Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black has a large ensemble cast, pretty similar to Perry’s shows on BET such as Tyler Perry’s The Oval and Tyler Perry’s Sistas.

Many of the characters are either in the sprawling Bellaire family, or work for them/their associates in one way or another– whether it is through the company Beauty in Black or at the strip club/organization that is operated by the Bellaire’s security head, Jules.

Check out the guide of Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black characters below, from lead characters Kimmie and Mallory, to Bellaire family members like Charles, and strip club workers like Body.

Kimmie (Taylor Polidore Williams)

Series lead Taylor Polidore Williams plays Kimmie, one of the primary characters of the series. She becomes entangled in the mysterious web of the Bellaire family and their associates. As we learn in flashbacks, her mother kicks her out of the house to not be subject to her stepfather’s advances. She ends up staying at a retail store overnight and meets Rain, who is also on the run and wants something better. Rain knows Angel, and they all are in search of a better life. But as we know, they all end up in Chicago and are essentially trafficked by Jules (who works for the Bellaires and operates their security) and work in the strip club.

Kimmie is seen to be a primary prostitute for Roy Bellaire, who both verbally and physically abuses her. Jules is the one who supplies Kimmie to Roy, and Kimmie and the other women call Jules “daddy.” Kimmie is also subjected to verbal and physical abuse by Jules, and two of the leaders at the strip club and the operation– Body and Delinda. One day, Kimmie has an older male client who she notices is attracted to Angel. She loops in Angel to dance for him and they go back to the motel they are staying in. Turns out, the older male client is actually Horace Bellaire.

Horace takes a liking to Kimmie and how she is helping him. Kimmie does as well, especially because she wants to use him to check on the hospitalized Rain. Due to some misconstruing of information, Kimmie incorrectly thinks that Horace is behind the the whole organization, and she and Angel plan to steal money from him, but they are wrong. After the botched robbery, she learns the truth and that Horace was actually looking out for her. At the end of Part 1, Body and Delinda kidnap Kimmie’s young sister in order to try to get her in line.

Mallory Bellaire (Crystle Stewart)

Mallory, played by Crystle Stewart, is the wife of Roy and is essentially currently both the face and brains behind the Bellaire family company, Beauty In Black. She is shown as being very mean and vicious, especially to the people who work for her. This is a stark contrast to the beauty mogul persona that is presented to the public. She knows that Roy is unfaithful and doesn’t think he is smart, often calling him an “idiot” or “stupid.” In a rage after Kimmie calls her from Roy’s phone one night to expose him, Mallory hits a person on the private road where the Bellaires all live. The person turns out to be Norman’s wife, Ina.

She enlists Jules to help her cover it up, knowing that this would send Norman on a warpath. Many people think that one of Horace’s sons, particularly Roy, did this, and Jules begins to plant seeds about this as it would be better for him to be covering up something Roy did versus Mallory.

Rain (Amber Reign Smith)

Rain, played by Amber Reign Smith, is the best friend of Kimmie. In flashbacks, after meeting Kimmie when she was hiding out after being put out of her house, she helps Rain out. Rain, who met Angel, is planning to go to Chicago to meet him so they can earn some money. Rain is hesitant for Kimmie to join them because she doesn’t know too much about the opportunity, but Kimmie wants to go.

Angel (Xavier Smalls)

Angel, played by Xavier Smalls, is a longtime friend of Kimmie and Rain, and we see flashback scenes of the two meeting him many years back when Kimmie was first put out of her house. We know that Angel was the first one who got them involved in Jules’ organization and the strip club, as he was an acquaintance of Rain and told her and Kimmie, who she had just met, to come out to Chicago. Though we don’t know the particulars of how this all went down by the end of Part 1, it does seem that Angel inadvertently got them involved and that they harbor no ill will toward him.

In the present day, Angel has a child with a woman and she ends up ruining his car and having her brothers threaten him because she believes he is messing around with women from the club. Because of this, he has to stay in Kimmie in her and Rain’s motel room. Though he is straight, Angel dances for men and does other favors for money.

Charles Bellaire (Steven G. Norfleet)

Charles, played by Steven G. Norfleet, is the youngest of Horace Bellaire’s sons. He is gay and appears to live his life loud and proud. He seems to be loved by and has a good relationship with his mother, Olivia. But he has a strained relationship with his father, Horace, who does not like his youngest son’s sexuality, despite his own actions that we see throughout this season. Charles is also subjected to homophobic remarks from his uncle Norman.

He is depicted as being wild and loving to have a fun time, and despite this, he seems to have more people who trust and depend on him in comparison to his brother Roy, including Mallory. She refers to Charles are the only other sane person in the family–though he does use drugs like Roy, but perhaps not as much. Charles is in a situationship with the company counsel, Varney. They love each other, but Varney does not want their relationship to be public because of how other people, including Charles’ family, may perceive them. At the end of Part 1, Charles’ car is blown up in what appears to be a revenge plot hatched by Norman. It is unknown yet if Charles was actually in the car that the time this happened.

Roy Bellaire (Julian Horton)

Roy Bellaire, played by Julian Horton, is the eldest of Horace Bellaire’s sons, is depicted as having a drug addiction, and makes use of prostitutes, even though most of the time he cannot get it up. Though he is a leader in the company, everyone knows that Mallory is the one who does the work. Frustrated with this, he tries to go behind everyone’s back and potentially make a deal with a lawyer from his past, Lena, who is representing people who are suing Beauty in Black.

