Terry O'Quinn as John Locke
John Locke is portrayed by Terry O’Quinn in the series,
Lost. As a young boy, John became an employee at a large retail store in his hometown. His mother told him that he had no father and that his conception was a miracle from God. Knowing better than to believe his mother’s incredulous claims, he decided to look for his biological father by enlisting the help of a private investigator. After some time, Locke found out that his father, whose name was Anthony Cooper, was a rich man who frequented the outdoors. At first, Cooper was very kind toward John, but as it turned out, his kindness was only a way to trick John into donating a kidney. After Cooper recovered from the kidney transplant, he banned John from his home, which consequently sowed anger and bitterness into John’s young heart.
His devastating experience with his father led him to enroll in anger management classes. He became involved with Helen, one of the women from his group. Helen was the only one who was able to convince John to let go of his hatred, and eventually they moved in together. He started working as a home inspector, and after some time, Helen found out that Cooper had died. They went to the funeral, and John finally found the strength to forgive his father. In an unexpected turn of events, John was reunited with his father, who was very much alive, a few days after the funeral. Cooper asked John to retrieve a large amount of stolen money. Apparently, Cooper had conned a couple of powerful men and to avoid getting caught, had staged his own death. John, in an effort to please his father, did as he was told. He went behind Helen’s back and delivered the money to Cooper, who was staying at a hotel. Unfortunately, Helen followed John to the hotel, and seeing Cooper alive and well, stormed out in anger. She later refused John’s marriage proposal.
Things started to get terribly complicated for John from there. After getting involved with a group who was in possession of marijuana, he encountered a man named Peter Talbot, whose mother was about to be conned into marrying Cooper. John talked to Cooper and made him promise that he would stop pursuing Peter’s mother. However, Peter turned up dead a few days later, and when John went to confront his father for the second time, Cooper pushed him through the penthouse window, sending Locke on an eight-story high freefall. Though his life was spared, Locke became a paraplegic, and because of his condition, could not participate in a walkabout, which was held in Australia. He was forced to depart from Australia and boarded the doomed Oceanic 815.
As a survivor of the plane crash, John immediately came to realize that the island had some mysterious healing powers, as not only could he get up from his wheelchair, but also became numb to any pain, which he proved by placing a hot piece of log against his foot. He formed close friendships with Boone Carlyle and Walt Lloyd, but when Boone died, many of the other survivors distanced themselves from John. Nevertheless, John helped many of the others with their emotional and mental struggles, and even made a cradle when Claire gave birth in the jungle. He was also among the first people to discover the mysterious hatch in the island and was a talented game player.
(Photo courtesy of ABC)