List of HIV-positive television characters
HIV-positive characters from television shows or made-for-television movies.
| Years of appearance | Title | Network | Character name | Actor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | An Early Frost | NBC | Michael Pierson | Aidan Quinn | The first made-for-television film to address people with AIDS. |
| 1986 | St. Elsewhere | NBC | Dr. Robert Caldwell | Mark Harmon | In "Family Feud" aired Jan. 29, 1986, Dr. Caldwell was diagnosed with HIV after leaving the hospital his former colleagues are informed of his death in season six. |
| 1986 | Hill Street Blues | NBC | Eddie Gregg | Charles Levin | In "Slum Enchanted Evening" aired March 27, 1986, Belker meets an old informant, Eddie Gregg, a gay male prostitute, who is dying of AIDS. |
| 1987 | Another World | NBC | Dawn Rollo | Barbara Tyson | The first AIDS-related storyline on a daytime soap opera in the United States,[1] Dawn was introduced as the sister of Chad Rollo and a love interest for Scott LaSalle. She soon learned that she had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, and died of AIDS in 1988. |
| 1987 | Designing Women | CBS | Kendall Dobbs | Tony Goldwyn | In "Killing All the Right People", Kendall is a young gay man with AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral. |
| 1987 | The Equalizer | CBS | Mickey Robertson | Corey Carrier | Six-year-old boy with AIDS is protected from harassment from his neighbors by the titular character. |
| 1988 | Go Toward the Light | CBS | Ben Madison | Joshua Harris | A young couple face the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS. The young couple (Linda Hamilton, Richard Thomas) try to save their young son from the virus. |
| 1988 | Midnight Caller | NBC | Mike Barnes Tina Cassidy Kelly West Ross Parker | Richard Cox Kay Lenz Julia Montgomery J. D. Lewis | In "After It Happened", Mike is a bisexual man who deliberately infects men and women, including Tina and Kelly, with HIV. Ross is Mike's former partner, who Mike abandons when Ross gets sick. The episode was controversial, drawing protests from San Francisco AIDS groups who believed the episode would encourage violence against gay people and people with AIDS.[2] Kay Lenz won an Emmy Award for her portrayal. She reprised her role in 1989's "Someone to Love".[3] |
| 1989–1991 | Degrassi High | CBC Television | Dwayne Meyers | Darrin Brown | Heterosexual white male teenager, infected by a summer girlfriend. |
| 1989 | The Ryan White Story | ABC | Ryan White | Lukas Haas | 13-year-old haemophiliac who contracted AIDS from factor VIII |
| 1990–2003 | EastEnders | BBC | Mark Fowler | Todd Carty | Heterosexual male; former runaway who returned to his family after contracting HIV; died of an AIDS-related illness. He is the world's first soap opera character to contract the disease, and also the first to portray an HIV/AIDS character on a major television show outside North America. |
| 1991 | Neon Rider | CTV | Walt | Philip Granger | A social worker,[4] he firsts tests HIV-positive in the series' 17th episode, "Saint Walt". At first he has a difficult time with the news, and consumes alcohol excessively to cope. He later begins dating Amanda (Kathe Mazur), although his HIV status puts a strain on their relationship. He comes down with pneumonia in the episode "Moving On". |
| 1991–1993 | Life Goes On | ABC | Jessie | Chad Lowe | white male teenager, infected by girlfriend. |
| 1991 | A Different World | NBC | Josie Webb | Tisha Campbell | African American female college student infected by high school boyfriend. |
| 1991 | thirtysomething | ABC | Peter Montefiore | Peter Frechette | gay male, infected by one of his partners |
| 1992 | Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story | ABC | Alison Gertz | Molly Ringwald | female, infected during a one-night affair |
| 1993 | And the Band Played On | HBO | Various | Various | The shows details the original discovery of AIDS and early problems in dealing with the disease |
| 1993 | NYPD Blue | ABC | Ferdinand Holley | Giancarlo Esposito | Appears on episode titled "Holley and the Blowfish"; character is a police informant who robs drug dealers. Was infected by drug usage. |
| 1993–1995 | General Hospital | ABC | Stone Cates | Michael Sutton | white male teenager |
| 1994 | The Real World | MTV | Pedro Zamora | openly gay, infected by one of his partners, famous AIDS educator | |
| 1994- | General Hospital | ABC | Robin Scorpio | Kimberly McCullough | white female teenager, infected by her boyfriend Stone Cates. |
| 1996 | Murder One | ABC | Richard Cross | Stanley Tucci | Cross is an unscrupulous businessman whose imminent death from AIDS leads to an ethical awakening. |
| 1997 | Oz | HBO | Various including Antonio Nappa, James Robson, Nat Ginzburg and Clarence Seroy | Various | Men, infected while in prison, HIV positive inmates are isolated in Unit E, a cell block exclusively for HIV positive inmates not allowed to be amongst general inmate population. |
| 1998 | Law & Order | NBC | Kenneth "Twist" Stark | Jason Hayes | In the 1998 episode "Carrier", Stark was charged with murder and attempted murder for deliberately infecting women with HIV. |