Horace Bellaire (Ricco Ross)

Horace Bellaire, played by Ricco Ross, is the patriarch of the Bellaires and started the company with his brother, Norman. He has an estranged wife, Olivia, and they seem to not care for one another. He and Norman also have a strained and tense relationship. Horace is sick from cancer, and because of this, wants to explore other facets of life, including his sexuality– though he is hostile to his youngest son, Charles, because he is gay. Drawn to Angel at the strip club, he befriends Kimmie and they develop a partnership in which Angel dances for him and Kimmie covers. In exchange, he agrees to help Kimmie out and goes to check on Rain at the hospital. But Kimmie, believing Rain died, doesn’t believe Horace helped her–when in fact, he had her moved to a new and better hospital. Horace asks Jules to have someone kill Norman’s wife Ina, who is improving at the hospital after being hit, after Jules tells him that Roy was the one who hit her. (though it was really Mallory).

Horace kills multiple men in a botched robbery attempt that was inadvertently put into motion by Angel and Kimmie, and then they realize that they were wrong and Horace actually knows nothing about what Jules has them doing. Part 1 ends with Horace wanting to talk to the judge that Angel and Kimmie referenced that is allegedly in Jules’ pocket.

Norman (Richard Lawson)

Norman, portrayed by Richard Lawson, is the brother of Horace and they started the company together. He is depicted as being very volatile and has a bad relationship with his brother and hates his nephews, Horace’s sons. He wants revenge after his wife Ina is hit on the Bellaires’ private road and believes that Roy or Charles did it. Though this isn’t completely unconfirmed in Part 1– it is insinuated a bit that Norman knows about Jules’ trafficking and his organization, especially because of Olivia’s blackmail about something he and Jules did in the past. Despite this, Norman loses trust in Jules after figuring out that Jules likely had something to do with covering up what really happened to his wife Ina. At the end of Part 1, and Ina’s death it seems as if he has Charles’ car shot up as revenge because he thinks one of his nephews had something to do with Ina being hit.

Jules (Charles Malik Whitfield)

Jules, played by Charles Malik Whitfield, is depicted as the head of security for the Bellaires, but is also apparently leading an organization that is pimping women and men out and forcing them to owe him money at the strip club. The full story isn’t entirely clear, but Angel was recruited (and in turn Rain and Kimmie) to his org and he had them arrested on bogus charges, but had a judge release them. In doing so, Jules tells all of them that they are in debt to him and owe hundreds of thousands of dollars. He says if they don’t do what he says, he will turn him to the cops and they will go to jail.

We don’t know how involved the Bellaires are in all of what Jules does, but by the end of Part 1 it is clear that Horace had no idea about all of this. Though he is a fixer for the family, from Mallory hitting Ina to Horace killing the men who robbed him, it seems he is losing their trust. Norman knows that he is lying about something concerning Ina’s death and Horace knows that he has ties with a judge and has all of these men and women like Angel and Kimmie under his grip.

Olivia Bellaire (Debbi Morgan)

Olivia, played by Debbi Morgan, is the estranged wife of Horace and the father of Roy and Charles. She once had an affair with Norman. She still has a stake in the company and helped build it, despite not having a hand in the day-to-day works of it. She is seen as being highly protective over Charles and threatens Norman with evidence she has of his illegal activity when he threatens Charles and Roy.

Calvin (Shannon Wallace)

Calvin, played by Shannon Wallace, works as security for the Bellaires under Jules. He is upset by the fact that Roy came on to Gillian and she would have given into a sexual proposition to him if Charles hadn’t come in the room. Because of this, he pursues an affair with Mallory, who comes on to him. Calvin seems to have a big role under Jules, and probably knows a bit about his organization, given the fact that he helped him clean up the bodies at Horace’s house after the robbery.

Varney (Terrell Carter)

Varney, played by Terrell Carter, is the Bellaire family council for Beauty in Black. Mallory tries to proposition him for sex, but he declines. Turns out, this is because he is sleeping with Charles. He says he loves Charles, but they can’t go public with their relationship because of his job.

Delinda (Ursula O. Robinson)

Delinda, played by Ursula O. Robinson, is one of the leaders at the strip club, presumably a madam. She is very cruel and mean to Kimmie and others, and appears to have a great working relationship with Body.

Body (Tamera “Tee” Kissen)

Body, played by Tamera “Tee” Kissen, is a worker at the strip club who is high up in rank. She is hateful towards Kimmie and beats her up or has her beaten up on multiple occasions. She and Delinda kidnap Kimmie’s sister at the end of Part 1 to “teach her a lesson.”

Gillian (Joy Rovaris)

Gillian, played by Joy Rovaris, is Mallory’s assistant. Mallory is incredibly mean to Gillian, who Roy tried to proposition for sex. Upset with Calvin (who in turn, is upset with her for the incident with Roy) for sleeping with Mallory, Gillian decides to seduce Roy.

Lena (Ashley Versher)

Lena, played by Ashley Versher, is a lawyer who is representing clients who are suing Beauty in Black. She has a history with Roy, who tried to woo her back in college when he was addicted to drugs and also with Mallory. Lena seems to still hold contempt for Roy because of this.

Officer Trackson (George Middlebrook)

Officer Trackson, played by George Middlebrook, is security for the Bellaires.

Officer Alex (Bryan Tanaka)

Officer Alex, played by Bryan Tanaka, is the newest security for the Bellaires.