List of HIV-positive television characters

HIV-positive characters from television shows or made-for-television movies.

Years of appearance	Title	Network	Character name	Actor	Notes
1985	An Early Frost	NBC	Michael Pierson	Aidan Quinn	The first made-for-television film to address people with AIDS.
1986	St. Elsewhere	NBC	Dr. Robert Caldwell	Mark Harmon	In "Family Feud" aired Jan. 29, 1986, Dr. Caldwell was diagnosed with HIV after leaving the hospital his former colleagues are informed of his death in season six.
1986	Hill Street Blues	NBC	Eddie Gregg	Charles Levin	In "Slum Enchanted Evening" aired March 27, 1986, Belker meets an old informant, Eddie Gregg, a gay male prostitute, who is dying of AIDS.
1987	Another World	NBC	Dawn Rollo	Barbara Tyson	The first AIDS-related storyline on a daytime soap opera in the United States,[1] Dawn was introduced as the sister of Chad Rollo and a love interest for Scott LaSalle. She soon learned that she had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion, and died of AIDS in 1988.
1987	Designing Women	CBS	Kendall Dobbs	Tony Goldwyn	In "Killing All the Right People", Kendall is a young gay man with AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral.
1987	The Equalizer	CBS	Mickey Robertson	Corey Carrier	Six-year-old boy with AIDS is protected from harassment from his neighbors by the titular character.
1988	Go Toward the Light	CBS	Ben Madison	Joshua Harris	A young couple face the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS. The young couple (Linda Hamilton, Richard Thomas) try to save their young son from the virus.
1988	Midnight Caller	NBC	Mike Barnes Tina Cassidy Kelly West Ross Parker	Richard Cox Kay Lenz Julia Montgomery J. D. Lewis	In "After It Happened", Mike is a bisexual man who deliberately infects men and women, including Tina and Kelly, with HIV. Ross is Mike's former partner, who Mike abandons when Ross gets sick. The episode was controversial, drawing protests from San Francisco AIDS groups who believed the episode would encourage violence against gay people and people with AIDS.[2] Kay Lenz won an Emmy Award for her portrayal. She reprised her role in 1989's "Someone to Love".[3]
1989–1991	Degrassi High	CBC Television	Dwayne Meyers	Darrin Brown	Heterosexual white male teenager, infected by a summer girlfriend.
1989	The Ryan White Story	ABC	Ryan White	Lukas Haas	13-year-old haemophiliac who contracted AIDS from factor VIII
1990–2003	EastEnders	BBC	Mark Fowler	Todd Carty	Heterosexual male; former runaway who returned to his family after contracting HIV; died of an AIDS-related illness. He is the world's first soap opera character to contract the disease, and also the first to portray an HIV/AIDS character on a major television show outside North America.
1991	Neon Rider	CTV	Walt	Philip Granger	A social worker,[4] he firsts tests HIV-positive in the series' 17th episode, "Saint Walt". At first he has a difficult time with the news, and consumes alcohol excessively to cope. He later begins dating Amanda (Kathe Mazur), although his HIV status puts a strain on their relationship. He comes down with pneumonia in the episode "Moving On".
1991–1993	Life Goes On	ABC	Jessie	Chad Lowe	white male teenager, infected by girlfriend.
1991	A Different World	NBC	Josie Webb	Tisha Campbell	African American female college student infected by high school boyfriend.
1991	thirtysomething	ABC	Peter Montefiore	Peter Frechette	gay male, infected by one of his partners
1992	Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story	ABC	Alison Gertz	Molly Ringwald	female, infected during a one-night affair
1993	And the Band Played On	HBO	Various	Various	The shows details the original discovery of AIDS and early problems in dealing with the disease
1993	NYPD Blue	ABC	Ferdinand Holley	Giancarlo Esposito	Appears on episode titled "Holley and the Blowfish"; character is a police informant who robs drug dealers. Was infected by drug usage.
1993–1995	General Hospital	ABC	Stone Cates	Michael Sutton	white male teenager
1994	The Real World	MTV	Pedro Zamora		openly gay, infected by one of his partners, famous AIDS educator
1994-	General Hospital	ABC	Robin Scorpio	Kimberly McCullough	white female teenager, infected by her boyfriend Stone Cates.
1996	Murder One	ABC	Richard Cross	Stanley Tucci	Cross is an unscrupulous businessman whose imminent death from AIDS leads to an ethical awakening.
1997	Oz	HBO	Various including Antonio Nappa, James Robson, Nat Ginzburg and Clarence Seroy	Various	Men, infected while in prison, HIV positive inmates are isolated in Unit E, a cell block exclusively for HIV positive inmates not allowed to be amongst general inmate population.
1998	Law & Order	NBC	Kenneth "Twist" Stark	Jason Hayes	In the 1998 episode "Carrier", Stark was charged with murder and attempted murder for deliberately infecting women with HIV.
1999	ER	NBC	Jeanie Boulet	Gloria Reuben	African-American female adult, infected by husband.
