List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Encyclopedia II - List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Major characters

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Major characters

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Carl CJ Johnson

Carl "CJ" Johnson is the protagonist, anti-hero and player-controlled character in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

CJ is a member of the Grove Street Families (GSF), along with his brother, Sean "Sweet" Johnson. After the death of his younger brother, Brian, Carl escaped the pressures of gang life and moved to Liberty City for five years, where he had the opportunity of working with Don Salvatore Leone's son, Joey Leone in the car theft business, and is once seen mugging a passer-by on the streets.

Upon receiving a phone call from Sweet on the death of his mother, however, he returns to Los Santos, only to be confronted by members of CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), consisting of officers Frank Tenpenny, Eddie Pulaski and Hernandez. Throughout the storyline, CJ is forced to work for CRASH, after learning that he has been framed by CRASH for the murder of an Internal Affairs police officer called Pendlebury, whom CRASH members had also silenced to prevent him exposing the team's activities.

Early in the game, CJ aided Sweet and the rest of the senior members in reviving the GSF, by ridding parts of the neighborhood of narcotic dealers, acquiring firearms and regaining gang territory. This would end for a period of time, after CJ learned two of his senior members and friends, Ryder and Big Smoke, had betrayed the gang, while Sweet was ambushed by rival Ballas gang members and arrested by the police. CJ was arrested in the process, and released by CRASH into a rural area to perform another job for the team. CJ's and Sweet's arrests also paved the way for the downfall of the GSF - as well as Cesar's Aztecas - and total domination of Los Santos by the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos, respectively.

After a brief stay in the Badlands, CJ and his remaining associates headed north for San Fierro, establishing a vehicle chop shop and dealership while strengthening links with the local Triads and killing Ryder. Gaining access to Las Venturas, CJ rescues rapper Madd Dogg from suicidal death (when he felt apparent responsibility for what he did to him) in front of people who didn't lift a finger to help out (if anything were betting on Madd Dogg to jump or not), and meets up and works for undercover government agent Mike Toreno, who would eventually arrange for the release of Sweet from prison. After that, he had planned a new life to start from.

However, with Sweet returning to the neighborhood, CJ once again, though reluctantly after pointing out that the gang was only dragging him down, aids Sweet in rebuilding the GSF's dominance in the city, and witnesses a citywide riot sparked after Frank Tenpenny was acquitted of all charges in court. To wrap up all loose ends in his life, CJ would finally confront and kill Big Smoke, before pursuing Tenpenny, who would die in a car crash in front of his house. In front of the dead and broken man, CJ prepared to commit mutilation of Tenpenny's corpse with his Desert Eagle, but Kendl comes by with CJ's friends and stops him. He then leaves Tenpenny with these words: "Be seeing you around...Officer."

After the riot breaks up, Madd Dogg visits the Johnson house with an announcement that he's received a golden record for his new album. Everyone inside then decides to keep a low profile with everything that they've accomplished. CJ himself then gets up and leaves the house. His friends ask where he's going. He says in turn: "Fittin' to hit the block, see what's happening." The game's main storyline then ends.

Unlike the principal characters of other Grand Theft Auto games, CJ's appearance is highly customizable, as the player can purchase hair cuts, tattoos and clothing for him. Certain clothes, tattoos and hairstyles improve CJ's standing with his fellow gang members as well as his sex appeal to his selective girlfriends. The player may also have CJ build his muscle by working out at a gym, to improve strength in physical strangth against opposing adversaries as well as durabilty against damage and run faster, build fat by eating plenty of fattening foods at the in-game restaurants and dating to do the opposite of what building muscle does, running on foot or on a gym's treadmill as well as swimming to improve stamina and lose fat, diving underwater frequently to improve lung capacity, driving a car, riding bikes, riding motorcycles, flying air vehicles to improve CJ's ability to do so, shooting certain guns to use them better, and improving or losing respect through certain actions the player takes and missions CJ completes. The player may also collect horseshoes in Las Venturas to improve luck and clams statewide to improve both lung capacity and sex appeal. Relationships through the player's selective girlfriends may also be improved through dating (depending on whether its a successful date or not).

