Quantum Leap: The Virtual Seasons // Cast

For more information on what has been added to the character's biography, please check out the A to Z.

played by:

Dean Stockwell

Job Description: Project Observer and Two Star Ex-Rear Admiral

First Appearance: Pilot Episode, “Genesis” (original series)

Born June 15, 1934 to an Italian father and a mother of Russian ancestry. When he was a child, his mother ran off with an Encyclopedia salesman, and Al feels part of the reason she left was the pressure of raising Trudy, his sister, who suffered from Down's Syndrome. Al's father died of Cancer when he was eleven, and he and Trudy had to live in an orphanage.

Al had ran away from the orphanage and turned to crime. He pick-pocketed Charlie "Black Magic" Walters and was busted. Charlie took Al under his wing and showed him that people did care. After getting out of the orphanage, we went to go get Trudy, and learned that she had died at age sixteen from pneumonia.

He went on to college, attending both MIT and the Naval Academy. By the age of 23, Albert Calavicci had become an ensign in the Navy and a fighter pilot stationed at Pensacola, where he picked up the name "Bingo". He eventually rose to the title of Admiral.

He married in 1961 to Beth. She was the love of his life -- his one shot at perfect happiness. In 1967, his A-4 went down over the highlands. Al was kept in a cage near Cham Hoi until after the U.S. had pulled out in 1973. His love for Beth kept him alive. In April 1970, he was nearly repatriated during a rescue attempt but it failed. Once Al was repatriated, he found that his wife had declared him dead and had married another.

Not too long after Vietnam, Al began working with NASA, where he circled the moon ten times. Times were good, but short lived. He met a young man while at Star Bright that helped change him around ~ Sam Beckett. The pair became fast friends.

Admiral Calavicci is known for his womanizing ways and his list of female companions is almost legendary. He's been married five times and spent his first, third and fifth honeymoons in Niagara Falls. *(1:Beth, 2:Unknown, 3: Ruthie, 4: Sharon, 5: Maxine) His love interest, is Tina, the head programmer at the project.

Al's sexual prowess is legendary - especially in his own mind. Sex seems to be on his brain often, and he holographically letches after women. Al believes in the Devil, and says that his experience as a POW showed him that the Devil exists. Interestingly, Al is easily spooked and tends to believe in the supernatural more that he will admit too. He is a passionate environmentalist. He is also a big sports fan.

Although the above is correct, when Sam went back in the past in Mirror Image to talk with Beth, telling her that Al was alive and coming home, Beth did not divorce Al. She and Al have been married for 45 years and have 4 daughters with her. Although the original series did not continue to give names for their daughters, The Virtual Seasons has given them names: Jacqueline Trudy Calavicci, Elizabeth Michelle Calavicci (1st of Twins), Victoria Jayne Calavicci (2nd of twins) and Christa Emma Michelle (the youngest).

played by:

Susan Diol

Job Description: Chief Physician of P. Q. L. (Retired)

First Appearance: Episode 222, “M.I.A.”

Maiden Name: Elizabeth O’Dwyer (VS only)

Al's first wife. Although Al mentioned his first wife was a redhead, Beth is definitely a brunette. Did Al merely indulge in a little wishful thinking? Only her hairdresser knows for sure. Beth loves calla lilies, Mexican food and Ray Charles singing "Georgia." She also seems to be a fan of the Supremes, especially singing the song, "Someday". Al declares that Beth as the only woman he ever truly loved. She was upset that he didn't want children because he thought it was unfair to drag them from assignment to assignment. She, on the other hand, felt Al didn't understand what children would have done for her while he was gone. During the eight years they were married, they only spent two together. The rest were spent on separate assignments. Beth nearly divorced Al when he took off for a second tour of duty to Vietnam four months after the first ended. She didn't feel it was proper to divorce a man going off to war, and after Al was shot down, she wore an MIA bracelet engraved with his name. Beth was working double shifts as a nurse in the burn ward at Balboa Naval Hospital, when, in March 1969, she lost a young Marine that she thought was going to beat the odds and live. She apparently gave up hope on Al at about the same time, for on April 1, she met Dirk Simon and despite Al's trying to change history (through Sam trying to keep Beth away from Dirk), the pair kept running into each other. They finally married in June of that year.

