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Bill was born at Juniper Creek, a breakaway polygamy sect in rural Utah, to Lois Henrickson and Frank Harlow, the oldest of three children, a brother and a sister, only one of whom, Joey, still survives. Frank kicked both Bill and Joey off of the compound when they were teenagers and Bill has struggled with his complicated connections to the compound ever since.  Soon after Bill entered the University of Utah, he met his future wife, Barb. Together, they became entrenched in the Mormon Church and were married in a traditional temple ceremony. The two graduated from college, Barb with her teaching degree and Bill with a business degree that served him well when he opened a small appliance store called Henrickson's Home Plus.  It didn't take long for them to have their first child, Sarah, followed by a son, Ben, a year later. They rounded out their family with Tancy ("Teenie"), a daughter born seven years later. The family shared a fairly conventional life for a decade, before welcoming Nicki, Bill's second wife, into the family. Bill and Nicki had two sons: Wayne and Raymond. Margene joined the family soon after as Bill's third wife, and quickly became pregnant with Aaron, followed by Lester, and baby Nell.

Born into a traditional Mormon family, Barb met Bill soon after she started college at the University of Utah. It wasn't long before the two were married, and Barb headed into adulthood armed with a teaching degree and hope for a baby.  She ended up having three with Bill — Sarah, Ben, and Teenie — and for nearly a decade they shared a fairly conventional family life together. But when Barb was battling breast cancer she needed help caring for the kids. Bill turned to the compound where he was raised, and Nicki Grant was sent to live with the family. Over time the nature of Nicki and Bill's relationship changed, and Bill and Barb agreed to invite Nicki to be Bill's second wife. The pattern was repeated when they added the new babysitter Margene as their third wife.

Bill's second wife, Nicki, is the daughter of Juniper Creek compound leader Roman Grant and Adaleen Grant, one of his many wives. When she hit her early 20s, Nicki moved to suburban Salt Lake City to help Bill and Barb Hendrickson with child care and soon became Bill's second wife. Entrenching herself further into the family, Nicki bore two of Bill's children, Wayne and Raymond.  Book-ended by Margene’s youthful naiveté and Barb’s mainstream aspirations, Nicki frets over the family’s moral course and does her best to correct it, whether that means tough-love confrontation or not-so-subtle manipulation. Of the three, Nicki stands in strongest support of the Principle, but she also struggles the most with her personal demons, including assimilating into non-compound life. 

Margene is the third -- and youngest -- Henrickson wife. Her single mother raised her in small-town Colorado after her father left when Margene was only three years old. When Margene's mother picked up and moved to Salt Lake City, she dragged Margene with her.  After graduating from high school in Salt Lake, Margene began working for Bill in his original Henrickson Home Plus store as a customer service representative. Seeing that Margene was not exactly adept at retail work, Bill hired her to babysit his children back home. Gradually, Margene began to fall in with the family, recognizing a love and stability she'd never had before. Eventually Bill, Barb and Nicki brought Margene into the family as the third sister-wife.

Frank Harlow is Bill's father, a lifelong resident of the Juniper Creek compound. He married Bill's mother, Lois Henrickson, over 40 years ago -- taking her as the second of his five wives. The two share an extremely strained yet addictive relationship. At times it's pure hate-hate. At other times they share a perverse flirtation. Frank and Lois have had three children together: Bill, his younger brother Joey, and a daughter Maggie whose death some years ago was always shrouded in mystery.  Frank was born to early members of the Juniper Creek compound. Always the type to try and "work" people to his advantage, Frank is often extremely clumsy in his efforts, and his motives are usually transparent to everyone -- including longtime compound leader Roman Grant. Frank is also not the most nurturing of fathers, still coming down hard on ne'er-do-well son Joey, and is the man responsible for banishing his son Bill from Juniper Creek when he was 14.

Bill's closest friend and business partner at Henrickson's Home Plus, Don was a practicing polygamist as part of a separate religious compound. Often lending a sympathetic ear when Bill runs into trouble at home, Don also voices apprehension about his friend's more aggressive business strategies.

Kathy Marquart is the woman who could make Joey Henrickson change his mind about being a one-wife man (that wife being Wanda).  Kathy's twin sister, Jodean, is also a member of the Juniper Creek compound.   

