Olivia Richards Gregory Richards Ricardo Torres • played by
Hank Cheyne Ricardo Torres had just been promoted to a detective. He's leading a great life with
Paula Stevens, his girlfriend, and it seems like everything is going fine.
Eddie Connors, Paula and Ricardo's fellow officer, always wanted Paula for himself. When Paula accidentally saw him in a jewelry store, he thought she was on to him, so he decided to teach her a lesson by kidnapping her and then paying Ralph Myers, a criminal, to torture her. Ricardo went through hard time trying to find his fiancée. She was barely saved from a van filled with gas. The next few weeks she spent trying to deal with the rape and putting Ralph behind bars. During her kidnapping, Ricardo met
Gabi Martinez, an attractive woman who spent a night with Ricardo and then later it turned out that Gabi was Paula's sister. Gabi moved in with Paula and Ricardo and did her best to mess with Ricardo's mind. When Paula and Ricardo broke up, Ricardo slept with Gabi, and Gabi was confused after they had sex and eventually accused Ricardo of raping her. For Paula, it was something that she just could not get through. Although it was proven that Ricardo was innocent, Paula decided to leave town by the end of 1997. In 1998, Ricardo became closer with Gabi, as they realized that they loved each other. However, Gabi soon fell in love with Ricardo's brother
Antonio, but they both rejected their attraction. Meanwhile, Ricardo's mother
Carmen constantly tried to warn Ricardo to leave Gabi. During the Shockwave storyline, Ricardo found himself on the boat along with other
Sunset Beach people. The boat suffered the same tragedy as
Titanic, but the people rescued themselves just in time. Months later, Ricardo was involved in two other storylines---his sister
Maria returned home after being presumed dead in 1993, and he often confronted Maria's husband
Ben about it. He was also involved in a Rosario Jewels storyline. In 1999, Ricardo was convinced that everything was going fine. Gabi and him decided to get married, but he did not know that Gabi slept with his brother when they found themselves trapped in an exploded building. Carmen blackmailed Gabi to stop the wedding, but Gabi and Ricardo eventually got married. Days later, Ricardo was shocked to find a tape of Gabi and Antonio together. The shock of this overwhelmed him. He suffered a stroke and was hospitalized, after which he did everything he could to make Gabi's life a disaster. He also tried to deport his brother Antonio. Eventually, Ricardo forgave them both, and Gabi left town at the very last episode.
Paula Stevens • played by
Laura Harring (January 6, 1997―December 17, 1997
Gabi Martinez • played by
Priscilla Garita (February 17, 1997―December 31, 1999) Although her first appearance is one month after the show's premiere, Priscilla receives cast credit from the show's beginning. When she started on
Sunset Beach, Gabi immediately starts to seduce
Ricardo Torres, an engaged Police officer, and she continues flirting with him. Days later, Gabi finds out that Ricardo's fiancé was
Paula Stevens, her half-sister. Gabi is well received by her half-sister, but Ricardo did not have the same attitude. Paula offered Gabi to stay with them in the apartment, where she continues to seduce Ricardo. Things got complicated when Ricardo and Gabi slept together, and Gabi accuses Ricardo of raping her, which leads to court. Paula is convinced that Gabi was telling the truth and she leaves Ricardo. Although Ricardo proves that he did not rape Gabi, Paula decides to leave town with her mother. On her way to redemption, she realizes having been raped by her father troubles her, Gabi decides to spend
New Year's Eve on a mysterious island bought by
Ben Evans for
Meg Cummings, but a killer was present on the island. She survives. At the time, Gabi was becoming closer with
Mark Wolper, a young D.J., but they never got a chance to develop their relationship because Mark is killed off during that storyline. In 1998, Gabi and Ricardo got closer although Ricardo's mother
Carmen Torres did not approve their relationship. Then Gabi met
Antonio Torres, Ricardo's brother, a priest. Gabi and Antonio found themselves attracted to each other, but they kept denying the attraction. Antonio and Gabi were in love with each other. Ricardo and Gabi get engaged. Meanwhile, both Gabi, Antonio and Ricardo is involved in a Rosario jewels story. When Gabi and Antonio ends up trapped in an exploding building, they thought they would die and so they gave in to their love for each other and they slept together, and a camera filmed them. The tape of their sexual intercourse was later used by
Francesca Vargas to blackmail Antonio and Gabi. When Francesca was killed, Gabi and Antonio were possible suspects, but they actually did not have anything to do with her murder. At Gabi and Ricardo's wedding, Carmen uses the tape of their lovemaking to blackmail Gabi into leaving Ricardo at the altar, but they eventually marry and everything was going fine until Ricardo found the tape and decided to destroy Gabi and Antonio's life. Eventually, Ricardo forgives them and Gabi decides to leave town and find good stuff somewhere else, giving up on her true love Antonio.
