Tony Almeida

Anthony "Tony" Almeida was a federal agent who worked for CTU Los Angeles. During that time, he was promoted to Special Agent in Charge, but later sent to prison on charges of treason. After his release, Almeida worked for CTU on a provisional basis before moving away with Michelle Dessler.

Background

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Tony Almeida

• Age: 36
• Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
• Pardoned by President David Palmer

Personal

• Wife: Michelle Dessler (divorced, then remarried) (deceased)
• Brother-in-law: Danny Dessler
• Brief relationship with Nina Myers in Day 1

Education

• Masters of Science, Computer Science - Stanford University
• Combined Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Computer Science - San Diego State University

Military

• U.S. Marines - First Lieutenant

• Scout-Sniper School (3rd Marine Division)
• Surveillance & Target Acquisition Platoon School (1st Marine Division)

Work experience

• President of private security technology company
• Temporary employment at CTU Los Angeles granted by Secretary Heller
• Discharged by CTU for criminal act
• CTU - Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles Domestic Unit
• CTU - Deputy Director, Los Angeles Domestic Unit
• CTU - Employed for 12 Years
• Transmeta Corporation - Systems Validation Analyst

Before Day 1

Prior to Day 1, Tony distrusted and resented Jack Bauer, feeling that he had sold out his own people by turning in Christopher Henderson and Seth Campbell for taking bribes.

Tony became romantically involved with Nina Myers after she and Jack ended their affair.

Day 1

For more information, see Tony Almeida on Day 1

During Day 1, Tony Almeida was the third in command at CTU Los Angeles, working under the direction of Jack Bauer and Nina Myers. He had a rivalry with Jack, causing him to be suspicious of Jack's deviations from protocol throughout the day. However, Tony and Jack learned to trust each other after two moles infiltrating CTU were uncovered.

After Day 1

Tony Almeida and Paula Schaeffer.

With Nina Myers imprisoned for committing treason, Tony was promoted to the CTU Chief of Staff. Unfortunately, the death of Teri affected Jack deeply and he resigned as the Special Agent in Charge of CTU. George Mason then earned that position, with Tony acting as his second-in-command.

Before the events that took place in Day 2, Tony brought in Paula Schaeffer and he trained her to become a CTU agent. Michelle Dessler was also hired and immediately started a friendship with Tony. She would serve as third-in-command, working under Mason and Tony.

Day 2

Tony Day 2

Tony greets Jack Bauer at CTU Los Angeles.

During Day 2, Tony was working as the Chief of Staff at CTU Los Angeles, working under George Mason. When CTU learns that a nuclear bomb is set to go off in Los Angeles sometime during the day, President David Palmer is contacted with this information, and it is soon revealed that Jack Bauer may be the only one who can help the investigation.

Both George and Tony call Jack and request for him to come in, but Jack ignores all of their calls. President Palmer decides to call Jack and he requests for him to work with CTU on a provisional basis. Jack finally agrees, as a favor to President Palmer and Tony. After learning about the National Security crisis, he tells George and Tony he will work with them if they get his daughter, Kim Bauer, out of Los Angeles.

When Mason sends an agent to investigate some foreign passports, that may be connected to the terrorists, Tony is furious to hear Mason sent the agent who was supposed to pick up Kim. CTU is unable to locate Kim, and Tony claims that George broke the promise he kept to Jack. Tony also begins that George is ignoring his job and worrying about his own being, when Mason goes to leave LA. With Mason out of the CTU office for the next several hours, Tony becomes in charge, and Michelle Dessler serves as his second-in-command.

After receiving orders from District, Tony sends Mason to a location that may have some possible terrorism connections. Tony then receives an order from NSA, to transfer all of CTU's files on the current investigation to NSA servers. When Tony learns other CTU units didn't receive this order, he relays this with Mason, who informs Tony about finding the production site of the bomb. Tony then learns from a telephone programmer that their is a bomb inside CTU, and the worker got the information from Jack. Tony then orders an evacuation and has everyone run out of the building.

When Tony realizes that Paula Schaeffer is still in Mason's office, finishing the transfer of files to NSA, he runs upstairs in an effort to save her. The building then explodes, but luckily the bomb only did minor damage to CTU. Unharmed, Tony digs to find Paula and he finds her unconscious a girder. Tony then calls Mason and requests for him to return to CTU and do his job, but Mason refuses to return. Tony lashes out at George, feeling he is being selfish by trying to save his own ass.

Tony and Michelle Dessler have a moment.

Eventually George returns to CTU, and he disagrees with Tony's decision to send Paula immediately to the hospital. Paula has a low chance of survival and Mason makes the decision for her to remain at CTU, and finish retrieving the case files, as she is the only one qualified for the job. Though Tony does not like the idea of putting Paula's life in their hands like this, he admits to Michelle that Mason made the best decision for the country.

