This article is a list of characters in the Police Academy film and television series.
Main Cadet/Off./Sgt. Carey Mahoney Played by: Steve Guttenberg Voiced by: Ron Rubin
Cadet/Officer Mahoney is the main character of the first four movies and the animated series. He is a troublemaking, womanizing cad with a heart of gold. His worst habit is retaliating against insults in bizarrely effective ways. For instance, the last straw before his police career was when he was a parking-lot attendant and was forced to park a car for an abusive customer in an otherwise full parking lot. Mahoney put the car into a side-wheelie, crashed it between two cars, and proudly proclaimed, "It fits!". Since his father was a decorated police officer, Mahoney was given the choice of police academy or jail by his father's former boss, Captain Reed, who did not want Mahoney's antics to reflect poorly on his father. Captain Reed told him that they can throw him out, but he cannot quit, and if he does quit, he would be sent to jail. Mahoney tried to get expelled at first, but as he befriended some of the other recruits, he came to love the academy and decided to stay. However, he also ran afoul of Captain Harris and his sidekick Proctor, Captain Mauser, and recruits Copeland and Blankes, all whom disliked his carefree view of life. His knack for getting creative revenge after being humiliated comes into play on several occasions. Despite his womanizing and tendency to break the rules, Mahoney is otherwise a good person willing to go above and beyond to help others regardless of the consequences. Mahoney eventually graduates with an award for bravery in the line of duty. By the third movie, Mahoney is a dedicated officer, who works with and stands up for his cadets and inspires them to work towards achieving their full potential. In the fourth movie, Mahoney successfully lobbies to have two skateboarders, Arnie and Kyle, placed in the Citizens on Patrol program as an alternative to jail time, as they reminded him of what he was like before entering the Academy and how it helped him turn his life around for the better.
Mahoney is also in the animated series, appearing in almost every episode and usually ends up working with Jones. He does not appear in the last three films, and the reason for doing so was never explained in the later films. Steve Guttenberg was offered a role in the fifth film, but he declined, leading the producers to create the character of Nick Lassard as his replacement.
Cadet/Off./Sgt./Lt./Capt. Moses Hightower Played by: Bubba Smith Voiced by: Greg Morton
Featured in all but the seventh film, Hightower was a florist before joining the academy. He is best known for his immense stature and superhuman strength. Hightower practices for his driving test by ripping the front seat out of a compact car (a 1977 Honda Civic owned by Copeland) and steering comfortably from the back seat. However, he is the most humble and soft-spoken of all the characters. Despite his gigantic size, Hightower has sometimes admitted that he lacks self-confidence, such as when he tells Mahoney that he has not driven a car since he was twelve years old, and fears that he will fail out of the police academy if he flunks the driving test. His character often breaks things or uses force to threaten the bad guys. Other examples of him using his strength were when he lifted up the practice squad car with Copeland inside, who had insulted his friend Hooks by calling her a "dumb fat jiggaboo". He can also drop easily into good-cop mode, to gain the trust of crooks he is about to arrest. However, he too graduated from the academy with a decoration for bravery, and eventually made lieutenant after wrestling an alligator, a skill he learned growing up in the bayou, in order to save Harris' life. Hightower also uses German Shepherd police dogs in the 3rd and 4th films, suggesting he got certified as a dog handler.
In the sixth movie, in pursuit of the Wilson Heights Gang, the only time he actually acknowledges himself being angry is when he is almost injured by the largest of the Wilson Heights Gang criminals. When he gets up after having construction-zone items fall on him, Hightower notices that his name pin was displaced and says to himself, "Now I'm mad."
Hightower is also in the series, along with Laverne Hooks. When last seen in the live-action series episode "Dr. Hightower", he has been promoted to the rank of captain, and is presented with the "Alumnus of the Year" award.
Cadet/Off./Sgt./Capt. Eugene Tackleberry Sr Played by: David Graf Voiced by: Dan Hennessey
Tackleberry is in all seven films and is best known for his love of firearms, the military and direct action. He had been a veteran of the US military and a security guard prior to joining the police academy. He joined the police force to see more action but has a poor grasp of the difference between the military and civilian life. This paramilitary lifestyle was instilled into Tackleberry from home; in the first film, he mentions that his (signature) firearm was given to him by his mother (Harris: "Son, where did you get that gun?" Tackleberry: "My Mom gave it to me."); in the 4th installment, Tackleberry comments that weapons-loving senior citizen, Mrs. Lois Feldman, reminded him of his mother (hinting that his mother may already be dearly departed by this point). Tackleberry is a bit trigger-happy; a tendency which would have had him court-martialed long ago had it not been for the fact that he actually has good aim. Tackleberry was also known for getting the job done, but with overkill and naivete; example being aiding a little old lady who lost her money in a pay phone by shooting it and making a bunch of money fall in his hands, "Can you identify your quarter, Ma'am". Tackleberry also plays the Saxophone very well.
