‘The Gilded Age’ Cast Throughout The Seasons Of The Period Drama

• Louisa Jacobson as Marian Brook

  

  Viewers met Louisa Jacobson’s Marian Brook in the first season of the show when she moves in with her aunts Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) and Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski). Marian has had bad luck when it comes to marriage prospects after Tom Raikes (Thomas Cocquerel) baited and switched her in Season 1 and she just didn’t return the feelings Dashiell Montgomery (David Furr) grew for her in Season 2.

  Jacobson (Gummer) is the daughter of legendary actress Meryl Streep and sculptor Don Gummer. She also recently appeared in Celine Song’s Materialists (2025) as Charlotte, the bride Dakota Johnson gave a pep talk to right before her wedding.

• Denée Benton as Peggy Scott

  

  Peggy Scott is a Black writer and journalist who we also met in Season 1. She and Marian struck up a lovely friendship, though not without its tensions as Marian is white and doesn’t completely understand Peggy’s experience as a Black woman during the Gilded Age. Peggy quickly established herself as a strong writer and journalist in the first season of The Gilded Age and continued to do so in Season 2. She has some demons in her past, as Season 2 brought to attention.

  Denée Benton played Charlotte in Our Friend (2019) and Ruby Carter in UnREAL.

• Cynthia Nixon as Ada Brook/Forte

  

  Cynthia Nixon portrays Ada Brook, Marian’s other aunt and sister to Agnes van Rhijn. Ada was a spinster for Season 1, but in Season 2, she met the Reverend Luke Forte (Robert Sean Leonard) in Season 2 and they married. Sadly, Luke died of cancer, leaving Ada a widow, but a rich widow.

  Cynthia Nixon is most well-known for playing Miranda Hobbes in the Sex and the City television series as well as the Sex and the City (2008 and 2010) films. She reprises her role in HBO’s And Just Like That as well. She also played Gail White in James White (2015) and Gwendolyn Briggs in the show Ratched.

• Christine Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn

  

• Carrie Coon as Bertha Russell

  

  Fresh off her turn in The White Lotus Season 3, Carrie Coon returns as Bertha Russell, wife to railroad tycoon George Russell, both of whom we met in the first season of The Gilded Age. Bertha is determined to make her mark on society, but as head of a new money American family in New York, she faces significant resistance from the old money English descendants, who are used to doing things their own way.

  Coon portrayed Laurie in The White Lotus Season 3. She is also known for playing Margo Dunne in Gone Girl (2014), Proxima Midnight in Avengers: Infinity War (2013), and Meg Greenfield in The Post (2017). She also plays Callie in the two Ghostbusters reboot films Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). Other recent movies include Boston Strangler (2023) and Lake George (2024).

• Morgan Spector as George Russell

  

  Morgan Spector plays the hardcore railroad tycoon George Russell to Carrie Coon’s ambitious housewife Bertha Russell. George makes a lot of money off of his enterprise, and he continues to want to expand the railroads.

  Morgan Spector is known for playing Herman Levin in The Plot Against America, Dante Allen in Homeland and Frank Capone in Boardwalk Empire.

• Audra McDonald as Dorothy Scott

  

  Audra McDonald plays Peggy Scott’s mother Dorothy Scott. Dorothy is always championing her daughter, who forewent her father’s wishes to take over his pharmacy and pursued her own passions.

  McDonald appeared alongside Christine Baranski in The Good Fight as Liz Reddick. She also starred as Dr. Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, and she played Sarah in Rampart (2011). She voiced Madame Garderobe in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017), and more recent film appearances include Patty in Down Low (2023), Ella baker in Rustin (2023) and Miss Hale in Origin (2023), Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.

• Harry Richardson as Larry Russell

  

  Harry Richardson plays Larry Russell, son of Bertha and George Russell and brother to Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga). Larry went to Harvard University, and he is following in his father’s footsteps as a businessman and entrepreneur. Larry has eyes for Marian Brook.

