Xuenou > Television > ‘Ghosts’ on CBS: Here’s Where You Know the Woodstone Mansion Spirits From
‘Ghosts’ on CBS: Here’s Where You Know the Woodstone Mansion Spirits From
With stellar premiere season ratings and critical acclaim sparking multiple award nominations, CBS's Ghosts has become one of TV's most lovable freshmen sitcoms. Between the witty writing to the pristine performances led by veteran performers Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar, the single-camera [...]

‘Ghosts’ on CBS: Here’s Where You Know the Woodstone Mansion Spirits From

With stellar premiere season ratings and critical acclaim sparking multiple award nominations, CBS’s Ghosts has become one of TV’s most lovable freshmen sitcoms. Between the witty writing to the pristine performances led by veteran performers Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar, the single-camera comedy series has made an incredible impression on audiences. 

But while the show will return this fall for its sophomore season, the cast behind the beloved and deceased Woodstone Mansion spirits have been living their best lives off camera and have some serious talent when they are not stepping into their laugh-out-loud on-screen counterparts.

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(Photo: CBS Studios / Paramount)

Ahead of Ghosts Season 2 premiering in a new time slot Thursday, Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS, meet the spirited cast of the smash-hit ensemble comedy and get to know some of their other projects. How many shows and movies from our favorite spirits have you seen? Scroll below to learn more — and to see more with the spirits of Ghosts, head to our YouTube for full-length interviews with the cast.

Trevor Lefkowitz played by Asher Grodman

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(Photo: TheTrainShortFilm.com/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Best known for playing ’90s Wall Street bro Trevor Lefkowitz on Ghosts, Asher Grodman might be baring a little more than his soul on the CBS sitcom with a pantsless performance that is both cheeky and layered but he is every bit the compassionate and creative storyteller off-screen when he’s not teaching aspiring acting students at Hunter College in New York City or inmates at Rikers Island. Though he stands out among the cast for a half-birthday suit look, Grodman’s charismatic performance as Trevor is a seamless one and every bit a testament to his hard work ranging in theatre, television and film.

Getting his start in regional theatre across the country, including the lead role as Amadeus at the South Coast Repertory, the expressive, multitalented artist is also the award-winning filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed 2015 short The Train starring the late, great Eli Wallach. Featured in more than 25 film festivals, The Train won numerous honors including Best Film awards thanks to his keen, piercing eye. But that wasn’t the only award-winning short Grodman was a part of. In 2017, the comedy Rekindled took home 14 awards and was part of 50 film festivals. A year later, he starred and co-produced the poignant one-minute short For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn. In addition to a diverse catalog of shorts including the 2020 chilling drama Mixed, Grodman has appeared in guest spots over the years on House of Cards (unfortunately credited as Asher Goodman), Chicago Med, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Elementary and Succession (the episode “Hunting,” which won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series). Grodman has starred in a handful of movies too, including Mo, Knock Knock, Inez & Doug & Kira, and the award-winning Handsome Harry. He will be seen next in the Brooke Shields and Brandon Routh feature film Out of Order!, a comedy set to release sometime this year.

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Pete Martino played by Richie Moriarty

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(Photo: FX/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

With fervent love for D&D and knots, Pete Martino is one of Woodstone’s eternal optimists and played most lovably by Richie Moriarty, a gifted performer with many hats from actor to writer to improviser. Known for numerous films, including the hilarious role as a bank manager turned barista in Zach Braff’s Going in Style and How to Be Single alongside Dakota Johnson, Moriarty’s career in improv first landed him in commercials and TV shows in Boston circa 2006. After years of comedy theatre and booking ads, he performed almost 10 years later at the renowned Just for Laughs Festival in Montréal — where they serendipitously shoot Ghosts. With kismet taking him for a ride again, Moriarty landed an AFC Championship Game teaser promo for CBS that year, which won four Sports Emmys and starred John Malkovich and Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl LIII Opening.

