Ronald E. "Ron" Glass (born July 10, 1945) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as the witty Det. Ron Harris in the television sitcom Barney Miller (1975–1982), and as the spiritual Shepherd Derrial Book in the short-lived 2002 science fiction series Firefly and its sequel film Serenity.

Glass was born in Evansville, Indiana, the son of Lethia and Crump Glass. Graduating from Saint Francis Seminary in 1964, Glass attended the University of Evansville where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree double majoring in Drama and Literature. Years later the university honored his work in television and film with their highest commendation, the Medal of Honor. Glass stated in an interview that he knew he wanted to act while he was in college. A teacher liked his voice and encouraged him to try out for a play. He went on to act in that play (and many others) during his time there.

Glass made his stage debut at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis before moving to Hollywood. His earliest TV appearances include episodes of Sanford and Son in 1972, an episode of All in the Family in 1973, an episode of The Bob Newhart Show, and episodes of Good Times in 1974. In 1975, he landed the role of Det. Ron Harris in Barney Miller which ran until 1982. The following season, Glass also co-starred with Demond Wilson on television in the short-lived remake of The Odd Couple, called The New Odd Couple. In 1992, he co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Rhythm and Blues, a kind of "black WKRP", playing "the fifth Top" opposite Roger Kabler. In 1996, Glass was cast as uptight history teacher Roland Felcher in the NBC sitcom Mr. Rhodes opposite comedian Tom Rhodes. In 1999, he appeared in an episode of the NBC sitcom Friends as Ross Geller's divorce lawyer, Russell.

Jewel Belair Staite (born June 2, 1982) is a Canadian actress, who portrayed Catalina in Space Cases, Kaylee Frye in Firefly and Serenity, and Dr. Jennifer Keller on Stargate Atlantis.

Staite was born in White Rock, British Columbia. The youngest of seven children, she modeled as a child and has acted since age six. She has stated that she is of British, Irish, French Canadian, and Iroquois ancestry.

Staite attended the Vancouver Film School and worked at the Vancouver Youth Theatre. She married actor Matt Anderson on 25 April 2003. On 13 December 2011, she announced they were divorcing in a post on her food blog.

Staite played Kaylee Frye in the short-lived space western television series Firefly and its subsequent 2005 film, Serenity. She wrote a chapter in the book Finding Serenity, called "Kaylee Speaks: Jewel Staite On Firefly".

She played Heidi Gotts, the antagonist in the TV series Wonderfalls and appeared in a Season Three episode of The X-Files.

Staite played the role of head medical doctor Jennifer Keller in the Stargate SG-1 spinoff Stargate Atlantis, making her the third actor from the Firefly series to move on to appear in a Stargate series (the first being Adam Baldwin, who had a brief role as a colonel in the Stargate SG-1 Season Seven episode "Heroes", and the second being Morena Baccarin, who played Adria, the main villain in the tenth season of SG-1), and the second to take a recurring role. She replaced Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett). In the fifth season her character was changed from recurring status to part of the main cast. Before taking on the role as Dr. Keller she previously played the Wraith child Ellia in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Instinct". She also appeared in the 2010 SyFy film, Mothman, under direction from Sheldon Wilson.

Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962) is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, Marcus Hamilton in Angel, and Chad Shelten in Day Break. He also established a cult following as Jayne Cobb in Firefly. More recently, he starred as Colonel John Casey on Chuck, as well as provided the voice of Decepticon Breakdown in Transformers: Prime.

Adam Baldwin is not one of the Baldwin brothers.

Appearing in a large number of films since 1980, Baldwin rose to prominence as the troubled outcast Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard (1980) and moved on to bigger roles in D.C. Cab (1983), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Predator 2 (1990), Independence Day (1996), The Patriot (2000) and Serenity (2005)—in which he reprises his role as the mercenary Jayne Cobb from the television series Firefly. His other work includes Radio Flyer (1992), From the Earth to the Moon (1998), The X-Files (Knowle Rohrer), Smoke Jumpers (1996), The Cape, Men in Black: The Series, Stargate SG-1, Angel, The Inside, NCIS, the 2005 remake of The Poseidon Adventure, Bones (2006) one episode as Special Agent Jamie Kenton. He also starred in the ABC series Day Break as Chad Shelten in 2006. Baldwin parodied the Ricky Linderman character in the 2008 film Drillbit Taylor. He is also known for NBC's Chuck, in which he played John Casey, one of the lead characters for the five season run of the show. In a recent episode of Castle, Baldwin was reunited with former Firefly castmate Nathan Fillion.

Joyce Bulifant (born December 16, 1937) is an American television actress, notable for her sunny "little girl"-like Southern lilt of a voice. She was a frequent panelist on the television game show Match Game and Chain Reaction, in which she more often than not gave bizarre answers that seldom matched the contestants on the former.

Bulifant was born in Newport News, Virginia. In the 1960s, after appearing on Broadway, she guest starred in numerous television programs, including ABC's Channing, The Virginian, in addition to portraying an intended murder victim in an episode of Thriller in 1961: "An Attractive Family", and also as the innocent young blonde defendant "Nancy Banks", in Perry Mason 1963 episode 197: "The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands", the second of her two appearances in the series. Bulifant, who has been described as "naturally funny", was the original choice for the role of Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, but the part ultimately went to Florence Henderson.

After losing that role, Bulifant accepted the role of Marsha Patterson in the half-hour NBC television series The Bill Cosby Show (1969 – 1971). From 1971 through 1977 she portrayed Murray's wife, Marie Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, making 11 appearances over seven seasons. During this time, she also played Marjorie Martin, the wife of Herbert Edelman in the Saturday morning show Big John, Little John.

Summer Lyn Glau ( /ˈɡlaʊ/; born July 24, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Glau was born in San Antonio, Texas, where she grew up with her two younger sisters (Kaitlin and Christie). She is of Scots-Irish and German descent. Her mother is a school teacher and her father a general contractor.

Glau received a scholarship to a ballet company and was home-schooled from grades 3 to 12 to accommodate her ballet training. Glau was classically trained as a ballet dancer and also studied tango and flamenco. After a broken toe ended her dancing career, Glau later moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to pursue a more active acting career.

Glau's first television credit was a guest role as a ballerina on the 2002 episode "Waiting in the Wings" of the television series Angel. There she caught the eye of director Joss Whedon, who later cast her in his critically acclaimed but short-lived TV series Firefly as River Tam, a role she reprised for the show's feature film sequel, Serenity. Glau previously auditioned for the role as a Pink Ranger on one of the Power Rangers series before meeting Joss Whedon.