Cannon Characters and Biographies

Mark Cohen: a struggling Jewish documentary filmmaker, the narrator of the show. He is Roger's and Collins's roommate until Collins moves out; he is also Maureen's ex-boyfriend.

Angel Dumott Schunard: a young drag queen, street percussionist with AIDS. He is Collins's love interest.

Mimi Márquez: A club dancer and drug addict. She lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, and is Roger's love interest who, like him, has HIV. She is also Benny's ex-girlfriend.

Joanne Jefferson: an Ivy League-educated public interest lawyer, and a lesbian. Joanne is the woman for whom Maureen left Mark. Joanne has very important parents (one is undergoing confirmation to be a judge, the other is a government official.)

Tom Collins: a gay anarchist with AIDS. He is described by Mark as a "computer genius; teacher; vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon." Collins dreams of opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, where the problems in New York will not affect him and his friends. He was formerly a roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen, then just Roger and Mark, until he moves in with Angel.

Maureen Johnson: a bisexual performance artist; Mark's ex-girlfriend and Joanne's current girlfriend. She is very flirtatious and cheated on Mark a lot.

Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III: landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building and ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys, a very wealthy family involved in real estate, and is considered a yuppie sell-out by his ex-roommates. He is also Mimi's ex-boyfriend.

Roger Davis: A once successful, but now, struggling musician who is HIV positive and an "ex-junkie." He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. He is having a hard time coping with the fact that he, along with many others around him, know that they are going to die. His girlfriend, April, killed herself after finding out they had HIV. He is roommates with Mark.