List of Six Feet Under characters

The following are a list of descriptions for characters on the HBO television series Six Feet Under, which aired from 2001–2005 for five seasons.

Major characters

Nate Fisher

Nate Fisher portrayed by Peter Krause.

Main article: Nate Fisher

Nathaniel Samuel "Nate" Fisher, Jr. (1965–2005), played by Peter Krause, is the oldest of the three Fisher siblings; the series begins when he returns to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve only to learn that his father has died, and the series ends in season five shortly after his death.

Throughout the series, Nate searches for the ideal life that he wants to live. On the airplane while flying home to Los Angeles, he meets Brenda Chenowith, with whom he has sex upon landing, in an airport maintenance room. Hoping to keep the family business alive, Nate becomes a funeral director (a job he swore he would never do) and co-operates the business with his brother David. Not long after, Nate becomes diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and becomes engaged to Brenda around the same time. Nate and Brenda end the relationship both because of Brenda's sexual addiction and her discovery that Nate had an affair with Lisa, his former roommate. Nate then has surgery to have his AVM removed which is a success. Nate instead marries Lisa who bears him a daughter, Maya. Months later, Lisa goes missing and is found dead. Nate waits the proper time until getting back together with Brenda who is already seeing someone. The two move in together and soon marry. Brenda becomes pregnant with Nate's second child which Nate does not want. Nate then meets George's daughter, Maggie, with whom he becomes fascinated. Before a Quaker meeting, they unexpectedly kiss and have sex. Mere moments later, Nate suffers a seizure due to a reappearance of AVM and collapses on her floor. Nate is rushed to the hospital, wakes up long enough to effectively end his marriage with Brenda, and dies the following day.

Following his death, the series spends the last three episodes addressing the other characters' lives as they attempt to cope with his absence.

David Fisher

David Fisher portrayed by Michael C. Hall

Main article: David Fisher (Six Feet Under)

David James Fisher (1969–2044), played by Michael C. Hall, is the middle child (four years younger than Nate) who was co-operator of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home (later Fisher & Diaz). David is gay and is at first in the closet about his sexuality. Prior to the start of the series, David was confused about his sexuality after being engaged briefly to a woman named Jennifer Mason. David met Keith Charles, a police officer, at a church social function and the two began dating. David joined the family business in 1989 at the age of 20 and was very jealous of his brother Nate who left home years prior.

After his father's death and Nate's return, David has a visible resentment against Nate, but the tension soon dissolves when Nate wants to help with the family funeral business. At the same time, David is offered his father's old position as deacon at their church. In addition to not coming out to his family and becoming deacon at a local church that frowns upon homosexuality, Keith breaks up with David. David then dates a younger man named Kurt, a dance instructor who loves to use drugs and go to dance clubs. The relationship ends briefly after David catches him making out with another man. After arranging a funeral for a young gay man who was brutally murdered for his sexual orientation, David comes out to his family and resigns from his post as deacon. David then reconciles with Keith whom he begins dating months later. It is not long after that the two are in couples counseling for their issues. Slowly they work out their differences but become once again separated when David suffers a traumatizing experience with a carjacker. The experience leaves David shocked and vulnerable. The only people to whom he entirely opens up about the ordeal are Keith and his sister, Claire. David finally decides that he wants to have children with Keith and they adopt two abandoned children: Anthony and Durrell.

David marries Keith around 2009 and they remain together until Keith's death in 2029. David dies in 2044 at a family outing.

Ruth Fisher

Ruth O'Connor Fisher (November 17, 1946–2025), played by Frances Conroy, is the widow of Nathaniel and mother of three.

Ruth tends to keep her emotions bottled away and assume a subservient role; growing up, Ruth was obliged to serve as caretaker for her crippled grandmother, who was verbally abusive. Ruth dresses plainly and is often considered "out of touch" and naive by others, frequently taking people at face value. Ruth can be seen as aloof, as she rarely knows what is going on in her children's lives and has stated this problem on several occasions. Her repressed emotions often cause her to have angry outbursts in reaction to her family.

Ruth marries Nathaniel Fisher in 1965 after becoming pregnant with her first child, Nate, who is born while Nathaniel is serving in Vietnam. Four years later she gives birth to another son, David. Their third and final child, Claire, is born much later, in 1983. Trapped in a maternal role at a young age, Ruth felt resentment toward her younger sister Sarah, an artist who Ruth sees as a free spirit. This was worsened by an incident in which her son Nate lost his virginity while under his aunt Sarah's supervision; Ruth and Sarah were estranged for years afterward.

Shortly before the series begins, Ruth has an affair with her hairdresser, Hiram Gunderson, who takes her camping. After Nathaniel's sudden death, she calls off the affair to mourn but rekindles the relationship months later. Seeing as her responsibilities as a housewife are now relieved, Ruth takes a job at a flower shop where the owner Nikolai becomes infatuated with her. Hiram then breaks up with Ruth and she begins seeing Nikolai. Their relationship ends when Nikolai is robbed and beaten by a Russian mob and Ruth offers to pay off his debt. Ruth ends their relationship when she realizes Nikolai has been feeling suffocated by her attentions and has only been staying with her out of guilt.

