Draft:List of All American characters

This is a list of the characters that have appeared on All American, an American sports drama.

Overview

Main cast of All American

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6
Daniel Ezra	Spencer James	Main
Bre-Z	Tamia "Coop" Cooper	Main
Greta Onieogou	Layla Keating	Main
Samantha Logan	Olivia Baker	Main
Michael Evans Behling	Jordan Baker	Main
Cody Christian	Asher Adams	Main
Karimah Westbrook	Grace James	Main
Monét Mazur	Laura Fine-Baker	Main
Taye Diggs	Billy Baker	Main					Guest
Jalyn Hall	Dillon James	Main
Chelsea Tavares	Patience Robinson	Recurring		Main
Hunter Clowdus	JJ Parker	Recurring			Main

Notes

Main characters

Spencer James

Spencer Alonzo James (portrayed by Daniel Ezra) is the main protagonist of All American. He is based on Spencer Paysinger. Spencer is a star wide receiver at Crenshaw High School. He also plays safety, kickoff returner, and running back. Through out the series, Spencer takes on a lot of responsibility to help his community, being the leader of the football team and taking care of his family and friends takes a toll on the star player.

In the pilot episode, Spencer was recruited by coach Billy Baker to play at Beverly Hills High. Though reluctant at first, Spencer was soon convinced by his best friend Coop and his family to play at Beverly Hills High for the Beverly Eagles. However, things didn't go well at first; such as his first practice going poorly. After he ran the wrong play, and Jordan and his friend Asher tried to sabotage him, Spencer considered going back to Crenshaw. However, after two encouragements from Coop, Spencer returned to play for the Beverly Eagles in the NFL, and he and the Eagles won their first game together. At the end of the pilot, Spencer had to move in with the Baker's so he can keep playing for Beverly High as his transfer permit was being contested.

During the course of season 1, Spencer struggled with balancing his life in both Crenshaw and Beverly Hills. He became concerned for Coop when he learned that she might have been involved in gang life as she was spending time with Shawn, a neighborhood gang member, and Spencer's former childhood friend. Later on, Spencer discovered that his mother Grace and Billy dated in high school. During one of the Eagles' football games, Spencer's father, Corey James, returned.

Throughout season 2, Spencer patched up his strained relationship with his father Corey and quit football the day after a ring ceremony due to the death of his father. Days later, he was included in the top 300 college prospect ranking, but he was still grieving from Corey's death. After he got shot by one of Tyrone's affiliates, he got surgery to remove the bullet so he could return to playing football. At the end of the season, Spencer was forced to return to South Crenshaw when learned that it's football program was in danger of being shutdown.

In season 3, Spencer suffered from several fallouts with the people he cares about. First was with Jordan, who believed Spencer abandon him; second was with Layla, after Spencer told her that he kissed Olivia while on summer break in Las Vegas; lastly Coop, whom Spencer realized that she was the one responsible for getting him shot. By midseason, Spencer managed to repair his relationships with all three. However, at the end of the third season, Spencer ruined his relationship with Billy after confessing to him that he trained Jordan, before he was medically cleared after an injury. Following this, a massive brawl between the South Crenshaw and Beverly Hill Eagles erupted when the word got out about Spencer training Jordan.

In season 4, Spencer struggled to repair his relationship with Billy. He considered applying for Toledo State University, but withdrew his application when Coach Dante left. However, Coach Hudson informed Spencer that he couldn't play football if he didn't go through with his commitment to Toledo. Thankfully, Billy came to help Spencer by devising a contingency plan for him. This also repaired their relationship in the process. Following this, Spencer got an offer to go play at Golden Angeles University with Jordan by Kenny Boone, an old friend of his father.

Tamia "Coop" Cooper

Tamia "Coop" Cooper (portrayed by Bre-Z) is Spencer's lesbian best friend from Crenshaw High. Coop and Spencer have been friends since childhood.

While she tried to warn Shawn off the gang, she started to take the gang life more seriously after Shawn was killed off, restarting the chain of revenge killings between rival gangs that started with Shawn's brother, Brandon, the year before. Also, as she was a minor at the time, she couldn't take over the lease on Shawn's rental house, even if she was to be emancipated from her mother. When she moved back in after she helped with the arrest of Tyrone Moore, she reverted to being a songwriter and DJ.