Casey Mitchum • played by
Timothy Adams At the very beginning of the show, Casey met Rae Chang, a young doctor who immediately took his breath away, but she did not show the same interest in Casey. They both decided to buy a house and accidentally bought the same house. When Rae was forced to marry a young man named Wei-Li that her parents chose for her, Casey helped Rae by pretending to be her husband. This led to something of a mild rivalry between Casey and Wei-Li when he arrived in Sunset Beach to see Rae, but it never grew into anything serious as the two men actually liked each other. Their plot was eventually revealed, and Rae discovered she did have feelings for Wei-Li after all. Casey was heartbroken, but his life had to go on.
Alex Mitchum, his mother, came to
Sunset Beach with an illness, but she decided to hide it from her son, yet the truth was soon discovered. Casey spent the next few months taking care of her. Until the end of 1997, Casey spent time taking care of his friends, putting his love life away. He was also one of the survivors of the
Terror Island storyline. In 1998, Casey met Sara Cummings, Meg's sister, and they soon fell in love with each other. Casey helped Sara escape from her past, and she was happy to be rescued by such a handsome person. They both battled against Sara's ex-friend Melinda Fall. They became even closer. At the same time, Meg was having trouble with Ben, whose wife had just returned from the dead. Sara was afraid that Casey's friendship with Meg could turn into something more, so she worked with
Tim Truman to break them up. Sara was very insecure, and eventually Casey found out about Sara's plot and broke up with Sara. Then Casey consoled Meg and they ended up in a short relationship, but their love was never more than on a friendly basis. Sara and Casey go together at the end of the series.
Rae Chang • played by
Kelly Hu (January 7, 1997―June 5, 1997) Dr. Rae Chang was introduced in the second episode as a
physician, a young doctor. Rae decided to buy a house called
Surf Central, and ended up buying it with
Casey Mitchum, a young lifeguard. They quickly fell in love, but Rae always put her feelings aside. Meanwhile, she felt pressured by her parents to marry a man they chose for her, Wei-Li Young. Rae pretended to be married to Casey in front of her parents, but eventually gave in to her parents' pressure and left town and married Wei-Lee. Her character was written off only a few months after the premiere.
Elaine Stevens • played by
Leigh Taylor-Young (January 6, 1997―December 17, 1997) A fun and entertaining person, and one of town's favorite citizens. She had her own coffee shop and people respected her, but nobody ever knew the trouble she went through. She had hard time trying to cope with the fact that her daughter Paula chose to marry
Ricardo Torres. Also, past came back to haunt her when she realized that her best friends
Olivia Richards and
Bette Katzenkazrahi helped Del Douglas kidnap her baby
Cole Deschanel when she was young.
Cole came to town in 1997 and soon they both found out the truth. Elaine dug up Cole's grave and it was empty. She felt betrayed by her friends. It was also discovered later that Elaine was the one who murdered Del Douglas. Fortunately,
Gregory Richards saved her at court, and at the end of 1997, Elaine left town with her daughter. Her departure was never addressed or seen on-screen. March 19, 1999) Eddie Connors, a police officer, was presented to us as
Annie Douglas' boy-toy. He served her when she wanted, and usually tried to do whatever she needed. Eddie had a crush on his fellow female officer Paula Stevens, but she was not interested. Eddie accidentally saw Paula in a jewelry store, where he was trying to sell Deschanel jewels and win a fortune. He thought Paula suspected him, so he kidnapped her and then hired a rapist to take care of her. Paula's fiancé
Ricardo Torres found her, and he had no idea that Eddie was behind the kidnapping. Eddie was also the first person to learn that
Cole Deschanel was Elaine Stevens' son. Eddie left the police force and became a
private investigator. In May 1998, he discovered
Derek Evans was impersonating his twin
Ben Evans and decided to try to blackmail him, leading to Derek murdering him. On March 19, 1999, Eddie returned in one episode along with Del Douglas to greet Francesca Vargas in Hell.
