Desperate Housewives is an American comedy-drama series that aired on ABC for eight seasons from October 3, 2004, to May 13, 2012. The focus is on the secret, and often shocking, lives of the residents living on fictional Wisteria Lane, specifically the four living protagonists Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher), Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman), Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross), Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) and the late Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), who recently committed suicide. Each episode is narrated by Mary Alice, and from her now unique perspective, she often gives biting commentary. The ensemble cast includes the women's husbands, children, love interests, neighbors, and other acquaintances.

Main characters The following are characters whose portrayer received "Starring" billing at any point of the series. They are sorted in the order in which they were introduced to the main cast, and not by episode count, screen time, or popularity.

Susan Mayer

Lynette Scavo

Bree Van de Kamp

Gabrielle Solis

Edie Britt

Mike Delfino

Rex Van de Kamp

Carlos Solis

Paul Young

Mary Alice Young

Julie Mayer

John Rowland

Zach Young Zachary "Zach" Young (Cody Kasch) is the son (non-legal) of Paul and Mary Alice. Zach's birth parents are Deirdre Taylor and Mike Delfino; however, this, along with his original name of Dana Taylor, is not revealed until "One Wonderful Day".

Zach is put in a mental institution by his father after his mother's suicide. Zach later runs away and is found hiding in Julie's room, and after they start dating. Whilst at the institution, Zach was diagnosed with clinical depression and a borderline personality disorder. When Julie eventually ends their relationship due to his mental instability, Zach blows up her kitchen.

Zach then goes into hiding, and later Mike and Susan look for him, Mike having realized he is his father. Susan finds him, but when he speaks about reconciling with Julie, she suggests he go to Utah and find Paul and gives him money for the bus fare. Months later, when Paul is arrested, Paul begs Zach to ask his grandfather, Noah Taylor, for money to pay a lawyer. Noah refuses, and Zach turns off Noah's respirator, killing him. After, he finds that he has inherited a vast fortune and no longer wants anything to do with Paul. Zach moves to his grandfather's mansion.

Zach reappears in season three as Gabrielle's secret admirer. Zach unsuccessfully tries to impress Gabrielle with luxurious gifts and his wealth. After getting her drunk, Zach lets her believe that they had sex, which she cannot remember. Gabrielle then asks Carlos to scare Zach off, and Carlos realizes that Zach and Gaby had not slept together, after accidentally seeing Zach's penis at the urinals, and telling Gaby that if they had sex, she would have remembered. Later Zach proposes at Scavo's Pizzeria but Gabrielle declines as she does not want a relationship with him.

Zach returns in season seven, shooting Paul at the end of the episode "Down the Block There's a Riot". He first appears as a delivery guy delivering flowers to Bree. Later in the episode, a gun matching the one used to shoot Paul is found on Bree's couch after Zach planted it there. It's revealed that Zach is now addicted to drugs and gambling and has lost his entire fortune on both. Paul and Mike both momentarily put their differences aside to help Zach by placing him in a rehab clinic for treatment, where he remains for the rest of the series.

Betty Applewhite

Tom Scavo

Karl Mayer Karl Mayer (Richard Burgi) is the ex-husband of housewife Susan and father of Julie, as well as a successful practitioner of family law. According to Cherry, casting the role of Karl was difficult because he "wanted a guy that was nice looking and seemed like he would have been married to Teri, but was also someone you wouldn't like."Touchstone Television, p. 85. The character was portrayed by another actor in a series of non-speaking flashbacks in the pilot episode, but the role was recast once the direction of the character changed. After making some guest appearances during the first season, Burgi joined the regular cast in the second season. However, he returned to his guest starring status from the third season until his character's death halfway through the sixth season. Burgi returned for the series finale, appearing as his character's ghost among other deceased characters.

Karl was born in 1963. He married Susan and a year later their daughter, Julie, was born. In 1992, he moved with his wife and daughter to Fairview, 4353 Wisteria Lane.Season 2 episode 24 Eleven years later, Karl cheated on Susan with Edie BrittSeason 1 episode 11 and his secretary Brandi.Season 1 episode 2 After discovering his affair with Brandi, his wife filed for divorce with the court and kicked him out of the house, changing the locks.Season 5 episode 13 When Brandi cheats on him, he goes to Susan to ask for a second chance, but she declines because of her commitment to Mike Delfino."Move On". John David Coles (director), David Schulner (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 9, 2005. Season 1, no. 11. Later, he begins a relationship with Edie.

