Characters in Meet the Browns
Mr. Brown is the main protagonist of the show. He is the quite weird, wacky, and eccentric, but also kindhearted and down–to–earth owner of the Brown Meadows residence, which he originally intended to be a senior citizens retirement home in honor of his deceased father's legacy. He is also the patriarch (for all intents and purposes for the show) of the Brown family that lives at Brown Meadows. He is Cora's father, Will's uncle, and Sasha's uncle-in-law. Eventually after allowing several of his, Cora's, Will's and Sasha's friends and family members to live in Brown Meadows together, the show eventually becomes revolved around the Brown family and friends living together as one big multigenerational clan under one roof. He is also a very Charismatic Baptist Christian who is very devout in his faith and loves to dress in retro, bright, vividly-colored 1970's-looking jumpsuits, shirts, and other types of outfits to physically represent his weird, goofy personality. He also works as a janitor at the local hospital Will, Sasha, and Renee work at, and also works as a security guard at the school Cora works at, and that Brianna attends.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Mr. Brown often acts this way to Cora a lot, even though she is a grown adult.
- Cast Incest: Mr. Brown and Cora's characters are played by real life Gospel singers and husband and wife couple, David and Tamela Mann, even though they play as father and daughter in the series.
- Clothing Reflects Personality: Mr. Brown often wears vividly bright colored outfits, that are usually just exotic and brightly colored 1970's looking jumpsuits, but he wears them on purpose, despite their flamboyance and tackiness, because they represent his strange and unconventional personality
- Cloudcuckoolander: Mr. Brown's personality often has him acting like his heads are stuck in the clouds in "la-la land", which sometimes causes him to be a little bit naïve at times, but he can also be wise and insightful every now and then when it's necessary to the plot.
- Flanderization: Mr. Brown initially starts off as a more reasonable and logical man at the beginning of the series, although some of his quips and mannerisms are still quite foolish and eccentric. However as the show progresses, his weird quirks and his often stupid and unwise decision-making and statements eventually becomes who he is as the main character.
- Malaproper: Almost every sentence Mr. Brown has throughout the series is filled with botched words and malapropisms.
- Outdated Outfits: Mr. Brown's wardrobe is almost entirely composed of retro, bright, vividly-colored 1970's-looking jumpsuits and disco-looking outfits.
- Honorary Uncle: Although he can be quite embarrassing with it sometimes, Mr. Brown often serves as like an honorary uncle/grandfather figure to Brianna and Joaquin sometimes.
Cora Simmons-Brown is the daughter of Mr. Brown and Mabel "Madea" Simmons (they had her from an unplanned pregnancy after they got drunk and slept with each other on their high school prom night before Mr. Brown became a saved Christian), who is very kind-hearted, classy, intellectual, and refined, but she can sometimes have a little bit of a mean streak much like her mother when provoked and pushed too far. However, like her father, she's a very devout Charismatic Baptist Christian and also a gifted singer, so her devout Christian beliefs also allow her to approach her anger in calm, rational, and pragmatic ways most of the time. She is also Will's cousin and Sasha's cousin-in-law. She is also a high school teacher at the local school that Brianna attends, but Brianna is not in any of her classes. She also dates Reggie and Gordon at different points in the series.
- Moral Guardian: Cora often acts this way towards the rest of the characters serving as their moral compass who tries to steer them in the right direction. But she is not always 100% holy herself.
- Only Sane Woman: Sometimes Cora she can be the only sane woman on the show, and sometimes even the only sane person on the show along with Sasha, and sometimes Edna.
- Black and Nerdy: Downplayed, while not a stereotypical "nerd" in that sense of the word, she does sometimes express a mild penchant for nerdy and intellectual things.
- Hollywood Homely: Given that Cora is on the upper side of being middle-aged, she often dresses in modest, frumpy clothing that makes her look a lot more old-fashioned than she really is. However the way her character dresses and presents herself is a little bit different than the way her real life actress dresses.