  Harry Richardson played a Private in Dunkirk (2017), Drake Carne in Poldark and Frank Gresham in Doctor Thorne. He also appeared as Jonathan Cosgrove in Total Control.

• Taissa Farmiga as Gladys Russell

  

  Taissa Farmiga portrays Gladys Russell, daughter of Carrie Coon’s Bertha and Morgan Spector’s George Russell. She has dreamed of marriage and her wedding for a while, but her idea of a desirable husband versus her mother’s are two very different things.

  Farmiga, sister of Vera Farmiga, is known for playing Anna Greene in Anna (2013), Max Cartwright in The Final Girls (2015), Melanie Clark in 6 Years (2015) and Irene in The Nun II (2013). She also appeared as Samantha Miron in She Taught Love (2024).

• Ben Lamb as Hector, The Duke of Buckingham

  

  Ben Lamb plays Hector, the Duke of Buckingham, whom Bertha is intent on setting up in a marriage to her daughter Gladys (Taissa Farmiga).

  Lamb played Edward in Divergent (2014), Prince Richard in A Christmas Prince (2017), Owen Case in Now You See Me 2 (2016) and Anthony Rivers in The White Queen.

• Jordan Donica as Dr. Kirkland

  

  Jordan Donica (pictured above on the right) plays Dr. Kirkland, a Black doctor who came to Peggy’s rescue in the first few episodes of Season 3 when she almost developed pneumonia. Now, he is keen to get to know Peggy.

  Donica appeared as Jordan Chase in Charmed and as Joshua Taylor in Blue Bloods. He has also appeared in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

• Blake Ritson as Oscar van Rhijn

  

  Blake Ritson plays Agnes’ son Oscar van Rhijn, a businessman up til the end of Season 2 when he got swindled by a woman he knew as Maude Beaton (Nicole Byron Bloom).

  Ritson is known for playing Girolamo Riario in Da Vinci’s Demons, Andrew Galley in The Crown and Morgan Ward in an episode of Interview with the Vampire.

• Jack Gilpin as Church

  

  Church is the American Butler and head of the Russell servants. He is Bannister’s counterpart, and he also runs a tight ship.

  Gilpin is known for playing Bob Phillips in 21 (2008), Mr. Brennan in Adventureland (2009), Schwartz in Trouble with the Curve (2012) and for voicing one of the Hun twins in the animated Mulan (1998).

• Ben Ahlers as Jack/John Trotter

  

  John Trotter, who also goes by Jack, is a footman in the van Rhijn and Forte household. He gained a patent for his clock invention that ensures the machine will run more smoothly without the need of oil.

  Ben Ahlers recently appeared in Season 2 of The Last of Us. He also playued Liam in The Village, Brad Kirchoff in When the Streetlights Go On and Lucas Hunt in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

• Celia Keenan-Bolger as Mrs. Bruce

  

  Mrs. Bruce is the Russell’s housekeeper mainly of service to Mrs. Russell for all the lavish events she hosts. She works closely with Church and Chef Borden.

  Keenan-Bolger is known for playing Stacey in The Visit (2015) and for appearances in NCIS: New Orleans and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She also just received the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award at the 2025 Tonys for volunteer work, humanitarian help social service and charity.

• Taylor Richardson as Bridget

  

  Bridget is a maid in the van Rhijn household whose duties include those of a housemaid, kitchen maid and lady’s made. She immigrated to the United States from Ireland, and she works hard.

  Richardson is known for playing Babette Eno in three episodes of American Horror Story, Alicia Abshire in The Time Traveler’s Wife and Maria in the short film Shame (2019).

• Kelli O’Hara as Aurora Fane

  

  Aurora Fane is a New York City socialite and close friends with Agnes and Ada as well as Marian. She gets thrown a curveball in Season 3 that highlights a big theme of the time period during which the show is set.

  Kelli O’Hara is known for playing Katie in The Accidental Wolf and Sheryl in All the Bright Places (2022). She also appeared as Jackie in 13 Reasons Why.

