When we first meet Harvey Specter, he’s finally become a senior partner at Pearson Hardman. His first act is to hire Mike Ross, who he knows isn’t actually a lawyer. When Harvey isn’t trying to keep Mike’s secret at the office, he’s either arguing with his colleague Louis Litt over something, fighting for his clients in court, or scheming with or against managing partner Jessica Pearson for a firm takeover, consolidation, or merger. Throughout the course of the series, Harvey eventually gets his name on the wall and dabbles in quite a few romantic relationships.

Outside of Suits, Macht has also appeared in films like The Good Shepherd and episodes of Sex and the City, Spin City, and Beverly Hills, 90210. He also became a co-producer of Suits in its third season, and reprised his role as Harvey for an appearance on the 2019 spin-off Pearson.

The lawyer who isn’t actually a lawyer, Mike Ross spends many episodes of Suits trying to keep his secret concealed. In the series premiere, he stumbles into a job interview with Harvey and tells him the truth: He was kicked out of college and lost his admission to Harvard Law School. Despite that, he’s a brilliant mind who’s passed the LSAT many times (while taking it for other people). After Harvey hires him, Mike quickly makes a name for himself at the firm — and just as quickly falls in love with Rachel Zane. 

Suits wasn’t Adams’ first experience with TV, but his role as Mike Ross was his biggest. Before taking on that character, Adams had guest starred in shows like Cold Case, Friday Night Lights, Lost, Ghost Whisperer, and Pretty Little Liars, where he worked alongside Troian Bellisario, who is now his wife. After Suits, Adams starred in the 2022 Broadway revival of Take Me Out. 

Rachel is a paralegal at Pearson Hardman; however, she has aspirations of finally getting a high enough LSAT score so she can get into Harvard and become a full-fledged lawyer like her father, Robert Zane. She develops feelings for Mike nearly as soon as he starts at the firm — but she has a rule against dating co-workers. Rachel fights her feelings while having to work with him on cases. Eventually, it hits a boiling point, and when they begin a relationship she becomes another bearer of his secret in the office.

Markle’s first acting role came in 2001 on General Hospital. She appeared in two episodes of the soap as well as one-off episodes of shows like CSI: NY, Without a Trace, and Fringe — as well as appearing as a case model on Deal or No Deal for two seasons. Now known as the Duchess of Sussex following her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018, she went on to found the non-profit Archewell Foundation with her husband and they appeared together in the 2022 docuseries Harry & Meghan.

Donna is Harvey’s trusted legal secretary; she worked with him at the district attorney’s office before he took her with him to Pearson Hardman. She’s charming and personable where Harvey is brash and emotionally distant. This makes them an ideal work duo (and later … something more). Donna knows a bit of everything (including Mike’s secret) and seems to be able to do it all. She’s close friends with Rachel, can help Harvey prep for court, and knows how to put Louis in his place.

Rafferty appeared on numerous television series before Suits, including CSI: Miami, The Practice, Charmed, Samantha Who?, and Bones. After Suits, she has had recurring roles in Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, and My Life with the Walter Boys.

A no-nonsense named partner, Jessica is not someone you want to cross. She was the first in the office to find out Mike’s secret (besides Harvey and Donna). Unfortunately, she isn’t able to fire him outright as Harvey threatens to quit if she does, which would leave her vulnerable with the recently returned named partner Daniel Hardman, who she and Harvey had previously blackmailed into leaving. Harvey and Jessica have a tumultuous relationship, but always smooth things out as they have respect for one another. In fact, Jessica was the one who discovered Harvey when he was working in the firm’s mailroom, and she paid for him to go to law school at Harvard.

A TV veteran, Torres was in the cult-favorite Firefly and its film continuation Serenity and guest starred on other hits like Alias, 24, Pushing Daisies, and Gossip Girl. Torres also appeared in the second and third films of the Matrix trilogy as well as the Chris Rock comedy I Think I Love My Wife. She reprised her Suits role in her character’s spin-off Pearson and currently appears in 9-1-1: Lone Star.

