The Definitive Cast Guide For Once Upon A Time Every Actor Who Brought Storybrooke To Life

Figuring Out The Cast Of Once Upon A Time

I spent way too many weekends going through IMDB and cross-referencing episode guides just to get a proper grasp on who played what in that show. The problem with Once Upon A Time is that nearly every actor plays at least two characters one time or another. You have Snow White and Mary Margaret, Emma Swan and the Evil Queen existing in the same frame sometimes. It gets confusing fast if you are not tracking it properly. When I first tried compiling a complete list, I ran into a real headache with the episode "The Shepherd." Ginnifer Goodwin plays both Snow White and Mary Margaret, but then she also appears as herself in a very brief cameo that most databases either miss or merge incorrectly. I had to go back and watch the episode myself rather than trust whatever automated site was already out there. That is the thing about this show nobody warns you about the secondary character counts are enormous and the dual-role tracking is basically everyone doing it wrong on the first pass.

The Definitive Cast Guide For Once Upon A Time Every Actor Who Brought Storybrooke To Life

The main ensemble breaks down pretty clearly if you separate the Enchanted Forest cast from the Storybrooke versions, even though many of the same actors cover both. Here is what actually matters. Jennifer Morrison plays Emma Swan throughout the entire series. She is the protagonist and the only main character who stays relatively consistent without a secondary Enchanted Forest counterpart that diverges significantly. Ginnifer Goodwin covers Snow White / Mary Margaret Goldilocks and numerous smaller roles across seasons. Lana Parrilla handles both Regina Mills and the Evil Queen, which turns out to be more complicated than it sounds because the Queen's personality shifts between the two identities and Parrilla had to play them as genuinely different people even though they share a face. Josh Dallas plays Prince Charming / David Nolan. Robert Carlyle is the standout for playing both Rumplestiltskin and Mr. Gold, plus several other minor roles like Mr. Bumble in season three. Colin O'Donoghue starts as Hook and eventually becomes Captain Neal Cassidy later in the series, which confused a lot of people who did not realize the timeline jump had reconnected those two identities.

Supporting players include Jared S. Gilmore as Henry, Gabrielle Anwar as Cora, Sandra Bernthal as Tamara, and Sebastian Stan as Hansel. The show ran for eight seasons so the guest list is enormous, but the core Storybrooke residents are the ones most people actually care about tracking. If you want something complete, you are going to have to build it yourself or find a fan-maintained database that someone has actually updated manually. Automated wikis are usually missing at least three dual roles per season. I learned that the hard way when my initial spreadsheet was off by about forty character entries before I realized I was double counting appearances where actors played their true name identity versus their cursed identity in the same episode. Separate columns for each identity solved that mess immediately.