Paula is able to retrieve all of the files, but she dies shortly after. Tony feels responsible and expresses his guilt to Michelle, as he was the one who brought Paula into CTU in the first place.

While Jack works on an undercover operation, he eventually meets with ringleader Joseph Wald and tells him he killed their partners. Wald looked himself in a panic room, in order to prevent Jack from obtaining information, but he eventually opened the door and gave Jack the information he need. Jack learned that the person to sell him the schematics of CTU was no other than Nina Myers.

Nina was brought to CTU and George Mason decide to interrogate her, though Jack requested to see her first. Nina taunted Tony, over her deceiving him during their relationship in Day One. With Mason back in charge of CTU, Tony decides to leave the building and follow up on a lead. Tony makes a connection between a Middle Eastern businessman and the terrorist CTU has been tracking, Syed Ali.

Tony is lead to the Warner home, and Bob Warner insists for Tony to leave and come back another day, as it is his daughter's wedding day. Tony refuses to leave, and he interrogates Reza Naiyeer, who is engaged to Bob's daughter, Marie. Although Reza claims his innocence, Tony is reluctant to believe him, as Ali's name is all over Reza's computer files.

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Tony shows up at Warner's house to question Reza

When Reza claims he is being racially profiled, Tony threatens to walk Reza handcuffed in front of Reza's parents if he does not cooperate. When Reza tells Tony that he only confirmed the money transfers for Ali, and that he was covering for Bob Warner, Tony is forced to interrogate Warner. When Tony briefs Mason about what he discovered at the Warner house, he asks Tony to bring them in. Kate Warner and Marie decided to accompany their father and Marie's fiance to CTU.

Tony brings Reza and Warner into CTU, and Warner requests to speak with Tony in private. Warner claims that he is innocent and is working as a consultant for the CIA. When it is confirmed that Warner is working for the CIA, Tony doesn't know who to believe, as he has interrogated Reza several times and believes in his innocence. When George physically attacks Reza, Tony is forced to pull him off and he then has a heart-to-heart conversation with Michelle, assuring her everything will be all right in the end.

When Tony learns that Mason put Reza and Warner in the same room, he questions Mason on his change of attitude. Tony realizes something bigger is going on, and Mason confuses he was exposed to radiation when following up a lead earlier. Tony asks if anyone else knows about this, and Mason reveals only Jack knows. Though Tony has the authority to force Mason to step down, he is convinced Mason is fit to run CTU for the rest of the day.

When Jack informs Tony that he rescued Kate Warner at her home from terrorists, Tony begins to speculate that Warner's ties to the CIA might have something to do with it. Tony asks Michelle to open up a search of all of Warner's employees, as he tries to find out the connection between the Warner company and Ali. Michelle then confesses to Tony about her feelings for him, and Tony does the same. Due to his experience with Nina Myers, Tony agrees to go on a date if they survive the nuclear bomb crisis.

When Reza and CTU agents are found dead, Tony shares his suspicions with Jack that Marie Warner may be the one who is connected to Ali. Tony tells Jack to be more cautious, as Kate may also be involved in the conspiracy. Tony breaks the news about Marie killing Reza to Bob, and he lashes out at him, claiming Tony made up the story in an effort to get Bob to confess to something.

When Mason learns that Tony is working on Kim's location, Mason becomes furious and doesn't want Tony to divert attention from the terrorist threat. Tony insists he is keeping his promise to Jack and after Mason walks away, Tony continues on his search. Tony contacts Jack and tells him he still hasn't found Kim, and Jack pleads for him to do everything he can.

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Tony watches the nuclear blast from a monitor.

Jack and Kate are able to capture Ali in an undercover operation, and asks Michelle to round him up. When Mason directs all units to Northern Airfield, Tony's order to Michelle is overruled and Tony is annoyed over the fact Division is trying to shut down the operation. After tech is able to uncover a number from burned files, Tony is able to give the location of a plane to Jack, with the nuclear bomb attached to it.

Realizing he is growing to sick to continue working as the director of CTU, Mason gives his walking papers and access cards to Tony and he is promoted to Special Agent in Charge. Once Mason leaves, Tony gives a speech of the new chain of command and about George's condition. Tony requests for all of CTU's employees to mourn for Mason once the current crisis is solved.

As the new head of CTU, Tony receives a suitcase full of Ali's belongings, that were found at his safe house. One of the objects is an encrypted hard drive, that holds conversations between Ali and officials from three Middle Eastern countries. Tony calls President Palmer and tells him that the three countries may of been responsible for funding the nuclear bomb to Ali. A liaison is then brought to CTU, and Tony is reluctant to trust Yusuf Auda, as he is of Middle Eastern descent.