But one of his most hilarious sketches over the years has no doubt been the Simply Unemployable skit covering Hamilton Impressions: 14 Celebrities in Under 2 Minutes. From Adam Sandler to Christopher Walken and Muppets character Bunson, it’s the funniest thing you’ll see today! Moriarty also had a recurring role in The Tick and guest starred in What We Do in the Shadows, The Last O.G., Adam Ruins Everything, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards (like his co-star, Grodman) and Orange Is the New Black.

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Flower (Susan Montero) played by Sheila Carrasco

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(Photo: Netflix/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

The ’60s wild child Flower is one of Woodstone Mansion’s freer spirits, and actor and writer Sheila Carrasco ensures she brings an effective and expressive flair to the beloved character each time thanks to her innovative degrees of talent and charm. Getting her start in theatre at the tender age of 7 in the community production of Annie, Carrasco is an alum of the Groundlings Sunday Company and an active member of the LA-based theatre company, IAMA. With a strong background in directing and set design, Carrasco has starred in a series of videos for Broadway Video’s Latino Comedy Studio, Mas Mejor based on her original character “Marisol at the Market.”

Most recently writing and starring in the virtual one-woman show Anyone But Me, a show exploring female identity last year, Carrasco has appeared in a number of shows including I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Jane the Virgin, The Good Place, Life in Pieces and The Odd Couple — both on CBS. The actress is also a 2018 alum of the CBS Diversity Showcase and head writer in 2019.

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Alberta Haynes played by Danielle Pinnock

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(Photo: CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Prohibition-era singer Alberta Haynes is one of the sassiest, most cheerful spirits humming tunes along the halls of Woodstone Mansion. But while she is set to take center stage in Season 2 with an A-storyline permeating throughout the season, it’s one of the best times to get to know her off-camera counterpart in actress Danielle Pinnock — a multifaceted actor, writer and creator with a generous heart for laughs who has been named to PEOPLE’s “One to Watch” list and Backstage’s 2022 “Emerging Talent” honor.

Regularly sharing her penchant for comedy on TikTok while on set with the Ghosts cast or as half of the Hashtag Booked duo with her friend and comedy partner LaNisa Renee Frederick — of which the pair is developing a pilot based on the award-winning web series — Pinnock is best known for her role as the kind-hearted math teacher on the CBS comedy Young Sheldon. But she has also appeared in some very memorable shows like, Get Shorty alongside Ray Romano. In addition to guest starring roles in A Black Lady Sketch Show, This Is Us, Scandal and Dollface, her voice can be heard in the Netflix Original Boss Baby: Back in Business, Cartoon Network’s Thundercats Roar and Apple TV+’s Doug Unplugs and Peacock’s Where’s Waldo?

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Henrietta ‘Hetty’ Woodstone played by Rebecca Wisocky

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(Photo: Lifetime/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Once an 1880s socialite married to a robber baron (Matt Walsh) currently burning in hell and the great-great-great-grandmother to Samantha (McIver), Woodstone’s Victorian matriarch Henrietta “Hetty” Woodstone played immaculately by Rebecca Wisocky is a character everyone secretly wishes was a mother figure in their life, too. With Season 2 sparking an “awakening” for Hetty as per the showrunners and cast at the San Diego Comic-Con last week, it will be fun for audiences to see just how Wisocky encapsulates that emotion. But as an artist with a career spanning almost three decades in both film and television, it’s going to be a breeze for Wisocky who no doubt will elevate the character to new heights.

Having first appeared on Broadway in 1995, Wisocky performed in many stage productions with a primary focus on strong female characters like Lady Macbeth or Medea. Earning awards for her performances, Wisocky also appeared in several Off-Broadway productions. Best known for her part on Devious Maids as the fan-favorite Evelyn Powell, Wisocky has been a frequent face in both comedy and drama. Having appeared in guest spots on the Law & Order franchise, The Sopranos, NCIS and Sex and the City, Wisocky had recurring roles in Star Trek: Picard, For All Mankind, True Blood, The Mentalist and American Horror Story and most recently seen in the Hulu series Dopesick opposite Michael Keaton. Wisocky has also appeared in a handful of films, including Pollack opposite Ed Harris, Hello My Name Is Doris with Sally Field and was the voice of Ebay Elayne in Ralph Saves the Internet. Wisocky will next be seen in Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde with Ana de Armas and the David O. Russell feature Amsterdam with Margot Robbie and Christian Bale.