CJ was voiced by Young Maylay, aka Chris Bellard. Rumors circulated the internet for a while that Dave Chappelle was supposed to voice CJ, but these were most likely just wishful thinking on the part of Chappelle's fans.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Sean Sweet Johnson

Sean "Sweet" Johnson is CJ's older brother. After the death of Brian Johnson, Sweet blames Carl for the murder of their little brother, prompting Carl to leave Los Santos. As leader, or "shot caller", of the Grove Street Families, Sweet remained in control of the gang while Carl was away, albeit in a sorry state. Throughout the storyline, Sweet remains caring and dedicated to his family, gang, and neighborhood.

After Carl's return to Los Santos, Carl aids Sweet and the rest of the gang in restoring the GSF to its former glory. This would end in the middle of the storyline, however, when Sweet was badly wounded and jailed for a period of time, after Sweet and a portion of his gang was ambushed by the Ballas, and were subsequently arrested by the police; with some members also killed.

Sweet was released from jail later in the game, after Mike Toreno had agreed to Carl that he would arrange for Sweet's release in return of a favor. Sweet would then return to Los Santos, and rebuild the GSF's dominance in the neighborhood again, for good.

Sweet was voiced by Faizon Love.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Kendl Johnson

Kendl Johnson is CJ and Sweet's sister. She is also Cesar Vialpando's girlfriend, and a member of both Cesar's Varrios Los Aztecas, and the Grove Street Families. After learning about Big Smoke and Ryder's betrayal, CJ requests that Cesar bring Kendl to safety, by fleeing from Los Santos.

Kendl is seen as a potential member of the family who could pursue a more legal career, with her entrepreneurial willpower, creativity and sense of leadership, although she appears bossy on occasions.

She was voiced by Yo-Yo.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Melvin Big Smoke Harris

Melvin "Big Smoke" Harris is a senior and overweight member of the Grove Street Families. Early in the storyline, there were several telltale signs of Big Smoke's disloyalty to the gang; he moved out of Grove Street to live in a new home in Idlewood, but there is suspicion that he paid for the house with shady money. In addition, Big Smoke has, on occasion, showed little interest in defending or aiding the gang, as seen when the rest of his senior posse was pursuing a pair of Ballas gang members. Big Smoke would also be seen dragging himself into conflict with other non-native gangs, including the Russian mob and the San Fierro Rifas.

His true nature was revealed when he turned his back from the gang, having been seen along with Ryder collaborating with the Ballas and CRASH, and appeared to be linked, along with Ryder, to the killing of Carl's mother. With the prospect of power, money, and fame in the drug business too great for Big Smoke to resist, he goes on to establish a drug delivery venture with the Loco Syndicate in San Fierro with the help of the Ballas, transporting the merchandise and money between Los Santos and San Fierro, as well as running several drug manufacturing factories in both San Fierro and Los Santos (the former destroyed by Carl during his stay in San Fierro).

In the final mission of the game, "End of the Line", Carl enters Big Smoke's remaining drug factory (and home) in Los Santos, amid a citywide riot, to confront Big Smoke, and ends up killing him.

In The Introduction, Smoke unsuccessfully tries to convince Sweet to have the GSF sell drugs, saying that the Ballas have gotten rich and powerful due to drug sales, while the GSF have lost power. Smoke, however, easily convinces Ryder to his side during a private meeting between the two. It is also evident that Tenpenny had a large hand in Smoke turning traitor, apparently tempting Smoke with chances of money and power, and possibly even threatening him.

Clifton Powell provided the voice for Big Smoke.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Lance Ryder Wilson

Lance "Ryder" Wilson is a senior member of the Grove Street Families in the early part of the game. In an effort to supply the GSF with new firearms and weapons, Ryder calls in CJ to help steal some weaponry from several locations, including the home of a heavily armed war veteran and a National Guard weapons depot.

