Major characters
- David Arkin as Norman, a chauffeur hired to drive Bill, Mary and Tom during their stay in Nashville. While he believes himself to be their friend and confidant, they simply consider him the hired help.
- Barbara Baxley as Lady Pearl, Haven Hamilton's companion who manages a bluegrass club. She appears inebriated for most of the film, and postulates on the Kennedys and her Catholicism.
- Ned Beatty as Delbert "Del" Reese, a portly good old boy with a struggling marriage and an endlessly wandering eye. He is Haven Hamilton's lawyer and the local organizer for the Walker campaign.
- Karen Black as Connie White, a glamorous country singer and rival of Barbara Jean.
- Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean, an emotionally fragile country singer who is regarded as the sweetheart of Nashville.
- Timothy Brown as Tommy Brown, an African American singer who performs at the Grand Ole Opry.[8]
- Keith Carradine as Tom Frank, a member of the folk rock trio Bill, Mary and Tom. Seeking to reinvent himself as a solo artist, he parts ways with Bill and Mary upon arriving in Nashville, and romances Opal and Linnea.[9]
- Geraldine Chaplin as Opal, a wacky, celebrity-obsessed, chatty English woman who claims to be a BBC Radio documentarian. She provides an outsider's perspective on the music business, and acts as a surrogate for the audience as she encounters each of the characters.[10]
- Robert DoQui as Wade Cooley, a cook at the airport restaurant and a friend and protector of Sueleen. He tries to make her aware of her singing limitations so that she doesn't get taken advantage of in her quest for fame.[11]
- Shelley Duvall as Martha, the niece of Mr. Green. Martha, who has changed her name to "L.A. Joan", has come to Nashville ostensibly to visit her dying Aunt Esther, but spends all her time pursuing various male musicians.
- Allen Garfield as Barnett, Barbara Jean's short-tempered husband and manager who frequently lashes out at others. He appears to be very worried about his wife's health and career.
- Henry Gibson as Haven Hamilton, a Nudie suit-wearing star of the Grand Ole Opry. His political ambitions play a pivotal role in the film's plot.
- Scott Glenn as Pfc. Glenn Kelly, a Vietnam War veteran who has come to Nashville to see Barbara Jean perform. She recently survived a fire and he claims his mother, a fan, is the one who pulled her out and saved her life.[12]
- Jeff Goldblum as the silent Tricycle Man. He rides his long, low-slung three-wheel motorcycle everywhere, and serves as a structural connector for scenes in the film.[13]
- Barbara Harris as Winifred (or Albuquerque), an aspiring singer-songwriter who runs away from her irascible husband, Star. Despite her straggly appearance and repeated failures, in the most serious moment she reveals singing talent and presence of mind.[14]
- David Hayward as Kenny Frasier, a loner who carries a violin case and rents a room from Mr. Green, and who shoots Barbara Jean in the film's finale.
- Michael Murphy as John Triplette, a young, smooth-talking, and duplicitous operative and advance man for Walker's presidential campaign. He views many of the Nashville locals with a degree of condescension and is only interested in them for the publicity they can bring to the Walker campaign.
- Allan F. Nicholls as Bill, one of the folk trio, Bill, Mary and Tom. He is married to Mary. During the film his marriage is tested as a love triangle becomes apparent.
- Dave Peel as Bud Hamilton, the soft-spoken son of Haven Hamilton. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he manages his father's business affairs. He privately admits to Opal that he would like to be a singer himself but that his father won't allow it.
- Cristina Raines as Mary, one of the folk trio, Bill, Mary and Tom. She is married to Bill, but is in love with Tom.[15]
- Bert Remsen as Star, an ornery man who is chasing after his runaway wife Winifred.
- Lily Tomlin as Linnea Reese, a gospel singer, wife of Delbert Reese and loving mother of two deaf children.
- Gwen Welles as Sueleen Gay, a pretty but naïve young waitress at the airport lunch counter and a talentless, aspiring country singer. Her refusal to recognize her lack of singing talent and the ulterior motives of those she encounters gets her in trouble.
- Keenan Wynn as Mr. Green, the aging uncle of Martha. His wife is dying and he spends the film trying to get Martha to visit her.
- Thomas Hal Phillips as Hal Phillip Walker, the fictitious, third-party presidential hopeful heard, never seen--but very nearly omnipresent--via a banal, pre-recorded voice casually pontificating the state of politics, culture, and society in modern-day America. His voice is blared over a public address speaker affixed to the top of a lone, ubiquitous campaign van being driven daily throughout the city of Nashville, wherein it is both consistently criss-crossing and appearing at the very contiguous fringes and periphery of the film's intersecting character mosaic.
Minor characters
- Richard Baskin, the film's musical supervisor, wrote several of the songs performed in the film. He has a cameo as Frog, a session musician, appearing in several scenes.
- Merle Kilgore as Trout, the owner of a club that has an open-mic talent night that gives Sueleen Gay what she believes is her big break as a singer.
There are cameo appearances by Elliott Gould, Julie Christie, Sue Barton, Vassar Clements, and Howard K. Smith, all playing themselves. Gould and Christie were passing through Nashville when Altman added them. Altman plays Bob, an unseen producer who in the beginning of the film is producing Haven Hamilton's song "200 Years". He can be heard on a speaker when Hamilton gets agitated by Frog's inept piano playing.
