Peter Gallagher (1) :: Character Guides

Sanford "Sandy" Cohen was born and raised in the Bronx. He had a rough childhood – his father left when he was young and his mother worked all the time in order to earn enough money for them to get by. When Sandy was older, he moved from New York to California to go to law school at UC Berkeley. There he met the girl of his dreams, Kirsten Nichol, the daughter of one of California’s wealthiest businessmen. They made a life together, living out of a mail truck, but soon enough, the couple found themselves back in Newport and Sandy found himself in the one place he never dreamed he would be: a wealthy neighborhood in an even wealthier town.

Sandy worked as a public defender and through his job he met Ryan. Seeing himself in Ryan, he decided to take him in. Since then, Sandy has traded his job as a public defender in for a job at a corporate law firm, which he hated, so he traded his profession in once again to have a private law practice.

As season 2 came to a close, Sandy watched as his father-in-law’s death took a large toll on his wife. Kirsten began to drown her pain in alcohol, and Sandy had to stage an intervention for his wife. Though it was hard, he sent her away to a clinic where she could recover and transform back to her original self.

Now Sandy is running his father-in-law’s company, but using it to help the less privileged individuals of Newport instead of building mansions for the wealthy.