Bio:

“Six men came to kill me one time. The best of 'em carried this. It's a Callahan full-bore autolock. Customized trigger, double-cartridge thorough gauge. It is my very favorite gun . . . I call her Vera.” - “Our Mrs. Reynolds”

As a certain actor once described the character he plays: Sex. Humor. Muscles. Thuggery. Jayne.

He's a big guy, but a softie as well, who names his guns and sends a good amount of money home to his mama and family. We don’t know what kind of financial circumstances he grew up in, but it’s safe to say that it wasn’t on any fancified Core world. Whereas Inara and Simon are more at home amongst the wealthy Alliance-types, and Mal cleans up pretty well for a soldier and a space pirate, Jayne’s never going to be hobnobbing at a dress ball. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but he’s quick on the draw and the best muscle you can pay for.

And you’d better pay, because he does nothing for free. Money is extremely important to Jayne, which leads us to assume that he never had much of it growing up. He also never had any schooling to speak of, which at least partly explains why it is that Jayne is so lacking in social graces, to put it politely. Whether cracking gynecologist jokes over the dinner table, or spitting on his knife to clean it, Jayne is unrepentantly honest. He doesn’t hold anything back, being one of the few people who will stand up to Mal and give him what for.

One of the most apt descriptions of Jayne was given in “The Message”, where Col. Womack remarks that “someone let the dog off his leash” when confronted with a gun-wielding Jayne. Rude, yes, but apt. Jayne says and does as he pleases, and keeps pushing the boundaries until something either breaks, or he’s brought to heel. Usually, it’s Mal or Zoe that must put their foot down to let Jayne know he’s out of line, and it happens quite frequently. Jayne is an opportunist, who will sell out to the highest bidder, or needle the one person (Simon) whom he knows will never push back.

But something about this crew has kept his loyalty for longer than usual. Yes, he sold the Tams out for the bounty on their heads, but when the Alliance turned on him, he broke them all out of custody. When Kaylee is injured, he spends most of the surgery peering into the infirmary to see if she’s okay. He joins the effort to rescue Mal from Niska, though there’s nothing in it for him, and explicitly states it’s suicidal of them to try. For all of his shortcomings, he’s the guy you want covering your back when you’re in a fight. He’ll get the job done, and he’ll use the money to send back to his family.

Just don’t tell him he’s got a girl’s name.

Portrayed By: Adam Baldwin