In the second film, which he was assigned to work as a motorcycle policeman, it is revealed that, although Tackleberry exerts an image of toughness and masculinity, he was still a virgin at the age of 28-years-old. However, upon meeting his police partner, a beautiful and equally gun-obsessed woman, Sgt. Kathleen Kirkland (played by Colleen Camp), he falls in love with her. They get married, (driving off in a Bigfoot truck after their wedding), and have a son, Eugene Tackleberry Jr., (featured in the sixth film, played by Daniel Ben Wilson), who is every bit as enthusiastic about all of the same things as his parents. This leads to a series of gags involving the Kirkland family, featuring Eugene's father-in-law and brother-in-law, whose jibes and admonishments are usually punctuated by a good-natured-yet-brutal punch to the jaw; meanwhile, mother and daughter both see the sadistic horseplay as all in good fun.
Tackleberry always carries the biggest side arm he can lay his hands on, usually a .44 Magnum, (his signature sidearm), and has a predilection for using excessively heavy equipment (like a chainsaw for cutting down a tree which a truant boy had fled onto); in the sixth movie, posing undercover as a taxi driver, he scares off a patron trying to hire his cab by brandishing a grenade. He uses military slang such as "affirmative" and "negative", and the military time system. His personal catchphrase is: "...NOW, Mister!" to scare people. In the fifth movie, he went so far as to wade into the ocean off Miami, draw his gun on an invading shark, and order, "Desist, and leave the swimming area NOW, Mister!". He is happiest weighing the benefits of penetration vs. stopping power. Tackleberry is at heart a benevolent person with a tough exterior. He wants to bury his heavy equipment in anyone he encounters; although he did get selfish when he was allowed to test out certain new firearms at the Annual Police Display in Miami, not wanting to share the guns with other officers. He only gave them up when Callahan coaxed him into handing them over, promising Tackleberry that she would "get some of his very own, just as soon as they get home."
This was exacerbated even further in the animated series, where he used a bazooka (a military weapon no police officer would have access to). Tackleberry's bazooka was often used for comical effect rather than destruction: for instance in the opening credits where he uses his bazooka to put the missing dot on the 'i' of the 'police academy' sign after Mahoney remarked it was missing; the collapsing screen serving as transition to the start of the episode. Another example is when working an undercover job as an ice cream salesman, he loads ice cream into his bazooka to cover the escaping crooks in a mess. In the "Team Tack" episode of Police Academy: The Series, Tackleberry was a captain, and mentions his wife Kathleen was one as well. Jones and Tackleberry are the only characters to appear in all of the movies, the animated series and the television series. Also, he is the very first character seen in the first Police Academy film. In the live-action TV series, Tackleberry has 2 nephews, Cadets Dirk & Dean Tackleberry, who idolize him as their role model.
Cadet/Off./Sgt. Larvell Jones Played by: Michael Winslow Voiced by: Greg Morton
Jones was one of the key characters in the series and is famous for making sound effects with his voice. He is one of the characters often remembered from the films, as he uses his vocal ability to make noises to play pranks and deceive both criminals and authority figures. Jones met Mahoney when they were both arrested by cops. Mahoney pulls some strings with Captain Reid to bring Jones with him to the academy. Jones can imitate sounds such as a flat tire, a couple noisily eating fast food, gunfire, and, memorably, a badly dubbed martial arts star. Jones has expertise in martial arts, which he continues to use throughout the series to great success, often mimicking kung fu voice-over, as he does so. Other times he uses his sound-effects ability solely to amuse himself, such as one time at the academy when he imagines himself playing a game of Space Invaders and makes all the known sound effects from that video game. In the sixth movie, he leapt onstage at a nightclub during a blackout (in uniform, declaring, "The Metropolitan Police Department proudly presents... me."), and launched into a string of impressions, thus keeping the audience from rioting. He also has an ability to communicate with parrots, training them to call Captain Harris a "dork". Jones and Tackleberry are the only characters to appear in all of the movies, the animated series and the television series.
The character's vocal ability was an added trait by his actor Michael Winslow, who can make sounds and noises with his voice and mouth in real life. In the animated series, he was partners with Mahoney and in the live action series where he usually visits the academy and help the new cadets out.
Cadet/Off. Carl Sweetchuck Played by: Tim Kazurinsky Voiced by: Howard Morris
Sweetchuck first appeared in the second film, as a shop owner terrorized by Zed and his gang.
In the third film, Sweetchuck decides to join the police force; unfortunately, his former tormentor Zed joins at the same time and in the same class, and the two become mismatched roommates. A stereotypical nerd, Sweetchuck's diminutive size and geeky appearance provided many gags, usually in relation to his physical weakness or as a foil for fellow recruit Zed.
After just a few days, Sweetchuck was unable to take any more of Zed's antics and attempted to leave the academy, but was convinced by Tackleberry to stay. He and Zed eventually got along better as time went on, though Sweetchuck still gets mad at Zed for one thing or the other.
Sweetchuck is in the animated series (along with Zed). He has a brother named Doug. He also becomes Zed's partner in the animated series.