Elias "Eli" Thompson is a fictional character in the HBO TV show Boardwalk Empire where he was portrayed by Shea Whigham and, in flashbacks in season 5, Ryan Dinning and Oakes Fegley.
He is the younger brother of the protagonist of the series, Nucky Thompson (portrayed by Steve Buscemi). Nucky is based on real-life Atlantic City politician Enoch L. Johnson, while Eli is based on his brother and real-life Sheriff of Atlantic City Alfred "Alf" Johnson.
Fictional biography Early life Elias "Eli" Thompson was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1877 to Ethan and Elenore Thompson. He grew up alongside his older brother Enoch (Nucky) and his younger sister Susan in a poor home. Eli had a great relationship with both of his parents and his two siblings, unaware that Ethan was an abusive alcoholic who used to beat Elenore and Nucky whenever he was drunk.
Susan's death In 1884, young Eli first asks Nucky (Nolan Lyons) to help fix his slingshot and then asks what Ethan (Ian Hart) and Elenore (Erin Dilly) are doing and what is happening to Susan. Ethan later comes home while Eli and Nucky are eating dinner, and asks them how Nucky's day swimming and catching coins went. After Nucky replies he didn't catch any, Ethan tells Eli to go outside. After Eli leaves the house, Ethan beats Nucky and warns him to be better next time.
Later that night, Susan dies of her ongoing tuberculosis. The next day, Nucky, Eli, Ethan and Elenore bury her. Eli weeps at his sister's death, and tries to comfort his mother and Nucky. Eli overhears Ethan talking to Nucky about the Commodore (John Ellison Conlee) visiting the house earlier that day and the idea of giving Susan a proper burial, which he scoffed at.
After the summer in Atlantic City is over, Eli begins second grade. One day, Nucky arrives home to find out that Ethan and Elenore locked the kids out of the house. Eli tries to peek in to see what they are doing, but decides to playfight with Nucky instead. The two boys then go to the beach and watch seagulls on the waves. Nucky tells Eli that he has to be independent now. Eli asks why, and Nucky says he has had enough of the rich tourists coming to Atlantic City every summer and making them look poor in comparison. Later, the boys go to the Corner Hotel and stay in one of the hotel rooms, which Eli likes. The two are later caught by Sheriff Peter Lindsay (Boris McGiver), who feels sorry for them and takes them to his home, where they have a fun and light dinner with him, his wife and their son and daughter. After dinner, Sheriff Lindsay takes Nucky and Eli home and tells them to not pull off this stunt again.
Running for Deputy Several years later, a grown up Eli meets a woman named June and the two begin dating. In 1897, Eli mentions to Nucky (now a Sheriff's Deputy of Atlantic City) that he and June had sex at a garden holiday place. He also talks to Nucky about finding a job as a deputy. Nucky informs him that Eli just has to wait and that he will be on the police force one day as well. Nucky then sees a thief that has been running around Atlantic City for the past few days and chases her, as Eli shouts at the thief, thinking it is a boy. Later that night, Nucky and Eli stake out at the hideout of the thief. Eli tells Nucky how Ethan misses him, but Nucky just insults Ethan. Eli does not understand the feud between Nucky and their father. The thief then returns to the hiding spot, and Eli and Nucky catch the thief, who is revealed to be a girl named Gillian Darmody (Madeleine Rose Yen). Nucky takes her to the police station under arrest.
A few days later, Nucky gets a call from Eli that Ethan has beat Elenore again. Furious, Nucky runs to his parents' house to find Elenore. Ethan gets up and points a gun at Nucky. Elenore tells them to stop, but Nucky tells him to pull the trigger. Ethan gives the shotgun to Nucky and then fights him. Elenore and Eli leave the house, and Nucky joins them. Eli and Elenore watch as Ethan yells that Nucky will never forget where he really came from and where he was raised.
In 1903, Elenore Thompson passes away. Eli, Nucky and Ethan mourn her death. Eli later becomes a police officer and then deputy sheriff to Sheriff Victor Sickles in Tabor Heights. He is then promoted to being a full-time sheriff of Tabor Heights while Nucky is the sheriff of Atlantic City. After Nucky takes over the Commodore's operations, Eli becomes the sheriff of Atlantic City, with Sickles reinstated as sheriff of Tabor Heights and Eli naming Raymond Halloran (Adam Mucci) as his deputy. Eli has married June (Nisi Sturgis) and they have nine children: William, Michael, Patrick, Brian, Dermott, Nora, Kathleen, Ann and Edith. Eli becomes a member of Nucky's political machine, which includes Chief Clerk of the Fourth Ward Paddy Ryan (Samuel Taylor), Alderman George O'Neill (William Hill), Alderman and Ward Boss Al Boyd (Edward McGinty), Ward Boss Damien Fleming (Victor Verheaghe), Ernie Moran (John Keating), Duncan O'Connor (John Treacy Egan), Mayor Harry Bacharach (John Rue) and his and Nucky's childhood friend Alderman Jim Neary (Robert Clohessy). Eli congratulates Nucky's protege and WW1 veteran James "Jimmy" Darmody (Michael Pitt) when he returns home to Atlantic City in December 1919 after the war is over. They also Jimmy's wife Angela (Aleksa Palladino) and reunite with his mother Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol). Eli also meets Nucky's mistress Lucy Danziger (Paz de la Huerta), clothes shop owner Madame Isabelle Jeunet (Anna Katarina), Polish bootlegger and Nucky's business partner Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks) and Nucky's butler and servant Edward Anselm "Eddie" Kessler (Anthony Laciura).