When Jack decides to fly the plane, that holds the nuclear bomb, over the Mojave Desert, Jack begs for Tony to find Kim's whereabouts so he can say good-bye to her. When Tony gets Kim on the phone, he patches her through to Jack, and the two have an emotional farewell. Jack then contacts Tony again and tells him that Mason stowed away on the plane and decided to fly it, as he will be dead by the end of the day anyways. Tony has Michelle send a helicopter to pick up Jack, and moments after Jack parachutes out of the plane, the bomb goes off.

Tony tells Mason's staff of the gratitude he has for their work, and then Yusuf requests to be apprised of the investigation, but Tony differs with this. While Michelle interrogates Ali on the audio recordings, Tony has Carrie Turner confirm the recordings are legitimate. When Michelle claims that Ali confirmed the conversations never happened and they were fabricated, Carrie scolds her and Tony gives President Palmer both sides of the story.

Tony in CTU.

Michelle begins to pressure Tony to dig deeper into Ali's claims, but Ali is being deported to Guantanamo for more investigation and Tony is unable to comply. When Ali is assassinated when being escorted out of the building, Michelle feels this is proof the records were faked, but Tony is convinced the assassin was working for one of the countries. When Jack takes Michelle's side, Tony warns him to back off, as he is in charge of the investigation.

When Tony learns from Carrie that Jack is escorting Kate Warner out of the building, Tony tries to stop him by holding Jack at gunpoint. Jack manages to get a hold of the gun, and knocks Tony out, and escapes from the building. Tony injures his ankle and he informs Mike Novick, President Palmer's Chief of Staff, that Jack is on the run with their witness. Carrie then shares her suspicions with Tony about Michelle aiding and abetting Jack in the escape.

When Tony confronts Michelle about Carrie's theory, Michelle denies working with Jack and is convinced Carrie is making a career move. When Tony confronts Carrie and asks if she was lying, she tells him she saw Michelle and Jack speaking conspiratorially before he fled. Believing her, Tony agrees to have Carrie monitor all of Michelle's outside communications.

Carrie manages to find out that Michelle had access to satellite images and received a call that was not logged in. Tony asks Carrie to monitor what Michelle is working on, as he is convinced Michelle's satellite coverage will give him Jack's location. Michelle pulls over 100 different satellite images, and Tony confronts her about it. After more evidence arises, Tony confronts Michelle again and she confesses to working with Jack. Michelle connects Tony to Jack, and Tony asks Jack to bring Jonathan Wallace in, as he knows about the fabricated recordings. Jack refuses and is convinced he needs to do this investigation outside of CTU perimeter.

Tony argues with Ryan Chappelle.

Jack contacts Tony and tells him he has access to a microchip, that proves the Cyprus recording was fabricated with. Jack requests for Tony to contact the president and after talking with Michelle, and Tony does, but he is not able to confirm if the chip is authentic. When Tony continues to see tension between Michelle and Carrie, Tony calls Michelle into his office and learns about their past. Michelle reveals her brother Danny left his wife for Carrie, and she ended up leave him and breaking his heart. When Danny comes to CTU and attacks Carrie, Michelle is comforted by Tony and the two share a passionate kiss.

When Ryan Chappelle comes into CTU and takes over things, he tells Tony not to waste time locating Jack and the chip, as the military will strike against the three countries. Chappelle warns Tony to follow this order, or he will not remain in his current CTU position. Tony has Michelle locate Jack's movement and Carrie finds out. She threatens to tell Chappelle about it if she doesn't receive Michelle's job as CTU Chief of Staff. Tony calls her bluff when he tells Chappelle about Carrie's extortion attempt. Tony insists on Chappelle firing him, but he insists on keeping Tony in the position, as he has nobody else to fill it in such a short notice.

When Tony learns the country is still in war mode, despite the president calling off the strike, Chappelle reveals that the order may be reversed when the 25th Amendment is put into play. Jack then contacts Tony and tells him that Peter Kingsley may be responsible for the recordings. Jack then provides whatever he can find on the damaged chip to Tony. After Tony tells Chappelle that Jack found the chip, Chappelle notifies President Jim Prescott. Tony and Michelle are unsuccessful in pulling data off the chip, but they learn Alex Hewitt was the programmer and they give his address to Jack.

When Jack finds Hewitt, he also learns that President Palmer's ex-wife, Sherry Palmer, was working with Hewitt and Kingsley. Tony has a helicopter sent to Jack's location to pick them up, but Chappelle overrules that order and has the helicopter come back. President Palmer then contacts CTU and asks Tony were Jack is. Tony realizes he may need to get dirty to help Jack and Palmer, and he has Michelle bring Chappelle to a holding room. There, Tony sedates him and orders for the helicopter to pick up Jack.

Tony takes over as Special Agent in Charge.