Michael Bourne Michael Bourne was played by
Jason Winston George Michael was a town lifeguard, who had
Casey Mitchum as a friend and many others. His story began when he met a young journalist
Vanessa Hart and saved her from a sure death. Vanessa had a lot of trouble due to an article she was writing, trying to save LaShawnda and Jaleen Muhammad from Jo-Jo Muhammad, who turned out to be Michael's friend. Vanessa found herself hiding from them, and Michael was always there to save her. When the situation had resolved itself, Vanessa decided to leave to
Hong Kong. Michael was sad about it. Days later, Vanessa returned home, but a chance for love with Michael was a bit challenged. Michael's friend from past,
Virginia Harrison, was in love with Michael and she often used her son
Jimmy Harrison to get what she wanted. Virginia did everything she could to break up the happy couple. It was later revealed that Michael had accidentally murdered Virginia's husband. During the Terror Island storyline, Virginia tried to kill Vanessa several times, but she did not do it, because they had to worry about the serial killer on the loose. Virginia researched Vanessa's past and realized that Vanessa had a mother that suffered from Martin's Syndrome, and she decided to use it to her advantage. She used help from
Mrs. Moreau to get a potion that could make Vanessa think she got the syndrome too. Vanessa was frightened and decided to leave
Sunset Beach to avoid Michael. Michael was in despair when Vanessa left. Meanwhile, Vanessa was hiding at
Tyus Robinson's place. Tyus fell in love with Vanessa, but she did not have the same feelings for him. Tyus was working on a cure for Vanessa, and everyone was surprised when Vanessa's illness disappeared. Vanessa and Michael finally reunited, but their happiness did not last long. Virginia made another plot, a sick and crazy plan. On the night of
Meg Cummings and
Ben Evans' wedding, Virginia used a turkey baster to insert Tyus' sperm (which she stole) into Vanessa and impregnated her. Vanessa soon learned she was pregnant. Virginia also staged another scene. She took a photo of Vanessa and Tyus together on the bed, and therefore, they thought that they had sex. Michael soon learned the truth about Vanessa's pregnancy and he was definitely shocked. Vanessa and Michael broke up, and Tyus comforted Vanessa. A few weeks later, Vanessa miscarried. When it seemed like Vanessa and Michael were coming closer again, Virginia had finally lost it. She ended up in a mental institution, and she confessed all of her crimes. Vanessa and Michael were both shocked. A few months later, after making up and breaking up, on the final episode, Vanessa and Michael finally got married. Michael and Vanessa's storyline was often isolated from other characters, focusing mainly on either the two of them or Virginia, but not branching out the storyline to mix with others.
Sunset Beachs final episode, which aired on December 31, 1999, featured the double wedding of Michael and Vanessa alongside Meg and Ben.
Vanessa Hart • played by
Sherri Saum A young journalist named Vanessa entered the world of
Sunset Beach when
Michael Bourne saved her from death, and then later saved her from a robber. Vanessa had a lot of trouble due to an article she was writing, trying to save RaShonda and Jaleen Muhammad from Jo-Jo Muhammad, who turned out to be Michael's friend. Vanessa found herself hiding from them, and Michael was always there to save her. When the situation had resolved itself, Vanessa decided to leave to
Hong Kong briefly, but promised to keep their love alive. Days later, Vanessa returned home, but a chance for love with Michael was a bit challenged. Michael's friend from past,
Virginia Harrison, was in love with Michael and she often used her son
Jimmy Harrison to get what she wanted. Virginia did everything she could to break up the happy couple. It was later revealed that Michael had accidentally murdered Virginia's husband. It came to Vanessa's attention that Virginia was more than meets the eye. She was trying to get attention, and Vanessa did not like it. When Vanessa and Michael left for a romantic weekend getaway in a cabin, Virginia drove to the cabin and set it on fire. Vanessa later realized that Virginia was the one who did it, but Michael did not believe her. Virginia was jealous because Vanessa started snooping into her life. Virginia researched Vanessa's past and realized that Vanessa had a mother that suffered from Martin's Syndrome, and she decided to use it to her advantage. She used help from Mrs. Moreau to get a potion that could make Vanessa think she got the syndrome too. Vanessa was frightened and decided to leave
Sunset Beach to avoid Michael. Michael was in despair when Vanessa left. Meanwhile, Vanessa was hiding at