After the betrayal and fall of the GSF in Los Santos, Ryder would aid Big Smoke in establishing a drug delivery business with the Loco Syndicate. Ryder is killed by CJ in the mission "Pier 69" in a boat chase, after CJ, Cesar Vialpando, and supporting Triad members ambushed Ryder and a part of the Loco Syndicate during a meeting between the two parties on a San Fierro pier, while killing Syndicate member T-Bone Mendez in the process.

In The Introduction, Smoke (behind Sweet's back) easily convinces Ryder about the idea of selling drugs.

Ryder bears a striking resemblance to the late rapper Eazy-E, wearing a black baseball cap and sporting a Jheri Curls hair style, while constantly seen with a pair of black outed sunglasses worn on occasions by Eazy-E. He also has a habit of calling CJ a "buster."

Ryder was voiced by MC Eiht.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Jeffrey OG Loc Cross

Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross is Carl's friend and neighbor. He wants to pursue a rapping career, ala-stereotypical 1990s West Coast rapper, imitating an early life of crime and landing himself in jail (apparently over a minor offense) and assuming a nickname: OG Loc. Unfortunately, Loc has shown that his rapping is terrible and unbearable to listen to. After his release from jail, Loc was still on parole and given a job as a cleaner at a local fast-food restaurant, losing his job not long after. Early dialog with Loc had also suggested that Loc may had originally intended to enter college. This is confirmed in the The Introduction, when Sweet tells Loc to enter college and make something of himself, but Loc refuses, saying that rapping is his true calling. While in prison, Loc was suggested to have indulged in homosexual activities with another male inmate, as mentioned in dialog when CJ and Loc pursued and killed him shortly after Loc's release from jail.

While working at the restaurant, OG Loc requests CJ aid him in jumpstarting his music career, by stealing some music equipment from a beach party and a rhyme book from notable local hip-hop artist, Madd Dogg. CJ has also been asked by Loc to derail Madd Dogg's career further by killing Madd Dogg's manager. This has given Loc the opportunity to rise to stardom, while sending Madd Dogg into decline and depression.

After Madd Dogg was saved by CJ and offered CJ a position as his manager in Las Venturas, Madd Dogg and CJ pursue OG Loc upon discovering Loc was in possession of his rhyme book. After a lengthy chase, Loc was cornered by the two men and sued by Madd Dogg's record label, Blastin' Fools Records.

OG Loc was voiced by Jonathan Anderson.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Madd Dogg

Madd Dogg is one of Los Santos' most well-known rappers. Shortly after CJ's arrival in Los Santos, Madd Dogg was at the height of his career, having just release his own line of clothing, as well as numerous other merchandises. Madd Dogg's career would suffer a decline with the theft of his rhyme book and the death of his manager, both acts committed by CJ in an effort to jumpstart OG Loc's music career.

Madd Dogg experienced a period of depression, having given away his mansion in Mulholland to a drug dealer, and gambling all his money away in a Las Venturas casino (while missing a concert in Las Venturas). In a bid to commit suicide, Madd Dogg appears on the ledge of a casino, drunk, and attempts to jump to his death, only to be saved by CJ at the last minute.

In return for saving his life, Madd Dogg requests that CJ be his manager, while CJ aided Madd Dogg in seizing his mansion back and restoring his music career. OG Loc was sued by Madd Dogg as a result.

Ice T provided the voice for Madd Dogg.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Cesar Vialpando

Cesar Vialpando is Kendl's boyfriend and leader of the Hispanic street gang, Varrios Los Aztecas. Introduced to CJ in a lowrider contest, he helps CJ and the Grove Street Families get back to the top and remains loyal for the duration of the game. He is also an excellent lowrider driver.