Brad Hammond from Division calls and becomes suspicious when Tony tells him that Chappelle left the building. Tony then gives Michelle access cards and has her leave the building, so she can help Jack on the field. When Hammond arrives at CTU, he orders a lockdown and is convinced someone in CTU is working against Division's orders. Agents find the drugged Chappelle and they then find Michelle in her car. Hammond places both of them under arrest, but Tony insists Michelle was only following his orders, but she insists on taking the heat with him.

After regaining his strength, Chappelle asks for Tony and Michelle to put him back in contact with Jack. Tony only agrees to follow Chappelle's orders, if charges are dropped against him and Michelle. With a lot of pressure from high-ranking agents, Chappelle is forced to agree.

Tony is able to contact Jack and helps arrange the live feed and voice authentication. It is finally proved that the Cyprus recording was fabricated, and CTU agents were able to gun down Kingsley before he was giving the change to execute a injured Jack. After the crisis ends, Tony orders for Chappelle to leave his office and he thanks Michelle for doing what she felt was best, even if it was against his orders. They both left the office, and Tony told her he was looking forward to seeing her in the office tomorrow.

The Game

Tony & Michelle in 24: The Game

Tony continued 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 Lee Jin-Yu. Tony prevented a terrorist threat at the Los Angeles Subway prior to the capture of CTU. During the hour that CTU was held hostage, Tony guided 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 led 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 negotiated with the leader, who was trying to save his sick son. Tony succeeded in calming down the gunman, but the gunman was dead by the time Tony opened the locked door. He started becoming suspicious of Radford as he checked the gunman's body, and his suspicions proved accurate when an assistant of Governor Radford called to set up a meeting at Fisher Pier.

Tony met up with the assistant and was given a keycard to Radford's office, after which a helicopter ambushed the pair, killing the assistant. Tony barely escaped with his life and drove off to the Governor's office building. After dealing with various gunmen on Radford's payroll and rescuing the 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, later discovered to be Max. Tony tracked Radford and managed to eavesdrop on his conversation with Max. Radford attempted to walk out, but the assassin Mandy killed Radford before Tony could do anything.

While Jack and Chase were busy at Fort Lesker, Tony, Michelle, and Chappelle discovered that Kate Warner was still alive, but Chappelle restricted Tony from notifying Jack until he completed the mission. A few hours later, after berating Chappelle, Tony headed back out to the field to assist Jack and Chase at the L.A. Docks in a CTU helicopter. Tony picked up Chase first, and piloted the chopper to have Chase provide support fire for Jack before picking him up.

Tony maneuvered the helicopter around the yacht allowing Chase to mow down gunmen firing at them, while Jack rappelled onto the deck of the yacht. As the day ended, Tony stayed on the yacht with Kate to clean up the mess while Chase piloted the helicopter with a wounded Jack to a nearby hospital.

Day 3

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Tony Almeida Day 3

Tony talks to Michelle.

At the start of Day 3, Tony was serving as the Special Agent in Charge of CTU Los Angeles, when a huge National Security issue arose. Somebody dropped a corpse at the National Health Services building. Sunny Macer identified that the corpse died from the deadly Cordilla Virus, and if the virus were to be released in public, millions of people would die.

When someone contacted CTU and demanded for the release of Ramon Salazar, or he would release the Cordilla virus. Jack Bauer belived that Ramon's brother Hector Salazar was demanding for Ramon's release, as Jack spent months undercover, with his partner Chase Edmunds, to bring Salazar in. Tony contacted White House Chief of Staff Wayne Palmer and kept him abrest of the situation. Wayne was convinced that President David Palmer will not negotiate with terrorists.

CTU becomes aware of a Northern Mexico connection, and they are convinced teenager Kyle Singer is carrying the virus through the pot he received. When Jack, CTU, and NHS stormed Singer's house and discovered the virus was not in the drugs, Jack became convinced that Singer was carrying the virus. Eventually CTU was able to track Kyle down to a mall, and Tony decided to confront him. Tony was shot in the neck by a terrorist, and Jack ran to be by his side. Tony was brought to the hospital, and received vascular surgery on his gun shot wound.

Tony has a word with Kim Bauer.

When Tony comes out of surgery, he asks his wife Michelle Dessler to update him on any current change. She tells him that Jack broke Ramon Salazar out of prison and decided to deliver him to Hector, and she also told him that they discovered Gael Ortega was a mole. When Tony learned about this, he demanded for the doctors to release him, but they refused without the consent of Michelle. After careful consideration, Michelle finally agreed to sign the papers on Tony's release.

Tony and Michelle arrive back at CTU, and Tony interrupts Ryan Chappelle's interrogation of Gael. Tony explains to Chappelle that Gael has been working with him and Jack on an operation to obtain the Cordilla Virus. Jack was placed back undercover with the Salazars, who were willing to buy the virus from the seller. Jack would then have CTU infiltrate the Salazars, getting rid of the Cordilla threat for good.

