one день at a time

Cast and characters[edit]

Main[edit]

Justina Machado plays Penelope Alvarez.

Rita Moreno plays Penelope's mother, Lydia Riera.

Isabella Gomez plays Penelope's teenage daughter, Elena Alvarez.

• Justina Machado as Penelope Francisca del Carmen Riera Inclán Ruiz Maribona de Alvarez, a United States Army Nurse Corps veteran and mother of Alex and Elena. She works as a nurse for Dr. Leslie Berkowitz. After coming back from army service, she joins a therapy group to help her with her depression and anxiety. In the first season, she separates from her husband Victor and starts dating Ben. Later she breaks up with Ben after Victor's visit for Elena's quinceañera. In season two Penelope decides to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner. She begins dating an Army Veteran, now EMT Max Ferraro, but breaks up with him after finding out he wanted children of his own and decides to let him find that chance with someone else, as she believes that she is too old for another child, and has two children of her own. She previously dated Mateo, but they both broke up in season 3 because Penelope didn't spend as much time with him, and Mateo was getting back with his ex-wife.
• Todd Grinnell as Pat Schneider, the rich landlord of the building. He is a close friend of the family and Penelope's best friend. Schneider is frequently having one-night stands with different women. He often talks about having multiple stepmothers and how dysfunctional his family was. He also openly discusses his history of addictions, achieving eight years of sobriety in season 3, before experiencing a short relapse. He is Canadian and, after years of having a green card, decides to become a US citizen. He begins dating Avery, who he meets in season 3.
• Isabella Gomez as Elena Maria Alvarez Riera Calderón Leyte-Vidal Inclán, the activist and feminist teenage daughter of Penelope. After dating Josh, a classmate, and watching porn, she discovers that she is lesbian and comes out to her family. The news doesn't sit well with her father, which upsets Elena. In the second season, she finds a love interest, Syd, and founds a Gay-Straight Alliance club at her Catholic School.
• Marcel Ruiz as Alejandro "Alex" Alberto Alvarez Riera Calderon Leyte-Vidal Inclán, the son of Penelope. He wants to gain popularity at school and is part of the baseball team. He starts a school project about Cuba. In season two he begins working during the summer at Dr. Berkowitz's office.
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Dr. Leslie Berkowitz, Penelope's lonely boss and Lydia's possible love interest who is extorted financially by his ex-wife and daughter.
• Rita Moreno as Lydia Margarita del Carmen Inclán Maribona Leyte-Vidal de Riera, a faithful Cuban, Penelope's mother and grandmother of Elena and Alex. She fled Cuba after Castro seized power. She was a dancer and a performer back in the day. Over the course of the show, she develops a relationship with Dr. Berkowitz.

Recurring[edit]

• Fiona Gubelmann as Lori (season 1): Penelope's co-worker.
• Ariela Barer as Carmen (season 1): Elena's best friend. She spent nights with Elena in her bedroom after her parents were deported back to Mexico, but Penelope finds out. She later moves to Austin, Texas to live with her brothers.
• Froy Gutierrez as Josh Flores (season 1): Elena's date.
• Eric Nenninger as Scott (seasons 1–3): Penelope's co-worker.
• Haneefah Wood as Jill Riley (seasons 1–3): Penelope's friend.
• Mackenzie Phillips as Pam Valentine (seasons 1–3): the leader of Penelope's female veteran therapy group. Phillips portrayed Julie Cooper in the original 70s sitcom One Day at a Time.
• Judy Reyes as Ramona (seasons 1–3): Penelope's friend from the therapy group.
• Tony Plana as Berto Riera (seasons 1–3): Lydia's late husband.
• Jolie Jenkins as Nikki (seasons 1–3): Schneider's former love interest and one of the mothers at St. Bibiana Academy.
• James Martínez as Victor Alvarez (seasons 1–3): Penelope's ex-husband.
• Ed Quinn as Max Ferraro (seasons 2–3): a military veteran, EMT, and Penelope's ex-boyfriend
• Sheridan Pierce as Syd (seasons 2–3): Elena's 'syd'nificant other who is non-binary.[16][17]
• Santina Muha as Beth (seasons 2–3): A wheelchair-user member of Penelope's therapy group.
• Nicky Endres as Cynthia (season 3): A member of Penelope's therapy group.
• Alex Quijano as Mateo (season 3): Penelope's friend from St. Bibiana Academy, who is also a parent.
• India de Beaufort as Avery (season 3): A kindergarten teacher and Schneider's girlfriend. Beaufort is the real-life wife of Todd Grinnell.