Sam got to change history for Beth and Al after he leaped into Al's Place in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania. When he confessed to Al the bartender his regrets about not saving Al's' marriage, he leaped to Beth's house and told her Al was coming home. Subsequently, they had four children and will celebrate their thirty-ninth anniversary in the year 2000. Although their children weren't given names, TVS has given the girls their names: Jacqueline Trudy Calavicci, Elizabeth Michelle Calavicci (1st of Twins), Victoria Jayne Calavicci (2nd of twins) and Christa Emma Michelle (the youngest).

played by:

Mimi Kuzyk

Job Description: Sam's Wife; Project Head

First Appearance:

As a college student: Episode 102, “Star-Crossed” (original series, portrayed by Teri Hatcher)

Present-day: Episode 401, “The Leap Back” (original series, portrayed by Mimi Kuzyk)

Date of Birth: March 7, 1954 (as established in The Starbright Project)

Is she or isn't she married to Sam? Only God or Time or Whoever knows. In the history as Sam remembered it when he met her as a student in Lawrence College in 1972, Donna was just turning thirty and leaving the Star Bright Project when they first met around 1982. The wedding was on the fifth of June at Old Mission Chapel, and Sam remembers it didn't happen. Al told Sam she didn't show up for the wedding, and Sam then recalled it had something to do with her father. He had abandoned her when she was eight and had no more contact with her. Donna was so upset she blocked out her dad's name, Wojohowitz. She left another man at the altar before Sam.

Sam arranged for Donna to meet her father at the Watergate Hotel the morning he shipped out to Vietnam. Al gave no clue that Sam may have changed history; in fact, he speculated that maybe she married the first guy after all.

When Sam and Al changed places and he ended up back at the Project, all of his memories came flooding back and Donna was there - as his wife. Donna explained to Sam that she begged Al not to tell him he was married, for she felt he couldn't act freely with that knowledge. When Sam asked if he did anything to hurt her, her reply was no. When Sam hat to Leap again in order to save Al, she begged him not to leave, but realized in the end she had to let Sam go.

played by:

Dennis Wolfberg

Job Description: Head Programmer

First appearance: Pilot Episode, “Genesis” (original series)

Full Name: Dr. Irving Gushman (name taken from the non-canon Q. L. novel, “Song and Dance”)

Date of Birth: August 29, 1950 (as established in The Starbright Project)

Current Status: Deceased (working with the Bartender; died in VS Episode 724, “Fallen Hero, Part I”)

Gooshie was the head programmer at Project Quantum Leap.

He also works the control for the Imaging Chamber. He made a frantic call to Al when Sam Leaped the first time.

He is described as a short guy with curly brown hair, a mustache, baby blue eyes and bad halitosis.

He and Tina once had an affair, and when Sam briefly changed history, they were married. While playing poker, Sam covered up an exclamation about Gooshie by saying "Gooshie" was Navajo for "I'll see it."

Gooshie was a bit absentminded. When Leon Styles escorted Al into the hallway at gunpoint, Gooshie just looked up and acknowledged "Dr. Beckett." He drove a blue Ford Probe, which he got after his car had been stolen the year before. At Al's suggestion, he had a tracking device installed in his new car and was able to redirect it's signal so Ziggy could track it after Styles took the vehicle.

played by:

Scott Bakula

Job Description: Quantum Physicist / Leaper (currently lost in time)

First Appearance: Pilot Episode, “Genesis” (original series)

Social Security Number: 563-86-9801

DOD UMBRA Clearance Number: 004-02

Drivers License Number: 5738457, expires 1998

Address: P.O. Box 555 Stallions Gate, New Mexico 87901-4093

Date of Birth: August 8, 1953

At an early age Sam showed he was gifted. He learned how to read at the young age of two, could do advanced calculus in his head at age five. Despite being so exceptional, Sam grew up having a fairly normal childhood. He grew up on a dairy farm, helping his father with the chores.