2001–2005	Queer as Folk	Showtime	Vic Grassi Ben Bruckner James "Hunter" Montgomery	Jack Wetherall Robert Gant Harris Allan	Vic was Michael Novotney's uncle. Ben was Michael's boyfriend and a college professor. Hunter was a former hustler who became Ben and Michael's foster son.
2002	Takalani Sesame	SABC	Kami	puppet	Five-year-old female puppet. Contracted HIV via tainted blood transfusion. World's first HIV-positive Sesame Street Muppet.
2004	Everwood	The WB	Linda Abbott	Marcia Cross	Globe trotting doctor. Contracted HIV while trying to save a dying boy in Africa.
2005	Commander in Chief	ABC	Vince Taylor	Anthony Azizi	A special White House aide to Mackenzie Allen, the President of the United States. He is blackmailed over his HIV status by members of the opposing political party, and the president initially fires him for not trusting her enough to disclose his status to her. However, she ultimately rehires him and expresses public confidence in his work.
2005	Nip/Tuck	FX	Gina Russo	Jessalyn Gilsig	Sex addict. Had a child before she knew she was infected with the virus but the baby did not contract it. Re-appeared briefly to work as a receptionist at McNamara/Troy but died soon after when she fell off a building.
2005	House	Fox	Kalvin Ryan	Matthew John Armstrong	Homosexual male; demand treatment from the titular character though the question advanced infection (AIDS) is truly causing his symptoms. Season 2 Episode 7 - "Hunting"
2005–2008	Home and Away	Seven Network	Cassie Turner	Sharni Vinson	Cassie contracted HIV after sleeping with her older boyfriend Henk, who had contracted the disease from a drug addicted former girlfriend.
2006	Brothers & Sisters	ABC	Saul Holden Jonathan Byrold	Ron Rifkin Richard Chamberlain	Saul is an older man who comes out as gay in the show's second season, and later tests HIV-positive in the fourth season. In the show's final season he enters a relationship with Jonathan, the man who had unknowingly given him HIV originally.
2007-	The Best Years	The N (U.S.)	Lee Campbell	Alan Van Sprang	Bisexual Lee owns local hot spot nightclub Colony.
2008–2010	Hollyoaks	Channel 4	Malachy Fisher	Glen Wallace	Heterosexual male; contracted the disease and kept it a secret from girlfriend Mercedes. He told his brother Kris as he may have contracted it from a one-night stand with Merdedes Mercedes & Malachy were to marry but ended their relationship, a row in the pub had Mercedes revealing his disease to his friends & Mum, They couple later married, Mercedes was tested and her results came back negative.
2008	South Park	Comedy Central	Eric Cartman Kyle Broflovski	Trey Parker Matt Stone	In the episode "Tonsil Trouble" Cartman is infected with HIV during a tonsillectomy When Broflovski mocks him, Cartman secretly injects him with infected blood to pass on the virus. Both are subsequently cured through injections of money into the bloodstream.
2009	The League	FX	Ted	Adam Brody	Recurring character in the show's fifth season.[5] Other characters actually envy his HIV status, believing it might be the antiretroviral medication that makes him handsomer and more successful both in his career and at fantasy football than most of the rest of them are.[5]
2014–2015	Emmerdale	ITV 1	Val Pollard	Charlie Hardwick	Heterosexual female; contracted the disease after having a fling in Portgual with a married man, Ian. Kept it from her family, including her husband Eric. After a complaint about HIV was posted on her B&B website, Val announced her HIV to everybody in the pub. The culprit was discovered to be youngster Jacob Gallagher. Val ended her marriage with Eric after realizing that he could not accept her status. They soon reconciled after realising they could not live without each other.
2014	The Normal Heart	HBO	Ned Weeks Felix Turner Craig Donner Albert Sanford	Mark Ruffalo Matt Bomer Jonathan Groff Finn Wittrock Stephen Spinella	Adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, considered one of the most important dramatic depictions of the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
2015	Looking	HBO	Eddie	Daniel Franzese	Bear who works in a homeless shelter for LGBT youth.[6]

Notes

1. "Soap Operas and AIDS: From Tragedies to Triumph". Daytime Confidential, December 1, 2010.
2. Baker, Kathryn (1988-12-13). "Midnight Caller on NBC stirs AIDS fears". The Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star. Associated Press. p. 28. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
3. "Kay Lenz reprises Emmy-winning role as AIDS victim". The Elyria (OH) Chronicle-Telegram. Associated Press. 1989-11-14. p. B-4.
4. "Neon Rider basking in shine of four Gemini nominations". Vancouver Sun, January 28, 1994. p. C3.
5. "Why Did The League’s Creators Give a Character AIDS?". Slate, September 11, 2013.
6. "Looking’s Daniel Franzese On His HIV-Positive Bear Character, Being Completely Naked On Screen And Why He Came Out Publicly". Queerty, January 11, 2015.