You’ve seen the pilot and ‘Home Invasion’ episodes already, now it’s time to meet the cast driving the newest series on FX. American Horror Story follows the Harmon family, who just moved to Los Angeles from Boston, after a terrible year. They buy an old house with a scary history, with slightly disturbing neighbors and a housekeeper.
Vivian Harmon
(Played by Connie Britton) is the mother of the Harmon family. Vivian has dealt with some hardships this past year, as she had a horrific miscarriage and came across her husband having an affair with a younger woman. Since moving into the home, Vivian has had run-ins with her neighbors Constance and Addy. She’s still angry with Ben for his affair, and still hurting from her miscarriage, but at the end of the first episode she revealed to Ben that she is pregnant again.
Dr. Ben Harmon
(Played by Dylan McDermott) is a psychologist who has begun working out of his new home. Back in Boston, he had an affair after his wife’s miscarriage. In a fight in the new home, he told Vivian it was her fault he had the affair because she got a dog, when he was hurting too and that she should have been curling up with him at night, not a dog. Ben has already begun hearing the voices in the house, and has become fascinated with fire in his sleep.
Violet Harmon
(Played by Taissa Farmiga) is the daughter of Dr. Ben and Vivian Harmon. She is depressed, smoking, fighting in school and making friends with the wrong people. She was forced to uproot from Boston because of her parents troubles, but was the one who made the final decision on the house purchase. She thinks the history of the house is cool. After scaring one of the girls too far, she has decided to no longer be friends with Tate.
Constance
(Played by Jessica Lange) and Addy (played by Jamie Brewer, not pictured) are the neighbors to the Harmons. Back in 1978, Addy stood outside the home while two young boys went in, telling them they are going to die in there. They did, and now Addy see’s their ghosts. Addy tells Vivian that she too will die in there. She continually breaks into the house, and her mother Constance goes to retrieve her. Constance thinks Addy is a monster for her condition (she has Down’s Syndrome) and she makes Vivian very uncomfortable. Despite thinking her daughter is a monster, she is very protective of her. At the end of the first episode, you see her stealing some of Vivian’s earrings, and promising to Moira that she will kill her again.
Tate Langdon
(Played by Evan Peters) is a mentally disturbed teenager. He is seeing Dr. Harmon for his violent visions and his psychotic breaks. He becomes friends with Violet, after seeing her cut herself after a session with Dr. Harmon. He tells he that if she’s trying to kill herself she’s doing it wrong. After sharing that they both hate Los Angeles, and the school Violet goes to, they decide to scare the girl beating up Violet. After the scare tactic goes too far, Violet ends her friendship with Tate, whose reaction was “I thought you weren’t scared of anything!”
Older Moira
(Played by Frances Conroy) is the housekeeper that Vivian sees. She has taken care of the house for years, and through all the owners. Not much is known, other than she prefers to work in her housemaid uniform and that Constance has sworn to kill her again.
Young Moira
(Played by Alex Breckenridge) is the housekeeper that only Ben can see. She is young, and continually tries to seduce Ben and lead him away from his wife. Ben has walked in on her touching herself, and tries to get Ben to play the game with her. Violet see’s what is going on (only she sees it with Older Moira) and is ashamed for her father.
Larry Harvey
(Played by Denis O’Hare) is a burn victim who sees Ben pleasuring himself in the bathroom. After chasing Ben down during his run, he tells Ben to get out of the house. He heard voices, and they told him to kill his family. He burned his family alive in the house, and somehow escaped. He now has terminal cancer in his brain, which is the only reason he is out of prison. He tells Ben to look at his case, look at his psychiatric evaluations before Ben tells him to leave him and his family alone.