Dr. William Brown, or mononymously called, "Will," is the nephew of Mr. Brown, and the cousin of Cora. He is married to Sasha, and is the foster father (in Seasons 1-2), and eventually, the adoptive father (in Seasons 3-5) of Brianna and Joaquin. He is a very well-accomplished medical doctor, specifically a general practitioner and he is also an emergency room trauma surgeon as well. He and Sasha both work at the local Grady Hospital in Atlanta; Sasha works as the chief nurse at the hospital. He is a nice man, overall, who loves his wife and family, and has close relationships with the rest of the characters, despite the fact that he may have conflicts with them sometimes. However, he still is always willing to forgive and compromise and resolve problems with them when they arise. He is also very strict towards Brianna and Joaquin and gradually learns to soften up his discipline on them as he goes through Seasons 4-5, when he realizes that he can trust them to be more mature and responsible.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Will often acts this way towards Brianna and Joaquin, sometimes even more than Sasha.
- Black and Nerdy: He's a Black doctor who never misses the chance to show off his intellectual prowess concerning medicine and health.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Although he is very intellectual and skilled at his craft when it comes to health and medicine, he can also sometimes be a little peculiar and eccentric much like his uncle, Mr. Brown.
- Happily Married
Sasha is Will's wife, and the niece-in-law of Mr. Brown, and the cousin-in-law of Cora Simmons. She is the foster mother (in Seasons 1-2) and eventually, the adoptive mother (in Seasons 3-5) of Brianna and Joaquin. She is also the best friend of Renee. She and Will both work at the local Grady Hospital in Atlanta; Sasha works as the chief nurse of the hospital, while her husband Will works as a general surgeon and an emergency room surgeon. She is a nice, friendly, and very intellectual woman overall, who loves her husband, family, and friends, despite the fact that she may have conflicts with them sometimes. She especially tries to have a close relationship with Brianna and Joaquin, although she may be a strict disciplinarian towards them sometimes when they push the limits of her parental grace.
- Happily Married
- Only Sane Woman: Cora, Sasha, and sometimes Edna.
- Sassy Black Woman: Downplayed, Sometimes she plays into this trope along with Cora, Edna, and Renee, but it is usually exaggerated and played for laughs.
- Straight Man: Played Straight: She plays into this trope a lot when it comes to her interactions with Will, Mr. Brown,and the Colonel.
Brianna Ortiz-Brown is the adoptive daughter of Will and Sasha and the sister of Joaquin. She is also the biological daughter of Tanya Ortiz. Along with her brother, Brianna starts the series as a foster child tossed from foster home to foster home, and comes from a crime-ridden, drug-infested, and abusive biological family, which in turn shapes her personality at the beginning of the show as very pugnaciously mean, as well as aggressively rebellious and selfish. However, as she goes on through the show, she eventually grows into a more kind, responsible, friendly, and mature young adult who shows off her softer, nicer, and more sensitive side towards her family and friends. Nevertheless, even with the attitude and personality change, she sometimes still tends to act like the stereotypical bratty, cell-phone-obsessed, and romance-obsessed teenager, and sometimes has to be disciplined severely and sternly by her elders. She has a very close, loving relationship with Sasha, Will, Mr. Brown, Cora, her brother Joaquin, and the other residents of the Brown Meadows house. When it comes to people mistreating and disrespecting her little brother, Joaquin, her adoptive parents, Will and Sasha, or Cora or Mr. Brown, she will always defend her family, even if she has to resort to violence. She is also best friends with Simone and Jamal.
- Happily Adopted: Most of the entire series storyline from Seasons 2-5 is about Joaquin and Brianna adapting to being adopted into the abnormal and eccentric Brown clan, although they are happy and satisfied with being adoptive members of the Brown Family.
