Poison (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) - Cast

Cast

Law & Order: Criminal Intent is not an ensemble series, and therefore differs from Law & Order and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit which respectively featured six and eight actors receiving star billing during the same broadcast season. Movie actor Vincent D'Onofrio was offered the lead role of Detective Robert Goren, a hyper-intuitive contemporary Sherlock Holmes-type investigator who used to work for the US Military Police. Other than a 1998 guest role on Homicide: Life on the Street that earned him an Emmy nomination, this was D'Onofrio's first major television role. Goren's partner, former vice squad detective Alexandra Eames, was played by Kathryn Erbe who had just completed a role on Oz as convicted murderer Shirley Bellinger. Balcer stated Eames was cast because "she just looked like a real cop." Courtney B. Vance plays Assistant District Attorney Ron Carver, a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Jamey Sheridan was the last actor to be cast in a main role, taking the part of James Deakins, a "seasoned" NYPD Captain. In a recurring role, Leslie Hendrix appeared as Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Elizabeth Rodgers, the same character she had played in the other two series. Steve Zirnkilton provides a voice-over at the beginning of each episode's opening credits, saying "In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories."

Many New York-based actors guest-starred in the first season, as either victims, suspects, or their family members. Jake Weber starred as the murderer in the first episode; Kathleen Chalfant guest-starred in "Smothered" as a murder suspect's wealthy, socialite mother; Stephen Henderson played the murder victim in "The Faithful"; the murder suspect in "Jones" was played by Griffin Dunne and Karen Young played his wife; "Faith" featured guest appearances from Mia Dillon, Remak Ramsay, Adam LeFevre, and Polly Draper.