Tony Almeida

Tony Almeida (born 1973) was a federal agent working for the Los Angeles CTU as Special Agent in Charge before his arrest. After his release from prison Almeida worked for the CTU on a provisional basis before moving away with Michelle Dessler. Tony was killed by Christopher Henderson during the events of Day 5.

Background
Almeida graduated from San Diego State University with Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Engineering as well as a Master of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Almeida served in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant and attended the 3rd Marine Division's Scout-Sniper School as well as the 1st Marine Division's Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon School. He is a certified instructor of the Krav Maga martial art.

Just before joining CTU, he worked for the Transmeta Corporation as a Systems Validation Analyst.

Family
During Day 2, Almeida and Michelle Dessler started casually flirting with each other and in the three years between Days 2 and 3 the two started dating and eventually got married.

The couple's relationship became strained during Day 3 as Almeida, recovering from being shot, began showing signs that he couldn't do his job. Dessler eventually went to Ryan Chappelle with her concerns but she was eventually proven to be incorrect.

Almeida was also involved in a covert operation with Jack Bauer and Gael Ortega which meant that he had to keep the information secret from his wife. When she found out, Dessler was upset at the fact that he had kept a secret from her and she hadn't even known. At the end of Day 3, Dessler was kidnapped by terrorists who told Almeida that they would kill her if he did not help Stephen Saunders to escape from the building he was in. Dessler was rescued but Almeida was arrested for treason.

After his release from prison, Almeida became an alcoholic and couldn't keep a job and consequently, Dessler left him. The events of Day 4 allowed them to become close again, and they decided to both retire from CTU and begin a new life together again.

Michelle Dessler was killed shortly after the assassination of David Palmer.

Day 1
Almeida was an intelligence agent/information analyst and third in command of CTU Los Angeles during Day 1 with Nina Myers and Jack Bauer above him. Almeida did not trust Bauer at the start of the day because he had previously had a relationship with Almeida's lover Nina and subsequently called George Mason, saying that he believed Bauer was unfit to command the CTU. Mason initiated a lockdown.

Later in the day, Almeida decides to help Bauer, when he is on the run, after he realises there may be a mole inside the CTU.

When he learnt that both Bauer and himself were betrayed by Myers, Almeida and Bauer form a bond together because of her.

Day 2
In the second season, Mason was exposed to lethal radiation. In a noble effort to remove an armed nuclear bomb from a populated area, he crashed a plane carrying the bomb into the Nevada desert, sacrificing his own life in the ensuing nuclear blast. This left the position of Special Agent in Charge open for Tony.

Tony was heavily criticized by Ryan Chappelle for continuing to support Jack in his search for evidence of the fabrication of the Cyprus recording. Chappelle was planning on transferring Tony because of his insubordination, but Tony and Michelle knocked Chappelle unconscious so that they could continue to help Jack. Brad Hammond from division came when Carrie Turner called in to report them, and Chappelle was found and Tony and Michelle arrested.

When Brian Jacobs informs Mike Novick of the situation, Novick calls Chappelle and has Tony and Michelle released so that they can help him locate Bauer. Tony's gamble pays off, and he takes over as Special Agent in Charge.

24: The Game
Tony continues to serve as Special Agent in Charge throughout 24: The Game, Tony apprehended Joseph Sin-Chung, who was posing as a crew member of the apprehended cargo boat named Lee Jin-Yu. He prevented a terrorist threat at the Los Angeles Subway prior to the capture of CTU. During the hour that CTU was held hostage, Tony guides Kim Bauer to encrypt the hard-drive containing the data of the undercover CTU agents, significantly slowing down the terrorists' progress in getting the information.

Shortly after Kim's return to CTU, Tony leads one of the tactical teams disarming one of the bombs at a construction site situated along a fault line. Hours after the threat, Tony had to rush to the scene of a crime, which involved a hostage situation with Governor James Radford. After restraining as many confused gunmen as he could, he had to negotiate with the leader, who was trying to save his sick son. Tony succeeds in calming down the gunman, but the gunman is found dead by the time Tony busts open the locked door. He started becoming suspicious of Radford as he checks the gunman's body. Tony's suspicions came true when an assistant of Governor Radford calls telling him to meet her at Fisher Pier, which was happening approximately at the same time as Chase Edmunds's return to C.T.U.

Tony met up with the assistant and was given a keycard to Radford's office, with the assistant suspecting that Radford was involved in terrorist activity. The suspicion came true as a helicopter ambushed the pair, killing the assistant. Tony barely escapes with his life and drives off to the Governor's office building. After dealing with various gunmen under Radford's payroll and rescuing any trapped civilians, Tony found evidence that showed Radford's involvement with the terrorists. It turned out that Radford was seen conversing with Peter Madsen, Joseph Sin-Chung, and an unknown third man. Tony attempts to track Radford and manages to eavesdrop on Radford's conversation with the unknown man. Radford attempted to walk out, but the assassin Mandy kills Radford before Tony could do anything. Tony's evidence proved invaluable since CTU was later able to identify the third man as Max.