Ruth finds herself at odds with the women in Nate's life, and also has strained relations with her own children most of the time. Ruth finds comfort in her granddaughter Maya after Nate's death and starts a friendship with a new friend Bettina, Sarah's caretaker.

During her daughter-in-law's disappearance, Ruth struggles with her emotions and her self-imposed role of matriarch-in-control. During this time, she meets and marries geologist George Sibley after only six weeks of courtship. Ruth discovers unpleasant facts about her new husband's past, including multiple wives and an estranged son. Over time, George becomes increasingly paranoid, particularly with beliefs regarding an inevitable nuclear apocalypse, forcing Ruth to admit him for treatments including electro-convulsive therapy. Finding it hard to deal with his subsequent memory loss and emotional instability, Ruth decides to set George up with a life separate from hers before eventually divorcing him.

After Nate Jr's death, Ruth decides she needs a change in her life and moves in with her sister and Bettina. Ruth dies in 2025, at the age of 79, of old age at a hospital with George and her surviving children at her bedside.

Claire Fisher

Claire Simone Fisher (March 13, 1983 – February 11, 2085), played by Lauren Ambrose (and Lilli Babb as a younger Claire during a short flashback scene in the final season), is a rebellious young adult, who falls into drugs, bad relationships and a general search for 'meaning in life'. She is known for being unfailingly sombre and caustic throughout her teenage years and often acts in a selfish and surly manner, yet displays genuine affection and care for her family at moments of crisis. She is the most creative in the family, being inspired by those closest to her (such as her family, Aunt Sarah, Billy). At one time dating the bitter high school student Gabe, she also engages briefly in a complex relationship with Brenda's brother Billy. While studying art at LAC-Arts College, she sleeps with a crematory employee, Phil, but he does not want an exclusive relationship. She then becomes pregnant by fellow student Russell, whom she had dated even though she first suspected he was gay; when she discovers he had fooled around with their professor, Olivier, she becomes depressed once again. Seeing she has no money and is in a deep feud with her mother, Claire takes a temporary job at a legal department where she meets Ted, a handsome Republican lawyer whom Claire begins to date. Ted becomes a source of comfort after Nate's death. In the series finale, Claire receives a job offer to work as a photographer's assistant in New York, leaving her family and Ted behind. Claire returns to L.A. shortly before her mother's death in 2025 and at her mother's funeral reunites with Ted, whom she marries. According to her obituary, Claire begins teaching photography as a faculty member at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2018, earning tenure in 2028. She becomes an award-winning photographer. Out of the series' main characters, Claire was the last one to die. She eventually died of natural causes on February 11, 2085 at the age of 101.

Brenda Chenowith

Main article: Brenda Chenowith

Brenda Chenowith (1969–2051), played by Rachel Griffiths, is Nate's girlfriend and, later, wife. Her parents are wealthy psychiatrists who were promiscuous and sexually open with their children. As a child, she was under the scrutiny of Dr Gareth Feinberg and various psychologists who began documenting her odd behavior. Being a genius, however, she would study the symptoms of various mental disorders and feign them, to spite the doctors. Her case was turned into a best-selling book titled Charlotte Light and Dark, something that haunts Brenda into adulthood.

Her brother (Billy) is a successful photographer, struggling with bipolar disorder. Brenda spent much of her life care-taking for Billy and has struggled to build her own life outside of Billy's illness. Billy has a strong fixation on Brenda's life and their relationship at times bordered on incest. At one point, Brenda planned on going to Yale with her first real love Trevor, until Billy supposedly attempted suicide and she instead chose to stay home to continue taking care of him.

By the time the series starts in 2000, Brenda runs a shiatsu massage service out of her house. Brenda meets Nate Fisher on a flight from Seattle to Los Angeles and they subsequently have sex at the airport, immediately before Nate learns of his father's death. The two begin a relationship which is often interrupted by her brother Billy who continues to worm his way into his sister's life. After she has her brother institutionalized for violent behavior, Brenda decides to go back to college and begins writing a novel to stave off depression. She briefly develops a friendship with a high-class prostitute who is her client, and eventually finds herself succumbing to sexual impulses outside of her relationship. Nate breaks up with Brenda after her sexual addiction gets out of hand. Off-screen, she spirals into drug addiction and harmful behavior. Brenda moves away from Los Angeles and seeks out therapy.

She arrives back in L.A. after her father is diagnosed with fatal cancer which he dies of three months later. She then begins a relationship with a neighbor, Joe, a kind French Horn player who likes to be dominated in bed. After Joe catches Brenda making out with Nate, he ends the relationship and moves out of the house they bought.

