she needs to.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Faking the Dead: With D.B. to escape the bad guys before her departure
 * Fiery Redhead
 * Heroic Bastard: It's established early on that she was raised by a single mother, but it's only later that she learns her father is.
 * Hot Mom
 * Mama Bear: Messing with her daughter? Big mistake. The same applies to her team members
 * Ms. Fanservice: She used to be a stripper, way back in the day (and not an Old Shame for her, even when a DA tries to use it against her in court). She's had a couple of Toplessness From the Back scenes and an interrogation where she unbuttoned her blouse every time her suspect gave her an answer.
 * Official Couple: With Vartaan. For a while, anyway.
 * Platonic Life Partners: With Grissom.
 * Put on a Bus: Season 12. She's with the FBI now.
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Scare'Em Straight: In response to Lindsey's reckless hitchhiking, her mom drags her into the morgue to view a dead hitchhiker (to Dr. Robbins' disapproval).
 * Single Mom Stripper: Retired.
 * Team Mom
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Old-school casino owner Sam Braun, who is shifty to say the least.

Nick Stokes (George Eads)

 * Berserk Button: Harming children in general, though sexual assault especially gets to him
 * Buried Alive
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Dark and Troubled Past
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Lantern Jaw of Justice
 * Nice Guy
 * Porn Stache: For a while, before he had enough of everyone's justified ribbing.
 * Shirtless Scene
 * Taught by Television
 * The Woobie

Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan)

 * The Atoner
 * The Big Guy
 * The Gambling Addict
 * Out of Focus: Got hit with this hard and ended up being one of the least developed members of the cast.
 * Scary Black Man
 * Token Minority
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: His son Eli isn't mentioned again after.
 * Token Minority
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: His son Eli isn't mentioned again after.

Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox)

 * Alliterative Name
 * Berserk Button: Domestic violence, especially spouses murdering each other.
 * Broken Bird
 * Commuting on a Bus: As of season 10, she's on the line...she's listed as a series regular, but only appears in a certain number of episodes per season.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Her mother killed her father, who was abusive to both her and her mother. She ended up in foster care.
 * Freudian Excuse
 * Hint Dropping: Tries this as a tactic while trying to court Grissom. She once told Hodges (who was fretting about a possible grey hair) that she finds grey hair rather sexy, while standing next to Grissom. Eventually, she point-blank asks him out, which he refuses. After a couple of more years, he eventually comes around to Glad You Thought of It.
 * Hot For Supervisor
 * The Lancer
 * The Maiden Name Debate: She still uses "Sidle" now that she is married to Grissom
 * Married to the Job: At least until she married Grissom
 * May-December Romance: with Grissom; the actors are 16 years apart in real life. Not that it matters to Sara, who as mentioned above, has a thing for silver foxes.
 * Put on a Bus: She's taken a round trip, having come back to assist the team when they're short-staffed in the most recent season.
 * The Bus Came Back: She's an official series regular again for Season 12.
 * Relationship Reveal: with Grissom
 * Second Episode Introduction: Comes in to help the team per request of (who else?) Grissom in the second episode following the death of the Naive Newcomer and stays on board.
 * UST: For YEARS with Grissom before Season 6 ended with the above trope.

Greg Sanders (Eric Szmanda)

 * Adorkable
 * Break the Cutie: He becomes noticeably more mature after getting beaten to near death in "Fannysmackin'".
 * Casual Kink: Has dabbled in every fetish under the sun, including latex wear, S&M, and even plus-size women. This is a man who likes variety.
 * Delinquent Hair
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Shortly after becoming a CSI he stops sporting his normally wacky hairstyles, to show how he's matured.
 * Genius Ditz: In earlier seasons. While he does act like an idiot he's very good at his job, and has extended knowledge on coin collection and Old Vegas.
 * The Intern
 * The Lab Rat/Misfit Lab Rat: At first.
 * Ascended Fanboy:
 * My Beloved Smother: She took him to the ER for a bloody nose.
 * Out of Focus: From Season 9 onwards.
 * Plucky Comic Relief
 * Promotion to Opening Titles
 * You Get Me Coffee

Dr. Raymond Langston (Laurence Fishburne)

 * Cowboy Bebop at His Computer: He is not Grissom's replacement, instead coming in on the bottom rung. Though that doesn't explain why he got to be first in the opening titles, something his character really hasn't earned.
 * It's Laurence Fishburne.
 * He's a Renaissance Man; he's only a Level 1 CSI (though he works his butt off to get quickly promoted to Level 2) but he used to be a medical doctor (so he assists in autopsy's more than most) and a criminology lecturer (so he occasionally provides a criminal profile). He's underqualified as a crime scene investigator but he makes up for it with a broad range of skills. Plus he's Laurence Fishburne.
 * Enemy Within
 * Freudian Excuse: Played with. His father was apparently violent, and Raymond worries that he may become that way himself. He also has a gene that has been associated with violent behaviour. On the other hand, when faced with Serial Killer Nate Haskell, who has the same gene and his own abusive father, he testifys in open court against his attempt to use this card, and afterwards Haskell admits to him that he decided in his youth he'd blame it on those things if he were ever caught.
 * I Am Not My Father
 * Not That Kind of Doctor: Inverted, he is that kind of doctor (or rather, he used to be).
 * The Professor
 * Put on a Bus
 * Token Minority
 * Token Minority

Riley Adams (Lauren Lee Smith)

 * Dark and Troubled Past: considering her reaction to suicides, something unpleasant has happened in her past.
 * The Lancer
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Put on a Bus: In universe: couldn't handle Catherine's leadership.