Tyus Robinson's place. Tyus fell in love with Vanessa, but she did not have the same feelings for him. Tyus was working on a cure for Vanessa, and everyone was surprised when Vanessa's illness disappeared. Vanessa and Michael finally reunited, but their happiness did not last long. Virginia made another plot, a sick and crazy plan. On the night of
Meg Cummings' and
Ben Evans' wedding, Virginia used a turkey baster to insert Tyus' sperm (which she
stole) into Vanessa and impregnated her. Vanessa soon learned she was pregnant. Virginia also staged another scene. She took a photo of Vanessa and Tyus together on the bed, and therefore, they thought that they had sex. Michael soon learned the truth about Vanessa's pregnancy and he was happy it until he learned that Tyus might be the father. Vanessa and Michael broke up, and Tyus comforted Vanessa. A few weeks later, Vanessa miscarried. When it seemed like Vanessa and Michael were coming closer again, Virginia had finally lost it. She ended up in a mental institution, as she confessed all of her crimes. Michael then tried to propose to Vanessa, A few months later, after making up and breaking up, on the final episode, Vanessa and Michael finally got married.
Bette Katzenkazrahi Annie Douglas Richards Ben Evans • played by
Clive Robertson Ben Evans is a mercurial recluse who lost his wife years ago. He's spending his days running a business in
Sunset Beach, and chatting on the net with a mysterious woman named
Dorothy. His neighbor,
Annie Douglas Richards is a spoiled woman who is trying to seduce him. That's how begins the story of Ben Evans. Days later, Ben meets
Meg Cummings, and gives her a job at
The Deep. Meg and Ben start to fall in love, but their happiness was limited by Annie, who stopped at nothing to achieve what she wanted. Annie always plotted to break up the two lovebirds, and she used Meg's ex-fiancé
Tim to help her get what she wanted. It was also revealed that Ben's mysterious
Dorothy was actually Meg. Annie planted bloody sheets, forged diary entries and much more to convince Meg that Ben has actually killed his wife Maria years ago, so eventually Meg decided to leave town, but Ben was not ready to give up on Meg, so he went to Ludlow to get Meg. The couple soon reunited and it seemed like things were finally getting better for them. Then came December 1997. Meg and her friends decided to spend New Year on a mystery island that Ben bought and everything was going fine until someone started to murder the people on the boat, and on the island. Meg faces the killer on various occasions, but never knew who it was. At the same time, Mark, who was also murdered, revealed to Tim that Ben killed him, but nobody knew that it was actually Ben's evil twin brother
Derek Evans. 2–3 months later, it was revealed that Derek has been keeping Ben captive in a warehouse, and was pretending to be Ben for a while. Meg did not suspect anything, but eventually, she discovered the truth and Ben and Derek faced off. Derek was killed (at the time). Meg and Ben finally reunited and decided to tie the knot. They did not know that a terrible truth was about to be revealed. Meg befriended Dana, a strange woman in a hospital, and she rescued her when Sunset Beach was hit by an earthquake! The women bonded. Meanwhile, Annie and Tim discovered Dana's true identity and decided to use it against Meg. On Meg and Ben's wedding day, everything was going fine. Ben and Meg were married and the celebration started. Then Dana entered and shocked every... it was revealed that Dana is actually
Maria Torres, Ben's wife, who was presumed dead years ago. The next few months were hard for Ben who was struggling to decide between his loving wife (who had amnesia) and Meg. Meg and Ben eventually parted, and Meg found comfort in her sister Sara's ex-boyfriend
Casey Mitchum. Meg and Ben were later about to make up when
Tess Marin entered the show with
Benjy Evans. Tess was Maria's friend, and Benjy was Maria and Ben's son. Everyone was shocked. Meanwhile, Ben started to act strange again. It was revealed that Derek is alive, and Ben was held captive again. Derek plotted with Tess to destroy Ben's life, and they eventually killed Tim, Meg's ex-fiancé. At the very last minute, Derek was finally murdered and Tess was put behind bars. It was also revealed that Benjy is actually Derek and Tess' son. Ben and Maria, who became closer, decided to let each other be happy, and then Meg and Ben were finally happy again. They organized a double wedding with their friends Vanessa and Michael, and that's how the show ended. The final scene involved Meg and Ben lying in bed. Meg woke up and realized she was in Ludlow again. She went down to the living room and found all of her friends and enemies in a different role. She was convinced that everything that happened in
Sunset Beach was only a dream, but a minute later, she woke up again to find herself with Ben, in
Sunset Beach, and he assured her that it's all real and that she was truly "Mrs Ben Evans".