Brenda gets back together with Nate by whom she becomes pregnant. On the night before their wedding, Brenda suffers a miscarriage which casts a dark pall on her wedding day. Brenda becomes pregnant again and begins an internship as a cognitive therapist. About this time, Nate begins spending a lot of time with Maggie, his stepsister and becomes interested in her Quaker religion. Nate insists that Brenda attend a meeting of Friends (A Quaker service). Wanting to save her marriage, she complies, only to show up to a meeting and not know that at that moment, Nate and Maggie are at her apartment, having sex. Nate suffers a hemorrhage from his AVM and is rushed to the hospital. After appearing as though he is recovering, he breaks up with Brenda, apparently with thoughts of beginning a relationship with Maggie. He dies before this can happen, having never left the hospital. Six weeks later Brenda delivers a premature baby girl named Willa, who eventually becomes healthy enough to go home after spending weeks in the hospital.

She becomes a university professor and leading scholar on the topic of development of gifted children.^[1] Brenda later remarries to a man named Daniel Nathanson, and has a second child, Forrest Nathanson.^[1] She dies in 2051 at the age of 82 of natural causes (the audio commentary on the DVD suggests that Billy, still complaining about his failed relationship with Claire, bores Brenda to death).

Keith Charles

Keith Dwayne Charles (1968–2029), played by Mathew St. Patrick, is David's principal love interest over the course of the show. Keith was born in 1968 in San Diego and attended West Point Military Academy, before graduating with a degree in Criminology in 1989.^[2] David and Keith began dating (after meeting at a gay-friendly church) some months before the pilot episode.^[3]

Keith is an openly gay cop who works for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).^[3] He tolerates the fact that David is still in the closet until David chastises him for confronting a fellow shopper who calls them "fags."^[4] Keith dumps David and soon begins dating an emergency medical technician named Eddie, but their relationship fails when Keith is preoccupied with his niece Taylor and his sister Karla, who goes into drug rehabilitation. David and Keith then reconcile. After Keith's sister Karla is incarcerated for hitting a homeless man and leaving the scene of the accident, Keith gets custody of Taylor, rejecting his parents demands for Taylor to come with them, and he and David begin adoption proceedings. However, after Keith brutally beats a man during a domestic violence call, he resigns from the LAPD and gives Taylor to his parents, without consulting David. David is hurt and furious, and the two go into couples counseling to sort out their issues.

While in San Diego for his aunt's funeral, Keith confronts his father about the abuse Keith suffered as a child. The conversation turns violent, and when David steps in to defend Keith, Keith rejects his help. Humiliated and hurt, David goes home without Keith. David's friend, Patrick, picks him up and the two have sex. David and Keith's relationship remains tense until, after yet another argument, David dumps Keith and moves back to the funeral home. After his sister-in-law's funeral, David and Keith reconcile on the condition that they stop therapy and Keith quit his job. Keith finds work as a bodyguard, but does not come out about his sexuality to co-workers. He is selected to go on tour with pop star Celeste (Michelle Trachtenberg). While Keith is on tour, David is brutally tortured, robbed and carjacked, and so Keith returns home for several days, only to go back on tour at David's insistence. While he is gone, David begins to suffer from panic attacks and becomes emotionally unstable. Keith, who by now has "come out" at work, confides in Celeste about David, and she seduces him into having sex, then fires him the next day for the indiscretion. When Keith gets home, he confesses the one-night stand to David, and David begins to fear that Keith will leave him for a woman. After David bites a movie agents ear at a sushi restaurant, the agent offers to drop the resulting $500,000 lawsuit if Keith will let him give Keith a blowjob; Keith complies. The agent then hires Keith as his personal security.

Towards the end of Season 4, Keith and David decide to have children, with Keith favoring surrogacy and David favoring adoption. During Season 5, after the surrogacy attempt fails, they adopt two brothers: Anthony, with whom David bonded at an adoption fair, and his older brother Durrell. Durrell in particular is rebellious because of his history in and out of foster care, but despite Keith's protests, David insists that they keep the boys. Soon, Keith begins to embrace his new family life. Keith offers to combine his savings with David's so that they can buy Fisher and Diaz.

The series finale and official HBO website reveal that Keith eventually owns his own security company, and dies in 2029 after being gunned down in an armored car. While at a family function in 2044, David sees Keith in a vision, still young and healthy and playing football; he smiles at David. Then David dies.

Federico Diaz

Hector Federico "Rico" Diaz (1974–2049), played by Freddy Rodriguez, is the extremely skilled restorative artist who later becomes a partner in the business. In 1992, Rico's father Mauricio slipped on the roof and crashed face-first into the chimney. Rico and his mother Lilia went to the Fisher funeral home for burial, and to Rico's shock, Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (who then owned and operated the home) had made his father look just as he was before the accident. Rico struck up a friendship with Nathaniel, who paid for his education and hired him as a restorative artist. They remained close until Nathaniel's death. Around this time Rico married his high school sweetheart, Vanessa (Justina Machado) and had two children. Federico graduated from Cypress College in 1997 with a degree in Mortuary Science. Rico is considered one of the best in the business, and is briefly hired away by the funeral home powerhouse, Kroehner Services International, before he realizes he has become just another over-worked employee among many. He returns to work with David and Nate, but resents his low-level status. Rico and Vanessa struggle for money, but a little old lady in the neighborhood leaves them $149,000 in inheritance money because they had always shown her kindness. With $75,000 of that money, Rico buys 25% of Fisher & Sons. His wife Vanessa later throws him out after finding out about his relationship with a stripper. He is contrite and unable to form another relationship away from his marriage, and is eventually allowed to move back in. Federico is frequently in conflict with the Fishers over the direction of the business. After the death of Nate, Federico is pondering his future with Fisher & Diaz when he hears about a mortuary in the area for sale. David and Keith purchase Rico's 25% and Federico and Vanessa go on to establish the Diaz Family Mortuary in 2005, where he serves the community for 35 years before retiring. Rico dies in 2049 at age 75 on a cruise ship apparently of a heart attack while at his wife's side. He leaves behind his wife Vanessa, his sons Julio and Augusto and his three grandchildren: Emily, Celestina and Vincent.

Supporting characters

Nathaniel Fisher

Nathaniel Samuel Fisher, Sr. (1943–2000), played by Richard Jenkins, is the patriarch of the Fisher family and owner of Fisher & Sons Funeral Home until his death on Christmas Eve, 2000. Although Ruth viewed him as a distant husband and father, many flashbacks show him trying his best to bond with his children, but also to give them their space, as well as acting as a surrogate father and friend to Rico. Even after his death, he is still a presence with all of the Fishers and Rico and frequently appears as a ghost/fantasy/hallucination to them. In many of the early episodes, family members have lengthy conversations with the senior Nathaniel, on their way to reconciling themselves with his death. His children, particularly Nate, all come to realize that they never really knew their father—something they all grieve over. Both Nathaniel Sr. and Jr. appear to Ruth shortly before her death.

Vanessa Diaz

Vanessa Diaz, played by Justina Machado, is Federico's high school sweetheart, wife, and mother of his two sons Julio and Augusto. Vanessa is a registered nurse. In 2002, after several years of working at the Bay Breeze Nursing Home she is fired for negligence after not realizing that a resident's roommate shoved a hot dog down the deceased's throat. She later finds work at a hospital. In 2003 Vanessa sinks into clinical depression following the death of her mother, and begins abusing prescription medication. When her health begins to suffer she gets help, her spending habits and closeness to her sister, Angelica, alienate Rico. In late season four, Federico's infidelity causes the couple to separate and consider divorce. However, after finding it very difficult to live and raise her sons alone, she asks Federico to move back in, which he gladly accepts. Throughout the series, Rico's moods and decisions outside the home are often closely affected by Vanessa's advice and attitude. Vanessa pushes Rico into opening his own mortuary business, and they remain together for many years until his death at age 75.

Billy Chenowith

Billy Chenowith, played by Jeremy Sisto, is an artist and Brenda's younger brother. He suffers from bipolar disorder and occasionally suffers from disruptive, and sometimes violent, episodes of mania, depression, and psychosis. While his disorder can be managed with medication, he sometimes stops using it for various reasons, which has caused critical events in the life of his family. In 1986, he burnt down a section of the family home, which caused Brenda to leave school and abandon her fiancee. In another incident, he carves a tattoo off of his back with a box cutter and attempts to do the same to his sister, forcing his sister to have him committed.^a[›] Billy is an alumnus and professor at LAC-Arts, where Claire Fisher attends college until late 2004. Billy first meets Claire in 2001 at Brenda's, and they have a small flirtation until Billy ends it. After being institutionalized, the only person he can talk to is Claire and they begin to communicate over instant messaging. After he is released he rekindles the relationship, and the two begin dating two years later, briefly living together. After some taunting by old acquaintances that he's not the guy he used to be, and finding himself lacking artistic inspiration, Billy again ceases taking his medication. Soon after, Claire realizes this and breaks it off with him for her own safety. Billy goes back on his medication and asks Claire to take him back, but she refuses. Billy later helps his sister after Nate dies, until she asks him to leave. However, the two remain close, and Billy is present when Brenda finally passes away. During Brenda's death, Billy is shown (with subtitles) talking about Claire's husband, Ted.

George Sibley

George Sibley, played by James Cromwell, is Ruth's second husband, a professor of geology who had 6 wives and a past unknown to his new spouse. He has two children from a previous marriage: a son, Brian, and a daughter, Maggie, who is a traveling pharmaceutical representative. Before marrying, while he was still a student, George dated a woman and she became pregnant with a son, Kyle. Before Kyle was born, however, George signed away his custodial rights, and Kyle, though he was born into great wealth, intensely hated his father and sent boxes of feces to the Fisher home. George and Kyle later reconcile with Ruth's help. George suffers a nervous breakdown and undergoes electroconvulsive therapy, still recovering from the wounds of his mother's suicide when he was a child in 1953. It soon becomes too much for Ruth to take care of him, and the two separate. After adjusting, he reveals to Ruth that he is engaged for the eighth time. Ruth warns this new fiancée of George's past and sabotages the relationship. George and Ruth later reconcile at the time of Nate's death, with George briefly helping to look after Maya. They plan to move in together, but Ruth changes her mind at the last minute, preferring her independence. Meanwhile, his daughter Maggie walks out of his life after blaming him for her problems. Ruth and George remain in separate residences but stay together until her death in 2025.