| 1999 | ER | NBC | Jeanie Boulet | Gloria Reuben | African-American female adult, infected by husband. |
| 2001–2005 | Queer as Folk | Showtime | Vic Grassi Ben Bruckner James "Hunter" Montgomery | Jack Wetherall Robert Gant Harris Allan | Vic was Michael Novotney's uncle. Ben was Michael's boyfriend and a college professor. Hunter was a former hustler who became Ben and Michael's foster son. |
| 2002 | Takalani Sesame | SABC | Kami | puppet | Five-year-old female puppet. Contracted HIV via tainted blood transfusion. World's first HIV-positive Sesame Street Muppet. |
| 2004 | Everwood | The WB | Linda Abbott | Marcia Cross | Globe trotting doctor. Contracted HIV while trying to save a dying boy in Africa. |
| 2005 | Commander in Chief | ABC | Vince Taylor | Anthony Azizi | A special White House aide to Mackenzie Allen, the President of the United States. He is blackmailed over his HIV status by members of the opposing political party, and the president initially fires him for not trusting her enough to disclose his status to her. However, she ultimately rehires him and expresses public confidence in his work. |
| 2005 | Nip/Tuck | FX | Gina Russo | Jessalyn Gilsig | Sex addict. Had a child before she knew she was infected with the virus but the baby did not contract it. Re-appeared briefly to work as a receptionist at McNamara/Troy but died soon after when she fell off a building. |
| 2005 | House | Fox | Kalvin Ryan | Matthew John Armstrong | Homosexual male; demand treatment from the titular character though the question advanced infection (AIDS) is truly causing his symptoms. Season 2 Episode 7 - "Hunting" |
| 2005–2008 | Home and Away | Seven Network | Cassie Turner | Sharni Vinson | Cassie contracted HIV after sleeping with her older boyfriend Henk, who had contracted the disease from a drug addicted former girlfriend. |
| 2006 | Brothers & Sisters | ABC | Saul Holden Jonathan Byrold | Ron Rifkin Richard Chamberlain | Saul is an older man who comes out as gay in the show's second season, and later tests HIV-positive in the fourth season. In the show's final season he enters a relationship with Jonathan, the man who had unknowingly given him HIV originally. |
| 2007- | The Best Years | The N (U.S.) | Lee Campbell | Alan Van Sprang | Bisexual Lee owns local hot spot nightclub Colony. |
| 2008–2010 | Hollyoaks | Channel 4 | Malachy Fisher | Glen Wallace | Heterosexual male; contracted the disease and kept it a secret from girlfriend Mercedes. He told his brother Kris as he may have contracted it from a one-night stand with Merdedes Mercedes & Malachy were to marry but ended their relationship, a row in the pub had Mercedes revealing his disease to his friends & Mum, They couple later married, Mercedes was tested and her results came back negative. |
| 2008 | South Park | Comedy Central | Eric Cartman Kyle Broflovski | Trey Parker Matt Stone | In the episode "Tonsil Trouble" Cartman is infected with HIV during a tonsillectomy When Broflovski mocks him, Cartman secretly injects him with infected blood to pass on the virus. Both are subsequently cured through injections of money into the bloodstream. |
| 2009 | The League | FX | Ted | Adam Brody | Recurring character in the show's fifth season.[5] Other characters actually envy his HIV status, believing it might be the antiretroviral medication that makes him handsomer and more successful both in his career and at fantasy football than most of the rest of them are.[5] |
| 2014–2015 | Emmerdale | ITV 1 | Val Pollard | Charlie Hardwick | Heterosexual female; contracted the disease after having a fling in Portgual with a married man, Ian. Kept it from her family, including her husband Eric. After a complaint about HIV was posted on her B&B website, Val announced her HIV to everybody in the pub. The culprit was discovered to be youngster Jacob Gallagher. Val ended her marriage with Eric after realizing that he could not accept her status. They soon reconciled after realising they could not live without each other. |
| 2014 | The Normal Heart | HBO | Ned Weeks Felix Turner Craig Donner Albert Sanford | Mark Ruffalo Matt Bomer Jonathan Groff Finn Wittrock Stephen Spinella | Adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, considered one of the most important dramatic depictions of the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis. |
| 2015 | Looking | HBO | Eddie | Daniel Franzese | Bear who works in a homeless shelter for LGBT youth.[6] |
Notes
- ↑ "Soap Operas and AIDS: From Tragedies to Triumph". Daytime Confidential, December 1, 2010.
- ↑ Baker, Kathryn (1988-12-13). "Midnight Caller on NBC stirs AIDS fears". The Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. p. 28. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
- ↑ "Kay Lenz reprises Emmy-winning role as AIDS victim". The Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram. Associated Press. 1989-11-14. p. B-4.
- ↑ "Neon Rider basking in shine of four Gemini nominations". Vancouver Sun, January 28, 1994. p. C3.
- 1 2 "Why Did The League’s Creators Give a Character AIDS?". Slate, September 11, 2013.
- ↑ "Looking’s Daniel Franzese On His HIV-Positive Bear Character, Being Completely Naked On Screen And Why He Came Out Publicly". Queerty, January 11, 2015.
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