Zack Martin, played by Dylan Sprouse, is always getting into trouble. Zack is usually dressed in skater clothes, and is known as the less smart of the two. He has an obsession with girls, and has a crush on Maddie in the first season, though from the second season onward, little is said concerning whether he still has a crush on her. He occasionally sticks up for his brother, as seen in the episodes "Election", "Kept Man" and "Who's the Boss". He wants to be like his dad, Kurt. Other than in wood shop, he is known for not doing well in school. The teacher in that class said he was the star pupil. On a very rare occasion, he does think up something as smart as Cody most of the time. Zack has a more "cool" attitude and does not have as much knowledge or common sense as Cody, though he has been shown to be good in math when dealing with money. He and his brother are both huge fans of the Boston Red Sox, and hate the New York Yankees. He likes skateboarding, basketball, and soccer, all of which he is good at. He is always playing pranks on his twin brother and is a lot messier than Cody is.
Cody Martin, played by Cole Sprouse, is the more erudite, mature, and sensitive one of the twins, but he often plays along with his brother's crazy schemes. He shows less interest in girls than his brother, but he gets most of them. He does seem to flirt a lot with a girl named Barbara Brownstein, but they are constantly competing on who is smarter. He has shown a passion for baking, cleaning, and cooking, as well as mime and dance. Cody is sometimes easily frightened. When ever Cody is scared, he sometimes holds his "blanky", which is just a light-blue blanket. Other than woodshop, Cody is known for doing well in school. Cody also has astigmatism. Cody Martin is the younger of the twins. Zack is just 10 minutes older then him.
Maddie Fitzpatrick, played by Ashley Tisdale, is the teenage candy-counter girl at the Tipton Hotel, a cashier at the Cluck Bucket, manager on the Camp Tipton Daycare Center, counselor for her school's summer camp program, and has just recently returned from Antarctica as seen in "Team Tipton". While she comes from a lower class family, Maddie is very hard-working, outspoken, and intelligent. She attended private school at Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow, but now she is attending Cheevers High School with Zack, Cody, London, and Nia. Maddie is London's closest friend, though London often treats her like a servant, as in "Footloser", usually bribing her with money. Maddie also babysits Zack and Cody. Zack has a huge crush on her in Season 1, however the crush turns on and off during Seasons 2-3.
London Tipton, played by Brenda Song, is the daughter of Wilfred Tipton, the owner of the Tipton Hotels. Although the viewers never see Mr. Tipton, he is frequently mentioned, and when he is on set, he is hidden behind his 6-9 security guards. London is a dim-witted, spoiled, selfish, rich teenager with her own private suite at the Tipton Hotel in Boston, complete with a lot of closets (each with their own talking mirror) and a kitchen which takes up most of the floor. She transferred to the same private school as Maddie in the episode "Forever Plaid", due to poor attendance at her old school. In the episode "First Day of High School", London transfers to Zack & Cody's public school, due to being expelled from all of the private schools she had previously attended. She dislikes her step-moms and talks to Mr. Moseby and Maddie about her problems. When happy, she usually claps her hands repeatedly while saying her catchphrase, "Yay me!". Though it seems like London may lead the ultimate rich-girl life, her childhood was not perfect ( It took her 14 years to learn her "ABCs". In Season 3, she has a strong relationship with Lance the Lifeguard (Maddie's ex-boyfriend) due to swimming lessons, yet they break up when Lance has eyes for a mermaid named Wanda. Her name may be a reference to Paris Hilton, as their situations are nearly identical. Even though London says she likes lobster biscuit in "Poor Little Rich Girl" she seems to become allergic to lobster in "Arwinstein".
Marion Moseby, played by Phill Lewis, is the somewhat-uptight manager of the Tipton, who speaks with a wide vocabulary and an urbane vernacular, but is often annoyed by the twins' schemes. Though he acts as though he does not care about the boys, he actually has a great deal of affection for them. For example, when they went to the baseball game and he caught a ball for Cody, ultimately making him the most "hated man in Boston" (because catching the ball cost the Red Sox the game). In the episode "The Ghost of 613", it is revealed that he started out at the Tipton as a bellhop back in the 1970s. A running gag of the series is that Mr. Moseby often makes a fool of himself in front of people by doing something to make himself look bad in front of people (e.g.: hitting a baby doll that wouldn't stop crying against a chair when a woman holding a baby was walking by), or sarcastically saying something about himself that isn't real (which the patrons don't know).
Carey Martin, played by Kim Rhodes, is a headlining singer at the Tipton as well as the mother of Zack and Cody. She is a divorced mother, wise, kind, but somewhat aggressive towards the twins when they misbehave. She seems to love the twins a lot. Arwin Hawkhauser has a crush on her. She has a younger sister, and often dreams about George Clooney. Carey found her talent for singing by mistake when she was at a talent show doing stand-up comedy. She tries to keep the boys away from trouble, but she never prevails. Later in the second season, she changed her hair color from blonde to reddish-brown multiple times. She changes her hair color because she found a gray hair. As of Season 3, she has kept her brown hair and pulled her hair back in a small ponytail. When she is trying to teach the boys a lesson (or in some cases, other characters) she uses a story from her past, which is always boyfriend related, leading to Zack and Cody or the other characters groaning.
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