Main cast •
"Old" Christine Kimble Campbell (
Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the main character of the series, is a divorced mother who owns and operates a gym for women. She has a number of neuroses: although she suffers from feelings of inadequacy, she can also be very self-centered and thinks very highly of her looks. Christine's bad luck with relationships continues after her divorce. Her age is unknown (although at one point she mentions growing up in the 70s). An ongoing joke is her addiction to wine and trimming decades off her real age. •
Richard Campbell (
Clark Gregg) is Christine's ex-husband, who maintains a frequent presence in her life. After divorcing Christine, he finds love with another woman also named Christine, who is nicknamed "New Christine". He suffers from commitment issues; taking months to tell New Christine that he loves her and four years to propose to New Christine. Richard's presence in his ex-wife's life causes a strain between himself and New Christine, which results in her walking out on their wedding. Richard accepts the fact she doesn't want him back, though he and New Christine reunite when she becomes pregnant. •
Matthew Kimble (
Hamish Linklater) is Christine's long-suffering, live-in brother who often acts as a low-key
straight man to his neurotic sister. Matthew has trouble finding a career path; he enters and then quits medical school before pursuing a career as a therapist. He suffers from an
unhealthy attachment to his mother; whom he still kisses on the mouth and needs to speak to on a nightly basis in order to fall asleep. He constantly teases Christine's age, usually implying that she is "old". Matthew frequently dates women but is rarely interested in them beyond a one-night stand. He is also portrayed as a
pot smoker, but in one episode, he claims that he has never done drugs. •
Richard "Richie" Campbell Jr. (Trevor Gagnon), Christine and Richard's son, who attends a posh private school. Often smothered by his mother, his lack of masculine traits begins to worry his father. He is not very bright and mediocre in all his after-school activities. •
"New" Christine Liesl Hunter (
Emily Rutherfurd) is Richard's young, sweet and confused girlfriend, nicknamed New Christine. She is sometimes annoyed by Richard's continued closeness with Old Christine, who treats her with derision, leading to friction between the two women. She is also frustrated with Richard's lack of commitment to their relationship and walks out on their wedding due to his dedication to Old Christine. She also becomes furious when she learns that she is pregnant, even though Richard told her he had a
vasectomy. They re-kindle their relationship and Christine gives birth to a daughter named Dakota Christine Hunter-Campbell in the season 5 episode "Scream". •
Marly Ehrhardt (
Tricia O'Kelley) is a rich mother from Richie's private school who often puts Christine down for being divorced, having a low income and being a working mother. Christine often calls Marly and Lindsay the "meanie moms". Marly has a daughter, Ashley. She is said to have had much plastic surgery, and can evidently no longer turn her neck or wink. In the fourth season, Marly becomes pregnant again and forces her friend Lindsay to become pregnant with her, so that they can both "ruin their bodies together". •
Lindsay (
Alex Kapp Horner), one of the "meanie moms" from Ritchie's school, who is best friends with Marly, although Marly is clearly dominant to the subservient Lindsay, who often does things against her will to earn Marly's approval. They frequently make Christine feel inferior and poor. Lindsay has a daughter, Kelsey, whom Marly believes is a
lesbian. In the fourth season, Lindsay becomes pregnant along with Marly. She was previously a brunette and getting her master's in Women's Studies before she met Marly. On a few occasions, she has been shown to be kind to Old Christine, unbeknownst to Marly. •
Barbara "Barb" Baran (
Wanda Sykes) (recurring seasons 1–2; starring seasons 3–5) is Christine's sarcastic best friend and colleague at the gym. Barb, who in one episode was referred to as "my black friend, Barb" by Old Christine, is divorced and in the fourth season is revealed to be from The Bahamas and not an American citizen. She has a dry, droll sense of humor and is rarely enthused by any of Christine's plans. Barb and Christine get married early in season four to save Barb from deportation, but their same-sex marriage results in them losing ownership of their gym. After they lose the gym, Barb sells her condo to build up a new business and marries Richard to stave off deportation.