D.B. Russell (Ted Danson)

 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Almost as much, if not more, than Grissom.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Sometimes, at least.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Do Not Call Me Paul: See below for why.
 * Embarrassing First Name:
 * Faking the Dead: Does it with Catherine to escape the posse of hitmen after them.
 * : McKeen's people do this to him in the Season 12 finale.
 * Happily Married: The only CSI to be this from the beginning. (There's Grissom and Sara, but that came later)
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Not to Langston, but rather Grissom.
 * True Companions: He regards the CSI team as this. They're a little weirded out by it.
 * Unfortunate Name: Diebenkorn.

Morgan Brody (Elisabeth Harnois)
"Greg: That's Ecklie's daughter?"
 * Hot Scientist:


 * Parental Abandonment: Ecklie left when she was 14
 * Ship Tease: Several moments with Greg and, believe it or not, Hodges, whom she pretends to date to impress his mother.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: A Type II with Greg and Sara is shaping up.
 * "Well Done, Daughter" Girl: Seems to have a bit of this with her father Ecklie.

Julie 'Finn' Finlay (Elizabeth Shue)

 * Berserk Button: Corporate crime, and especially powerful people who get away with crimes due to connections.
 * Do Not Call Me Paul: D.B. is the only person who'll call her 'Jules' and she doesn't like it. She prefers Finn.
 * Last-Name Basis: Sort of.

Dr. Albert "Al" Robbins (Robert David Hall)

 * Berserk Button: He absolutely HATES rats, even if it only showed in one episode, aptly titled "Lab Rats".
 * The Coroner
 * Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Both Hall and Robbins lost both legs to vehicle collisions, walking with prosthetics and a cane.
 * Genius Cripple
 * Handicapped Badass: He might need a cane to get around, but he can be a pretty mean fighter when he has to be.
 * The Lab Rat: Sort of, although he's a mortuary rat rather than a lab rat.
 * Mr. Exposition: His autopsies often reveal further background on the murder victims.
 * Sympathetic Adulterer/Your Cheating Heart: Reveals in season 12 that he cheated once, essentially just to see if he had the guts to. It nearly ruined him and his wife, and they've been faithful ever since. It's really kind of adorable.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Rats.
 * Written in Infirmity: Both Robert David Hall and Albert Robbins are double amputees.

David Phillips (David Berman)

 * Butt Monkey
 * Cast the Expert: Was a real life coroner for a time
 * Catch Phrase: "Sorry I'm late..."
 * The Coroner: Though he's only an assistant to the actual ME, Dr. Robbins.
 * The Danza
 * Fan Nickname: He's only been called Super Dave a handful of times in-universe, but the name's stuck with the fans.
 * The Lab Rat
 * Promotion to Opening Titles
 * Shown Their Work: Berman is the head researcher for the show.

David Hodges (Wallace Langham)

 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Jerkass and/or Jerkass Facade (up for debate)
 * Promotion to Opening Titles
 * Ted Baxter: He acts like he's much more important than everyone else. Can occasionally cross into Insufferable Genius.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Birds

Wendy Simms (Liz Vassey)

 * The Lab Rat: although she wants to become a "field mouse".
 * Ms. Fanservice: Particularly in Hodges' fantasies of her. In one she's only wearing a bikini.
 * Promotion to Opening Titles
 * Put on a Bus: In universe: Left for Portland's lab.

Mandy Webster (Sheeri Rappaport)

 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Really Gets Around: Some of her comments in the lab rats Day in The Limelight episodes hint at this.
 * The Lab Rat
 * Meganekko

Archie Johnson (Archie Kao)

 * Asian and Nerdy: He's a computer analyst and a Star Trek geek. Could be Subverted since he does have 'cool' hobbies like surfing and snowboarding.
 * The Danza: Archie Kao as Archie Johnson.
 * The Lab Rat

Henry Andrews (Jon Wellner)

 * Adorkable
 * Butt Monkey: "Appendicitement" and "Field Mice" are the biggest examples.
 * Cannot Tell a Joke
 * Shown Their Work: Along with Berman, Wellner is one of the head researchers of the show.

Bobby Dawson (Gerald Mc Cullouch)

 * Butt Monkey: In Hodges' "Lab Rats" board game.
 * Gun Nut

Ronnie Litra (Eric Stonestreet)

 * Big Fun
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Just vanishes after season four or so.
 * Retroactive Recognition: Hey, it's Cameron!

Captain Jim Brass (Paul Guilfoyle)

 * All of the Other Reindeer: A Bullet Runs Through It, where the other cops shun him at the dead officer's funeral.
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Deadpan Snarker: On Vegas' staggeringly-high murder rate: "We're very competitive!"
 * Dirty Cop : Originally a big subversion of this, stating how he refused to be bought or get dirty, but now drifting into that territory as of the end of season 11.
 * Jerkass In Season 1.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Eventually mellows out into this.
 * Mr. Exposition: He's the man who gives both the team and the audience information on the latest victim of the week.
 * Parental Issues: He still loves his daughter despite knowing that she's not his. Her... not so much, to the point that when Brass is shot he gives power of attorney to Grissom rather than to her.
 * Twitter: He tweets.
 * Your Cheating Heart: He and his ex-wife mutually cheated on each other before their divorce, and he knows that his daughter isn't actually his.

Sofia Curtis (Louise Lombard)

 * Brother Chuck: Was a semi regular for three seasons, a regular character in one season, and then vanished without a trace, or explanation.
 * The Bus Came Back: Returned late in Season 11. She's Deputy Chief now.
 * Heroic BSOD: In the episode "A Bullet Runs Through It", when she believes she shot a fellow cop.
 * Mr. Exposition: Basically, a female Jim Brass.
 * Rank Up: Now she's Brass's boss

Conrad Ecklie (Marc Vann)

 * A Day in the Limelight: The B-plot of one episode featured Ecklie handling the investigation himself when the main characters were unavailable.
 * Ambition Is Evil: The real reason he was such an ass to Grissom and the team was because he thought that Grissom had the same ambitions he did. Once he realized that Grissom and the team wouldn't keep him from fulfilling his goals, he eased off considerably.
 * Big Bad: Arguably, of season five. He never does anything illegal, but his antagonistic actions drive the overarching plot of that season.
 * Da Chief: He starts out as the day shift supervisor, then becomes director of the lab, and is later promoted to undersheriff of the entire department.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Supplies a rather nasty and completely out-of-nowhere one in.
 * Jerkass: Definitely one pre-Season 6. Since then he's become more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat: He's extremely ambitious, and saw Grissom as competition. At different points, he would try and undermine the team's work.
 * Rank Up: To Undersheriff
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: When Nick was Buried Alive, Ecklie pulled some strings to gather the ransom his kidnapper, and relations between him and the night shift have mostly thawed since then. Ecklie came into his own as Asst. Director, where his talent for juggling the top brass and news media have proven to be an asset to the team.
 * The Rival: To Grissom, who deplores Ecklie's careerism.
 * Smug Snake: Pre-"Grave Danger." He took utmost pleasure in seeing Grissom's team humiliated, and even worked to get Nick convicted of murder once purely out of spite.
 * Parental Abandoment: He left when Morgan was 14

Jeffrey McKeen (Conor O'Farrell)

 * Ambition Is Evil: Brass recalls that when he was made a detective, McKeen invited all of the new detectives over to his (suspiciously large) house for a barbecue. When Brass let him known that he wasn't such a careerist that could be bought like that, he was never invited again, and had to watch over the years as all the others at that barbecue were promoted above him.
 * Clueless Detective: Doesn't always get or appreciate the abilities of the CSI's or what they do
 * Commander Contrarian
 * Implacable Man: Crashes his car at high speed when shot by his paranoid passenger, and drags himself away from the wreckage to bleed out...and lives,
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
 * The Mole
 * Obstructive Bureaucrat
 * Professional Butt-Kisser
 * The Sheriff: Well, his title is Undersheriff.
 * : Attempts this with Nick, but he (Nick)doesn't go through with it.
 * Professional Butt-Kisser
 * The Sheriff: Well, his title is Undersheriff.
 * : Attempts this with Nick, but he (Nick)doesn't go through with it.

Heather Kessler (Melinda Clarke)

 * Brains and Bondage: A licensed therapist... who also happens to run an S&M club.
 * Dominatrix
 * Driven to Suicide: Sort of. She lives, though.
 * Drop-In Character: Cases have a weird way of tracing back to her.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: In a series that conforms to this trope to an almost unfortunate degree, she remains the one notable aversion. Her practices still make her dark and troubled, however.
 * Hot Mom: When we first meet her, she already has an adult daughter, looks about 25 tops, and makes the until-then-completely-asexual Grissom's eyes bug out of his head..
 * The Maiden Name Debate: Strangely enough, she apparently took her husband's name.
 * Mama Bear: Do not mess with her daughter.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Wearing one when we first meet her.
 * Official Couple: Almost. See What Could Have Been below.
 * Ship Tease: With Grissom, constantly.
 * The Vamp: Used for good! In her third appearance, she sleeps with to get evidence from him to give the team.
 * What Could Have Been: Reportedly, William Petersen (who is also Executive Producer of the show) once wanted her and Grissom to end up together.
 * Whip It Good: Used horrifyingly in "Pirates of the Third Reich" when.