While Jack and Chase were busy at Fort Lesker, Tony, Michelle, and Chappelle have information that Kate Warner is still alive, but Chappelle restricted Tony from notifying Jack under the guise of completing the established mission. A few hours later, the trace was complete being located at Max's Yacht. After berating Chappelle out of disgust, Tony heads back out to the field one more time to assist Jack and Chase at the L.A. Docks in a CTU helicopter. Tony picks up Chase first, and pilots the chopper to have Chase provide support fire for Jack before picking him up.

Tony maneuvers the helicopter around the yacht allowing Chase to mow down gunmen firing at them, while Jack abseils onto the deck of the yacht. As the day ends, Tony stays on the yacht with Kate to clean up the mess while Chase pilots the helicopter with a wounded Jack to a nearby hospital.

Day 3
Tony continued to serve at CTU during Day 3. He was part of the sting operation on Michael Amador that involved the prison break of Ramon Salazar. He worked with Jack as well as Gael Ortega. He was shot in the neck while trying to apprehend Kyle Singer, but went back to CTU so that he could stop the torture of Gael, who was wrongly believed to be a mole.

Tony continued to run point on the sting operation. When Kim Bauer questioned his ability to lead with his injury, he proved to Michelle and Ryan that he was still capable.

Tony was removed Special Agent in Charge of CTU Los Angeles when he was sent to prison for aiding a terrorist who was holding his wife Michelle Dessler hostage. The charge was treason, and his likely sentence determined to be at least 20 years imprisonment or at most execution. (The least possible without a partially suspended sentence or presidential commutation is five years in lock-up.)

After Day 3
Despite their conflicts and differences, Tony and Jack share a mutual respect and have worked together on several of their most important missions. Because both Jack and former President David Palmer defended Tony's actions which sent him to prison, Tony received a reduced sentence.

His wife, Michelle Dessler, left him after he was released from prison due to his drinking habits and because he pushed her away.

Day 4
After Michelle Dessler left him, he moved in with a woman named Jen Slater, where he laid low until about one-fourth of the way into Day 4, when Jack required assistance at a security building. Tony saved Jack and Audrey Raines's life, and they laid low at his house for roughly half an hour, where Tony pours beer into Cubby. Jack planned on apprehending a suspect by himself, respecting Tony's wishes to not be dragged further into the day's events, but Tony volunteered to come along, stating that it would be stupid to save Jack only to have him killed less than an hour later.

As Tony and Jack went through the investigation, Jack saw his friend "come back to life." Eventually, Jack was able to convince Tony to return to CTU on a provisional basis, where he would work Tactical for Jack. Tensions rose when the Deputy Director of Division Bill Buchanan and Michelle Dessler, took active command of CTU Los Angeles when incumbent Special Agent in Charge Erin Driscoll left for personal reasons.

Tony and Michelle clashed at first, but gradually, the two began to warm up to each other again, and near the end of the day, they had agreed to leave CTU together and start a new life. However, when Jack called Tony into the field, Tony was captured by an assassin. The assassin, a woman named Mandy, put Michelle in an ironic situation &mdash; move LAPD units out of the area and clear a path for Mandy to escape, or she would kill Tony. Michelle didn't comply, and thought she lost Tony. However, due to the swift actions of Jack Bauer and his tactical teams, Tony was rescued and returned to Michelle.

At the end of Day 4, when an overzealous member of the new Logan Administration decided that Jack Bauer needed to die, due to his part in an illegal raid on the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, Tony played an intricate part in faking Jack's death. After smuggling him out of CTU, Tony allowed himself to have an emotional good-bye to his best friend, a man whom he might never see again.

Day 5
When Day 5 began, Tony was President of a private security technology company. Moments after receiving news that President David Palmer has been assassinated, Tony attempts to dissuade Michelle from going to CTU to assist in the investigation. He hesitates, but as he decides to follow Michelle outside, Michelle's car explodes violently. Rushing to get to her, he finds her unconscious, and presumably dead. As he holds her, the fuel tank in the car ignites causing a second explosion, critically injuring him. It is revealed through CTU conversations that Michelle is, in fact, dead.

Tony was transported to CTU Medical. Agent Curtis Manning requested he speak with Tony, but pressure to Tony's brain left him unable to speak before going into surgery. When Tony woke up, he asked about Michelle but CTU medical staff and Bill Buchanan lied about Michelle's death. Tony used a CTU computer to search for information about Michelle and discovered she had been killed in the blast at their home.

Later, he survived the contamination of CTU with Syntox gas. After discovering he was secured in an area with Christopher Henderson, one of the people responsible for the plot that resulted in Michelle's death at the beginning of the day, Tony made a decision to kill him. Tony initially obeyed Jack's request to spare Henderson's life, but later changed his mind. Tony prepared to stab Henderson with a syringe, but couldn't bring himself to kill him. Henderson, who was faking a coma, grabbed the syringe from Tony and stabbed him in the heart and escaped.

Jack entered the medical area and found Tony lying on the floor. Jack rushed to Tony's side and tried to help him. Tony opened his eyes and said, "I couldn't do it....." As Jack begged Tony to stay with him, Tony whispered, "She's gone, Jack." Tony lost consciousness in Jack's arms as the clock ticked to 8:00pm.

