Television
Title | Bisexual Characters | Notes |
---|---|---|
24 | Mandy | A terrorist. |
American Dad | Roger | A bisexual alien. |
All My Children | Lena Kundera | Lena was the first recurring bisexual character in daytime television. Maggie was sexually confused throughout most of her time on the show. Dated and had sex with several men before committing herself to Bianca Montgomery that make her bisexuality. |
Babylon 5 | Susan Ivanova | Her sexuality is not explicit, but heavily implied. |
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) | Number Six, D'Anna Biers (also known as Number Three), Felix Gaeta | Number Three, Number Six and Gaius Baltar have a triangle relationship in Season 3. Felix Gaeta's sexuality was addressed in online "webisodes", where is dating Lt. Hoshi (male) and had a past relationship with a female Cylon. |
Bob and Rose | Bob | Identifies as gay, though finds the only female he's attracted to is Rose. |
Bones | Angela Montenegro | Currently married to a man, but had at least one serious relationship with a woman that was rekindled during the course of the show. |
Brookside | Lindsey Corkhill | Has three marriages on the show, but has a long-term affair with friend Shelley Bower. |
Caprica | Clarice Willow | Clarice is a member of a group marriage involving two husbands and several wives. |
Casanova | Giacomo Casanova | Tries to sleep with a man, only to discover she's a woman and sleep with her anyway. |
Coupling | Jane | Claims to have slept with fifteen women, but seems to be pretending for the attention. |
Degrassi: The Next Generation | Paige Michalchuk | Paige has dated many guys, and one lesbian. She started to question her sexuality when she became attracted to her female friend Alex. |
Desperate Housewives | Katherine Mayfair | Katherine at a sexual attraction to men, and later for a woman. |
Dirt | Leo Spiller, Julia Mallory, | Leo possibly in denial of homosexuality; Julia "only when stoned". |
Doctor Who | Captain Jack Harkness | From the 51st century when pansexuality is the norm. |
Drawn Together | Foxxy Love, Captain Hero | Foxxy is openly bisexual with a preference for men; Captain Hero comically displays sexual attraction to most things, but is secretive about his romantic attraction to men |
EastEnders | Sonia Fowler, Tony Hills | Sonia leaves the show in a happy relationship with a man (with whom she has a daughter), but had sexual relations with a woman beforehand. Tony has an ongoing relationship with Simon Raymond but has a number of affairs with women during that time. |
Emmerdale | Charity Tate, Debbie Dingle | Charity marries Chris Tate and later has an affair with his sister, Zoe. Charity's daughter Debbie has had many relationships with men but becomes serious involved with friend Jasmine Thomas |
Ellen | Ellen Morgan | In terms of behavior only. Closeted lesbian for first three seasons. |
Farscape | Chiana | Sexuality portrayed as fluid. |
Family Affairs | Adam Sheldrake, Karen Ellis, Brendan Boulter | Adam Sheldrake is engaged to Gabby Johnson but later has a fling with friend Clive Starr. Karen is engaged to long-time boyfriend Matt who she marries but later leaves him to have a relationship with Kelly Hurst. After Kelly dies, Karen reconciles with Matt. Brendan Boulter dates Becky Scott and Melanie Costello, who he eventually marries but has affairs with Sean Steel and a man named Jason. |
Family Guy | Lois Griffin, possibly Stewie Griffin | Lois at one point reveals she had same-sex relations when she was younger, but eventually lost interest. Stewie's orientation is left ambiguous, with many hints indicating he is either bi or gay. |
Firefly | Inara | Takes a female client in the episode "War Stories" and mentions having done so in the past occasionally. |
Footballers' Wives | Conrad Gates | Discreetly bisexual, Conrad had many female partners but had an affair with struggling gay character, Noah. |
Friends | Phoebe Buffay | Though she doesn't identify as bi, it's implied that Phoebe's enganged in sexual acts with both men and women. At one point, she's blatantly sexually aroused by Ross and Monicas' attractive cousin. |
Glee | Brittany S. Pierce | Has been described on the show as "fluid" and "bicurious," and the fall 2011 GLAAD report listed her as bisexual. Brittany has had sex with most of the boys in school and Santana, and has had romantic relationships with both Artie and Santana. She also once claimed to want to touch Coach Bieste's boobs. |
The Good Wife | Kalinda Sharma | |
Gossip Girl | Chuck Bass, Elliot, Olivia Burke | Chuck, while primarily portrayed as a promiscuous womanizer, has admitted to kissing guys before. Elliot states explicitly that he likes boys and girls, and begins a relationship with Eric, who is gay. Olivia Burke kisses Vanessa more than once during their threesome with Dan Humphrey. |
Grey's Anatomy | Calliope Torres | Married to George O'Malley for a brief time. Has a sexual relationship with a male doctor before embarking on two consecutive relationships with women. |
Hollyoaks | Craig Dean, Kris Fisher, Ravi Roy | Craig is depicted as straight until he starts an affair with best friend John Paul McQueen, who is gay. Kris is a self-identified bisexual cross-dresser and has had affairs with both genders, through primarily females. Ravi begins a relationship with Nancy but then sleeps with Kris, both of whom were having an affair themselves, causing the three of them to form a short-lived 'love triangle'. |
Homicide: Life on the Street | Tim Bayliss | Explores bisexuality in later seasons of the show. In the first episode concerning his bisexuality, Bayliss flatly stated he was "not gay" and did not formally come out until season 7, but even then he did not want to be deemed "a crusader" on the matter. |
House | "Thirteen" | |
How I Met Your Mother | Lily Aldrin | Displays several erotic dreams involving her friend Robin. |
The L Word | Alice Pieszecki, Jenny Schecter, Phyllis Kroll | Sexuality portrayed as fluid, but can be socially problematic. Often shown as a phase. |
L.A. Law | C.J. Lamb | First kiss between women on a prime time television series and first regular bisexual character on a prime time TV. |
Law & Order | Episodes "Castoff" and "Obsession" both feature psychotic bisexuals | |
Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Nicole Wallace | Arch-nemesis of Detective Robert Goren. Appears in episodes "Anti-Thesis", "A Person of Interest", "Great Barrier", and "Grow". Referred to in episodes "Pas de Deux", "Slither", and "Renewal". |
Make It or Break It | Max Spencer | In episode "What Lies Beneath," Max reveals his bisexuality to Austin and worries about how his female love interest, Payson, would respond. |
The Midnight Caller | episode "After it Happened"/1988 – spreading AIDS from the Gay community to straight women. | |
My Name Is Earl | Stuart Daniels | Became long-term lover of Kenny James, but demonstrated strong attraction to women as well several times throughout the series. |
Nip/Tuck | Quentin Costa, probably Julia McNamara and Kimber Henry, possibly Christian Troy and Matt McNamara | |
The O.C. | Alex Kelly, Marissa Cooper | Had a casual romance during a part of the series second season |
One Tree Hill | Anna Taggaro | First recurring bisexual character of color on television. |
Oz | Chris Keller, Tobias Beecher | Keller homicidal sociopath; Beecher previously married but falls in love and engages in sexual relationship with Keller. |
Pretty Little Liars' | Maya St. Germain | Maya believed to be a lesbian, until she admitted dating a boy at the camp 'True North'. |
Queer as Folk (US) | Hunter, Lindsay | Sexuality portrayed as fluid, but can be socially problematic. |
The Real World: Sydney | Shauvon Torres | Bisexual woman in reality TV show. |
Revenge | Nolan Ross | Claims to be "about a three on the Kinsey scale." |
This Life | Ferdy | |
Roseanne | Nancy Bartlett, Beverly Harris | |
Rose by Any Other Name... | Rose | |
Secret Diary of a Call Girl | Belle/Hannah | |
Sex and the City | Samantha Jones | |
Supernatural | Dean Winchester | Dean's attraction to men is implied at best. He has a crush a male tv star (Dr. Sexy) in an episode of season 5, and can be seen looking appreciatively at other men. He also has a rather ambiguous friendship with Castiel. |
The Staircase Murders | Michael Peterson | |
A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila | Tila Tequila | Bisexual themed reality dating show. |
Scrubs | The Todd, Elliot Reid, Bob Kelso | In "My Lucky Charm" he begins to hit on men, stating 'The Todd appreciates hot, regardless of gender'. Through the series, Elliot shows strong signs of being bisexual. Kelso often speaks of times in his past and hints he may have been with another man. |
Six Feet Under | Russel, Keith Charles, Billy Chenowith | Russel is confused; Keith is primarily gay; Billy is primarily straight. |
Skins | Tony Stonem, Cassie Ainsworth, Naomi Campbell, Mini McGuinness | Tony's sexual behavior is primarily towards women, but he has a one-night stand with Maxxie; it is later revealed through his subconscious that Tony is polysexual. Cassie begins sexual relations with both men and women to spite her boyfriend. In series 3 and 4, Naomi displays attraction to men and women, though her primary relationships are with women. In the later half of series 5, Mini's attraction towards Franky implies she is bisexual, though this attraction is short-lived and has no relevance in series 6. |
South of Nowhere | Ashley Davies | Displayed a romantic/sexual attraction to ex-boyfriend Aiden Dennison on more than one occasion, but often identifies as a lesbian. |
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Jadzia Dax, Kira Nerys in alternate universe, Ezri Dax and Elim Garak. | Dax's relationships with females portrayed as related to previous existence as a male, alternate-universe Kira portrayed as a hedonistic tyrant. Garak was originally intended as omnisexual by the actor, and many fans still consider him as such, although he never engages in an 'official' relationship throughout the seasons. |
Sugar Rush | Sugar, Saint | |
Survivors | Anya | |
The Tudors | George Boleyn, Thomas Tallis | |
Torchwood | Captain Jack, Toshiko, Ianto, Captain John. | All main characters sexualities intended to remain fluid. Other characters Gwen and Owen's sexualities remain ambiguous. Jack and John embody pansexuality to varying degrees, whereas Ianto and Tosh more realistically depict 21st century bisexuals. Ianto explicitly acknowledges that he identifies as bisexual in the Torchwood novel Twilight Streets. Also, the actor who played Ianto, Gareth David-Lloyd, stated, "He doesn’t quite strike me as a labelist anyway, but if he were a labelist, he’d probably be bisexual." |
Whitney | Neal | He starts the series dating Lily and they later get engaged. After they break up he begins a relationship with a man. His sexuality is described as fluid. |
Wild West | Mary Trewednack, Angela Phillips | They are a lesbian couple and then decide that the romance has left the relationship and start to date men. |
Will & Grace | Karen Walker | |
Xena | Xena, Gabrielle | Possibly lovers; implied from middle of the series to its end. Hints that Xena may have been sexually intimate with two women before Gabrielle are also present. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Media Portrayals Of Bisexuality
Famous quotes containing the word television:
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In Beverly Hills ... they dont throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.
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—Mikhail Bakunin (18141876)
“Never before has a generation of parents faced such awesome competition with the mass media for their childrens attention. While parents tout the virtues of premarital virginity, drug-free living, nonviolent resolution of social conflict, or character over physical appearance, their values are daily challenged by television soaps, rock music lyrics, tabloid headlines, and movie scenes extolling the importance of physical appearance and conformity.”
—Marianne E. Neifert (20th century)