Like CJ, Cesar was forced to leave Los Santos with Kendl after the initial Ballas ambush on the Grove Street Families, and his gang's influence in the city dimished sharply. While "in exile", he gets CJ into a lot of grief by introducing him to Catalina. After arriving in San Fierro, he puts his driving skills to good use by aiding CJ in obtaining several sport cars for their newly established car business. During one of the last missions of the game, Cesar tells CJ he wants to propose to Kendl. He wants CJ to talk to Sweet about this because Sweet expresses his disapproval of Cesar in the early stages of the game.

Cesar was voiced by Clifton Collins Jr..

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Officer Frank Tenpenny

Officer Frank Tenpenny is a corrupt policeman of the Los Santos Police Department (LSPD) and the head of CRASH, serving as the main antagonist of the game. He lost part of his sanity through all the stress of dealing with all the gang crimes as a community police officer in Los Santos. From that point, he takes the law into his own hands thinking that this is the most effective way to stop all the crime that's happening.

Primarily working with the Ballas, Tenpenny committed racketeering, corruption, possession and use of narcotics and sexual assault (at least these are crimes with which he's charged). After Carl's return to Los Santos from Liberty City at the beginning of the game, Tenpenny, Pulaski, and (to a rather smaller extent) Hernandez, framed Carl for shooting Officer Pendelbury, who had threatened to expose their illicit activities, and forces Carl to perform a number of jobs for CRASH. He wronged so many people, that in fact his arrest and subsequent acquittal sparked a riot in Los Santos which only ended near the end of the storyline with Tenpenny's death, a reference of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which was sparked by a similar incident.

Tenpenny was seeking to escape from Los Santos and the riot by plane (he was supposedly fleeing San Andreas) with drug money. There, he would, like he did to Pulaski, corrupt other officers with his vision of how the law should be handled. He is killed in the mission "End of the Line" in a car crash when he accidentally drives a stolen fire engine off the side of a overpass just outside of the Johnson family's home on Grove Street at the end of the game. His corpse is then torn apart and mutilated by rioters finally satisfying the riot to point of bringing an end to it.

Tenpenny was voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Officer Eddie Pulaski

Officer Pulaski is Frank Tenpenny's partner in crime. Little by little, Tenpenny showed him the "truth" of how the law should be handled in CRASH when dealing with gang crime. Over the years he had been working with Tenpenny, he developed a high level of deluded trust in their partnership (if anything, Tenpenny was simply using Pulaski to cover his back when needed) and an irreverent outlook on those he saw as below the law. He also served as Tenpenny's crooked henchman most of the time, doing numerous illegal activies and covering up the truth. In the desert region of Bone County, they kill Officer Hernandez for revealing information to the authorities. Officer Pulaski is killed by CJ in the mission "High Noon" during a car chase after numerous comments about CJ's mother and sister. Pulaski depicted an excellent villain alongside Tenpenny. Although he ended up getting chased, shot, and killed by CJ, he was a major antagonist to the main plot of the story.

Chris Penn provided the voice for Pulaski.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Officer Jimmy Hernandez

Officer Hernandez is the latest member of CRASH. He is the rookie officer, and is given little, if any, respect from Tenpenny and Pulaski. Unlike his other two counterparts, he didn't share their corrupt view of how the law should be handled. They both try to convince Hernandez through the genre of their daily work such as shooting a dying man both Tenpenny and Pulaski beat down to keep from talking.

After he finally realizes that things have been taken too far with Tenpenny's multiple acts of conspiracy, he decides to report all of CRASH's crimes of corruption up to the point where he was working with them. He is then killed in the mission "High Noon" for selling out Tenpenny and Pulaski and almost ends up buried in Bone County by Pulaski and (to a larger extent) a reluctant CJ.

He was voiced by Armando Riesco.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Catalina

Catalina is Cesar Vialpando's cousin who lived in a secluded shack in the rural Fern Ridge area, exhibiting a strong sense of hatred against men, with the occasional exception of boyfriends. After being displaced by CRASH to the Badlands, CJ is recommended by Cesar to find Catalina for work.