Meg Cummings Tim Truman Sean Richards Tiffany Thorne • played by
Adrienne Frantz (January 6, 1997―May 15, 1997) and Jennifer Banko-Stewart (May 20, 1997―August 29, 1997) Tiffany Thorne was a teenage runaway introduced in the first episode. She was a rebel from the beginning, and she always tried to do what's best for her. Already in the first episode, she stole a bag from
Meg Cummings and then used the letter inside to play with
Ben Evans's mind. She fell in love with
Sean Richards and Mark Wolper fell in love with her. The triangle was broken off in just a few months when the writers decided to write out Tiffany due to a lack of storyline. Sean's mother
Olivia Richards gave her money to leave town.
Mark Wolper • played by
Nick Stabile (January 6, 1997―January 20, 1998) A D.J. and waiter. He moved into
Surf Central along with Casey, Rae, Meg and Michael. He fell in love with Tiffany Thorne, but their love was never meant to be because she only had eyes for
Sean Richards. He was friends with
Meg Cummings. They were always close, but she was in love with Ben. The writers decided to kill him off during the Terror Island storyline in January 1998. He showed interest in
Gabi Martinez too, but they never got a chance to explore that story.
Cole Deschanel Caitlin Deschanel • played by
Vanessa Dorman (January 9, 1997―June 18, 1998) and
Kam Heskin (June 24, 1998―December 31, 1999) In December 1998, a writer from
Soap Opera Update previewed the soap's 1999 stories. They revealed that Caitlin harassment storyline would intensify. The show's head writer
Margaret DePriest told the reporter that the "obscene" phone calls would continue and "esculate to a haunting conclusion in February 1999." She added "it's the shock of her life when she finds out who it is!" Caitlin was presented as the daughter of a rich lawyer
Gregory Richards and
Olivia Richards. She fell in love with
Cole Deschanel, a mysterious jewel thief and their love was constantly threatened by her over-protective and sinister father. At the same time, Cole slept with Caitlin's mother, Olivia, but he did not know that Olivia was actually his girlfriend's mother. Various times, Gregory tried to get rid of Cole, even by hiring a hit man to kill him, but he did not succeed. Thing got even more complicated. At the same time, both Caitlin and Olivia got pregnant. After a car accident, Caitlin lost her baby, but she decided to keep pretending to be pregnant, so she would not lose Cole. Meanwhile, Olivia finally found happiness again with Gregory. Caitlin sought help from
Annie Douglas to find a baby that Caitlin could use as her own. At the same time, Annie plotted to win over Gregory, so she decided to make a huge turn-over. When Olivia gave birth, Annie stole the baby and gave it to Caitlin. Olivia thought her baby had died and Caitlin had no idea that she had her mother's child. This, of course caused Gregory and Olivia's divorce. Caitlin and Cole were finally happy. They had a baby and they got married, it seemed like everything was perfect, in the summer of 1998, Cole and Caitlin were also involved in the tsunami storyline. Cole met his former lover,
Francesca Vargas and Francesca tried to win him over, but he only loved Caitlin. When Francesca was murdered, they were also suspects, but none of them murdered her, but Gregory is the one who actually killed Francesca. Olivia was shocked to find out that Caitlin's baby is actually her own. Caitlin had hard time dealing with the truth, and this caused a big fight between Cole and Caitlin. Caitlin and Gregory were shocked to learn that Olivia and Cole had an affair years ago. It was then revealed that Cole is actually Trey's father. This led to a fight between Gregory and Cole, after which Gregory went missing and everyone presumed him dead. Caitlin had to struggle with the fact that Trey is not hers and she was even more shocked when Cole was caught by London authorities, and went missing. He eventually returned in the final episode and reunited with his one/only love, Caitlin. ==Later additions==