Like most of the lawyers in Suits, Louis knows how to get ahead by scheming, bribing, and blackmailing. At the start of the series, he’s still a junior partner — while Harvey receives the promotion to senior partner. They have a rivalry that goes back before that and stretches long into the series. Louis is prone to paranoia, and much of that is thrown onto Mike, who he can just tell is keeping a secret. He’s almost always at odds with someone at the firm, but he does have a soft spot for Donna.

Although he’s played small roles in a few films, Hoffman’s acting work has predominantly been in television. Before Suits, he had recurring roles on comedies The Bernie Mac Show, Jake in Progress, and Samantha Who?, as well as guest spots on shows like Law & Order: SVU, the Knight Rider remake, and Better Off Ted. Most recently, he had a recurring role on Billions. 

Katrina got a job at Pearson Hardman in the most Suits way possible: scheming. In Season 2, she’s working in the DA’s office and goes up against Mike. She offers him a deal on the case — if he’ll put in a good word for her with Harvey. Harvey hires Katrina, but only because he has to protect Mike from a mistake he made during that case. Katrina has a rocky start at the firm as she tries to bully everyone beneath her. It doesn’t go over well, and she ends up being stuck working with only Louis.

Schull is likely best known for her role as Jody Sawyer in Center Stage, which marked her acting debut. Since the film’s release in 2000, she has mostly appeared in guest spots on TV shows, such as Cold Case, Castle, and The Mentalist. She had a recurring role on Pretty Little Liars and was a main character on the Syfy series 12 Monkeys. Most recently, she had a multi-episode arc on 9-1-1: Lone Star, which features her former Suits co-star Gina Torres.

Rachel grew up in the shadow of her father, Robert, a well-known lawyer and named partner at Rand, Kaldor, and Zane. Unlike Rachel, he was Harvard Law-trained. (Yes, Harvard comes up a lot in this show.) In the early seasons, Robert works at his own firm, which is a rival to where his daughter works; he occasionally pops up in court when the firms go head-to-head in cases or at dinners with his daughter. But as the series goes on, he becomes more and more entwined with the staff at Rachel’s firm.

A Juilliard-trained actor, Pierce has a wealth of experience in film, television, and stage. His notable film roles include Waiting to Exhale, Ray, and Selma. He appeared in shows such as Law & Order, Third Watch, and Girlfriends — but he’s probably best known for his role as Detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire. In 2023, he was nominated for a Tony Award for playing Willy Loman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, after previously portraying the role in London. 

Later in the series, when Harvey becomes a named partner, he convinces his old friend Alex to join the firm. Back when they both were associates, Harvey was supposed to leave Pearson Hardman to join Alex at Bratton Gould — but at the last minute, Jessica convinced him to stay. Thomas Bratton takes this personally and takes it out on Alex by dumping an impossible workload on him and eventually embroiling him in a prison murder plot. It all comes to a head when Alex joins Harvey’s firm and finds out that Mike is investigating the parties involved in the scandal.

Hill’s first big television role came in 1999 on The West Wing; that same year he starred in the rom-com She’s All That. He guest starred in various TV shows, filmed roles in movies, and appeared on stage in the years following. However, his longest-running and most notable role to date is as Burton “Gus” Guster on Psych and in its three follow-up films. Recently, Hill played the father on The Wonder Years reboot. 

Also late to the party is Samantha. She’s the protégé of Robert, who she sees as a father figure. She follows him to Harvey’s firm and is told by Robert she’ll become a named partner. Only problem is Harvey told Alex that he would be a named partner, so the two must go head-to-head. She shares many of the same characteristics as Harvey: She’ll do whatever it takes to win a case and is loyal to a select group of people around her.  

She might be best known as Izzie Stevens from Grey’s Anatomy, but Heigl got her start in acting as a teenager on projects like Disney Channel’s Wish Upon a Star and Bride of Chucky. In 1999, she appeared as a lead in the WB series Roswell. She’s starred in a variety of comedy and rom-com films like The Ringer, Knocked Up, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth, and Killers. Following Suits, Heigl starred in and executive produced the series Firefly Lane.   