After meeting each other, CJ and Catalina go on a crime spree in the countryside, robbing several business premises, including the theft of a tanker trailer loaded with fuel from a gas station; at the beginning of the third heist, Catalina puts CJ through and extreme form of BDSM (though not explicitly shown), in the process, an unlikely love relationship developed between the two (though CJ was probably only looking to earn some quick cash to get back on his feet), but was met with much turbulence. She eventually breaks up with CJ and finds herself a new boyfriend, Claude, the silent protagonist from Grand Theft Auto III (GTA III), before leaving the state of San Andreas for Liberty City, where the events of GTA III will take place about nine years later.

Much of her psyche is brought to light during her conversations with CJ: She's homicidal and possibly suffers from a persecution complex that might date back to cruelty from her father. "...They had to die faster than a stupid older brother stuffing his face with candy while his father gives his stepdaughter nothing but a stale slice of bread."

After Catalina and Claude's departure, Catalina attempts but fails to win CJ back with her phone calls to him, only to receive his last response while trying to make him jealous through having an orgy with Claude: "Catalina! Yo sick! Get help!" She then retorts saying, "You, Carl Johnson, are jealous!"

As Claude's girlfriend, Catalina would eventually be seen as the woman who double-crosses Claude during a bank robbery at the beginning of GTA III, and was killed in the final mission "The Exchange" when Claude blows up a helicopter she was riding in.

Catalina was voiced by Cynthia Farrell.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Truth

The Truth is an aging hippie who lives in San Fierro and had previously owned a cannabis farm on the outskirts of the city. The Truth and CJ become friends while CJ was in exile in the San Fierro badlands, with CJ helping Truth in the theft of a combine harvester and the destruction of the farm's crops after the police learnt of the farm.

After CJ purchases an abandoned airfield on the outskirts of Las Venturas, Truth once again seeks CJ, this time to steal government property, including a jetpack from the Area 69 military complex and a containment unit containing unknown "green goo" transported by a heavily guarded train. Truth would play a more minor role thereafter.

As a conspiracy theorist, The Truth is apparently well aware of conspiracies surrounding the government and related organizations (including law enforcement agencies and the police). Truth also owns a hippie van dubbed "The Mothership" and is acquainted with mechanics Dwaine and Jethro.

He is known to smoke marijuana and do psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, magic mushrooms, and peyote. He's also dealt drugs, such as marijuana, opium, DMT, and magic mushrooms.

The Truth was voiced by Peter Fonda.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Jizzy B.

Jizzy B. is the biggest pimp in San Fierro who owns a club dubbed the "Pleasure Dome" in Juniper Hollow, San Fierro. It is an adult entertainment place, where Jizzy makes sure he has all the fun he wants. He is one of the leaders of the Loco Syndicate, which is manufacturing and supplying drugs to Los Santos. Jizzy is killed by CJ during a car chase in the mission "Ice Cold Killa," when he tries to escape his club with his bodyguard using his "pimpmobile" after CJ betrays him.

Jizzy was voiced by Charlie Murphy.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Mike Toreno

Mike Toreno is an undercover agent from an unknown government agency (probably the CIA) who disguises himself as a drug dealer for the Loco Syndicate. Initially believed to be killed after CJ destroys a helicopter that was thought to be seating him, Toreno would call on CJ to perform a series of government-related missions, in return of releasing Sweet out of prison later in the game. Mike Toreno was seen residing in a ranch at Tierra Robada.

Though he knew of Tenpenny and Pulaski's crimes, he, in his own words, stated: "It's all white knights and heroes. We have to make decisions, kid (CJ). You know, I try to set bad people on other bad people. And sometimes, I let good guys die." He gives CJ difficult missions like disrupting secret foreign government actions, learning how to fly and stealing a military jet from a Navy assault ship. In the last mission he gives CJ (after pushing his sanity an inch away from its limit), he explicitly says: "I've just got one tiny little thing for you to do, then I'm out of your life forever" and is no longer seen in the game thereafter.

Toreno was highly popular amongst fans, leading many to believe that he may play another focal role in future GTA games.