At the end of season 3, she was shot by Monique Moore after she found out Mo's plan to avenge her brother's death. She managed to survive, but along with that came side effects regarding her health, which played a big factor as to why she decided to quit making music. She was also caught up in legal investigations regarding the shooting, distracting her from continuing to make music.

Layla Keating

Layla Keating (portrayed by Greta Onieogou) is a record producer and Spencer and Asher's ex-girlfriend from Beverly High.

In season 2, she became Coop's producer. By season 4, she became Patience's producer after Coop quit making music due to legal cases against her and health problems. She is currently engaged to Jordan.

Olivia Baker

Olivia Baker (portrayed by Samantha Logan) is Billy and Laura's daughter, Willie's granddaughter, and Jordan's twin sister. She is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who has been in and out of rehab.

Jordan Baker

Jordan Baker (portrayed by Michael Evans Behling) is Billy and Laura's son, Olivia's twin brother, Willie's grandson, and quarterback for Beverly High. Jordan was initially jealous of Spencer but the two quickly formed a friendship.

In season 2, Jordan had become very rebellious and his behavior was out of control. Jordan got into fights and crashed his sister's car and lost his trust in his mother when she punished him for his rebellious actions. He was tricked into thinking he got Simone pregnant. Simone gave up her child, Jordan was not the father. In "Rolling the Dice", Jordan and Simone got married in Vegas. They later on got the marriage annulled and remained a couple.

In season 4, he got a scholarship offer from Golden Angeles University. He also became closer with Layla, making his long-distance relationship with Simone complicated to manage. Near the end of season 4, he and Simone broke up. He is currently engaged to Layla.

Asher Adams

Asher Adams (portrayed by Cody Christian) is the wide receiver for Beverly High and the ex-boyfriend of Layla and Olivia. His father lost all of their family's money, which resulted in Asher's mother leaving. Asher and his father rent a guest house from another family that is always out of the country. Asher pretends the mansion is his to keep up the appearance his family has money, until he must confess that his father is laid off and has become broke. Asher found out why his parents split up, his father told her mother to stay away from him and his mother was an ex-hooker and that is how his parents met. In the end of season 3, it is revealed that he has a heart condition and can no longer play football due to him taking steroids in season 2. His mother was an alumnus of Malibu Charter School, coached by Billy's former NFL rival. He was suspended for 2 games due to intoxication at Homecoming Dance after Layla broke up with him, and then was kicked off the team after he tipped off Malibu with Beverly's entire offensive playbook. In 2017, he was with Layla and was an alcoholic. After winning State title, he became more dedicated because his scout stock actually fell due to lack of targets. He, along with Spencer, became offensive captain in season 2 while Jordan was left out. In The Art of Peer Pressure, it's revealed that Asher was taking steroids. In season 3, he was still under suspension from playing football due to taking steroids. After paying for his mistakes, he was allowed to play again. After he got an athletic full scholarship to Coastal California, he was devastated to learn that he developed cardiomyopathy, a rare heart condition. As Asher helped out Jordan and JJ during a combine, he realized that he could still pursue his passion of football through coaching. In season 4, he managed to move from the laundry manager of the Costa California Manta Rays to scouting against the Golden Angeles Condors, which includes Jordan and Spencer. Asher is currently dating a girl named Jaymee and they are expecting their first child together.

Grace James

Grace James (portrayed by Karimah Westbrook) is Spencer and Dillon's mother who secretly knew Billy a long time ago and had a one-night stand with him. However, it turns out that Billy, Grace and Corey all were graduate class of 1994 in South Crenshaw. In season 4, her boyfriend D'Angelo proposed to her after getting permission from Spencer and Dillon. She marries D’Angelo in season 5.

Laura Fine-Baker

Laura Fine-Baker (portrayed by Monét Mazur) is Olivia and Jordan's mother, and Billy's wife. She is a lawyer. Laura is a very strict disciplinarian who insists structure and discipline. In season 2, she tried to keep the family together and she spent most of the series laying down the law and punishing Jordan. Jordan got into trouble with fighting and crashing his sister's car and got tricked into thinking he got a girl pregnant. Mostly, she decided to file for separation. In "The Art of Peer Pressure", she was elected District Attorney of Los Angeles County. She and Billy began reuniting and soon got remarried in season 3. In season 4, she quit the DA job after realizing the systematic failure of the system, and managed to fight Preach's murder charges, and reached a deal for Coop to serve community service for her part for obstruction of justice covering Preach's involvement in Monique's death.