Pearson Hardman only hires Harvard-educated lawyers, so of course they’d have an insider at the elite institution. That’s Sheila, who helps to place graduates at top law firms. She’s first introduced because she wants to withdraw their law firm from recruiting privileges as all the Harvard grads seem to be unhappy there. (Maybe it’s all the backstabbing and blackmailing?) She backs off and eventually becomes an on-again, off-again romantic interest for Louis.

After getting her start in improv at The Groundlings in Los Angeles, Harris appeared in a number of films — like Best in Show, Kicking & Screaming, License to Wed, Old Dads, and Mother of the Bride — as well as TV shows such as Reno 911!, New Girl, Cougar Town, and My Boys. In 2016, Harris joined the series Lucifer, playing Dr. Linda Martin opposite Tom Ellis.

With all the lies and deceit these characters get up to, it was only a matter of time before the SEC got involved. That’s how Sean Cahill is introduced: He’s a prosecutor with the department and is told to look into Pearson Specter by US Attorney Eric Woodall, who’s out to get Harvey and Mike. Sean pursues the firm pretty aggressively, but eventually learns Woodall’s agenda and turns his sights on him. In the end, Cahill becomes a trusted ally to both Mike and Harvey.

A man of many talents, McDonough is part of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Arrowverse. He first starred as Timothy “Dum Dum” Dugan in Captain America: The First Avenger before reprising the role in Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. On the DC side, he appeared as Damien Darhk in Arrow, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow. More recently, McDonough has starred in Altered Carbon, The 100, and 9-1-1: Lone Star.

The law firm in Suits changes names more times than we can count, but in the beginning it was Pearson Hardman. Daniel Hardman was a co-founder of the firm, but his character doesn’t appear until Season 2. In events before the series started, Jessica and Harvey found out that he was embezzling from the firm and forced him to resign (by threatening to reveal the affair he had while his wife was battling cancer). After his wife dies, he decides to come back and stir the pot — consequences be damned. Hardman reappears a few times throughout the series, each time bringing a little chaos with him.

Before Suits, Costabile had recurring roles in TV shows Damages, Flight of the Conchords, and The Wire. He played Gale Boetticher on the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad, and he reprised the role on the spin-off Better Call Saul. His most recent work is on the shows Billions and Obliterated. 

With as many lies as there are swirling around her firm, you’d think Jessica would steer clear of anyone related to the SEC. Instead, she finds herself in bed (literally) with SEC senior prosecutor Jeff Malone. It does help her and Harvey get some inside info: Jeff shows up at Pearson Specter in Season 4 to let them know that Eric Woodall has a vendetta against them. Jeff quits his job at the SEC to work at their firm and help defend them against Woodall. But Jessica can’t be fully honest with everything happening there (ahem, the web of lies!), and their romance hits the rocks.

Woodside has had a variety of television roles: school principal on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, White House Chief of Staff on 24, a doctor for cheerleaders on Hellcats. After Suits, he kept it in the family. He starred with Rachael Harris on Lucifer and with Gina Torres on Pearson and 9-1-1: Lone Star. Recently, he played a Secret Service agent on The Night Agent.

Dana “Scottie” Scott met Harvey when they were in law school at Harvard together. They dated on and off in school and after, when they both started working at separate law firms. Scottie comes into Harvey’s life again when she’s opposing counsel on a hotel merger case. It ends horribly for her — the client fires her — despite the fact she was first in their class at Harvard. She and Harvey have various dealings over the seasons (both professional and romantic), but they rarely seem to end well for Scottie.

Before Harvey and Mike, Abigail Spencer worked alongside a different era of men in suits: She had a recurring role in Season 3 of Mad Men. Spencer has guest starred in a variety of TV shows, but after Suits, she had lead roles in Rectify and Timeless as well as recurring roles in True Detective and Grey’s Anatomy. She currently stars in the comedy Extended Family.