Guest actors are listed in the show's end credits. Main actors are credited as 'starring' in the opening title sequence, while supporting actors are listed under 'also starring'. Main article: List of Oz (TV series) characters In contrast to the dangerous criminals, central character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a usually law-abiding man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake.

There are the African-American Homeboys (Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keane, Adebisi) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta, Zanghi, Urbano), the Aryan Brotherhood (Schillinger, Robson, Mack), the Latinos of El Norte (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (The O'Reilly brothers, Kirk, Keenan), the Gays (Hanlon, Cramer, Ginzburg), the Bikers (Hoyt, Sands, Burns), the Christians (Cloutier, Coushaine, Cudney) and many other individuals not completely affiliated with one particular group (Rebadow, Busmalis, Keller, Stanislofsky). There are many groups of inmates throughout the show, and not everyone within each group survives the show's events. Oz chronicles McManus' attempts to keep control over the inmates of Em City. The show's narrator, inmate Augustus Hill, explains the show, and provides context, thematic analysis, and a sense of humor.

Others, corrections officers and inmates alike, simply want to survive, some long enough to make parole and others just to see the next day. Some fight for power – either over the drug trade or over other inmate factions and individuals. Under McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, all inmates in 'Em City' struggle to fulfill their own needs. However, almost all of these factions are constantly at war with one another which often results in many prisoners being beaten, raped, or killed. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment, with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, intended to ease tensions among these various factions. In this experimental unit of the prison, unit manager Tim McManus emphasizes rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration, rather than carrying out purely punitive measures.

The majority of Oz 's story arcs are set in ' Emerald City', named for a setting from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

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