Where You've Seen The Cast Of AHS: Delicate Before
Part tribute, part parody, "American Horror Story" has spent its first 12 seasons exploring the horror genre — poking, prodding, and often gleefully mocking every nook and cranny of American myths, tropes, and urban legends. From a dark asylum haunted by demons, aliens, and even a Nazi to a Provincetown den of vampiric writers, each new season has yielded a bizarre world populated by a cast of equally bizarre characters.
As the "AHS" map and its canon mythology continue to expand, so does its population of inhabitants and their often interconnected stories. Set in present-day New York City, "Delicate" adds to that universe with the spider-strewn fertility saga of newly successful actor Anna Victoria Alcott. From recurring characters like Pepper, Queenie, and Billie Dean Howard to actors that show up a few times in different roles, keeping track of who is who in the "AHS" universe can feel daunting. We break down who's who in the latest season, "AHS: Delicate," and where you've seen them before.
Emma Roberts as Anna Victoria Alcott
The protagonist of "AHS: Delicate" is rising star Anna Victoria Alcott played by Emma Roberts. After plugging away in the industry for at least 15 years on networks like The CW, a low-budget indie horror film has finally put Anna on a trajectory that could include an Oscar. Unfortunately for her, Anna's professional good fortune just happens to coincide with the physical and psychological challenges surrounding her third run at IVF, and it's a brutal one.
The niece of Julia Roberts, Emma began acting as a child and even starred in the Nickelodeon series "Unfabulous" as middle schooler Addie Singer before appearing in teen movies such as "Aquamarine," and "Wild Child." "Delicate" is Roberts' sixth turn at "American Horror Story." Like many of the show's recurring ensemble cast, Roberts has played several colorful characters across several seasons. One of her most iconic roles in the series was as Madison Montgomery in "Coven" and "Apocalypse." As Madison, Roberts played a hard-partying former child star whose frequent run-ins with paparazzi and witchy abilities led her to the New Orleans witch school, Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies. Roberts also appeared as an ersatz fortune teller named Maggie Esmerelda in "Freak Show," played ambitious newscaster Serena Belinda in "Cult," and killed it as final girl Brooke Thompson in "1984." She also briefly starred in another Ryan Murphy horror series, playing Chanel Oberlin in the two-season horror comedy "Scream Queens."
Matt Czurchy as Dex Harding
Matt Czuchry plays Dexter "Dex" Harding, Anna's subtly controlling art dealer husband who seems to place more importance on her fertility treatments than she does. Although he's a seasoned actor these days, Czuchry almost didn't go into acting at all. An overachiever on both athletic and academic fronts, the New Hampshire native went to college on a tennis scholarship and graduated with a degree in history and political science. After shining brightly in a college acting class, and a professor recommending he pursue it professionally, Czuchry switched gears, taking his first role as an extra in "Freaks and Geeks" in 2000. During his early years, Czuchry also landed small roles in shows like "7th Heaven," "Young Americans," and "Jake 2.0."
The actor landed his first major recurring role as "Gilmore Girls" boyfriend Logan Huntzberger. In 2008, he played Chris Kennedy in "Friday Night Lights," and the following year, he was cast as ambitious young Stern, Lockhart & Gardner lawyer Cary Agos in "The Good Wife." More recently, Czuchry starred in "The Resident" as the cocky-but-brilliant senior medical resident Conrad Hawkins for several years before taking on his more ambiguously sinister role in "American Horror Story."
Cara Delevingne as Ivy
One of the unfortunate side effects of Anna's fertility treatment is a rapidly ratcheting-up sense of paranoia. But it's not like she doesn't have plenty of reasons to feel someone's got it in for her. Case in point is the enigmatic Ivy, played by Cara Delevingne. The first time Anna gets a good look at her is at the hospital Anna turns to when she seems to be losing her pregnancy. As the rather intense nurse roughly conducts Anna's ultrasound, Anna imagines she's seen the woman before, a fear that worsens when it's revealed that no one named Ivy works in that hospital.