Tony called President Palmer and told him about the situation, then played a video of Jack explaining the operation. Though the president was initially furious for being kept in the dark of the situation, he agreed for Jack to continue working undercover and Tony to do what he can for Jack back at CTU. Though Chappelle was also in rage over being kept out of the loop, he had no choice but to let Tony continue doing his job.

When Tony learns from Kim Bauer than Chase went to Mexico to rescue Jack from the Salazars, despite Chappelle ordering Chase to come back to CTU, Tony had Mexican Intelligence Agent Rafael Gutierrez entice Chase, but before Chase could learn about the undercover operation, Gutierrez was gunned down and the Salazar's men took Chase hostage.

When Kim felt that Tony was making some errors, due to his recent injury, she went to Michelle and complained about this. Not knowing whether Tony was capable to continue acting as the CTU director or not, Michelle decided to go to Ryan Chappelle and review the case over with him.

Ryan Chappelle questions Tony's leadership skills.

When Tony was questioned by Chappelle, Tony proved that he was capable enough to handle the job, as it was Kim making the mistakes. Tony felt betrayed by Michelle and he resented her a bit for the next few hours. Though Michelle apologized for doubting his abilities, Tony felt she went to Chappelle to assert her own authority.

Eventually it was learned the other buyer of the virus was no other than Nina Myers, who was working for someone. When Hector began to back off on his plan on buying the virus, Ramon killed him and asked Jack to get Nina to cooperate. Eventually Nina agreed to work with Ramon and Jack, and she bought the virus from Michael Amador. However, before CTU could take the virus from Ramon, he ran off.

Commandos arrived on the scene and Chase assisted Jack in tracking down Ramon. Ramon was willing to release the virus, but it exploded. Jack learned that Amador never had the intention of selling the virus, and he told CTU about this. When the Delta teams tracking Amador are ambushed, Tony tells Jack that they lost Amador and the virus.

Tony had Chase, Jack, and Nina transported back to CTU, and Nina agreed to help if she received a pardon from the president. She had Jack call a number, which caused a worm to feed into CTU's computers. With know way of stopping the worm, Tony requested for Chappelle to drop charges against Chloe O'Brian, who brought an unidentified baby into CTU, as she was the only one who could stop the worm.

With Chloe and the rest of CTU having trouble slowing down the worm, Tony ordered for Jack to have the pilot turn around, as Nina agreed to slow down the worm if she was brought back to Mexico. Jack refused to allow this to happen, and disobeyed Tony's orders. Luckily, Chloe was able to stop the worm, and the plane headed back to Los Angeles.

Eventually, CTU was able to learn about a connection between Amador and a man named Marcus Alvers, and Tony decides to interrogate Nina about Alvers. Nina tried to tempt him by bringing up their past relationship, and Tony is unable to get any information out of her. Tony decides to bring in the interrogation specialist, who gives Nina cc's. When Tony believes Nina is falling under anesthesia, he tells Jack and Chappelle about this, and Nina is able to escape.

Nina is eventually found by Kim Bauer, and she is shot and killed by Jack when he realizes she no longer knows any useful information. Chloe is then able to track down Amador's location, and Jack and Chase interrogate him. They allow Amador to escape, and they learn that Alvers is planning to release the virus in the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Amador is then killed in a car explosion, and Jack is contacted by the holder of the virus, who requests to speak with the president.

Michelle decides to go to the Chandler Plaza Hotel, against Tony's wishes. When it comes incompetent that Alvers will release the virus before NHS arrives with the biohazard suits, Michelle decides to enter the building and any willing agents follow her. She alarms the hotel's security and managers of the threat, and though she is able to bring Alvers into custody, the virus is released just after Gael finds the vial.

Tony talks to his wife on the phone.

When Tony learns that the virus was released in the hotel, he asks Michelle to leave, but she insists at staying and she would end up spreading the virus if she did leave. When Gael starts to show immediate symptoms, it is learned that Alvers inserted a compound that speeds of the affects of the virus. CTU is then able to send photos to Michelle, and Alvers identifies that Stephen Saunders is the man he is working for.

When Tony shows more concern for Michelle than all the other people in the hotel, Chappelle is convinced that Tony is incapable of handling the situation. Chappelle tells Tony to assume the worst, and Chappelle allows Tony to send suicide capsules to the hotel, which would be available for anyone who wants to end their pain and suffering.

Tony struggles with leading the investigation and being their for his wife. When CTU learns that Saunders has a daughter, Tony decides to have her switch with one of their agent's. When Kim proves to be the only close match for Jane Saunders at the current time, Kim agrees to go into the field, despite protest from Jack. Tony then informs the rest of CTU that Chappelle was killed in the line of duty, when in fact he was executed by Jack and deliver to Saunders' men, by the orders of President Palmer. Tony is later relieved when he gets a call from Michelle, who tells him she is immune to the virus and is going to head back to CTU.

