- Richard "Ricky" Roma: The most successful salesman in the office. Although Roma seems to think of himself as a latter-day cowboy and regards his ability to make a sale as a sign of his virility, he admits only to himself that it is all luck. He is ruthless, dishonest and immoral, and succeeds because he has a talent for figuring out a client's weaknesses and crafting a pitch that will exploit those weaknesses. He is a smooth talker and tends to maneuver clients towards a sale by means of grand but vaguely incoherent soliloquies.
- Shelley "The Machine" Levene: An older, once-successful salesman, who has fallen on hard times and has not closed a big deal in a long time. In Mamet's original 1983 stage version, Levene reveals his daughter's plight as a final ploy to gain Williamson's sympathy to get better leads, although this fails. However, in the 1992 film version, Levene's discussion of his daughter also includes comments and a phone call to her doctor about her poor health, making Levene more sympathetic.
- James Lingk: A timid, middle-aged man who becomes Roma's latest client. Lingk is easily manipulated and finds Roma highly charismatic. After consulting his wife, he becomes desperate to regain the money that Roma has convinced him to commit to a land deal.
- John Williamson: The office manager. The salesmen need him because he hands out the sales leads but Williamson does not like how they treat him, especially Levene, who berates him for the unpromising leads Levene always seems to get.
- George Aaronow: An aging salesman with low self-esteem who, lacking hope and confidence, is not without conscience. His frustration begins to boil up when the office is robbed, and he worries about being convicted based upon Detective Baylen's interrogation. Ironically, he and Roma end up the remaining two salesmen for the firm after Shelley is found out, and gives up Moss as Levene's co-conspirator.
- Dave Moss: A big-mouthed salesman with big dreams and schemes. Moss resents Williamson and agency owners Mitch and Murray for putting such pressure on him and plans to strike back at them by stealing all their best sales leads and selling them to a competitor. Moss sees Aaronow as a potential accomplice, but eventually convinces Levene to work with him in selling the leads to Jerry Graff, a local competitor. During his final rant against Roma, his indignation reveals that his jealousy extends towards even his fellow salesmen, and he decides to go to Wisconsin to avoid further questioning.
- Baylen: A police detective. He appears in the final act to investigate the office break-in and harshly interrogate each cast member behind closed doors.
- Mitch and Murray: The unsavory unseen characters who are the owners of the real estate agency. Their "sales contest" puts enormous pressure on the salesmen to produce or lose their jobs; only the top two men will receive prizes, while the rest will be fired.
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