A Londoner from a prominent English family with ties to royalty, Delevingne's showbiz career began as a childhood model, appearing in Vogue Italia at just 10 years old. 2012 saw her on Fashion Week catwalks in New York, London, Milan, and Paris, leading Karl Lagerfeld to declare her "the modern It girl" to Elle. It was around that time that she began her transition to acting with her first role being a non-speaking part in the 2012 adaptation of "Anna Karenina." In 2015, Delevingne starred in the romantic comedy "Paper Towns," adapted from the John Green novel of the same name. The following year saw her cast as Enchantress in "Suicide Squad." She went on to star in the Luc Besson film "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" and would later appear in "Carnival Row," "Only Murders in the Building," and "Futurama."
Julie White as Ms. Preecher
Everywhere Anna goes, it seems someone is there waiting to exert control over her body. There's her husband lording over her fertility treatments, the doctor speaking to him as if she's not present in the room. There's her publicist best friend forcing vitamin shots down her throat, a stranger invading Anna's physical and digital space to interfere with her treatments, and even a random person in a bathroom leering uncomfortably before literally forcing herself into Anna's personal space. And then there's Ms. Io Preecher, the allegedly harmless anti-IVF activist and conspiracy theorist with something of a digital following who seems to be lingering around Anna's fertility clinic.
With a severe New York subway witch aesthetic, Ms. Preecher bears a rather jarring appearance that hardly softens her approach. Ironically, she's played by Julie White, an actor who built her career playing friendly, neighborly mom types before transitioning to more powerful and affluent women in more recent decades. A Tony Award winner for her role in the Broadway production "The Little Dog Laughed," White is best known for her role as Nadine Swoboda in "Grace Under Fire." She also appeared in several episodes of "Six Feet Under," "Nurse Jackie," "NCIS: Hawai'i," and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." White could also be seen serving as a celebrity judge on "Iron Chef America" between 2005 and 2012.
Denis O'Hare as Dr. Andrew Hill
Denis O'Hare plays Dr. Andrew Hill, the patronizing but celebrated fertility doctor whose results are so good that Anna is forced to look past his subtly unsettling bedside manner. O'Hare first got the theater bug when he sang in his school choir and community theater, which led to a long and successful stage career that included a Tony Award for his acting in the 2002 production of "Take Me Out."
The actor has also appeared in dozens of films and TV series throughout his long acting career, appearing in a diverse range of roles. O'Hare's performance as Republican John Briggs in the 2008 Harvey Milk biopic "Milk" earned him a Critics' Choice Movie Award for best actor. His long list of television performances includes the role of Judge Charles Abernathy in "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight." He also played the vampire king of Mississippi, Russell Edgington in "True Blood."
O'Hare has become an "American Horror Story" staple through the years, appearing in all but a few seasons of the show with almost all of his roles being as villains. He played the philandering Larry Harvey in "Murder House," the disturbed servant Spalding in "Coven," the malicious con artist Stanley in "Freak Show," transgender barkeep Liz Taylor in "Hotel," Dr. Elias Cunningham and actor William van Henderson in "Roanoke," a Provincetown local in "Red Tide," and the Mai Tai-loving Henry Grant in "NYC." O'Hare also appears in an episode of the spin-off series "American Horror Stories" as a dollmaker with a rather disturbing collection.
Kim Kardashian as Siobhan Corbyn
Stunt casting has always been baked into the "AHS" DNA, and Kim Kardashian's appearance in the series as Anna's publicist best friend is the latest variation on the theme, with many fans noting she's basically playing a version of her mom. The daughter of O.J. Simpson's defense attorney Robert Kardashian, Kim Kardashian first became known for her connection to Paris Hilton as seen in "The Simple Life." But Kardashian's fame would explode in 2007 when a 2003 sex tape filmed by her then-boyfriend Ray J was released under the name "Kim Kardashian, Superstar."