Recurring cast •
Ashley Ehrhardt (Lily Goff), Marly's daughter. (Seasons 1–5) •
Kelsey (Marissa Blanchard), Lindsay's daughter. (Seasons 1–5) •
Ali (
Amy Farrington), quiet, shy, but witty gym worker. (Seasons 1–2, 4) •
Mrs. Belt (Jordan Baker), Ritchie's third grade teacher. (Season 1) •
Stan aka "Sad Dad" (
Andy Richter), divorced father who Christine finds herself unable not to sleep with due to a sexual skill that earns him the title "champ". (Seasons 1–3) •
Burton Schaefer (
Matt Letscher), Old Christine's on-and-off romantic interest. (Seasons 1–2) •
Pete (Anthony Holiday), ex-husband of Barb. At one point Barb and Pete split up temporarily before Barb realizes she doesn't like being alone. However, their marriage gradually dissolves off screen which leads to a bitter divorce during the third season. (Seasons 1–2) •
Mrs. Wilhoite (
Mary Beth McDonough), teacher and mean mom at the school. (Seasons 1–5) •
Daniel Harris (
Blair Underwood), Ritchie's former 4th grade teacher who is known for being unbelievably handsome. He dates Old Christine after he accepts an offer to teach at another school. Christine has been in love with him for a long time and although dating goes well, the relationship eventually fails due to Christine's time constraints. (Seasons 2–3, 5) •
Jeff Hunter (
Scott Bakula), also known as Papa Jeff, originally Christine's love interest, but she soon finds out he is New Christine's father and reluctantly dumps him. At New Christine and Richard's wedding, Jeff and Christine rekindle their relationship. Christine realizes shortly after this he is engaged. (Seasons 2, 4 and 5) •
Mrs. Marcie Nunley (
Nancy Lenehan), peppy principal of Ritchie's school. Lenehan, before recurring as Mrs. Nunley, guest starred in season one as a completely different character named Kit. (Seasons 2 and 5) •
Tom (
Dave Foley), Richard's work associate who has always had a crush on Old Christine. After he gets sick on their disastrous first date, they bond later in the series, though Christine is not attracted to him. Richard sets them up yet again, and this time Tom offers that Christine use him for his money and help, but Tom leaves her after he finds Christine's attempted seduction as "repulsive". (Seasons 2–3, 5) •
Mike Gay (
Tom Papa), Christine's only friend at Westbridge, as he is similar to Christine in that he is not wealthy and is also divorced. (Season 3) •
Lucy (
Michaela Watkins), a former patient of Matthew's who is attracted to authority figures. Matthew falls for her and after ending the therapist/patient relationship, the two begin to date. They fall in love and begin a much more serious relationship. They eventually move in together but Lucy's disturbing childlike quirks causes them to break up. (Seasons 4–5) •
Patrick Harris (
Tim DeKay), Old Christine's new boyfriend, who she meets in a video store and starts dating. Patrick turns out to have some serious rage issues when he "loses" at something, and Christine breaks up with him. (Season 4) •
Principal Merrow (
Stephen Tobolowsky), Westbridge Middle School's principal, who has very little tolerance for Old Christine's neurotic behavior. (Season 4) •
Dave (
James Lesure), a man Barb meets at Richard and New Christine's wedding. Although he originally tries to deport her as he is an INS agent, he later finds a way to keep her in the country because of his feelings for her. He later ends up being afraid of her and hating her personality as their relationship progresses. He proposes to her, believing that she will break up with him, but she ends up saying yes. (Seasons 4–5) •
Max (
Eric McCormack), Old Christine's therapist/crush and Matthew's mentor. Christine and Max share a mutual attraction, but Christine decides she needs a therapist more than she needs a boyfriend. Max has had his license suspended multiple times for getting too close to patients, but after he and Christine end their therapist sessions in order to date each other, he proves to be a calm and steady boyfriend. The two become engaged but Christine postpones their engagement so that she can go back to college. (Season 5) ==Episodes==