Billy Baker

William "Billy" Baker (portrayed by Taye Diggs) was the head coach of Beverly High's football team, later at South Crenshaw High. He was Laura's husband and Olivia and Jordan's father. Like Spencer, he was an alumnus of both Crenshaw High and Beverly Hills High, and played in the NFL as a former second-round pick, before his career was cut short by knee injuries. His father also abandoned him as a child.

In season 2, it was also revealed that both he and Corey played against each other in Pop Warner, and he actually left South Crenshaw because he could not deal with the loss of his mother, who was the history teacher of South Crenshaw High. halfway through the season, he tried to fight to repair the marriage with Laura, but she decided to file for separation. By the end of season 2, he resigned and became the head coach for the high school he played for.

In season 3, he and Laura got remarried. However, he and Spencer's relationship became estranged when Spencer confessed to Billy about training Jordan behind his back. In season 4, he was the interim principal of South Crenshaw High, where he eventually got promoted to full-time principal. He also managed to repair his relationship with Spencer.

In season 5, Billy was offered a job at Golden Angeles University as the head coach, in which he initially accepted. However, this ended up damaging his relationship with Spencer permanently, as Spencer was fighting to get Coach Kenny Boone the head coach position. In the episode "Time", After Spencer convinced him otherwise, Billy turned down the job and decided to stay at South Crenshaw. Later in the episode, Billy and the rest of SC Chargers team got into a bus crash. When Billy realized that one of his players, Jabari Long, was still on the bus, he went back for Jabari. Billy died saving Jabari's life. His death deeply devastated everyone, especially Spencer the most, since he was still mad at Billy for accepting head coach job that he declined Billy's last call to him, sending it to voicemail.

Dillon James

Dillon James (portrayed by Jalyn Hall) is Spencer's younger brother. Like Spencer, he is also a grade-A student and is very mature for his young age. He likes sci-fi comics and wanted to play football like his brother Spencer, but at the moment, he is too young, so he sticks to playing basketball.

Patience Robinson

Patience Robinson (portrayed by Chelsea Tavares) is Coop's former love interest from seasons one to four. An aspiring lyricist, but because she has a supportive family when she came out as a lesbian, she often struggles to understand Coop's hesitance to let her meet Coop's mother and her more supportive church friends.

Her career began taking off in season 4, but Coops' criminal charges have been holding her back. They broke up in season 4, but remain as housemates along with Layla, Jordan and Olivia.

In the season 5 finale, Patience was stabbed by a crazed stalker fan named Miko.

JJ Parker

JJ Parker (portrayed by Hunter Clowdus) is an outside linebacker/QB2/tight end for the Beverly High Eagles. A party boy that likes to organize parties, but is also a very competent pool player. In season 3, however, he showed interest in returning to his junior high school position of QB after new Coach Montes saw his arm strength, accuracy and pocket movement to be better than Jordan, but still lost the QB competition. He was excited to tell his friends that he got a scholarship offer from Coastal California, but this made things awkward for a while as Asher realized that it was his original scholarship before his injury. In college, he reverted to a linebacker, and became a Zen master and a yogi instead of solely focusing on football. In college, he was failing Intro to Film Studies at one point because he plagiarized his own work from high school. His carefree and happy-go-lucky attitude came from his freshman year when he and his uncle almost died in a car accident while on vacation in Hawaii because his uncle had been drinking. He used his cut of the NIL money to extend the lease on the beach house that him, Spencer, Jordan, and Asher were all living in during the summer before entering college.

On March 29, 2024 it was announced that Hunter Clowdus exited the show before season 6 due to his character's storyline having "organically wrapped" at the end of season 5.

Recurring characters

Shawn Scott

Shawn Scott (portrayed by Jay Reeves) was a drug dealer and gang member who sometimes did good deeds. He was Spencer's childhood friend until the murder of Shawn's brother Brandon.

Tyrone Moore

Tyrone Moore (portrayed by Demetrius Shipp Jr.) was a gang leader in Crenshaw. He was the mastermind that killed both Brandon and Shawn Scott. He also put Preach into the hospital by shooting. He was apprehended by police on State Championship night after Coop set up a police ambush. However, he was released from jail after Preach decided not to testify. He was later killed on his front porch by Ruth Scott in revenge for killing her sons.