The character concept seems to be an homage both in appearence and style to William B. Davis' portrayal of "The Cigarette Smoking Man" in the popular 1990s television show The X-Files, which begins to takes place roughly a year after San Andreas's storyline.

James Woods provided the voice for Toreno.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Wu Zi Mu Woozie

Wu Zi Mu is the blind leader of the Mountain Cloud Boys Triads, based in San Fierro's Chinatown and in Las Venturas, where he owns the newly opened Four Dragons Casino. In Las Venturas, Woozie and Carl plot a robbery at Caligula's Casino, as well as participating in the robbery itself.

Woozie is nicknamed the "Lucky Mole" because he is blessed with good fortune, most notably from his capability to compete in a car race and beating Carl in a round of video games, all despite his blindness. There are, however, humorous occasions when he runs onto walls, as well as indications that his cohorts manipulate the outcome of games played with Woozie so that he would always win. Woozie is also incapable of swimming, since his other working senses are ineffective underwater.

Woozie was voiced by James Yaegashi.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Zero

Zero is a 28 year old electronics expert and hobbyist who owns an hobby shop in San Fierro. His archenemy is Berkley, the owner of Top Fun, whom Zero had previously beaten in a science fair, and has since craved for revenge. Using Zero's equipments, Carl aids Zero in disrupting Berkley's business operations and ultimately beating Berkley in a miniature "war game", forcing Berkley to leave San Fierro for good.

Later on, Zero can be seen providing electronic equipment for a number of jobs, as well as providing assistance in the Caligula Casino heist. By the end of the heist, he is seemingly knocked out after one punch from Carl, after Carl realizes that he told Berkley about the heist, complicating the job as a result. He was then left on the air strip and doesn't appear further on in the game.

Zero was voiced by David Cross.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Ken Rosenberg

Ken Rosenberg is the man in the middle of the Las Venturas Mafia war. In the game, his companions are Maccer, Kent Paul and a parrot named Tony. He helps CJ in Las Venturas. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, he was Tommy Vercetti's lawyer. During one mission, Rosenberg says to CJ: "It's just like the old days, Tommy." In The Introduction bonus DVD that comes with the game's soundtrack, it's revealed that Tommy had inexplicably began to avoid Ken as he has stopped taking his calls. The Introduction also displays Rosenberg sniffing continuously and scratching his nose; this suggests he still has his cocaine habit, which started in Vice City. During San Andreas he makes comments that he was in rehab.

After escaping from the Mafia in Las Venturas and faking his death (courtesy of CJ), he settles with working as a businessman with Madd Dogg, along with Maccer and Kent Paul.

Ken Rosenberg was once again voiced by William Fichtner.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Maccer

Maccer is a Manchester native, lead singer of the Gurning Chimps band and Kent Paul's partner. He has an uncontrollable tendency to masturbate.

Maccer was voiced by Shaun Ryder.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Kent Paul

Record producer extraordinaire, Kent Paul has brought a new English band, the Gurning Chimps, to San Andreas to have them noticed, but then he finds himself stranded in the desert with only one member remaining (Maccer). Rescued by CJ then after, he quickly heads to Las Venturas to meet his old acquaintance Ken Rosenberg (who he knows from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City), or "Rosie".

Kent Paul, who has probably given up on the band he brought over, eventually starts producing for Madd Dogg after Madd Dogg's career was back on track.

Kent Paul was again voiced by Danny Dyer.

List of characters in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Salvatore Leone

Don Salvatore Leone is the head of the Leone family of the Mafia. He eliminated the influence of the other Mafia families, the Sindaccos and the Forellis, in Las Venturas with the help of CJ. However, he is betrayed when CJ and his cohorts stage an elaborate heist and rob Caligula's Casino for millions of dollars. Furious, Salvatore vows to never trust anyone again, which is evident in future games. He also appears as a major character in Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

Salvatore was voiced a second time by Frank Vincent.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Major characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki