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• Actor Allusion:
  • Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich playing a security guard at the governor's office.
  • Donnie Andrews, the real-life inspiration for Omar Little, who appears as his sidekick a few times and is ultimately killed when Omar makes his Super Window Jump. That scene was based on an incident in Andrews' real life.
  • Guess which character is played by notorious former crimelord Little Melvin, the inspiration for Barksdale? Give up? The Deacon.
  • Felicia Pearson basically plays a fictionalized version of herself. Somewhat.
  • The woman playing the principal of the local school? Actually the principal of the real high school. No wonder you sat up straight when she yelled.
  • Lt. Dennis Mello was played by the actual Jay Landsman, a long-time homicide detective in the Baltimore Police Department. Not to be confused with the fictional homicide detective Jay Landsman (see Celebrity Paradox in the main section).
  • When he goes undercover in the Greek's brothel, McNulty's alias is "James Cromwell", in reference to "the English fuck who stole my ancestors' land." Dominic West played Oliver Cromwell in the Channel 4 miniseries The Devil's Whore.
• Actor Shared Background/Reality Subtext: Richard De Angelis really did have cancer and died due to complications from it after Season 4. When it was confirmed that his cancer was terminal, his character also developed cancer, died from it during the course of Season 4, and had a policeman's wake.
• The Danza:
  • Felicia "Snoop" Pearson.
  • Real Life Baltimore drug kingpin "Little Melvin" Williams plays the Deacon, whose first name is apparently "Melvin".
• Dawson Casting: Marla Daniels is clearly supposed to be around the same age as Cedric, but her actress, Maria Broom, has a solid 12 or so years on Lance Reddick, and is noticeably older.
  • D'Angelo Barksdale is another adult example. Prison records seen in season three indicate that he was approximately 23. He's played by Larry Gilliard Jr., who would have been 31 in the first season.
• Directed by Cast Member: The Season 5 episode "Took" was directed by Dominic West (McNulty). Clark Johnson also directed several episodes, even before he joined the cast as editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes. He also directed the finale.
• Fake American: McNulty and Stringer Bell are both played by Brits; Carcetti is played by an Irishman.
• Fake Nationality: Sergei, supposedly from the Ukraine, is played by Chris Ashworth, born and raised in the USA. In-universe example with "The Greek"... who's not even a Greek. He does head a mostly-Greek gang though.
• Hey, It's That Guy!:
  • Gordon from Sesame Street plays a cop in Season 5.
  • Plenty of cameos from Baltimore-area personalities. The Baltimore Sun office in Season 5, for example, has several former Sun writers playing themselves in their old jobs.
  • Many remember JD Williams (Bodie Broadus) as being Wangler from HBO's Oz. At least three cops played medium to minor characters in Oz, as well.
  • Andy Bellefleur plays Frank Sobotka (or is that the other way around).
  • The Greek will seem very familiar to fans of Law and Order. His actor has played several roles on that show, perhaps most notably the Pedophile Priest who molested Mike Logan as a child.
  • Back in Season One, Chris Partlow can be seen in court wearing a police uniform -- wait what?
  • Before he turned to dealing heroin in Baltimore, Avon was a high school football player in Virginia.
  • Beatrice McReady (Amy Ryan) is actually a decent mother for once, and a cop, no less.
  • Littlefinger is another sleezy politician as Tommy Carcetti.
• I Am Not Spock: Defied by Wendell Pierce: "If you see me on the street, feel free for the rest of my life to call me Bunk."
• Mean Character, Nice Actor: Marlo Stanfield is pretty much the only Complete Monster on the show. The actor who plays him, Jamie Hector, teaches martial arts and drama to at-risk youth, counsels them, and checks whether they attend school via his own charitable organization, Moving Mountains. He also helped raise money for survivors of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.
  • Likewise, Sandi McCree in real life is as far away from Evil Matriarch De'Londa as you can get, being an advocate for arts education among children and teens, and all the people who contribute to the commentaries on the Season 4 DVD's, particularly David Simon, make it a point to emphasize how nice she is in real life.