Lisa Kimmel Fisher

Lisa Kimmel Fisher (1967–2003), played by Lili Taylor, is Nate's spiritual friend from Seattle who becomes pregnant by him after a one night stand. When informing Nate she is pregnant, she also mentions having aborted a previous pregnancy fathered by Nate. They later marry after the birth of their daughter, Maya. Their marriage lasts throughout season 3, but is a turbulent one, as Lisa worries about Nate's remaining feelings for Brenda. Lisa later goes on a trip and never returns. It soon becomes evident that she is dead, and after some episodes, her body is found washed up on the beach. Nate later comes into conflict with Lisa's family on how she wanted to be buried; Lisa had told him that she wanted to be buried in the wilderness with no chemicals or preservatives, while her family wants her cremated and buried in their family mausoleum. Nate goes on to bury Lisa as she had wanted, while giving her family the cremated remains of an unclaimed body. At the end of season 4 it is revealed that her brother-in-law, Hoyt, with whom she had an affair before marrying Nate, was with her on the beach the day she drowned. The details of Lisa's death are left ambiguous (although murder by Hoyt is certainly implied, it is never confirmed, however he is sufficiently distraught after confessing his involvement leading him to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head) but she remains in the show as another deceased character who appears in recurring visions, frequently to Nate or Brenda.

Margaret Chenowith

Margaret Chenowith, played by Joanna Cassidy, is Brenda and Billy's dysfunctional mother and a psychologist. Her bouts of misplaced anger can be seen, occasionally, throughout the series. In the 1960s, she met her future husband, Bernard Chenowith in therapy when she was working as an intern. The couple later married in 1967. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths had become a topic of discussion after allowing their daughter Brenda to undergo testing by the controversial Gareth Feinberg, who later wrote Charlotte: Light and Dark, for which Brenda always resented her parents. Though Margaret and Bernard have an open marriage, they separate briefly in 2002 after Bernard lies about an infidelity. The two later renew their vows and soon after, Bernard dies of cancer in early 2003. Margaret moves on and begins dating her son's former lover (and art teacher), Olivier Castro-Staal.

Maggie Sibley

Maggie Sibley, played by Tina Holmes, is George's daughter. A Quaker and traveling pharmaceutical representative from Arizona, Maggie moves to Los Angeles to help take care of her ailing father. She and Nate become close friends, with Nate confiding to her his fears about his and Brenda's unborn child after blood tests show the baby may have special needs (Maggie's own child had died of leukaemia when he was only two). Nate's feelings for her, combined with his problems with Brenda, lead to him committing adultery with Maggie on the evening of his fatal stroke. Maggie feels very guilty and makes a quiche for Brenda, who angrily rejects her apologies. After Nate's funeral, Maggie leaves town, but not before some harsh words with George. Ruth later calls Maggie to ask her if Nate had been happy while he was with her before he had his stroke. During the phone call, Maggie is at the doctor's office, which led some viewers to speculate as to whether she was pregnant with Nate's child. Alan Ball (the series creator and writer/director of the final episode) specifically debunks this speculation during his DVD commentary on the series finale, noting that as a pharmaceutical industry representative, Maggie is simply working when we see her in the doctor's office.

Sarah O'Connor

Sarah O'Connor, played by Patricia Clarkson, is Ruth's artistic younger sister who runs an artists' colony in Topanga Canyon; Sarah feels she has little talent but surrounds herself with people who do. As a young girl Sarah left Ruth alone to deal with sick relatives. Sarah later baby-sat Ruth's sons and they got into trouble (with a fifteen year-old Nate losing his virginity to one of her older friends and David getting lost in the wild); Ruth once resented Sarah for both of these reasons and they stayed out of touch for decades. The two finally reconcile after Ruth attends a self-help seminar and Sarah returns from Spain. Ruth's strongest resentment of her sister stems from her feeling that Sarah had taken her happiness—when Ruth learned infertility had killed Sarah's plans to have children and that the love of her life had died when she was 21, their relationship thaws. Soon after, Ruth discovers that Sarah has developed a drug addiction to the pain killer, Vicodin. Weeks after going through withdrawal, Sarah goes into drug rehabilitation which puts her life into full perspective. Sarah later gives Ruth invaluable support following Nate's death, and Ruth moves into Sarah's house at Topanga Canyon.

Maya Fisher

Maya Fisher (2002–unknown), played alternately by twins Brenna Tosh and Bronwyn Tosh, is Nate and Lisa's daughter. After Nate's death, Brenda (her stepmother) is given custody of Maya. After learning of Nate's affair with George's daughter, Brenda gives temporary custody to Ruth so that she can fully deal with her grief. Maya soon moves back in with Brenda after Brenda gives birth to her younger half-sister, Willa. In the final scenes, she's seen celebrating her sister's first birthday, as a little girl at David and Keith's wedding (still having her favorite puppet toy, a monkey), and as a woman in her twenties at Ruth's funeral and Claire and Ted's wedding.

Nikolai

Nikolai, played by Ed O'Ross, is the Russian owner of Blossom d'Amour Flower Shop where Ruth Fisher works for a time. In addition to being Ruth's lover for almost two years, Nikolai is in serious debt which includes several encounters with a Russian mob. When they break his legs because he is unable to repay his debt, he recuperates at the Fishers' house. Ruth takes this as an opportunity to expand their relationship, but instead causes more tension when she pays off Nikolai's debt with Nathaniel's life insurance policy. Several weeks after their break-up, Ruth resigns from Blossom d'Amour so that she can spend more time with her newborn grandchild, Maya. He also had a son and wife who died before moving to the U.S. He has a brief cameo in episode #5.9 ("Ecotone") when Ruth envisions herself shooting all of her ex-lovers with a rifle to the tune of carnival music, as in a bloodless shooting gallery.

Gabriel Dimas

Gabriel "Gabe" Dimas, played by Eric Balfour, is Claire's boyfriend during her senior year in high school. Claire thinks she's in love, but after Gabe tells the entire school that she slept with him and sucked his toes, an upset Claire gets her revenge by throwing a severed foot from a deceased person into Gabe's school locker. The two don't speak to each other until the death of Gabe's brother. Gabe's mother blames Gabe for the death, and his stepfather attacks him at the funeral. Soon after, Gabe overdoses on drugs and Claire tries to help him recover. However, he just digs himself deeper into a hole; he holds up a convenience store, steals the Fishers' embalming fluid to use for extra-potent joints, and pulls a gun on another driver while Claire is trying to drive him to a secluded area. After that, Claire breaks off ties with him; later, she receives closure from a fantasy scene showing she believes Gabe has died and is at peace in death and able to see his younger brother, Anthony. However, his actual fate is never revealed.

Bernard Chenowith

Dr. Bernard Asa Chenowith (1939–2003), played by Robert Foxworth, is Brenda and Billy's father who worked as a celebrity psychiatrist with his wife Margaret, whom he met when she was a college intern. Bernard was raised Jewish but ultimately became an atheist. In the 1970s, the Chenowiths made headlines when they allowed their daughter to undergo testing by the controversial Dr. Gareth Feinberg for her brilliant, yet uncontrollable behavior. Bernard and Margaret briefly separate in 2002 for reasons of infidelity but soon reconcile and renew their vows. He succumbs to stomach cancer in 2003.

Taylor

Taylor, played by Aysia Polk, is Keith's niece. Her mother, Karla, is a drug addict and not in a fit state to look after the young girl. Keith and David look after her for some time during season 2. She is quite often rude and unhappy due to her poor upbringing. After Keith is suspended from the police force, Taylor goes to live with Keith's parents, Roderick and Lucille Charles (played by James Pickens Jr. and Beverly Todd).

Russell Corwin

Russell Corwin, played by Ben Foster, is Claire's sexually-ambiguous classmate at art school and one-time boyfriend. Claire initially suspects that Russell is gay. However, Russell claims that he isn't, and starts seeing Claire. Later, Russell has sex with his teacher, Olivier Castro-Staal, and Claire subsequently breaks up with him and, learning she is pregnant, gets an abortion. When he finds out about the abortion, Russell is distraught. He begins sleeping with Claire's friend Anita, but still carries a torch for Claire. Claire enjoys great success with an art project that Russell helps her begin, but Claire takes all the credit, and also gets a gallery showing. Russell is infuriated and gets into an ugly fight with Claire at the showing. She drops out of art school and doesn't see him again for several months. When she runs into him at another showing, he tells her he had been hit by a car, and that while most believe he's in love with fellow student/artist, Jimmy (to whom he gave a drunken blow job), he confides in Claire that he's merely jealous and wishes he could be as talented as she. In their last moment together in the series, Russell gives her a kiss on the cheek and rushes away.

Parker McKenna

Parker McKenna played by Marina Black, is Claire's best friend during her senior year of high school. Parker is a rebellious transfer student from a private school, although she appears to be a "goody two-shoes", who attempts to start a friendship with the unlikely Claire Fisher. The friendship blossoms; however, after finding out that Parker had cheated on her SATs and had been accepted into better colleges than Claire, the friendship is broken off until Claire learns it's better to have one friend than no friends at all. After Claire enrolls in art school, Parker is caught when the person who took the SATs for Parker was arrested. Parker enrolled in community college as a result. The two don't speak again after graduation.