In the fall of 1970, Same went away to college at MIT. He went through four years of college in two years and became the youngest ever to graduate summa cum laude. Dr. Beckett has a photographic memory, which has aided him in his endeavors. He has earned six doctorates; some of them being Music, Medicine, Quantum Physics (which is his gift), Archaeology and Ancient Languages (Japanese, French, Spanish, German, and Egyptian hieroglyphics). He won a Nobel Prize and for this, Time Magazine called him the "next Einstein." He also knows several kinds of Martial Arts and only uses them when defending himself.

Dr. Beckett's sole purpose in the making of the Project Quantum Leap was to view the past; to revisit places to see what had actually happened; to see people that were already gone. Sam's father, John, died when Sam was twenty-one and Sam carries a load of guilt on him because he was not able to be there for his family.

Sam met Albert Calavicci in the lab at a project called Star Bright. Sam helped out the naval officer from being washed out of the project. Sam saw that there was a terrific person inside and went to bat for Al, helping him through one of the toughest times in his life. In return, Al repaid the favor for fighting for funding for Project Quantum Leap.

Al seems Sam as terminally good, and characterized him as a Boy Scout, but the truth is that Sam actually does want to help people and "put right what once went wrong." Sam sees himself as the champion of underdogs everywhere.

Dr. Beckett's immediate family consists as follows:

Father:
John Samuel Beckett: Named after his grandfather. Sam's father died in 1973 of a heart attack. John was a kind man who never degraded his wife. He smoked, and claimed he was healthy because he worked hard, slept good, and ate plenty of dairy products. He worked on the dairy farm, sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. Despite his hard work, the farm was taken away from him.

Mother:
Thelma Louise Beckett: Thelma is a wonderful cook, according to Sam. She was a very patient woman and she thought that Women's Lib was probably a good thing - for other women. She is currently residing in Hawaii.

Sister:
Katherine Beckett/Bonnick: She was born in 1957, during a flood. She got married for the first time at the age of seventeen to get away from the farm. Her husband abused her, and she got out of the marriage. Later she married Navy officer, Lt. Jim Bonnick. She currently resides in Hawaii with their two children and her mother.

Brother:
Lt. Thomas Beckett USN: Sam's older brother was a talented athlete and made All-State in 1964. He finished his SEAL training in 1969. In the original history, Tom died on April 8, 1970. Sam changed that.

As a 10 yr old. played by:

Kimberly Cullum

All grown up.

played by:

Melora Hardin

Job Description: Project Theory Director

First appearance:

As a child: Episode 509, “Trilogy Part III” (original series, portrayed by Kimberly Cullum);

Present Day: VS Episode 601, “Double the Leap, Double the Danger”

Date of Birth: March 1967 (estimated)

She looked just like her mother Abagail did when she was a girl, but Ziggy gave a 91.9 percent chance that she's Sam's daughter and not Will Kinman's. Like her daddy, she has a photographic memory, and while her IQ of 194 is not as high as Sam's, it is still pretty impressive. Brigadoon is her favorite book, as it is Sam's. She told Sam she wanted to go back in time so she could meet her daddy and tell him that she loved him. In the original history, she was so traumatized by the death of her mother in the electric chair that she dropped out and ended up living in Mobile writing manuals for a small computer company. At Abagail's trial she screamed out that she had seen everything, and told how Leta Aider had killed herself. Now her own history has changed, and she's working for Project Quantum Leap, and even has a theory on how to bring Sam home. She apparently believes that Will Kinman is her father, as Al reported to Sam that Abagail does not know Sam is Sammie Jo's father.

played by:

Gigi Rice

Job Description: Pulse Communication Technician

First appearance: Episode 401, “The Leap Back” (original series)

Full name: Dr. Christina Martinez-O’Farrell (VS only, name taken from the non-canon Q. L. novel series)

Date of Birth: March 10, 1959 (as established in The Starbright Project)

