White Collar/Characters

Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer)
""For the record, I still maintain that I basically turned myself in.""

Neal is a con man, a forger, an artist, a thief, a charmer, a rogue, and a scoundrel. And he's very, very good at all of that.


 * Born Lucky: Peter feels Neal was this. Neal's back-story suggests otherwise (maybe). There's merit to Peter's view.
 * Boxed Crook: He has a two mile radius.
 * Con Man: Ahem.
 * Con Men Hate Guns: Just because he hates them, doesn't mean he doesn't know how to use them.
 * The Dandy: He adores his nice clothes.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Neal refuses to make untraceable fake identities since the only way to make them needs a dead infant's birth certificate.
 * Fool for Love: For Kate.
 * Gentleman and a Scholar: Neal knows everything. He even has a fake degree in it!
 * Gentleman Thief
 * Good with Numbers: You try calculating sixty years of compound interest in two seconds.
 * Guile Hero
 * I Lied: That's what he does.
 * Indy Ploy: Peter likes a plan. Neal doesn't. Except when he does.
 * In Love with the Mark: Well, in love with the girl who worked for the mark anyway. Ultimately the reason he got caught.
 * Loveable Rogue
 * Meaningful Name: Caffrey is care-free.
 * Mock Millionaire: Often his cover, and because he is... at heart.
 * Nice Hat
 * Not So Different: Neal and some of the criminals he helps put away. Particularly Keller.
 * Odd Couple: With Peter.
 * Or So I Heard: He maintains he didn't actually commit any of his crimes. Also, "I love your alleged work."
 * Parental Abandonment: He never knew his father. Maybe.
 * Refuge in Audacity: Neal's life.
 * Renaissance Man
 * Sharp-Dressed Man
 * Shirtless Scene: All the time. It's a good thing.
 * Smart People Play Chess
 * That's What I Would Do: How Neal helps the FBI.
 * Token Evil Teammate
 * Urban Legend Love Life: He flirts with every woman, successfully. But he doesn't even kiss a woman until the third season.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Duh.
 * Wicked Cultured: Though not evil.

Peter Burke (Tim DeKay)
""I wear a badge; he wears a tracking anklet.""

Peter is an FBI agent in the white collar crimes unit. He's a straight arrow, and he's dedicated to his profession. He's as good at his job as Neal. He's dedicated to his wife, like many cops, but he actually manages to make it up to her when the job gets in the way.


 * Always Gets His Man: Peter's the only law-man to catch Neal. Twice. (its really more like 2.5)
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Peter isn't a moron, but he presents himself as somewhat clueless... and it works. And sometimes he just kicks ass.
 * Determinator: One of the reasons he Always Gets His Man.
 * Good with Numbers: He coulda been an accountant. For Warren Buffet.
 * Happily Married: Period.
 * Indy Ploy: He likes a plan, but he's willing to run with it.
 * Mock Millionaire: As an undercover accountant.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: See Crouching Moron.
 * Odd Couple: With Neal.
 * Official Couple: With his wife.
 * Parental Substitute: He's either Neal's father or his big brother.
 * Porn Stache: His Old Shame.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Straight Man
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Again with the duh.

Elizabeth Burke (Tiffani Thiessen)
""Or maybe you've been chasing him so long you don't know how to stop?""

Elizabeth is Peter's wife. Like the typical "cop's wife", she has to suffer her husband's dedication to his job: frequent absences and missing important occasions. Unlike the typical cop wife, she puts up with this with good grace.


 * Badass Damsel: As of the season three midseason premiere.
 * Happily Married: So much.
 * Hide Your Pregnancy: Season two.
 * Keep the Home Fires Burning
 * Odd Friendship: With Mozzie.
 * Official Couple: With her husband.
 * Took a Level In Badass: When kidnapped, she rescues herself. Not by resorting to typical seduction tricks, but by
 * Understanding Wife: She, resignedly, accepts the problems of Peter's job. And Neal's lifestyle. And Mozzie's quirks. She's the living god of, "You're just plain okay."

Mozzie (Willie Garson)
""It's about doing what we want to do. Who cares about nine-to-five's and 401-Ks. Playing by the rules only makes... borders. They just... take away everything that's good about living life.""

Mozzie has a criminal mind, but not a criminal soul. You can trust him with your life, but you'd be daft to trust him with a dollar. (Thank you, Sir Pterry.)


 * Bad Bad Acting: Averted, he is the worst "actor" in the main cast, yet tends to be only a little hammy.
 * Conspiracy Theorist: That's just what they want you to think.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Mozzie is in no way a moron, but he's generally not a physical presence. Then, in a tense moment he disarms a bad guy and hold's him at gun point without flinching. That he nearly collapses afterward just shows how cool he was during the moment.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Mozzie experienced that first hand.
 * Manipulative Bastard: But in a good way. A harmless way. Mostly.
 * Mysterious Informant
 * Odd Friendship: With Elizabeth.
 * Or So I Heard
 * Parental Abandonment: He was left at an orphanage as an infant.
 * Smart People Play Chess
 * Token Evil Teammate: Even more than Neal.
 * Wicked Cultured: Again, not evil.

Diana Barrigan (Marsha Thomason)
One of Peter's subordinates.


 * Action Girl
 * Butch Lesbian / Lipstick Lesbian: A blend between some of the less stereotypical qualities of both (dresses nicely, slams big guy's heads against cars). Her sexuality it never, ever, played for titillation or laughs, and it doesn't define her personality.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Zig-zagged. In season one, she disappeared after two episodes and was replaced by Suspiciously Similar Substitute agent Lauren Cruz. Then Cruz disappears right before the season one finale and Diana comes back for good.
 * Dirty Harriet: She plays a High Class Call Girl in "Need to Know".
 * Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Whenever she needs to go undercover.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Occasionally. Justified by her childhoods in England.
 * Sarcastic Devotee: Emphasis on the devoted part, to Peter.
 * Threefer Token Minority.

Clinton Jones (Sharif Atkins)
Another one on Peter's team.


 * Good with Numbers
 * Humble Hero
 * Mission Control: Usually is the one who stays in the giant van.
 * Lower Deck Episode: "As You Were" focuses on him.

June (Diahann Carroll)
"Peter: That's not jewelry on his ankle, you know. He's a felon.

June: So was Byron."

Neal's landlady. Her husband was a con-man. She appreciate's Neal's... joie de vivre.


 * Cool Old Lady

Garret Fowler (Noah Emmerich)
""Well, aren't you clever, Agent Burke.""

He's a dirty cop! Or...


 * : Arguably, as of season two. He's been jerked around.
 * Internal Affairs
 * Man Behind the Man: There's a man behind Fowler.
 * Not So Different: From Burke. There, but for the tragedy, go I.
 * Not So Different: From Burke. There, but for the tragedy, go I.

Vincent Adler (Andrew McCarthy)
""Nice try, Neal.""

Okay. This guy's just dirty. A corporate sleaze.


 * Nazi Gold: He wants.
 * Wicked Cultured: For damn sure.

Mathew Keller (Ross McCall)
Neal's Blue Collar counterpart


 * Affably Evil
 * The Chessmaster: all the way.
 * Combat Pragmatist
 * Con Men Hate Guns: Averted. Keller likes guns just fine, and will use them (and any other weapon on hand) without hesitation.
 * Evil Counterpart: All of Neal's smarts (though not all his talents), none of his scruples.
 * Smart People Play Chess: According to Neal and Mozzy, one of the best players around.
 * Wicked Cultured