Anthony and Durrell Charles-Fisher

Anthony Charles-Fisher, played by C. J. Sanders, is David and Keith's adopted 8 year old son. The couple meet young Anthony at an "adoption picnic" where David feels an instant bond with the boy. After Mary, David and Keith's surrogate mother announces her pregnancy, the plans to adopt Anthony slowly fade away. However after Mary gets her period, Keith and David try to adopt Anthony, at which time they learn he also has an older brother. In the last scene of the last episode, Anthony is shown as an adult attending his aunt Claire's wedding in the company of a male companion.

Durrell Charles-Fisher, played by Kendre Berry, is David and Keith's adopted 11 year old son. At first when going back to adopt younger brother Anthony, David and Keith do not realize they will be adopting his older brother also. After two weeks of Durrell testing the waters and Keith's patience, Keith believes it is time for the brothers to go. David then sticks up for the boys in front of Keith and the social worker, and the adoption becomes permanent. Slowly, Durrell becomes comfortable in his surroundings after David and Keith set some boundaries and show Durrell some support and nurturing. At age 11, Durrell expresses interest in becoming a fireman. However, in the last scenes of the last episode, he is shown spending time with his father David in the prep room. He most likely inherits the operation of Fisher and Sons Funeral Home after David's retirement, and is shown conducting Ruth Fisher's funeral in the final minutes of the series. Durrell becomes involved with a woman and has three children with her: Matthew, Keith Jr., and Katie.

Bettina

Bettina, played by Kathy Bates, is Sarah's caretaker. Bettina's brash personality and Ruth's reserved nature complement each other and they form a strong friendship. She prides herself on her ability to see people through drug detoxes; although she has done quite a few drugs herself, she seems to be someone who can still run her life without the drugs running her. She does have a reckless streak; she eggs Ruth on to shoplifting once, and encourages her to take a Vicodin when they are overseeing one of Sarah's detoxes. Bettina was married three times—her second husband cheated on her and her first and third husbands left her a widow. Bettina has a daughter who got caught up in a militia movement in Montana.

Olivier Castro-Staal

Olivier Castro-Staal, played by Peter Macdissi, teaches Form and Space at LAC-Arts. Claire, Russell, and Billy Chenowith were all his students. Olivier is bisexual and has flings with Russell and Billy, but ends up living with Billy and Brenda's mother, Margaret. Despite having a rocky relationship with Claire, he is the one who makes the recommendation for her photographer assistant's job in New York.

Arthur Martin

Arthur Martin, played by Rainn Wilson, is an intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home from March to November 2003, though it was intended to be permanent. The eccentric Arthur was orphaned at the age of 5 and was home schooled by his great Aunt Pearl. After his aunt died of old age, Arthur went on to college to study music, but after discovering his major wasn't what he had hoped, Arthur attended mortuary school to become a funeral director. During his senior year, he receives a live-in apprenticeship from the Fishers and Federico. Things soon decline after Ruth Fisher starts thinking their budding friendship is becoming physical. When she realizes he is not able to relate to her in a sexual, more mature relationship, she stops the relationship and acts coldly to Arthur during his attempts at conversation. When Ruth's daughter-in-law Lisa goes missing, she is comforted by George Sibley, who had been attending one of Fisher & Diaz's funerals. The two become close and marry after only a few months, to Arthur's discomfort. When George moves in, Arthur has a confrontational relationship with him. Later, George's estranged son starts sending boxed feces to them, and Ruth assumes it is a jealous Arthur. When she confronts Arthur, he becomes offended and leaves. After Ruth talks about pressing charges against Arthur, George tells her that it is his son who has been sending the feces. Arthur has a brief cameo in episode #5.9 ("Ecotone"), when Ruth imagines herself shooting all of her ex-boyfriends (and eventually her dead husband Nathaniel) with a shotgun to the tune of circus music.

Anita Miller

Anita Miller, played by Sprague Grayden, is Claire's former best friend and roommate. The two met at art school and develop a Laverne and Shirley-like relationship. The relationship is broken off when Claire is abandoned by her friends soon after she leaves art school for good. They briefly meet again towards the end of the series, and Anita makes it clear that she was hurt by Claire's lack of contact.

Edie

Edie, played by Mena Suvari, is a free-spirited lesbian artist who becomes a friend and (briefly) a lover of Claire. Their relationship ends when Edie gets fed up with Claire's sexual ambivalence.

Jimmy

Jimmy, played by Peter Facinelli, was a friend of Claire's during her time at art school. At first Jimmy wanted a relationship with her, but realized in the end that she didn't. They engaged in a brief sexual relationship where he was responsible for giving Claire her first orgasm using the coital alignment technique which he refers to by its slang name "grinding the corn". He also introduced Claire to her first gallery owner. He was often drinking and getting high. He remained a friend of Anita and Claire, until Claire quit Art School.