Tina is Al's most of the time girlfriend/lover, and met in Las Vegas over a poker game. Al had a flush. She had a pair. Sam never remembered her until he briefly leaped back to the Project. Her name, according to Al, is in a tattoo "on a super-secret part of her anatomy." Al also claimed Tina thought Sam was kind of cute. When Sam leaped back to 1999, Tina appeared to be very ditzy. Ziggy told Sam during this time that she was having an affair with Gooshie. In the alternate history created when Al was convicted of murder, Pulse Communication Technician Tina was married to Gooshie. Once Tina did have an affair with the programmer. Al was crushed, saying, "She took my second-most favorite organ and stomped it to death with her four-inch spiked heels." Tina later told Al that she only saw Gooshie to make Al jealous, then gave the programmer a case of mouthwash and sent him packing. Al used Tina in every since of the word. At one point he had her sleep with Weitzman and he blackmailed the Committee head with the information in order to regain his job. Tina owns either a crocodile or an alligator that she keeps in a pit. By the Dr. Ruth Leap, Al and Tina had been going out for a little over four years.

played by:

Candy Ann Brown

Job Description: Projects Head Psychiatrist

First Appearance: Episode 322, “Shock Theater” (original series)

Date of Birth: October 1, 1963 (as established in The Starbright Project)

Dr. Verbena Beeks is the Projects Head Psychiatrist. Al doesn't think much of her observations most of the time.

Dr. Beeks normally enters in the Waiting Room to gather information from the Visitors (people that Sam replaces) to help Sam accomplish his goal and leap out.

She is very reserved, calm and from what little we have seen of Verbena, she truly cares for everyone in the project.

Voice by:

Deborah Pratt

The Machine

Played by:

Heather Whyte

The Holographic Matrix

Job Description: Parallel Hybrid Computer

First Appearance (in original form): Episode 401, “The Leap Back” (original series)

First Appearance (as a hologram): VS Episode 1010, “Eeny Meany Miny Mo”

Sam designed this parallel hybrid computer to run Project Quantum Leap.

Ziggy was given an ego, which was a real breakthrough in computer development. Originally, the computer was called a "he", but after Sam leaped home to 1999, it was shown Ziggy had a female voice. Shortly thereafter the pronoun "she" was used almost exclusively.

Ziggy was given an ego, which was a real breakthrough in computer development. Unfortunately, Sam chose to give the computer the ego of Barbara Streisand, which caused a number of problems. During Sam's first Leap, Ziggy refused to accept responsibility for not being able to bring Sam back, and cut power to most of the Project, leaving only essential items available. Ziggy's ego won't allow for a change of mind, either.

The computer is also prone to mood swings and sometimes won't predict what will happen for fear of being wrong. One time Ziggy crashed and did screwball things like putting an extra zero on everyone's paycheck. Then the computer began to spit out data in foreign languages. Al blamed the problems on foreign microchips.

Ziggy's main control panel is located in a room that leads to the Imaging and Accelerator Chambers. While in the room, anyone can speak directly to the computer.

While Al is in the Imaging Chamber, he communicates with Ziggy, Gooshie and other via a handlink. The handlink has undergone a few design changes, most likely to make them hardier. Al tends to abuse them quite a bit, and one handlink died a spectacular death while Al was attempting to retrieve information.

Using the handlink, Ziggy can project images that Sam and others who can see Sam and Al can view. The computer projected the trajectory for pool shots for Sam, and Al used the link to show Teresa Bruckner pictures of dinosaurs. While masquerading as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Al used the link to project images of Blake Tower and news videos of the millionaire's eventual downfall.

Ziggy can get a mental signal from people close to Sam, but has a difficult time with people who have a few synapses missing in the brain.

Al modified Ziggy's sensors to be sort of a metal detector so he could attempt to find a bullet lodged in the wall of a church in 1971, but he required Teresa Lorrea to be there in order for the computer to center in on her brain waves. This gave Ziggy a clearer sensory base to pull from.

Ziggy nearly lost it when Sam leaped into Jimmy LaMotta for the second time. She went into maximum overload and kept insisting that history was changing and that things had changed for the Lamotta family, even though Sam wasn't doing anything. Dr. Beeks tried to reason with her, but received a shock that sent her halfway across the room.

Sam programmed Ziggy's memory banks for music, loading in all of Elvis Presley's hits and even a rap song. Ziggy digested the entire works of Shakespeare in a matter of seconds, explaining that with a one-million-gigabyte capacity, she was perfectly able of rubbing her belly, patting her head, and doing a trillion floating point operations at once.