The Kardashians claimed the tape — which would become the most-viewed X-rated film of all time — was released by a third party without Kim's consent, something that was disputed by author Ian Halperin. According to Halperin, the Kardashians leaked the tape themselves to skyrocket Kim's career (per HuffPost). Whatever the case, it worked, kicking off a long and successful reality TV career and familial fame franchise that began with "Keeping Up With the Kardashians." Kardashian branched out into acting with the 2008 parody film "Disaster Movie," which earned her a Golden Raspberry nomination for worst actor. It's an award she would later win for her performance in the Tyler Perry film "Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor."
Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Sonia Shawcross and Adeline Harding
One of the more enigmatic figures in "AHS: Delicate" is Dex's late wife, Adeline, who looks nearly identical to the menstrual blood-painting artist Sonia Shawcross. Both are portrayed by Annabelle Dexter-Jones, with their likeness pointed out frequently lest viewers write the resemblance off as just another "AHS" casting fluke. The London-born British-American daughter of Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones and sister of musician Mark Ronson and fashion designers Charlotte and Samantha Ronson, Annabelle has been acting on screen for more than a decade. In 2010, she appeared in the Krysten Ritter film "Asthma," a film most notable for having one of the lowest possible Rotten Tomatoes scores.
Dexter-Jones appeared in the 2015 cyberbullying-themed horror art film "#Horror" alongside Chloe Sevigny, Timothy Hutton, Taryn Manning, and Natasha Lyonne. The following year would see her play Xan in the comedy series "Red Oaks." She also appeared in the surrealist neo-noir black comedy "Under the Silver Lake" in 2018. However, Dexter-Jones is perhaps best known for her role in "Succession" as Naomi Pierce, one of the nemeses of the Roy family.
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Nicolette
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez has already spent a fair amount of time in the Murphyverse before entering the world of "American Horror Story." Rodriguez is one of those stars who knew she wanted to be an actor her whole life. As a kid growing up in Newark, Rodriguez says she was fortunate to have a mother who nurtured her gifts for acting and singing by enrolling her in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Youth Theater Program.
As an LGBTQ+ teen, Rodriguez was involved in the New York ball scene, an experience that would inform her performance in the Ryan Murphy series "Pose" as Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista. For her performance, she would become the first trans woman nominated for an Emmy in a major acting category. Up until that point, the only trans actors to receive Emmy nominations were Laverne Cox (guest actress for "Orange is the New Black") and Rain Valdez (short-form comedy or drama actress for "Razor Tongue"). Rodriguez has also appeared in a number of stage performances including an off-Broadway production of "Rent." Her other on-screen appearances include minor parts in "The Carrie Diaries," "Luke Cage," and "Nurse Jackie," just to name a few.
Juliana Canfield as Talia
In terms of hard-to-read characters, "AHS: Delicate" doesn't get much trickier than Dex's wealthy friend and art world colleague Talia. Talia's relationship with Anna is a tense and layered one, owing in part to Talia's closeness to Dex's late wife and Anna's desire in turn to please Talia. Although she seems almost antagonistic to Anna at times, there's a sense that she's reaching out and wants to somehow protect Anna as she wasn't able to do for her late friend.
Despite her British accent in "AHS," Canfield is actually American-born. Unlike Talia, who earned her wealth from a startup sale, Canfield is an old-money debutante whose family earned their wealth with the company that would become the Harper & Row publishing house. Canfield's first major television performance was in the recurring role of Kendall Roy's executive assistant Jess Jordan in "Succession," a role she maintained throughout the series run. Canfield appeared in an episode of the anthology series "Amazing Stories" in 2020. In 2021, she played Beth DeVille in the short-lived but fan-loved adaptation of the graphic novel "Y: The Last Man," and in 2022, she appeared in the Peacock series "The Calling" as Detective Janine Harris.
