This list is of fictional characters in the ABC Family television series The Fosters. This article features the main, recurring and minor characters who have all appeared in more than one episode.
Cast Cast table Portrayed By Character The Fosters Good Trouble Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Teri Polo Stefanie "Stef" Adams Foster colspan="5" colspan="5" Sherri Saum Lena Adams Foster colspan=5 colspan="5" Jake T. Austin Jesus Adams Foster colspan="2" Noah Centineo colspan="3" colspan="2" Hayden Byerly Jude Adams Foster colspan=5 colspan="5" David Lambert Brandon Foster colspan="5" colspan=3 colspan="1" Maia Mitchell Callie Adams Foster colspan="9" Danny Nucci Mike Foster colspan="5" Cierra Ramirez Mariana Adams Foster colspan="10" Zuri Adele Malika Williams colspan=5 colspan=5 Sherry Cola Alice Kwan colspan=5 colspan=5 Tommy Martinez Gael Martinez colspan=5 colspan=5 Roger Bart Curtis Wilson colspan=5 colspan=2 colspan=2 Emma Hunton Davia Moss colspan=5 colspan=4 Josh Pence Dennis Cooper colspan=5 colspan=4 Beau Mirchoff Jamie Hunter colspan=4 colspan=3 colspan=2 Bryan Craig Joaquin Peréz colspan=8 colspan=2 Priscilla Quintana Isabella Tavez colspan=6 colspan=2 colspan=1 colspan=1 Booboo Stewart Luca Ryusaki colspan=8 colspan=1 colspan=1 In season 5, Danny Nucci is only credited on the episodes in which Mike appears but still in the opening titles.
Main characters
Stef Adams Foster Portrayed by Teri PoloJesus Adams Foster (season 1–present) was one of the twins that Lena and Stef fostered as children and eventually adopted. He is the more laid-back of the twins. He had ADHD, for which he took medication. After a fainting spell caused by his pills in "House and Home", he decided with the suggestion of the fat ugly stupid single made stupid AF decisions, Mike to join the wrestling team to cope with negative effects of ADHD. He is close with his sister as they were both in the foster care system and he acted as her protector; however their personalities and values clash occasionally, causing many arguments. He even went as far to take the blame for her selling his pills to have money for their birth mom, Ana, who he feels disgust and resentment towards because she chose drugs over him and his sister. He starts dating Mariana's childhood best friend Lexi, in "Consequently" after defending her from a guy. He falls out with his sister in "Quinceanera" when she finds out he's been secretly dating Lexi and feels betrayed by Jesus for doing so. They make up in "The Fall-Out". He has sex with Lexi once in "The Morning After". His relationship with Lexi is on hold when she moves back to Honduras because her grandmother is sick and her family cannot find a way back as they are undocumented immigrants. He eventually moves on from their relationship and falls into a love triangle between wrestling mate Emma and popular girl Hayley. Stefanie "Stef" Marie Adams Foster (seasons 1–5) is a police officer. She and Mike Foster, her partner at work, are Brandon's biological parents. They divorced shortly after Stef met Lena and realized she's a lesbian and wanted to be with her. In a flashback in episode 9, when she first met the twins, it is shown that she has a very caring nature despite her tough appearance. At the end of episode 1x10, Stef and Lena are officially married, legally cementing their long-term union of ten years. Stef is very strong and tough, but is also very funny and loving. Callie initially doesn't feel comfortable around her due to her position as a cop, but gradually forms a close bond with her. While Stef likes to act tough around everyone, especially Lena, it is shown that she cares a great deal about her wife and family, although she won't hesitate to discipline her kids if need be.
Lena Adams Foster Portrayed by Sherri Saum Lena Elizabeth Adams Foster (seasons 1–5) is the biracial vice principal of the charter school the kids attend. She's Stef's wife, Brandon's stepmother, and the other children's adoptive/foster mother. She is good with kids, and often tries to reason with her kids more so than punish them, in contrast to Stef's often "quick to act" nature. It was Lena who decided to take Callie in after she was released from the juvenile detention center. Lena is very aware of the people around her. At the end of season 1, she is artificially inseminated with co-worker Timothy's sperm desiring to have a biological child of her own, and finds out she is pregnant shortly afterwards in the season 1 finale. However, in season 2, she is diagnosed with life-threatening pre-eclampsia and, consequently, loses the baby.