Bill's mother, Lois Henrickson, is a descendant of the founding family of Juniper Creek, the polygamy sect where Bill was born and raised. She married Bill's father, Frank Harlow, over 40 years ago, becoming the second of his five wives, and the two have had three kids together: Bill, his younger brother Joey, and a daughter Maggie who died over 20 years ago. Following rules common to some sects, the children were all given their mother's last name.  As granddaughter of Alder Henrickson, the founder of Juniper Creek, and daughter of Orville Henrickson, past prophet of the sect, Lois grew up as compound elite. When Roman Grant assumed the role of prophet in a kind of coup, Lois felt dispossessed and marginalized and became spiteful. As much as she's developed an independent streak, she's still quick to enlist Bill to straighten out family troubles.

Raymond is the youngest of Bill and Nicki’s sons, and like his brother, a force to be reckoned with.

Wanda’s brother, JJ was sealed to Nicki when she was just 15 and they had a daughter together, Cara Lynn. When Nicki finally convinced Roman to unseal them, she left Juniper Creek and her daughter behind. JJ raised Cara Lynn in Kansas and only recently returned to Juniper Creek.  

Sarah's best friend and former co-worker at a fast food restaurant, Heather is a devout Mormon and the daughter of a state trooper, a fact Sarah kept from her family for as long as possible. A loyal friend and confidant, Heather would do anything for Sarah.

Joey is Bill's younger brother by seven years. Once an all-star athlete, Joey was a golden boy growing up; he was allowed to stay on the compound through his teenage years, leaving him less embittered about his upbringing than his older brother.

Jodean is Kathy Marquart’s identical twin sister.

Joey's wife and second cousin helped save the former football pro when he was down on his luck. She's still very protective of her husband, and will do anything to keep him from harm.

The firm-jawed son of Juniper compound leader Roman Grant, Alby serves as a loyal lieutenant, overseeing his father's books and handling his more questionable business practices. 

Nicki's mother and Roman's fourth wife, Adaleen is a pragmatist who accepts life on the compound as righteous and correct. Beneath Adaleen's sunny exterior is a not-so-passive aggression that speaks to some bitterness with her lot in life. 

The older of Nicki's two sons, Wayne is a handful -- often challenging his mothers' patience. Though he doesn't quite grasp the family's complicated arrangement, he is getting to the age where he is beginning to realize that there are secret forces that cause Bill's fatherhood to dissolve past their doorstep.

As Bill's oldest son, Ben has a lot to sort through. His father and mother, Barb, were in a monogamous marriage when he was a boy, and he has seen the changes wrought by the growth of his extended family. But Ben very much admires his father, and he's considering following his footsteps and adopting The Principle. 

At 14, Rhonda was the youngest bride-in-waiting of Juniper Creek leader Roman Grant. Her new status as prophet's wife gave her a petulant sense of entitlement, which extended to temptations outside the boundaries of the compound – a world she discovered she wasn't entirely prepared for when she ran away. Much more manipulative and much less naïve than she initially appears, Rhonda often manages to get people to give her help she doesn’t always deserve.

Cara Lynn was raised by her father JJ and his wives in Kansas. When JJ brought her back to Juniper Creek, she met her real mother, Nicki. With her father mysteriously away, Cara Lynn is being raised by a mother she's still getting to know and adapting to non-compound life with the Henricksons.

Working as a waitress at a local diner, Ana noticed Bill’s worn demeanor and offered him some pie. Unable to get the pretty Serbian woman out of his mind, Bill succumbed to temptation before he was able to get everyone on board with adding a fourth wife. Although the marriage was shortlived - Ana couldn’t fully embrace the Principle - their relationship resulted in a pregnancy.

Teenie Henrickson is Bill and Barb's third child. Unlike her older siblings, Sarah and Ben, Teenie scarcely remembers her family's former life. She was just a baby when Nicki joined the family, and she is closer in age to her younger half-siblings, Nicki's boys Wayne and Raymond, than she is to Sarah and Ben. 

As Bill's oldest child, Sarah Henrickson has seen a lot of changes occur in her family. Growing up she was called upon to perform many of the same duties as her father's sister-wives, including cooking and babysitting, and she has, in turn, learned about many of the burdens and stresses of polygamy. 

Cast & Characters

See the full list of cast and characters

Bill Paxton

Jeanne Tripplehorn

Chloe Sevigny

Ginnifer Goodwin

Bruce Dern

Joel Mckinnon Miller

Mireille Enos

Grace Zabriskie

Garrett Gray

Zeljko Ivanek

Tina Majorino

Shawn Doyle

Mireille Enos

Melora Walters

Matt Ross

Mary Kay Place

Keegan Holst

Douglas Smith

Daveigh Chase

Cassi Thomson

Branka Katic

Bella Thorne

Amanda Seyfried

About the Series

Big Love (HBO)