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Capt. Isaac Higgintoot played by Brandon Scott Jones

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(Photo: NBC/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Isaac Higgintoot may appear to be a pompous, Revolutionary War captain who died of dysentery, hates Alexander Hamilton and accidentally murdered the love of his life but he’s a lot more layered than we think thanks to a remarkable performance from Brandon Scott Jones breathing life into the 1700s ghost and bringing a unique vibrancy to the traditionally stoic militiaman character. The role has even earned Scott his first Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for the CBS sitcom — with plenty more to come for him and the show this year following multiple awards nominations this year.

A regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York and Los Angeles, Jones was named one of Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch in 2015. As multitalented as his Ghosts co-stars, Scott boasts an impressive resume of writing, producing and acting. He is best known for his two-season role on The Good Place and is also a co-producer, as well as writer and actor for HBO Max’s critically acclaimed series The Other Two about a pair of floundering millennial siblings. With Ghosts being his breakthrough role following Isn’t It Romantic? alongside Rebel Wilson, the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me? and his Netflix movie Senior Year, which he brilliantly wrote and stars in, Jones will be seen next in the Nicolas Cage horror-comedy Renfield out next year.

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Sasappis played by Román Zaragoza

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(Photo: Disney/CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Known for rolling his eyes and asking to smell pizza any chance he can get, Sasappis is one of the snarkiest spirits in the house, but we love him all the more for it thanks to Román Zaragoza’s sharp and brilliant timing in some very biting sarcasm. Feeling like a character most relatable to Gen Z, Zaragoza’s Sass will be getting a lot more to explore in Season 2 of Ghosts as revealed by the showrunners and cast at the San Diego Comic-Con last week.

Getting his start at the age of 3 on Broadway with his dad Gregory Zaragoza in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, Zaragoza’s passion for the arts sprung into action leading him to numerous plays and musicals throughout high school. Diving headfirst into that passion for a decade before making the leap to television, Zaragoza worked with Native Voices at the Autry — the country’s only Native American Equity theatre company. While in high school, Zaragoza starred on the Disney Channel’s Austin & Ally, but his career path underwent a shift when he was 18 and starred in The Don’t Talk Back at Native Voices at the Autry and the La Jolla Playhouse. It was this work that led him to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival where he fell in love with the Bard of Avon. Finishing up a three-season run at the event, Zaragoza went on to star in a number of short films and TV shows like Stumptown and Those Who Can’t and movies like Shadow Wolves on Netflix.

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Thorfinn played by Devan Chandler Long

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(Photo: Warner Bros./CBS Studios/Getty Images)

Last but not least, Viking Thorfinn from the early 1000s is the oldest spirit on the Woodstone Estate and he’s every bit the cuddly teddy bear that audiences would expect from a character putting on a front. Portrayed playfully by Devan Chandler Long, the diverse actor known for a wide-ranging resume in film and TV, will get a chance to flex some more of his acting muscles as Season 2 takes off and shares another look at the lovable Thor following his “Thorapy” episode.

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The former defensive end football star at the University of Oregon turned actor grew up entertaining his peers both in the classroom and football field. His talents earned him a full-ride scholarship to Oregon, where he played football until his graduation in 2005. With a boisterous personality and liking for storytelling, Long found himself in acting and got his first role in Shameless in 2012. Thanks to stubborn determination, the actor has created a distinct filmography taking on very eclectic roles including recent appearances in The Rookie and HBO Max’s Doom Patrol as DC Comics strongman superhero Flex Mentallo. Most recently, Long starred in Michael Bay’s Ambulance with Jake Gyllenhaal.

For more on Ghosts and everything Season 2, stay tuned to the very latest about the show, news about the cast, and everything in between only on PopCulture. In the meantime, relive the first season of Ghosts on Paramount+ for free from June 3 to Sept. 2, 2022.

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