Tony during Day 3

When CTU is able to track down Saunders location, Saunders finds himself trapped and he calls Tony, telling him that he has Michelle and he provides proof. Saunders tells Tony that he will kill Michelle, if Tony doesn't clear a path. Tony clears a path way, enabling Saunders escape, and when Jack learns about Tony's order, he becomes furious. Tony creates an excuse and tells Jack that someone in his team made a mistake.

Tony deletes all images of Saunders leaving the building off satellite, and he lies about Michelle's whereabouts. Saunders then calls and demands for Tony to transport Jane to a location. Saunders also demands for CTU to stop their phone trace, and he does so by looking Chloe in the tech room. Tony then resigns and allows Jack to serve as the special agent in charge. When Jack finds Chloe, he initiates a lockdown, but Tony is able to escape the building with Jane.

Eventually Jack is able to find Michelle through satellite, and Tony agrees to work with Jack and CTU, but he will not sacrifice his wife in the line of duty. During the trade, Michelle reunites with Tony, and Jane runs from Saunders' men. Saunders is lead into the open because of this and CTU is able to successfully capture him, and kill all the hostiles.

Brad Hammond soon arrives at CTU, and tells Tony that he committed treason and he could serve at least 20 years of prison time, or may even receive the death penalty. When Jack needs help with tactical, in order to contain the last vial of the Cordilla virus, Hammond reinstates Tony for the hour. After providing help, Tony is taken back into custody, and Tony tells Michelle he will be able to survive prison knowing she is still alive.

After Day 3

Tony and Michelle have an emotional moment during Day 3.

Facing the death penalty due to the fact he committed treason, Tony was vouched for by both President David Palmer and Jack Bauer, as Tony managed to be a huge help towards the end of Day 3. Tony received a reduced sentence and he only had to face seven months of jail time.

However, Tony was very withdrawn when he was released from prison and he had trouble opening to Michelle about his feelings. Eventually Tony became a bitter drunk, which ultimately drove Michelle away. Michelle filed for divorce and earned a position at CTU Seattle, where she would work with Bill Buchanan. When Michelle left him, Tony became even more bitter and refused to find a job. He also began a relationship with Jen Slater, a younger woman who had a job at a bar.

Day 4

Almeida Day 4

Tony saves Jack Bauer and Audrey Raines.

When Jack Bauer and Audrey Raines followed up on a lead at Felsted Security, fellow CTU agents were gunned down by men sent by Henry Powell. Jack needed help, so he called the only one he could trust. Eventually Jack ran out of ammunition and he was being approached by Powell's guards, but Tony arrived and killed them, saving Jack and Audrey's lives.

Tony decided to bring Audrey and Jack back to his home, as Jack was convinced their was a mole inside the agency, and he informed Secretary of Defense James Heller with this information. However, Tony insisted he did not want to get involved in whatever National Security crisis threatened America. After meeting Tony's girlfriend Jenny, Jack realized Tony was miserable and he asked him to help him follow up on a lead.

Jack and Tony were able to track down Powell, who was in Van Nuys trying to escape via helicopter. Jack was able to take Powell into custody, but just when they started to cuff him, Powell was assassinated by one of Habib Marwan's guards. Tony initially decided to stop his involvement in the case at that point, but Jack managed to convince him to help for a bit longer.

Tony threatens Dina Araz.

Eventually Tony and Jack were lead to a hotel room that Dina Araz was staying in. Dina had a serious bullet wound and Lee Castle began to inflict pain on her, but Tony grabbed him in order to stop him from hurting her. They decided to cut Dina a deal; they would offer to protect her son Behrooz Araz from his father Navi and give Behrooz a pardon if Dina gave all her information on Navi's activities and Marwan's plans to CTU. With a mother's deep love for her son, Dina agreed to it if they could save Behrooz.

When Navi learned that CTU was on to him, he took Behrooz hostage and sealed himself and Behrooz in the basement of the Lindauer Memorial Hospital. Eventually Jack was able to sneak into the basement through a laundry chute and Navi eventually surrendered, but Behrooz shot him in the back, which ultimately killed him. Jack had to follow up on another lead involving Paul Raines, and he asked Tony to bring Behrooz and Dina back to CTU.

With help from Secretary Heller, Jack was able to convince Erin Driscoll to bring Tony back on a provisional basis, doing tactical for Jack. When Erin's daughter Maya committed suicide, Driscoll was unable to meet the expectations of Special Agent in Charge, and Heller convinced her to step down from her post. After learning of Tony's past experience at CTU, Heller agreed to Tony serving as the CTU director until the replacement from Division arrived. Tony was shocked when he learned that replacement was Michelle Dessler.