Willie Baker

Willie Baker (portrayed by Brent Jennings) is Billy Baker's father, and Olivia and Jordan's grandfather. Former Beverly Hills Football coach that raised Billy to become an NFL player, he believed Billy abandoned him after going pro and leaving Crenshaw. He disapproves of his son's lifestyle and used to refuse to accept his daughter-in-law because she is white. Despite this, he receives monthly payments from his son. He also conned money from his grandson by suggesting he couldn't afford medical care for his diabetes. In season 4, he suffered from a heart attack on prom night, which causes Billy and Laura to move into his house him to keep an eye on him. Becoming tired of their presence, he decided to move to Florida and stay with his friend Jerome.

Corey James

Corey James (portrayed by Chad L. Coleman) was Spencer and Dillon's biological father and a former American football player and coach. He also played against Billy since Pop Warner, also an aspiring running back. However, his football dreams was dashed after high school because he was stricken with life-threatening illness, which he later died of.

Darnell Hayes

Darnell Hayes (portrayed by Da'Vinchi) is a quarterback at South Crenshaw who lived with Corey for 7 years in Nevada, Corey's son from a previous relationship. While having a frosty relationship with Spencer, they reconciled in Corey's final days. He was invited to live with Grace soon after Corey died. He suddenly had to leave, because his birth mother was hurt while on military duty. He came back for a brief moment to convince Spencer not to give up football to save his community.

Cordell "Preach" Simms

Cordell "Preach" Simms (portrayed by Kareem J. Grimes) is a former gang member who initially follows Tyrone because he thought Tyrone saved Brandon's lives by serving two prison terms together. However, when Coop made him realize the Scotts were both killed by Tyrone, he tried to set a plan to kill him, but he failed, and was shot and critically injured, and was recovering in Intensive Care Unit post-operation. In Season 2, he got a job as a security guard after he recovered and helped Coop gain an audience for her first show, but was arrested after Tyrone set him up and was sent back to prison for assaulting Buggs and breaking his parole violation. He was released in the season 3 premiere after Monique got his 1st strike conviction overturned. In season 4, he started working as an English Literature tutor for the football team at South Crenshaw High when Billy was an interim principal, but was arrested at the school for Monique's murder before the charges were dropped and got probation for unlawful possession of firearms due to "justifiable homicide". Despite this, Billy gives him another chance and lets him continue to teach the students after seeing how well he connects with them.

JP Keating

JP Keating (portrayed by Elvis Nolasco in seasons 1 & 2; and Ray Campbell in seasons 4 & 5) is Layla's father. He is a music mogul that grew up in Harlem, New York. Donated to build Rose Bowl's Locker Room. As an alumnus of UCLA, he is effectively a lifetime member of the ground. He returned to her life for good when he realizes that Layla attempted suicide at the exact same place as her mother. He stepped back from his roles in his record label after meeting a new girlfriend.

Monique "Mo" Moore

Monique "Mo" Moore (portrayed by Erica Peeples) was an attorney and Tyrone's older sister and Amina's mother. She shot Coop, then was killed by Preach for "justifiable homicide".

Coach "Mrs." Montes

Coach Montes (portrayed by Alexandra Barreto) is the new head coach for the Beverly High Eagles. Her husband is also a coach.

Coach "Mr." Montes

Coach Montes (portrayed by Kamar de los Reyes) is the head coach at Coastal California University.

Skye

Skye (portrayed by Madison Shamoun) is Coop's new love interest.

Guests

• Chip Kelly as Himself (special appearance season 2)
• Merrick McCartha as Robert Hicks (seasons 2 & 3), Simone's father and Tina's husband.
• Cordae as Himself (special guest appearance season 3)
• DeSean Jackson as Himself (special guest appearance season 3)
• Tribe Mafia as themselves (background music season 5)
• Joanna "JoJo" Levesque as Sabine (special guest star season 4), Layla's mentor in musicianship and production
• John Salley as Himself (special guest star season 5)
• Darone Okolie as Sal Dominguez (season 5)
• Tre Hale as Kai (season 5)

References

Category:Lists of American drama television series characters