• Kristine Nielsen as Mrs. Bauer

  

  Kristine Nielsen plays Mrs. Bauer, head cook for the van Rhijn/Forte household. Her warm, kind attitude balances out Ms. Armstrong’s icy one. She is very caring by nature.

  Nielsen is known for playing Emily Bailey in Small Time Crooks (2000), a Nurse in The Savages (2007) and a Fan in Morning Glory (2010).

• Erin Wilhelmi as Adelheid Weber

  

  Adelheid began her time working for the Russells as a housemaid, and she was later promoted to lady’s maid for Gladys Russell.

  Wilhelmi appeared as Alice in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), as Tracy in Disconnect (2012), as Hayley in Unsane (2018) and as Sadie in Netflix’s Nonnas (2025).

• Douglas Sills as Mr. Baudin aka Chef Borden

  

  Mr. Baudin first joined the Russell household in an attempt to pass as a French chef, but his secret slipped in Season 2, and now he goes by Chef Borden. He is actually from Kansas.

  Sills is known for appearing as Dennis Dutton in the TV show The Closer and as Chadsworth Buckingham, III in Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005).

• John Doughlas Thompson as Arthur Scott

  

  Arthur Scott is Peggy’s father, and they have more of a strained relationship than she and her mother do. Arthur is a pharmacist and runs a drug store, and he had hoped for Peggy to take it over one day. He also had some involvement in a darker part of Peggy’s pas.

  Thompson is known for playing the Reverend in 21 Bridges, Lt. Gen. Paulsen in The Bourne Legacy (2012), a Jail Guard in Michael Clayton (2007) and Larry Marks in The 355 (2022).

• Ashlie Atkinson as Mamie Fish

  

  Mamie Fish is an American socialite and “fun-maker” in New York society, a close friend of both Mrs. Astor and Mrs. Russell. She and her husband have homes both in New York and Newport, Rhode Island, where the wealthy class often vacations.

  Ashlie Atkinson played Janice in Mr. Robot (2019) and Connie Kendrickson in BlacKkKlansman (2018).

• Patrick Page as Richard Clay

  

  Richard Clay is George Russell’s assistant in business affairs, really his righthand man. Clay often carries out negotiations on George’s behalf.

  Patrick Page recently portrayed the Magic Mirror in Disney’s live-action Snow White (2025). He also portrayed Marley in the Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds-starring Apple movie musical Spirited (2022), and he portrays Pike Phillips in In the Heights (2021).

• Donna Murphy as Mrs. Astor

  

  Mrs. Caroline Astor was the most prominent American socialite of her time in New York and a gatekeeper into the social elite. Berth Russell will do anything to befriend Mrs. Astor and get on her good side, and Mrs. Astor acknowledges the similar drive they share.

  Donna Murphy is known for playing Dr. Murel Landon in Brilliant Minds, Juliette in Center Stage (2000) and for voicing Mother Gothel in Tangled (2010).

• Nathan Lane as Ward McAllister

  

  Nathan Lane (pictured on the right above) plays Ward McAllister, an observer of New York society and a man with many connections. His good graces with Mrs. Astor, the head of the old money New York elite, makes him a desirable man to know.

  Nathan Lane is known for playing Albert in The Birdcage (1996), Ernie Smuntz in Mousehunt (1997) and Max Bialystock in The Producers (2005). Lane voiced Timon in the original animated The Lion King (1994). More recently, Lane appeared as Teddy Dimas in Only Murders in the Building, as Roger in Beau is Afraid (2023), as Dominck Dunne in Monsters on netflix and as Bunny Schneiderman in Mid-Century Modern.

• Bill Camp as JP Morgan

  

  Bill Camp makes his debut in the show as JP Morgan in the second episode of Season 2.

  Camp is known for playing Redburn in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Matthew Williams in The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), and Vampiro in Sound of Freedom (2023). He also appeared in Birdman or (The unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014).

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