Season One In his first appearance in the series, Eli celebrates the beginning of prohibition and bootlegging at Babette's Supper Club along with Nucky, Lucy, Jimmy, Paddy and all the other ward bosses. Later, he investigates the Hammonton hijacking and finds out it was perpetrated by Jimmy, Billy Winslow (Chase Coleman) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham). After Eli shared the hijacking details to Nucky, Nucky tells him to assassinate local drunk and abusive husband Hans Schroeder (Joseph Sikora) for killing his unborn baby and hospitalizing his wife Margaret (Kelly Macdonald). Eli and Deputy Halloran kidnap and beat Hans to death before dumping his body into the river, where it is later labelled as the "catch of the day" and seen by Nucky and Bill McCoy (Pearce Bunting).
After being admonished by Nucky for doing the murder in public, Eli finds out that a victim of the Hammonton hijacking is still alive. Eli goes to the hospital to save Jimmy from being caught by the authorities. Before Eli could smother him to death, the victim is wheeled to New York City by FBI Agent Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon) and his partner Eric Sebso (Erik Weiner). Eli tells the FBI agents about Jimmy, forcing Nucky to exile Jimmy from Atlantic City. Later, Eli and Nucky find the driver of Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams), leader of the Black community in Atlantic City and one of Nucky's business partners, hanged to death.
A few months later, Nucky suspects the KKK of murdering Chalky's driver. Eli and Halloran kidnap the KKK leader (Scott Sowers) and bring him to Chalky's place, where Chalky tortures him to death with his tools while telling him his life story.
The local Celtic dinner is hosted in Atlantic City on Saint Patrick's Day. Eli reads about how to give a speech from a book by Dale Carnegie and Daniel Webster. Nucky criticizes him for giving a speech. At the dinner, Eli gives his speech in front of the aldermen, ward bosses, Mayor Bacharach, the Commodore (Dabney Coleman) and Ethan Thompson (Tom Aldredge). It goes well until the Irish start fighting when they hear talk of the British. Nucky begins berates Eli for his speech, when the dinner is raided by Van Alden. The FBI arrest Jim Neary while outside as everyone is going home. A drunk and saddened Eli tries to punch Nucky, but he is taken home, where he vomits in the toilet as June helps him. Eli is later shown bringing New York City gangster and accomplice of gangster and gambler Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), Charles "Lucky" Luciano (Vincent Piazza) into Nucky's office at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Nucky and Eli interrogate Luciano and beat him up for going against Nucky and starting a relationship with Gillian Darmody.
After Ethan Thompson falls down and suffers a stroke, Eli brings him to live at his house. Nucky has their childhood home burned down. While Nucky is in Washington D.C. for a convention of the 1920 United States Presidential Election, Eli hears about the D'Alessio Brothers, who are going against him and Nucky. One night after Eli and June return home following a relative's wedding, Eli stops at Nucky's business partner Lolly Steinmann (Danny Burstein)'s casino while June is asleep in the car. Eli finds Lolly and a few others are being held hostage. Before Eli can do anything, he is shot and injured by the D'Alessios, who rob the rest of the casino and make their escape.
After being released from the hospital, Eli realizes that Nucky made Halloran the Sheriff of Atlantic City. Eli argues with Nucky about it, saying he is Hardeen to Nucky's Harry Houdini. Nucky insults Eli by saying that he is only Sheriff of Atlantic City because of him, and that Eli will never be remembered as much as him. After Warren G. Harding has been elected President of the United States and Edward L. Bader (Kevin O'Rourke) has been elected as Mayor of Atlantic City, Nucky re-elects Eli as Sheriff of Atlantic City and has Halloran become his deputy again. Eli, still angry at being in Nucky's shadow, secretly starts an insurrection conspiracy to bring Nucky down as the "King of Atlantic City" and treasurer. Joining Eli in this conspiracy is Jimmy Darmody (now back from Chicago), Gillian, Mickey Doyle and the Commodore, who wants to take over Atlantic City once again.
Season Two In February 1921, Eli continues his job as Sheriff of Atlantic City and working alongside Nucky while also planning with Jimmy, the Commodore and Gillian to overthrow Nucky from power as treasurer of Atlantic City. To start, Jimmy, Eli and the Commodore send the KKK to attack Nucky's warehouse, owned by Chalky White, with the hopes of assassinating Chalky. When that fails and Chalky kills one of the KKK members, Eli and Nucky go to his house and tell Chalky to willingly go to jail for his and their own safety. Eli, Jimmy and the Commodore then send Deputy US Attorney George "Solomon" Bishop (Bill Sage), who arrests Nucky at the Ritz-Carlton for election fraud and takes over his office and operations.
After Nucky's arrest, Eli and the Commodore recruit Jim Neary, Paddy Ryan, Damien Fleming, George O'Neill and Al Boyd to help them to get rid of Nucky and take over Atlantic City. Fleming drops out and remains secretly loyal to Nucky alongside Mayor Edward Bader. After being released from prison, Nucky realizes that Eli, the Commodore, Gillian, Jimmy, Neary, O'Neill, Boyd and Paddy Ryan all betrayed him to take him down. Nucky calls Eli, and Eli tells him that he is going to be defeated by him now finally.