He was carried away, dead, in a body bag shortly after 8PM.

Trivia

 * Tony Almeida is a playable character in 24: The Game.
 * Tony has a Chicago Cubs coffee mug on his desk. Carlos Bernard, who plays Tony, was born in Chicago. He is also seen drinking a beer from this mug at his home during Season 4, and it was on his kitchen counter right before the explosion during Season 5. It is currently the only known inanimate object to appear in all five seasons of the show.
 * Tony appeared in all but one of the first 72 episodes of 24.
 * When shooting the bomb attack in season two, it was decided that the mug was not going to survive the attack. Bernard tossed the mug into the air, expecting it to shatter on impact, but it became caught on a camera wire and survived. After the mug was retrieved, it was decided to be indestructible and remained on the set. Fans have christened this mug, Cubby.
 * Because Tony's death came in the final seconds of Day 5 7:00pm-8:00pm, there was much debate in the week following the episode as to whether or not he was truly, permanently dead. As many viewers noted, he died just before the final clock of the episode, which was not a silent clock.  In an interviewon March 14, 2006 (the day after the episode aired), Executive Producer Howard Gordon refused to confirm Tony's status, and said that viewers would have to tune in to the next episode to find out for sure.  (Tony's death was confirmed in the opening moments of Day 5 8:00pm-9:00pm.)
 * Tony's death scene appears to mirror that of Teri Bauer's. Their deaths were at CTU Los Angeles Headquarters and Jack had both cradled them in his arms while breaking down to tears.
 * Tony was originally supposed to die during the first episode of season 5.

Day 1

 * Tony: You mind telling me what's going on around here tonight?
 * Jack: What's going on? You mean besides a 747 falling out of the sky and a threat on a presidential candidate's life?
 * Tony: Yeah, besides that.


 * Tony: How could you do this? Betray your country, be responsible for the deaths of people you work with?
 * Jamey Farrell: I told you, I didn't know any of that was going to happen.
 * Tony: Oh, that's right. You're just tappin' on your keyboard, right?


 * Milo Pressman: What do you think they're going to do to Jack?
 * Tony: Not going to name a street after him, that's for sure.


 * George Mason: Hey! Almeida. I'm on your side. Nina oughta be here right now, what does Jack need her for? You're busting your ass without any resources because she felt like taking a ride with him. If that works for you, great...
 * Tony: You know what works for me? You keeping out of my personal business, that works for me!


 * Tony: Let me save you some time, Mr. Chappelle. I'm not the biggest fan of Jack Bauer. I don't agree with the way he delegates authority, and I don't like the way he runs operations. But since midnight last night, you won't get me to disapprove of a single action he's taken.


 * Teri Bauer (hysterical): What do you mean you don't know where she is?
 * Tony: After the safehouse, she didn't trust us and I don't blame her. Get in!
 * Teri Bauer: We have to find her, Tony! We have to find her!
 * Tony: Believe me, we're looking. Teri, GET IN THE CAR!

Day 2

 * Paula Schaeffer: I didn't know how you liked intel presented impromptu. Whether you like it sorted chroniologically with an alphabetical key or if you just like separate folders with access tabs...
 * Tony: Uhh... I don't really care.


 * George Mason: Send somebody else. I need you here.
 * Tony: To do what, watch Paula die?


 * Tony: In case you haven't heard, George Mason was exposed to a lethal dose of plutonium this morning. I'm afraid he hasn't got much time. He just left the office and he won't be coming back, which means that I'll be in charge until further notice. Now, on a normal day, we'd be mourning George, just like we would've mourned Ivers, Clark, and Paula, and the rest of our co-workers who were killed here today. Unfortunately we're gonna have to hold our thoughts of them until we can get through this present crisis. So... let's get back to work.


 * Tony (to Michelle): So, uh, what are we saying here? If we save LA from a nuclear bomb, then you and I can get together for dinner and a movie? Is that it?


 * Ryan Chappelle: So what's up, my friend?
 * Tony: Well, it's like this, Ryan... either fire me, or get out of my chair.

Day 3

 * Michelle Dessler: I'll go anywhere with you... as long as I don't have to cook.
 * Tony (laughing): Sweetheart, if you promise not to cook I will take you with me anywhere.


 * Tony: Chloe, I'm getting real tired of your personality.


 * Michelle Dessler: There's been other mistakes today, Tony.
 * Tony: Mistakes? That you think I made?!


 * Tony (Referring to the medical record of Marcus Alvers, a man who had unprotected sex with Nina): My colleagues in the next room are saying that something on those medical records concerns you. Something tells me it's not the knee.


 * Tony: Baby, you're alive. And nobody else got hurt because of what I did. Now that's more than I hoped for. I can live with that. Even in prison.

Day 4

 * Henry Powell: Who are you guys? Police? FBI?
 * Tony: Actually, I'm currently unemployed.


 * Tony: Some people are more comfortable in hell.

Day 5

 * Jack: Tony, whatever you do, it's not gonna bring back Michelle!
 * Tony: No, but I'll feel better.
 * Jack: Trust me, you won't!
 * Tony: You're probably right... I'll let you know.