- Hypno Fool: In the episode, "Meet the Makeover", Mr. Brown acts as a magician to put on a magic show for Joaquin and his friends after he breaks their video game console. This ends up with Joaquin and his friends using his magic tricks against him to prank him. He also tries to use hypnosis on Brianna and accidentally hypnotizes her to start acting like him whenever she hears her name or Mr. Brown's name. This causes her to start hypnotically imitating Mr. Brown's personality, signature quotes and catchphrases, and mannerisms, and she even starts dressing like him until Cora and Mr. Brown intervene to correct the hypnosis.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Outside of home and in public, Brianna will often play into this trope when it comes to people mistreating and disrespecting her little brother, Joaquin, her adoptive parents, Will and Sasha, or Cora or Mr. Brown, especially those five specific characters in particular. However, when the family is at home, she sometimes acts like a huge jerkass and a lovable asshole to the family.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Seasons 1-2, she goes through the series as a contentious asshole and an overly sarcastic bitch, and often never misses a chance to show off her rude, cantankerous and troublesome Hormone-Addled Teenager side. This is justified however because she did come from an abusive, crime-ridden family and was tossed in and out of different foster homes. Nevertheless, as she goes through Seasons 3-5, she calms down very significantly, and changes into more of a friendly, sociable, kindhearted and good-natured person. Nevertheless, sometimes she still hides her heart of gold when she wants to be selfish.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: This trope applies to both actresses who portrayed Brianna. In real life, both Brianne Gould and Logan Browning have real life reputations among their fans and on TV and Internet media for being very nice and kindhearted, humble, friendly, and down-to-earth.
Joaquin Ortiz-Brown is the adoptive son of Will and Sasha, and the younger brother of Brianna. He is also the biological son of Tanya Ortiz. Along with his sister, Joaquin also starts the series as a foster child tossed from foster home to foster home, and comes from a crime-ridden, drug-infested, and abusive biological family, however he was pretty young when Child Protective Services took him and Brianna from their mother Tanya, so he never knew Tanya nor him and his sisters' fathers (Tanya had Brianna and Joaquin with two separate men) too closely. Also, unlike Brianna, he goes through the series as more of an intellectually bright, friendly, kindhearted character, but sometimes will use his cute child charms to his favor to innocently manipulate people to feel sorry for him and let him get away with different juvenile schemes. However, for the most part, he is the opposite of his sister Brianna, as far as personality and attitudes are concerned. Although, like Brianna, he does have a very close, loving relationship with Sasha, Will, Mr. Brown, and Cora, and the other tenants of the Brown Meadows residence.
- Acting Your Intellectual Age: Joaquin plays out this trope sometimes.
- Bratty Half-Pint : Subverted, sometimes you think Joaquin will be like this, but he actually turns out to be more of an Adorably Precocious Child than everyone thinks.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Played Straight, Joaquin is the responsible one, Brianna is the foolish one. Sometimes this is inverted where Joaquin becomes the foolish sibling, and Brianna becomes the responsible one, but it is usually the former.
- Happily Adopted: Most of the entire series storyline from Seasons 2-5 is about Joaquin and Brianna adapting to being adopted into the abnormal and eccentric Brown clan, although they are happy and satisfied with being adoptive members of the Brown Family.
Edna Barnes Jackson is one of the elderly residents of the Brown Meadows house who lives with Mr. Brown and Cora's family. She started out the series as one of the elderly care retirement home residents who moved into the Brown House because of having no one at home for support, but eventually she becomes great friends with and like an honorary family member of the Brown clan. Nevertheless, even though her and Mr. Brown are friends, they often get into very angry and heated arguments and insult wars with each other. She also often acts like an unofficial, cool grandmother figure towards Brianna and Joaquin. She also goes onto develop a romantic relationship with The Colonel/Colonel Jackson between Seasons 3 and 4, and they eventually marry each other between the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5. Before she began dating and married the Colonel, however, she started out on the show as being much of a Mrs. Robinson-esque type of character who often tried to act like an elderly, promiscuous cougar towards several men throughout the series, including some of the men of the Brown House, like Mr. Brown and Jésus. After the two get married, though, she and The Colonel then move out of the Brown Meadows house to a smaller house down the street, and just frequently visit the Brown house as neighbors between Seasons 4-5.
- December–December Romance: Colonel Jackson and Edna fall in love and get married when they are both elderly and retired, presumed to be over the age of 70.
- Mrs. Robinson: Often zig-zagged with Edna.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: With the Colonel.
