Main •
Katie Cassidy as Ella Simms, a publicist who began her career under the guidance of
Sydney Andrews, the new landlady of 4616 Melrose Place. Ella's close friendships with some of the other tenants, David and Jonah, are highlighted with some sexuality. Ambitious, scheming, and at times devious, Ella eventually comes into her own as a confident woman in show business. This is shown by her willingness to use her sexuality to get things done by seducing both men and women. Prior to Sydney's untimely death, Ella's relationship with her mentor had soured. She had a brief relationship with Jonah, after his broken engagement to Riley. •
Colin Egglesfield as August "Auggie" Kirkpatrick, a chef and part-time surfer with a history of alcoholism, which has adversely affected his life to the point that it once got him in a fight which killed his girlfriend. This landed him in an
Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with Sydney, with whom he had a brief relationship. With Sydney's help, he is able to overcome this. He later tries to help Sydney when she also becomes addicted to drugs. After Sydney's death, Auggie turns to Riley for comfort. When this does not work out, he begins a relationship with Violet (originally unaware that she is Sydney's long-lost daughter) and eventually leaves California with her. •
Stephanie Jacobsen as Lauren Yung, Ella's roommate and a cash-strapped medical student of Dr. Mancini. With the obsession to be a medical doctor at any cost, she reluctantly turns to prostitution in order to pay her tuition. Lauren's first client was a man who offered her a huge sum of money to have sex with him. He later becomes her "pimp", recommending her to one of his friends. After she rendered her services to a man she met at a certain hotel bar, she is confronted by Wendi, a madam who has made a deal with the hotel, who threatens her if she ever sees her there again. Lauren is eventually employed by Wendi, and her new job has become invasive of her personal life, to the point that her friends see less and less of her. When Michael Mancini threatens to reveal her secret to the hospital, she comes clean to her friends about her profession which she quits soon after and enters into a romance with David. •
Jessica Lucas as Riley Richmond, an elementary schoolteacher who is engaged to Jonah. In addition to her being wary of Jonah's friendship with Ella, she also has some feelings for her jogging partner, Auggie. •
Michael Rady as Jonah Miller, a good-natured friend of Ella's who works in the IT department of her agency and is also an aspiring filmmaker. His close friendship with Ella is only one of the problems in his relationship with his fiancée, Riley. •
Shaun Sipos as David Breck, another friend of Ella's and Michael Mancini's son with an unnamed woman. He had a brief relationship with his landlady, Sydney, prior to her untimely death. He is also, possibly, the biological father of Noah, the son of his father's recently deceased wife, Vanessa. David later has an intimate relationship with Ella's roommate, Lauren. Although they eventually ended breaking up, they both remain with strong feelings for each other. Often unemployed, David supports himself by performing robberies of houses in wealthy neighborhoods and selling the items he steals on the black market thanks to his criminal contact Amir. He later uses his ill-gotten money to buy the restaurant Coal as a means of going legal and legitimate. •
Ashlee Simpson-Wentz as Violet Foster, a young woman new to California and struggling to fit in with the other tenants of Melrose Place. While she quickly becomes friends with some of them, none of them know that she came to California to find her biological mother. It turned out that her biological mother is Sydney, who rejected her at first but later wanted to get to know her. Violet's reunion with her mother is cut short when Sydney is found murdered in the pool. She later finds out about her mother's turbulent relationship with
Dr. Michael Mancini, whom she approaches to apply as the nanny of his son, Noah. Being just as scheming and manipulative as her biological mother, Violet eventually has an affair with Michael and even blackmails him with a recording of their one night stand. She reveals to him that she is Sydney's daughter and that she wants to get back at him for treating her mother badly. In searching for her mother's murderer, Violet finds out that Michael's wife, Vanessa, had previously confronted Sydney about her affair with Michael. Sydney's insinuation that Vanessa's son with Michael, Noah, was actually fathered by Michael's estranged son, David (who also had a brief relationship with Sydney), drove Vanessa to kill her. Violet then confronts Vanessa, resulting in a fight in the pool, and ultimately, Vanessa's death. Her drug-addicted adoptive brother came to California, and it was revealed they'd been secretly sleeping together unbeknownst to their parents. She then dated Auggie Kirkpatrick, eventually leaving California with him.
Special guest stars •
Laura Leighton as
Sydney Andrews •
Thomas Calabro as
Dr. Michael Mancini •
Josie Bissett as
Jane Andrews •
Daphne Zuniga as
Jo Reynolds •
Heather Locklear as
Amanda Woodward Recurring characters and guest stars •
Nicholas Gonzalez as Detective James Rodriguez •
Victor Webster as Caleb Brewer, Ella's boss at WPK • Jason Olive as Detective Drake •
Brooke Burns as Vanessa Mancini, Michael's newest wife •
Ethan Erickson as Chef Marcello, Augie's boss at Coal •
Kelly Carlson as Wendi Mattison, Lauren's madame employer •
Nick Zano as Drew Pragin, an intern at Wilshire Hospital and Riley's newest love interest •
Adam Kaufman as Toby Shepard •
Niall Matter as Rick Paxton • Cameron Castaneda as Noah Mancini, Michael and Vanessa's five-year-old son •
Billy Campbell as Ben Brinkley, Amanda's billionaire boyfriend •
Wendy Glenn as Melissa Saks, Ella's flirt ==Episodes==