Using Al's handlink, she was able to create a force field using the electric fences at Mallard Correctional Facility for Women in order to keep Thames from getting a lock on Alia.

As Angelita in

It's A Wonderful Leap

As herself

Played by:

Liz Torres

Job Description: Angel

First Appearance: VS Episode 831, “Poo to You”

When Sam leaped into a New York cabdriver in 1958, he ran right over Angela in the middle of 34th Street. Angela didn't suffer a scratch, and told Sam she was his guardian angel. Angela was dressed as a flapper, and it was later discovered that a woman of her name was known in the 1920's Spanish Harlem as "The Puerto Rican Fanny Brice." She died while singing at an audition after she hit the high note and fell fifteen feet into the pits. Angela explained that they told her in Heaven that she was too vain in life and had a big ego, so she had to learn humility by helping others. Every time she helps someone, she said, she moves on to her next assignment. No one remembers she was there, she claimed.

Angel or not, Angela could see Al. Al chalked that up to her being loco.

After Angela took a bullet during a robbery, she stood up and showed no sign of a wound. Sam found entry and exit holes in her coat, but no evidence of injury. After Sam accomplished his mission, Angela told him it was t8ime for her to go, and called him by his true name rather than the name of the man she had leaped into. Sam forgot her, but Al didn't because he was in the future.

She has appeared several times in The Virtual Seasons helping Sam and Al in several situations.

played by:

Bruce McGill

Job Description: Enigmatic Bartender of Al’s Place

First Appearance: Episode 521, “Mirror Image”

True Name: Alberto Bellasario

Revealed to have been “Weird” Ernie in the Pilot Episode, “Genesis” (as of VS Episode 1129, “Quantum Departure”)

Proprietor of Al's Place, a bar in Cokeburg, Pennsylvania. His full name is Alberto. Philosophical and enigmatic, Al dispenses advice along with the drinks. Sam slowly arrived at the conclusion that Al was actually God or Time or Whoever was Leaping him around. Al denied it and insisted that Sam was the agent of his own destiny. (Mirror Image)

now played by:

Joe Mantegna

(was recast

from original actor)

Job Description: Physics Professor at MIT; Former Quantum Physicist at Project Starbright.

First Appearance: Episode 215, “Her Charm” (original series); Reintroduced in SBP Episode 001, “Origins” (tied to TVS continuity)

Full Name: Sebastian Robert LoNigro (known as “Bobby” during the Star Bright era)

Date of Birth: December 4, 1938 (as established in The Starbright Project)

Current Status: Unknown

In the summer of 1973, he and Sam worked out the string theory at his lake cabin in the Berkshires. When Sam was Peter Langly, an FBI agent assigned to protect Dana Barrenger, he took her to the cabin, assuming they would be safe. After it was all over, the professor arrived. "Don't you know who I am?" Sam shouted. "I'm Sam Be--" Then he leaped. LoNigro and Dana Barrenger later married. (Charm)

He may also be the professor who told Tom that a brain like Sam's only comes along once in a generation. (Home)

played by:

Roddy McDowell

Job Description: Former Head Programmer of P. Q. L. (for only an episode)

First Appearance: Original Episode "A Leap For Lisa"

Pronounced “Sinjin" in the British manner. When Sam briefly changed Al's history by Leaping into him, Al was replaced by St. John, a stiff upper-lip British gentleman who preferred old-fashioned suits. He called Sam "Samuel," which did not go over well with the time traveler. During this time Sam began to lose his memory of al in spite of his best efforts. He had no idea who St. John was, and faked his Swiss-cheesed so he could get the new Observer's identify. At one point, St. John called Bingo a satyr after he started eyeing Tina. After Sam righted history, Al reappeared.

played by:

David Newsom

Job Description: Presidential Liaison for P. Q. L.

First Appearance: Episode 301, “The Leap Home”

Date of Birth: 1946 (estimated)

Sam's older brother was a gifted athlete and made All-State in high school and played in the state basketball championships of 1964. Of course, he played for Elk Ridge, and regretted that Bentleyville was the one team they couldn't beat. He graduated form Annapolis in 1969 and finished his SEAL training just before Thanksgiving of that same year. Tom talked Sam out of accepting a basketball scholarship at Indiana State, presumably after speaking with LoNigro. His pet name for Sam was "little brother". IN the original history, Tom died on April 8, 1970, in Vietnam. Sam got to change that.