Jack and Paul were soon lead to McLennan-Forster, which employed Marwan under the alias of Harris Barnes. When CTU began to lose contact with Jack, Tony sent an IM to Jack and told him that an electromagnetic pulse bomb had been set off. Jack had Paul print any information about Marwan's work at the company there, and it was clear McClennan-Forster was trying to cover up any involvement they had with Marwan.

Tony reunites with Michelle.

Michelle soon arrived at CTU, and she gave Tony level two clearance. Michelle attitude was very strained towards him, but when Audrey Raines told her about how he saved her and Jack's life, Michelle took his opinions more seriously and began to accept him more. Eventually, CTU agents arrived to help rescue Jack and Paul, but Paul was gunned down when attempting to save Jack's life.

When Curtis Manning and Marianne Taylor went to Powell's office to obtain information, Curtis went dark and soon Jack was lead there. Curtis and Jack eventually found Marwan but he killed and impersonated a CTU agent, which allowed him to escape. Afterwards, it was decided that the best way to locate Marwan would be to offer Dina a life with her son if she would go undercover, pretending to hold Jack hostage.

CTU tracked Dina and Jack's location via satellite in hopes that they would be able to pinpoint Marwan's location. Dina and Jack were successful in meeting with Marwan, but he saw through their act and had Dina executed for her betrayal while Jack was taken prisoner. Marwan later contacted CTU and offered to exchange Jack for Behrooz Araz. Michelle agreed to the exchange, but had a tracking device planted on Behrooz.

Bill Buchanan from Division soon arrived and took control of the situation. Tony was at first uncomfortable with this, having learned that while he was in prison Bill and Michelle had been romantically involved.

Tony works hard in CTU.

CTU uncovered one of Marwan's close associates, Mitch Anderson, a former pilot in the US Army. Jack arrived at Anderson's apartment and after a struggle with Nicole, a member of Marwan's cell, he obtained a hard drive that contained the schematics of a stealth fighter. Jack relayed the information to CTU and they soon discovered that Anderson planned to use the stealth fighter to shoot down Air Force One. CTU warned President John Keeler and Jack attempted to dissuade Anderson from shooting the plane down, but Anderson refused to listen and followed through with his plan.

After obtaining the nuclear football, Jack discovered that Marwan had stolen a section of the football, specifically the locations of the government's warheads. CTU then learned that Joe Prado may have had some sensitive information about Marwan, but President Charles Logan refused to allow CTU to use physical interrogation. Prado was released and Jack knocked out Prado's US Marshal and was able to get information out of Prado by force.

Tony and Michelle continued to have problems, as it was clear they both loved each other. President Logan then had Jack arrested for using force, which caused CTU to lose Marwan. Eventually Logan allowed Jack to be released, and Mike Novick brought in former President David Palmer to serve as acting president.

CTU learned that a man named Lee Jong knew information about Marwan, but he went to the Chinese Consulate in order to prevent himself from being questioned. President Palmer authorized Jack to lead a covert operation to kidnap Jong from the consulate, which ended in the Chinese consul dying from friendly fire. Tony then asked Michelle to leave CTU and everything behind in order for them to have future.

Tony is held hostage by Mandy.

When Jack needed to follow up a lead as Richard Heller was able to provide a connection to Marwan, Jack wasn't able to bring Curtis along, and he requested Tony instead. Just before Tony left, Michelle agreed to his offer and they both were on the same page. Unfortunately, Marwan's associate Mandy killed Agent Castle and took Tony hostage.

Learning about Tony's past acts to protect Michelle, Mandy called Michelle and asked her to clear a path for her or she would kill Tony. Originally Michelle planned on doing so, but she told Buchanan about it and they decided to set up a stakeout. When Mandy realized Michelle was double-crossing her, she blew herself and Tony up. However, Jack soon realized it was a decoy, and that Tony was still alive.

Jack was able to find Tony and Mandy in the garage of the motel building, but Mandy had a gun to his head. Mandy asked if Jack was willing to see Tony sacrificed, and Curtis was able to sneak behind her. Michelle, who was breaking down in her car, was informed that Tony was alive and was on his way back to CTU. Eventually Marwan was taken into custody after releasing a missile, but he slipped and fell from a building. Luckily the missile was prevented from hitting any targets.

Tony and Michelle decide to leave CTU.

When Cheng Zhi learned that Jack was the leader of the covert operation that raided the consulate, he demanded that President Logan hand him over. Logan agreed, but Chief of Staff Walt Cummings suggested Jack had sensitive National Security information that he would expose. Cummings sent Dale Spalding to kill Jack, but Mike Novick learned of the plan and informed President Palmer. Palmer was able to warn Jack, who tried to escape from CTU.

Jack ended up getting shot, but Tony was able to revive him. With help from Tony, Michelle, President Palmer, and Chloe O'Brian, Jack was able to fake his death and walk away into the sunrise, with a different identity.