- Doting Grandparent: The Colonel sometimes acts like a grandfather figure towards Brianna and Joaquin.
- Scary Black Man: Justified because he is a retired Marines serviceman and armed services leader.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: With Edna.
- Deadpan Snarker: Other than the Colonel and sometimes Ms. Edna, she is one of the most prominent deadpan snarkers of the show.
- Sassy Black Woman: The most prominent one on the show.
- Big Brother Mentor: He is like this towards Brianna and Joaquin.
- Black and Nerdy: Usually Downplayed & Played for Laughs. In some episodes, this trope is actually subverted.
- Fratbro: Downplayed; Derek does sometimes try to act like the stereotypical "dumb jock" and a irresponsible frequent partygoer, but usually he is actually much more mature, responsible, and wiser and more intelligent than his peers & colleagues give him credit for.
- Genius Ditz: Downplayed & Played for Laughs. Derek is kind of dumb and incompetent in some areas and disciplines, especially when it comes to his academic university studies, but he also has some areas of expertise that he is highly brilliant in, and he often shows off in those areas around the Brown Family.
- Likes Older Women: Played for laughs in the episode "Meet the Crush," in that episode, Derek develops a huge puppy-love crush on Renee, who is 20 years his senior, as he is a young man in his 20's still in university, and Renee is a 40-something-year-old middle aged adult.
- Attention Whore: Tied between her and London Sheraton.
- Disco Dan: Because she was a Broadway and movie actress in the 1940's and 1950's, in movies and stage plays that none of the other characters even know of or remember (or even care to know about for that matter) she often acts like she's stuck reminiscing about the past and misses the way society and entertainment used to be during the decades in which she used to be an actress.
- Scatterbrained Senior
- White-Dwarf Starlet: Her glory days she used to have from being a somewhat famous actress in the 1940's and 50's are long gone, and sometimes she acts like she doesn't want to accept it. Because of this, she is constantly always trying to do things with the other characters that she thinks will make her appear more relevant and up to date with current pop culture.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Exaggerated and Played for Laughs with her character.
- Attention Whore: Tied with Daisy La'Rue
- Brainless Beauty: This trope practically screams London to the MAX!
- The Ditz and Upper-Class Twit: She's a dumb, rich business heiress...not just rich, not just an heiress, but dumb and clueless as well as rich.
Tanya Ortiz is Brianna and Joaquin's biological, estranged mother, who is a former drug addict and ex-convict. Before the events of the show take place, she was emotionally (and to a lesser extent, sometimes physically) abusive to Brianna and Joaquin because of her substance abuse problems for which she had to seek rehab, prompting Child Protective Services to force her to relinquish parental custody of them, and placing the two of them in foster care. After making her full recovery from her drug addiction problems, she does try to come back into their lives multiple times, years later after Brianna and Joaquin have been placed under the care of the Brown Family and before Will and Sasha make their initial attempts to adopt the two of them. She does so to try and convince the courts to give legal custody for Brianna and Joaquin back to her. However, once she realizes the error of her ways, she eventually does come back to the Brown Meadows house and apologizes for her wrongdoings against the Ortiz siblings and against the Brown Family, asking all of them to forgive her, citing that she was forced to admit that the Brown Family could take much better care of the two of them then she ever could. She does come back a final time later on in Season 4, to seek the Brown Family's help to impress a new erudite and refined boyfriend of hers, and also to reconcile with Brianna and Joaquin and tries to repair the relationship between the three of them so that they can get back on good terms with each other. She is the closest thing to a recurring antagonist on the show other than Dr. Troy Crane. She is also Put on a Bus that never does come back, after she has her heel face turn.
- Abhorrent Admirer : Tanya to Will; she knows Will is married to Sasha but always constantly flirts with him and makes advances at him. However Will would hate her and find her disgusting anyway even if he wasn't married.