Guest[edit]

• Cedric Yarbrough as Jerry, Penelope's Uber driver.
• Jay Hayden as Ben, Penelope's love interest that she meets in a gay bar.
• Gabrielle Elyse as Dani, Elena's crush that does not match her feelings.
• Ivonne Coll as Esme; Dr. Berkowitz's love interest and Lydia's rival.
• Emiliano Díez as Padre Jose, the priest of Lydia's church.
• Georgia Engel as Sister Barbara, the mother superior at St. Bibiana Academy.
• Tim Bagley as Henry, an employee at the USCIS who applies a citizenship test to Lydia.
• Mindy Sterling as Delia, an employee at the USCIS who applies a citizenship test to Schneider.
• Timm Sharp as Wally, the nurse of Lydia who takes care of her in the hospital.
• Gloria Estefan as Mirtha, Lydia's estranged sister, and Penelope's aunt.
• Melissa Fumero as Estrellita, Mirtha's daughter, and Penelope's cousin, and childhood best friend.
• Stephanie Beatriz as Pilar, Penelope's cousin who Elena suspects is also a lesbian.
• Liz Torres as Tia Monica, Penelope's aunt who loves to criticize her family.
• Danny Pino as Tito, Penelope’s brother, Lydia’s son, and Elena and Alex’s uncle.
• Glenn Scarpelli as Chad, the receptionist at the hotel where Elena and Syd stay for their first time. Scarpelli played Alex Handris in the original 70s sitcom.
• Alan Ruck as Lawrence Schneider, Pat's arrogant father.
• Gloria Calderón Kellett as Nicole, Victor's new wife.
• Joe Manganiello as Nick, Schneider's sponsor at AA.

The series depicts the everyday life of a Cuban-American family with each character finding their own journey. Following the story of Penelope Alvarez, a United States Army Nurse Corps[4] veteran, facing her return to civilian life with a lot of unresolved issues from her time in the Army. She works as a nurse in the office of Dr. Leslie Berkowitz. After her husband's alcoholism due to post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Army made it, in Penelope's words, 'unsafe to be in the house', she separates from Victor, taking the children with her. With the help of her Cuban mother, Lydia Riera, she is raising two children: Elena and Alex. Apart from planning her daughter's quinceañera, Penelope starts dating and finds a love interest. Elena, resistant to have a quinces, starts dating a teenager from her class; to later realize that she is a lesbian. After struggling in ways to tell her family about her sexuality she finds the right time to come out.

In the second season, Penelope continues to deal with her PTSD, while getting back into the dating scene. Elena finds a love interest in Syd, who is non-binary. Lydia and Schneider both reveal they are not legal U.S. citizens, and therefore both take their citizenship tests. Towards the end of the season, Lydia suffers a stroke and begins to hover between life and death, though she ultimately survives.

In the third season, Penelope, Elena, Alex, and Schneider all find themselves more as the season goes on. Schneider's father comes to visit the building and almost causes the Alvarezes to lose their home. Schneider revolts and goes against his father saving the building from turning into a condo, but by doing this, he relapses. Alex is grounded for most of the season for going to Bud-E Fest but gets un-grounded when Penelope finds out how he handled Schneider's relapse.