In the second season, Susan discovers that Karl is now living with Edie."You Could Drive a Person Crazy". David Grossman (director), Chris Black (writer), Alexandra Cunningham (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. October 2, 2005. Season 2, no. 2. However, he continues trying to get back with Susan, as he is still in love with her."Could I Leave You?". Pam Thomas (director), Scott Sanford Tobis (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. March 26, 2006. Season 2, no. 17. Eventually he lies to Susan, claiming him and Edie are broken up, and they sleep together. Later in the season, when Susan finds out she needs to have a surgical operation to correct a wandering spleen, Karl offers to marry Susan so that she can use his health insurance to pay for it, but they plan to divorce soon after Susan's surgery."Silly People". Robert Duncan McNeill (director), Tom Spezialy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. Season 2, no. 14. Karl becomes jealous of Susan and Dr. Ron McCready's relationship and sabotages it. Later on, Karl asks Edie to marry him; however, when Edie learns of his sham marriage with Susan, she demands that Karl throws her a lavish wedding."Everybody Says Don't". Tom Cherones (director), Jenna Bans (writer), Alexandra Cunningham (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 2, 2006. Season 2, no. 18. However, when she discovers they had also slept together, Edie burns Susan's house down, prompting Karl to buy her a new one. Karl eventually leaves Edie before the marriage."It Wasn't Meant to Happen". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. April 30, 2006. Season 2, no. 20.

Karl eventually marries a woman named Marissa (played by Sunny Mabrey) and even has a child with her, teasing Susan about his new life. After the five-year time jump between the fourth and fifth seasons, Karl has enrolled his son Evan in Susan's art class, where she learns Marissa has left Karl because she could not handle being a mother, leaving him to raise Evan by himself. The experience has led Karl to come to understanding the ramifications of his infidelities during his marriage to Susan. Susan sympathizes with him,."A Spark. To Pierce the Dark.". David Grossman (director), Alexandra Cunningham (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. March 22, 2009. Season 5, no. 18. Bree later hires Karl as her divorce lawyer, and he helps her stage a fake burglary of her house to hide assets that she does not want Orson to have access to."Bargaining". David Grossman (director), David Schladweiler (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. May 3, 2009. Season 5, no. 21. When Orson finds out about the scheme and blackmails Bree into staying in the marriage, Karl and Bree begin an affair.

Karl and Bree continue their affair during the first part of the sixth season. Karl decides to propose to Bree during the annual Christmas party using an engine plane with a banner reading "Will you marry me, Bree? Love, Karl" flying over Wisteria Lane. At the party, Karl and Orson fight inside Santa's Workshop, until the pilot of the plane Karl hired suffers a fatal heart attack at the controls. The plane subsequently crash-lands into the party, smashing straight into the workshop, killing Karl."Boom Crunch". David Grossman (director), John Pardee (writer), Joey Murphy (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. December 6, 2009. Season 6, no. 10. In the following episode, Susan and Bree both wonders what life would have been like if they had continued relationships with Karl."If...". Larry Shaw (director), Jamie Gorenberg (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. January 3, 2010. Season 6, no. 11.

Karl appears in the series finale, "Finishing the Hat", as one of the ghosts that watch Susan and her family leave Wisteria Lane.

Orson Hodge

Katherine Mayfair

Dave Williams

Andrew Van de Kamp

Angie Bolen

Ana Solis Ana Solis (Maiara Walsh) is the granddaughter of Carlos' Aunt Connie. Ana arrives to Wisteria Lane in the fifth-season finale to live with Carlos and his family when her grandmother could not take care of Ana anymore. They eventually become her legal guardians.

Later, Ana gets a job working for John Rowland, Gabrielle's ex-lover, and develops a crush on him, until Gabrielle confesses to her about her past affair with John after Ana witnesses him kissing her, and she quits her job.

Ana begins to date Danny, but Gabrielle sends Ana to New York to protect her after hearing Angie and Nick argue about their dangerous past. By the end of season 6, Ana remains in New York City, and Danny leaves to be with her.

Renee Perry

Karen McCluskey

Bob Hunter and Lee McDermott Bob Hunter (Tuc Watkins) and Lee McDermott (Kevin Rahm) are the first gay couple to live on the fictitious Wisteria Lane.Hernandez, Greg (July 29, 2007). Desperate Housewives to Add a Gay Couple . AfterElton.com. Retrieved June 30, 2010.Ausiello, Michael (August 14, 2007). Exclusive: Housewives Casts First Gay Neighbors. TV Guide. Retrieved June 30, 2010. They first appeared in the season four episode "If There's Anything I Can't Stand" on October 21, 2007.Desperate Housewives episode: "If There's Anything I Can't Stand" . TV Guide. Retrieved June 30, 2010. Within the series, Bob is an attorney,"A Vision's Just a Vision". Larry Shaw (director), David Flebotte (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. December 7, 2008. Season 5, no. 10. and Lee is a real estate agent."Nice Is Different Than Good". Larry Shaw (director), Marc Cherry (writer). Desperate Housewives. ABC. September 27, 2009. Season 6, no. 1. At the end of season 7, they adopt a 10-year-old daughter named Jenny.