Brandon Foster Portrayed by David Lambert Brandon Foster (seasons 1–5) is the 16-year-old son of Stef and her ex-husband, Mike. He is one of Callie's love interests. He is very talented musically, specifically with the piano, and writes piano pieces which he presents for chances at scholarships. He has been shown to have an unsteady relationship with his father, Mike, due to the fact that Mike is a struggling alcoholic and has disappointed him many times through his childhood and teen years. At the start of Season 1, Brandon has a girlfriend named Talya, but breaks up with her because of his growing feelings for Callie and his annoyance and anger at her harassment and jealousy directed at Callie. For most of the first season, Brandon continues to pursue Callie romantically, even though she warned him that she could be kicked out of the house if they got involved. Brandon continues to make reckless decisions, included violating a restraining order, in order to be with Callie. Ultimately, he accepts that Callie needs a family more than a relationship, and eventually agrees to a mutual break up. He eventually joins a band and begins a relationship with bandmate Lou. Brandon spends his summer going to Idyllwild Music Program, where he was faced with serious competition and backstabbing. For the competition Brandon takes a huge risk and decides to play his own piece. He wins the competition and, feeling good about himself, catches up with Callie who was assuming she will not be adopted so they have sex. Brandon performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall and he writes a Shakespeare Musical for his final year project. When Callie upsets her donors they seek revenge, trolling her web site with nasty rumours, but which in this case were true. The fallout of the tryst between Brandon and Callie continues. Avoiding the wrath of his mother, Brandon moves in with a single mom but finds parenthood a struggle. He goes to desperate measures in order to secure his place in Juilliard, which eventually backfires on him bigtime. Find parenthood too hard he returns home to help with Jesus's TBI recovery. Brandon goes through misery and heartache when his new girlfriend Grace gets sick with leukaemia and eventually dies. Grace teaches Brandon valuable lessons on not wasting time and trying something new every day.
Jesus Adams Foster
Portrayed by Jake T. Austin (1–2) Portrayed by Noah Centineo (3–5) Jesus Adams Foster (born Jesus Gutierrez) is the biological son of Ana Gutierrez and Gabriel Duncroft, as well as, the adoptive son of Stef and Lena Adams Foster. He is the fraternal twin brother of Mariana and the adoptive brother of Brandon, Callie, and Jude. He is the more laid-back of the twins. He had ADHD, for which he took medication. After a fainting spell caused by his pills in "House and Home", he decided to join the wrestling team to cope with negative effects of ADHD. He is overly protective with his sister but their differences in personalities and values cause many arguments.
He becomes sexually active mainly with his sister's friends. He falls out with his sister in "Quinceanera" when she finds out he's been secretly dating her childhood friend Lexi. When Lexi moved to Honduras, he moves on to create a love triangle between wrestling mate Emma and popular girl Hayley. after winning a wrestling scholarship to a school in the mid west, he abandons it when he reveals that half of the team are using steroids. The use of steroids mess with his other medication.
With encouragement from his new friend at school Nick, Jesus searches for and locates his biological father. Jesus tries to befriend him but it doesn't go well. His father is on the sex offenders list because he had underage sex with Ana that resulted in her pregnancy with the twins.
Jesus and Emma begin a strictly sexual relationship, and are considering getting back together. Jesus suffers from two TBI, first by a nail gun then later by being assaulted. Jesus need full time care and Lena takes time off to care for him. He gets upset with both Emma and Brandon when he finds out that Brandon drove Emma to an abortion clinic. He takes a baseball bat to Brandon's room and was only stopped by Gabe overpowering him.
Jesus continues his rehab and finally returns to his studies. His on again, off again relationship with Emma has some highs and lows. He later helps out with the local roller derby girls' team. His girlfriend Emma successfully tries out for the team.
Jesus eventually graduates and goes to a local community college and becomes a contractor.
Mariana Adams Foster Portrayed by Cierra Ramirez Mariana Adams Foster (seasons 1–5) was one of the twins that Lena and Stef fostered as children and eventually adopted. She was fostered as a young child, and eventually adopted, by Lena and Stef around the age of three. She is very smart and girly, and cares about her appearance very much. She is popular and social, likes to gossip, and speaks Spanish fluently. Callie thinks she is a compulsory liar and often warns her about the consequences. She is naive when it comes to certain topics - especially her birth mother, but she smartens up about her when finally realizing she was using her for money. She changes herself for guys and friends like in "The Morning After" when she sees that an old friend, Garrett is cute now and writes poetry, she goes to a Poetry Slam with him, and pierces her nose herself for him since he was hanging out with a girl who was dressed much edgier than Mariana. Also, in season 2, she dyes her hair blonde to fit in when making it on a dance team only to overhear the other girls say she only did because she is Latina. However, she eventually gains the confidence in herself to not give in to what other people say and make her feel. Mariana has a thing for the bad boys later on in the seasons and she gets caught up into some trouble. Her ex-boyfriend Nick gets put into a mental hospital because he was hearing voices. When Brandon writes a high school musical, Mariana gets the lead. Mariana struggles to let go of Nick after the incident at school. Mariana also struggles with the fact that Ana is now sober and is a caring mother to her baby sister. When developers want to take over the school Mariana and Jude rally the students to their cause. A power struggle over the control of Anchor Beach leads to the school being saved and Lena as the principal. Mariana has several boys interested in being her boyfriend, she must make a hard choice in the end. She takes roller derby and later has Jesus manage the team
Callie Adams Foster Portrayed by Maia Mitchell Callie Adams Foster (seasons 1–5), is the oldest girl in the Adams Foster family. She was adopted when she was 16. She was placed with the Fosters after being released from Juvie, She was sent to Juvie for destroying a car in order to protect her younger brother (Jude) from their foster father's abuse. Callie and Jude had been in six foster homes in six years before being placed in Stef and Lena's care. As her brother Jude would say, " We'd just get settled then Callie would do something!"