- Abusive Parents: Tanya, is very emotionally abusive and manipulative against Brianna and Joaquin before she becomes a "good guy." She is played by Tasha Smith; whose character is loosely based off of other similar characters played by the same actress in previous works by Tyler Perry.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tanya does eventually have a slight Heel-Face Turn and does eventually apologize and reconcile with Brianna, Joaquin, Will and Sasha, and asks them to forgive her for all the trouble she caused them. She plays into the Hidden Heart of Gold trope with it, and does try to come back into their life to be a better mom, briefly before she relinquishes her ties to them so that Will and Sasha can have full custody.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Obviously, Tanya's character on the show is a jerkass and a mean, manipulative antagonist for the most part. However, Tasha Smith who played as Tanya has a reputation amongst her fans and in TV and Internet media for being a very friendly, amiable, and down-to-earth actress and an all-around sweetheart, part of which she credits to her devout Christian Faith.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Before she has her Heel–Face Turn.
Jamal is Brianna and Simone's best friend from their high school, and at one point in time, a brief, temporary romantic interest of Brianna, but throughout most of the series they maintain a mostly platonic friendship. He is a cool, kindhearted and great friend to Brianna and the Brown Family, however he does get into an altercation with them when he gets caught stealing their groceries and food from them and other houses in the neighborhood when he and his mother become temporarily homeless. After he gets caught, he explains the situation to the Brown Family and apologizes for the wrongs he committed against them and makes amends with them to get back into their good graces. They also help him and his mom to find a new home and help alleviate them of some of their financial struggles. He is also very goofy and has a funny but awkward sense of humor, much like Brianna's other friend Simone.
Simone is Brianna and Jamal's best friend from their high school. She is very nice and sweet and is shown to have a very similar personality to Brianna sometimes, but she can also be very ditzy and dumb at times. She is often teased by the other characters for being scatterbrained and easily confused, but she usually takes it as a good sport and isn't usually offended by it. She becomes pregnant after being raped at a frat party and decides to keep the baby and bring her pregnancy to full term at the end of Season 3, and she depends on Brianna and the Brown family to help her through her pregnancy. Brianna and the Brown Family also help her to come to good, understanding terms with her mother when she feels distant from her mother because of their disagreements over how they want her future child to be raised.
Milo is a recurring character who is a student from the high school that Reggie, Gordon, Mr. Brown, and Cora work at. He is a very eccentric and goofy student who sometimes serves as a comic relief character to the school scenes with Mr. Brown and Cora, and sometimes Reggie and Gordon, and he also tends to be a troublemaker sometimes as well. However, when it comes down to it, he tries to be a good, mature student and often tries to help Cora around the school like a teacher's pet.
Principal Gordon Bob is the head principal of the high school that Cora, Mr. Brown, and Reggie work at, and he was also a former school and neighborhood friend of Cora's when they were younger as teenagers. Much like Reggie, he develops a huge crush on Cora and often competes with Reggie for her affections, but Cora often tries to make it clear that she likes Reggie more, even though he's not always willing to accept this. Despite this, he is a very erudite and refined man and enjoys dorky hobbies that often cause the other characters to tease him sometimes. Also much like Cora and Mr. Brown, he is somewhat religious and devout in his Christian Faith, and because of this Mr. Brown often tends to act like he likes him more than Reggie. He also has a manipulative and selfish side to him as well which becomes evident when he tries to sign Cora up for a teaching job application in another state that he wanted to move to so that they could move away together, and it is then revealed that he did this to try and get Cora away from Reggie so he could have her to himself. Once he does this, Cora decides to let him know for good that she has no intention of dating him and that she only wants them to be platonic from then on.
Vera Brown is Mr. Brown's formerly estranged sister, Will's mother, Sasha's mother-in-law, and Cora's aunt. An extreme alcoholic, Vera is very cranky, snarky, and cantankerous, and can't take anything serious, often causing her to be an annoyance to the Brown Family whenever she comes to visit. She also tends to be very promiscuous, and loves chasing after younger men who like older, cougar women. Despite these negative traits, however, she actually has a pretty good relationship with Will and Sasha most of the time, and she will sometimes go out of her way to be nice and friendly to Sasha as her daughter-in-law, despite her irritating and less-than-ideal personality. It is usually with Mr. Brown and Cora that she tends to bring out her most negative and annoying personality traits.