Billie Lourd as Ashley
The only child of "Star Wars" legend Carrie Fisher and the goddaughter of Meryl Streep, Billie Lourd had been warned off of an acting career her entire life. She followed her showbiz family's wishes and pursued a college degree, graduating with a degree in psychology and religion from NYU. But after she eventually revealed she had been surreptitiously pursuing the performing arts on the side, her famous mom helped her get a gig in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" that would prove the start of a successful acting career in her own right.
It wasn't long after this first role that Lourd would land herself a spot in Ryan Murphy's "Scream Queens," starring alongside Emma Roberts. Although the show wouldn't last long, fans instantly loved Lourd, and Murphy was quick to bring her back into the Murphyverse in the starring role of cult leader Kai Anderson's sister Winter in "Cult." During the same season, she also played the Manson family girl Linda Kasabian. Besides "Cult" and "Delicate," Lourde has appeared in four other "AHS" seasons. She played rising Supreme Mallory in "Apocalypse," the Jazzercise-loving Montana Duke in "1984," Lark in "Red Tide," and Dr. Hannah Wells in "NYC," with her performances representing some of the more varied examples of repeat casting in the show. Outside of "AHS," Lourd has also appeared in "Billionaire Boys Club," "Booksmart," and "Will & Grace."
Zachary Quinto as a Gotham Award presenter
One of the more surprising appearances in "AHS: Delicate" is Zachary Quinto's uncredited role as a Gotham Awards host in "Rockabye" (Season 12, Episode 2). Quinto's part is pretty straightforward as he emcees the eventful awards ceremony where Anna probably accidentally kills someone, wins an award, throws up some kind of black oil all over the stage, and then passes out. The Season 12 appearance marks Quinto's fourth season of "AHS." He first appeared in "Murder House" as Chad Warwick, one of the many unfortunate real estate buyers to get eaten, so to speak, by said Murder House. He returned the following season for "Asylum" as Oliver Thredson, a psychiatrist serial killer with absolutely impeccable minimalist home decor taste. For his role as Thredson, Quinto won a Critics Choice Award and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. Most recently, Quinto starred as Sam in "NYC."
Before blowing up with his first appearance as Spock in 2009's J.J. Abrams "Star Trek," Quinto appeared in a number of smaller television roles in shows like "Charmed," "Touched By an Angel," and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation." He also played CTU worker Adam Kaufman on Day 3 of "24," a role that spanned a season. Quinto has had a successful film career that includes reprising his role as Spock for several more "Star Trek" films and even voicing Lex Luthor in the animated "Superman: Man of Tomorrow."
Leslie Grossman as Ashleigh
Leslie Grossman is another Ryan Murphy veteran who actually got her start in the Murphyverse. Up until that point, she'd appeared only in bit parts in films like "Can't Hardly Wait" and "The Opposite of Sex." In 1999, she landed the role of effervescent cheerleader Mary Cherry in Ryan Murphy's WB series "Popular," the first of many Ryan Murphy projects Grossman would go on to act in. Other Murphy series featuring Grossman include "Nip/Tuck," in which she played the recurring role of Bliss Berger, NBC's short-lived comedy "The New Normal," and several seasons of "AHS."
Grossman first showed up in the "AHS" universe in "Cult," where she played the miserably-ever-after wife and cult acolyte Meadow Wilton with a brief appearance as Manson girl Patricia Krenwinkel. She went on to play the sleeper agent witch Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt in "Asylum," a role that saw her paired with Billy Eichner for a second time. In "1984," she played pious camp counselor-turned-sociopathic camp owner Margaret Booth. She also appeared in both halves of "Double Feature," starring as exasperating literary agent Ursula Caan in "Red Tide" and as the longsuffering alien-abducted gogo dancer Calico in "Death Valley."
Grossman's accomplishments aren't limited to the Murphyverse. She's also appeared in a long list of TV shows and a handful of films including the role of Eleanor's mom in "The Good Place," Jane Bales in "The Goldbergs," and Barb Weems in the Dave Grohl-penned Foo Fighters' horror comedy "Studio 666."