Day 5

File:Tony Almeida Day 5.jpg

Tony Day 5

Tony cradling Michelle Dessler's dead body.

During the opening moments of Day 5, President David Palmer was assassinated in the apartment of his brother Wayne Palmer, when they were going over David's memoirs. This news quickly broke throughout America, and Tony and his wife Michelle were devastated over the news.

As owners of a private security technology company, Tony and Michelle had an important meeting to go to, but Michelle insisted on working at CTU on a provisional basis. Tony objected to this idea, suggesting CTU had capable agents, while Michelle felt they didn't have their experience. Just as Michelle left the house, Tony decided to join her. A car bomb went off, killing Michelle. A few seconds later, the car's gas tank exploded, critically injuring Tony.

Tony was brought to the medical center at CTU Los Angeles, as Bill Buchanan felt Tony would be more vulnerable to a second attempt at a local hospital, and he also believed that Michelle's death and Tony's attempted assassination were somehow connected to the death of David Palmer. It was soon learned that Jack Bauer was still alive and responsible for the deaths, but his name was later cleared when it became apparent someone was trying to set him up.

When Jack Bauer came back to CTU, an agent informed him that Tony Almeida was requesting to speak to him. Jack went to see Tony, and a man named Hank attempted to kill Jack. Jack stabbed him in the neck with scissors, and learned that their was a mole inside CTU, as there was no other way for Hank to get into the building. It was learned that Spenser Wolff gave Hank clearance, under the orders of Walt Cummings, President Charles Logan's Chief of Staff.

Tony is stabbed by Christopher Henderson.

During the hour of 5 pm, Tony awoke and requested to speak to CTU. The doctors told Bill Buchanan that if he learned about Michelle's death, it could cause his recovery to setback. Bill spoke to Tony and told him that Michelle was recovering in a local hospital, and he would be able to see her soon. Tony could tell that Bill was hiding something and he looked up Michelle's profile on a CTU computer, and discovered the word deceased plastered over it.

Tony was devastated over the death of his wife, and he went back to medical. During that same hour, a man named Ostroff entered the building by using Lynn McGill's keycard. He released Sentox VX nerve gas into CTU, killing most of CTU's personnel. Luckily Tony was in one of the sealed areas, not getting affected by the nerve gas.

When Tony learned that he was in the same room as Christopher Henderson, who ordered the hit of his wife, he attempted to kill him by knocking out Rick Burke. However, Jack was able to convince Tony to hold back, as Henderson had vital information that could help the investigation on Palmer's assassination and Vladimir Bierko's next plan.

Tony in his final moments.

By the end of the 7pm hour, Tony was tired of waiting and he knocked out Burke. Tony took a syringe and filled it with an overdose of Hyoscine-pentothal, preparing to stab Henderson with it. Tony couldn't bring himself to killing Henderson, who woke up and stabbed Tony with the syringe. Tony fell to the floor, and Jack held him as he began to die, telling Jack, "She's gone, Jack."

Background information and notes

• Tony appeared in all but one of the first 72 episodes of 24.
• By the end of Day 5, Tony has appeared in a total of 95 episodes, more than any character other than Jack.
• 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 the only known inanimate object to appear in all five seasons of the show. Curiously, according to Operation Hell Gate, Tony is from the South side of Chicago, where the White Sox play. However, geographical location does not always determine fan loyalty in the city's two baseball teams.
• 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.
• Tony Almeida is a playable character in 24: The Game.
• Tony was originally supposed to die with Michelle during the first episode of Season 5.
• It was also admitted in a podcast that the writers had planned for Tony to hunt down Henderson to get revenge for Michelle's death, where he would ultimately be killed by Henderson. However, they said they found it too hard to work into the main plot of the series and decided to kill him off.
• He was the fourth character to die while being part of the main cast.
• 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. 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.) Despite this, many have speculated that Tony is still alive and will return to the show at some point.
• Tony's death scene appears to mirror that of Teri Bauer's. Their deaths were at CTU Los Angeles Headquarters and Jack had cradled both of them in his arms while breaking down to tears.
• According to an interview on the Sharon Osbourne show, Tony was originally going to be named Antonio and nicknamed "Tonio". His name was changed when Kiefer Sutherland had difficulty saying it. Carlos Bernard said he was delighted that the name was changed. Bernard once joked in another interview saying Tonio is the name of a guy who gets killed in the first hour.
• According to Michael Ausiello from TVGuide.com, the producers considered bringing Tony back in the final scene of the Day 6 season finale, but ultimately chose not too. Howard Gordon stated in a podcast that while it was considered, ultimatly bringing back a dead character would have been a bad decision.
• It has recently been hinted by the producers that Tony might still be alive.

See also

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