Born Mary Magdalene Ledbetter to a Black mother in the 1930s South, she moves to Los Angeles at age 18 and adopts the name Kitty Karr to pass as white. She builds a highly successful acting career at Telescope Studios, eventually winning an Oscar. She spends her life concealing her racial identity to survive and thrive in a prejudiced society, carefully managing her public image until her death.

Elise is a highly successful Black actress from a famous Hollywood family, currently on the brink of an Oscar nomination for her film Drag On. She frequently clashes with her publicist over her desire to speak out against racial injustice. Inheriting her neighbor Kitty's estate thrusts her into a chaotic public spotlight and subjects her to intense racist backlash.

Nathan is the white head of Telescope Studios who becomes deeply involved in Kitty's Hollywood ascent. While he views himself as a progressive entertainer, his reluctance to produce films that address racial realities exposes his complicity in the industry's systemic discrimination. He marries Kitty and asserts control over both her career and her personal life.

Rebecca is Elise's childhood friend and current publicist. She constantly worries about Elise's brand, going so far as to delete Elise's social media posts about police brutality to avoid offending white audiences. She views racism as a historical artifact rather than a present reality and expects Elise to maintain a quiet, agreeable public persona.

Hazel is Kitty's mother, a Black woman living under Jim Crow laws in North Carolina. After suffering a brutal assault by her wealthy white employer, she dedicates her life to protecting her light-skinned daughter. She strategically takes Mary on excursions to Charlotte to teach her how to exist in white-only spaces before sending her to Los Angeles permanently.

Elise's mother is a former child star who gained fame on The Daisy Lawson Show, America's first interracial sitcom, acting alongside Kitty. She is deeply opposed to Elise sharing Kitty's past with the public, preferring to leave historical secrets buried rather than deal with the resulting fallout.

Originally known as Lillian, Emma is Kitty's childhood friend who already works as a telephone operator at Telescope Studios. She instructs Kitty on the strict rules of passing in Los Angeles, which dictate everything from food preferences to avoiding pregnancy. She struggles heavily with the severe personal sacrifices her hidden identity demands.

Nellie is a Black midwife who forms a close bond with Kitty in the 1960s. She acts as a confidante and protector, eventually stepping in to raise Sarah as her own daughter to ensure the child's safety and help maintain Kitty's fragile public existence.

Jasper is a photographer and a brief romantic fling of Elise's. He possesses a collection of old photographs taken by his grandfather, Michael Walker, that document private moments from Kitty's early Hollywood life. He intends to publish a book using these historical images.

Noele is Elise's sister. Rejecting the family's traditional Hollywood path, she lives in New York City and studies to become a lawyer. Despite distancing herself from the film industry, she remains deeply affected by the public scrutiny directed at her family.

Giovanni is Elise's sister and a successful working actress in her own right. She shares the burden of the racist media backlash directed at the family following Kitty's death and uses humor to cope with the absurdity of Hollywood's racial expectations.

Lucy is a makeup artist who passes as white while secretly looking out for other passing women in the industry. She introduces Kitty to Blair House, an underground network that collects donations from wealthy white people to support civil rights causes.

Aaron is Elise's actor boyfriend. Their relationship lacks genuine affection and is primarily maintained by studio executives to bolster Elise's public image and deflect negative press.

Teddy is the wealthy, white son of a North Carolina tobacco magnate. He violently assaults Hazel, setting off a chain of events that dictates the course of multiple generations.

Teddy Lakes's young daughter, who innocently plays with Mary during summers in North Carolina, completely unaware of the dark circumstances surrounding their shared environment.

Claire is a Hollywood socialite who crosses paths with Kitty. She harbors deep resentments toward her Southern tobacco family and openly disparages her father's history of abusing women.

Michael is a young Black photographer in the 1950s. He accepts money and a job from Nathan Tate in exchange for keeping the couple's relationship private, inadvertently capturing crucial historical records of Kitty's life.

Emma's mother. She works alongside Hazel to help their light-skinned daughters access segregated public spaces, eventually helping to orchestrate her daughter's permanent move to Los Angeles.