Hiram Gunderson

Hiram Gunderson, played by Ed Begley, Jr., is a fling of Ruth's. A divorcee and an environmentalist (he drove an Hybrid Toyota Prius car, while Begley drives an electric vehicle in real life), Hiram was once a major chef (he received a rave review from the Chicago Tribune) who gave up cooking to become a hairdresser. One of his clients, Ruth Fisher, was unhappily married, and during frequent camping trips, Hiram taught her how to enjoy sex. After Ruth's husband dies, she initially pushes Hiram away, but then dates him for several months. Their relationship ends when he tells her he has feelings for another woman; to his surprise, she happily sends him on his way. Months later, she calls him to make amends (she is on The Plan at this time) but he mistakenly assumes she wants to reunite, leading to a fight. Several years pass before they meet up again for another camping trip. While on the trip, Ruth realizes she is no longer attracted to Hiram and hitchhikes back home.

Ted Fairwell

Ted Fairwell, played by Chris Messina, is an attorney at Braeden Chemical Legal Department who becomes Claire Fisher's love interest after she begins working as a temp secretary. Prior to meeting Claire, Ted had a (one-night stand and some "discreet" making out in the men's room of a local bar) relationship with Kirsten, one of Claire's other co-workers at the Legal Department. Ted insists that it is over, making Claire feel at ease when she secretly makes out with him. On their first date, Ted reveals himself to be a conservative Republican which upsets Claire at the moment when the mood changes to somber after receiving the news of Nate's stroke. Rather than going home, Ted drives Claire to the hospital and stays with her through the night as her emotional support, causing Claire to see that Ted is a positive force in her life. Ted and Claire part ways when Claire moves to New York in the final episode, although when Claire returns to Los Angeles for her mother's funeral in 2025, she and Ted will reunite and marry, and stay together for the rest of Ted's life. His death is not shown in the final episode, but it is implied that he had died before Claire dies alone in 2085.

Carol Ward

Carol Ward, played by Catherine O'Hara, is Lisa Kimmel's boss during seasons 2 and 3, a neurotic, self-involved motion picture producer with an unstable demeanor. Her demands on Lisa prove incompatible with Lisa's newfound roles as a wife and mother, leading to a confrontation in which Lisa quits. Carol later appears in Episode 52, in a video flashback to 2002 revolving around Nate and Lisa's wedding where she expresses her views on relationships and marriage.

Joe

Joe, played by Justin Theroux, is Brenda's boyfriend for the first half of season 4. They become neighbors when Brenda returns to L.A. and quickly become friends. Although Brenda is hesitant to start a new relationship, and insists on a period of celibacy, they soon become serious. The couple buy a house together and even tried for a baby. However, Brenda soon becomes tired of Joe's cerebral sexual ambivalence. Their relationship ends when Joe walks in on Nate and Brenda together.

Roger Pasquese

Roger Pasquese, played by Matt Malloy, is a Hollywood movie producer who became Keith's employer in season 5. David and Roger had gotten into a fight towards the end of season 4, which resulted in Roger opening a lawsuit against him. The case was dropped when Keith agreed to have sex with him.. After this initial meeting, Roger employs Keith on an as-needed basis as a body guard and personal assistant. Keith and Roger's relationship ends near the end of the series when he discovers that Roger has filmed their one sexual encounter, and frequently plays it back with other sexual partners. Despite being gay, Roger remains in an open marriage with the mother of his two children.

Kroehner's

Kroehner Service International is a mortuary conglomerate that tries to get Fisher & Sons out of business in the first two seasons. In the first season, a smarmy company representative named Matthew Gilardi tries buying the Fishers out. When he fails, his boss Mitzi Dalton-Huntley, played by Julie White, fires him and tries buying the Fishers out, but she also fails. Ultimately, Kroehner Service International files for bankruptcy at the end of the second season, though their bankruptcy was most likely not connected to the Fishers.

Willa Chenowith

Willa Fisher Chenowith (2005–unknown) is Brenda and Nate's younger daughter, born prematurely, six weeks after Nate's death. Willa's birth is unexpected, since Brenda was due to deliver 2 months later. Several weeks after her birth, Willa is healthy enough to go home, a cause for celebration between the two families. Brenda worries about her daughter's health for some time after, but Willa is completely fine. In the final scenes, she's seen celebrating her first birthday, as a little girl at David and Keith's wedding, and as a woman in her twenties at Claire and Ted's wedding.

Jake

Jake, played by Michael Weston, is a criminal that appears in seasons four and five. He carjacks David and takes him on a night-long joyride through the city, beating him, forcing him to do drugs, and ultimately putting a gun in his mouth, before driving away in David's car, sparing him. Jake is later arrested and thrown in jail for numerous violent crimes, and David visits him there to try and get closure on his ordeal; however, Jake is completely detached from reality and provides no answers, so David satisfies himself that Jake is visibly miserable in prison and leaves, telling Jake he is never coming back.

Notes

^ a: The tattoos were of their favorite fictional characters: Nathaniel and Isabel, based on a book their father bought them when they were children. – there was speculation that the two siblings were intimately involved during their childhood, until the episode "Static" showed they hadn't been.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Everybody's Waiting Obituaries. HBO.com.
2. ^ "Obituary". HBO.com. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Pilot". Six Feet Under. 3 June 2001. No. 1, season 1
4. ^ "Familia". Six Feet Under. 24 June 2001. No. 4, Season 1