Characters Saved by the Bell

in casting morning, miss bliss, peter engel knew success of show not hinge on miss bliss herself, on students. engel particularly envisioned 1 character, zack morris, incorrigible kid lie face, letting know s lying, , make love him same. engel insisted show not go on without zack morris, turned out 1 of difficult characters cast. engel s casting director, shana landsburg, happened across fourteen-year old mark-paul gosselaar , struck teen s charisma, charm, , looks. after quick read-through, gosselaar given role.

after casting zack morris, next character sought after morris s nerdy friend, samuel screech powers. gosselaar asked read through script number of kids, , second audition scheduled finalists. gosselaar himself insisted dustin diamond right part believed diamond screech in real life. after reading through script, diamond given part, although engel later found out had misread head shot , diamond considerably younger rest of cast—a fact that, had been aware, might have prevented engel casting him.

lisa turtle conceived rich jewish princess long island, spoiled, materialistic, , obsessed shopping. while still casting role, african-american actress lark voorhies brought engel s office, , knew perfect role despite fact meant rewriting character.

the school principal, mr. gerald belding, conceived on morning, miss bliss, older, humorless man, , played in 1987 pilot character actor oliver clark. after show retooled disney channel, character s first name changed richard , recast, dennis haskins winning role. mr. belding rewritten younger , have different sense of humor

when morning, miss bliss retooled saved bell, 4 actors , respective characters original series brought on new series: gosselaar, diamond, voorhies, , haskins. rest of cast fired, , engel sought replace them new characters complement old ones.

the cast of saved bell, clockwise left: screech, slater, lisa, mr. belding, jessie, zack, , kelly

the first of new characters, a.c. slater, conceived young john travolta type army brat , wear leather jacket. conceived of italian-american. however, when efforts cast character unsuccessful, engel asked part opened other races. 2 days later, mario lopez, dancer , drummer of latino descent kids incorporated auditioned role. lopez was, far, best actor auditioned, , cast.

for kelly kapowski, love interest of both zack , slater, producers able narrow field down 3 actresses: tiffani-amber thiessen, elizabeth berkley, , jennie garth. engel had met thiessen in 1988 while casting morning, miss bliss , impressed how acting had improved. wanted role, believing had perfect all-american girl appeal role, while others felt berkley, more experienced actress, more reliable choice. ultimately, engel convinced others after read-through lopez, , thiessen received role.

engel , other producers did not want lose berkley, however, strongest actress d seen during casting. berkley auditioned role of karen, love-interest of zack s on morning, miss bliss, lost role because taller gosselaar @ time. engel believed that, height more rest of cast, perfect. not having luck in casting third new character, jessie spano, conceived strong, feminist activist , straight-a student, engel suggested offering role berkley, gladly accepted it.

rounding out new cast real-life magician ed alonzo max, owner of gang s frequent cafe hangout, max, performed magic tricks. alonzo s role, however, last through end of first season, , left after single guest appearance during season two.

in 1992, saved bell unexpectedly received order additional eleven episodes shot after graduation episode. however, thiessen , berkley had decided leave show. though producers knew couldn t replace kelly , jessie, knew couldn t leave lisa girl on show. new character, tori scott, created cool pretty biker girl serve love interest zack , act nemesis him initially. leanna creel cast part. rather develop second new character, producers decided rely more on minor recurring characters such ginger, ox, , big pete.