Tom led a SEAL squadron over to Vietnam in December of 1969. The Bravo squad had been on a tour of duty for five months when Sam Leaped into Magic, their radio man. After Magic saved his life, Tom put his arm around him and said, "Thanks, little brother." When Sam Leaped back to his hometown in December of 1971, he was told that Tom had just returned from Vietnam. (The Leap Home, The Leap Home Part II: Vietnam, Disco Inferno)

Tom was recruited by General Hawkins to be one of four Observers for Project Liberty, and subsequently has a biochip implanted in his brain that links his brainwaves with Ziggy’s program. He is the new Presidential Liaison for P. Q. L. (as of VS Episode 1131, “Give Me Death”)

played by: David Duchovny

Job Description: Rogue Leaper (currently lost in time)

First Appearance: VS Episode 1013, “Second Genesis”

Date of Birth: September 11, 1956

Current Status: Unknown

Neither good nor evil, Dr. Connors has made it his goal to restore all of the changes in history wrought by both Sam and the Evil Leapers. His actions may endanger the fabric of the space-time continuum.

played by:

Gary Oldman

Job Description: Creator of the Time Displacement Unit

First appearance: VS Episode 1019, “Guinea Pig”

Current Status: Deceased (working with the Bartender; died in VS Episode 1128, “Quantum Evolution”)

Sam first met Dr. Garner upon leaping into a top-secret government project in the late 1950s. Since then, Sam encountered Dr. Garner several times throughout his leaping journey and the two men became close friends sharing the secrets of time travel.

played by:

David Ogden Steirs

Job Description: Former Presidential Liaison for P. Q. L.

First Appearance: VS Episode 1019, “Guinea Pig”

Current Status: Deceased (died in VS Episode 1131, “Give Me Death”)

When Hawkins first appeared on Q. L., he was a security guard for a government project in New Mexico in 1959. He suffered an injury in the line of duty in 1959 - a slight paralysis of his left arm and minor brain damage which affects his ability to see images in the Imaging Chamber. He was nicknamed Shockey by other cadets after the accident.

He was convinced by Al Calavicci that Project Quantum Leap really works. The pushing to become Washington overseer of Project Quantum Leap meant that the government will have a say in Sam's missions as far as priorities are concerned. At one point, he was sent by Washington to shut down Project Quantum Leap.

General Hawkins died trying to save Project Quantum Leap.

played by:

Alicia Witt

Job Description: Sammy Jo’s daughter; Creator of the Retrieval Chip

First Appearance: (as an adult) VS Episode 1031, “Future’s End”; Has yet to be born in present-day

Date of Birth: August 8, 2006

Current Status: “Unstuck” in the time stream by a future version of Adam

The adult daughter of Sammy Jo Fuller and Daniel Fulton, she retrieved her grandfather in the year 2034 in order to alter history and allow Sam to leap home. Although this future timeline no longer exists, Izzy is still destined for greatness.

played by:

Elijah Wood

as a 9 year old

Job Description: Child Prodigy; Son of Sam Beckett and Donna Elesee

First Appearance: VS Episode 808, “I Will Love You Forever, Part II”

Date of Birth: February 12, 1996

Stephen is very handy when it comes to working with the intricate dealings of holographic imagery. Using a small device that he found that resembled a smaller version of Ziggy which he called Zeus, Stephen created Dante - a holographic friend for him since he lives mainly in Project Quantum Leap. He had made several new contraptions and is very proud to help out whenever he can.

played by:

Roddy McDowell

Job Description: Former Head Programmer of P. Q. L. (replaced Gooshie)

First Appearance: VS Episode 726, “I’m Not Sure You’d Understand, Old Fruit”

Current Status: Deceased (died in VS Episode 1025, “Four Minute’s Warning, Part II”)

In an alternate timeline, “Sinjin’s” father replaced Al as the Project Observer (as seen in “A Leap for Lisa”). After Gooshie died, Ziggy searched for his replacement and found Edward’s son. He was the new Head Programmer for several years before his untimely death.