See the Cast of “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” Side-by-Side with the Real People They Play

‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ stars Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as the pair of brothers who murdered their parents in 1989

After telling the chilling story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan are bringing audiences the second installment of their Monsters anthology series.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story follows the Menendez brothers, who shot their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Lyle and Erik claimed that their mother and father abused them, but prosecutors alleged that the crime was a grab at the family fortune. After a lengthy trial, the Menendez brothers were convicted in 1996 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Netflix series stars Nicholas Chavez, best known for his role on General Hospital, as Lyle Menendez and up-and-coming actor Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez. Meanwhile, their parents are played by Dune's Javier Bardem and Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny.

“This season was about abuse ... We spent many, many, many years researching this,” Murphy said during a screening of the series in September 2024. “[The show is] more interested in talking about how monsters are made, as opposed to born.”

Related: Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story: What to Know About the Ryan Murphy Show

Keep reading to see the cast side-by-side with their real-life counterparts and what the actors have said about the highly-anticipated show. 

Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menendez

Nicholas Alexander Chavez plays Joseph Lyle Menendez — the older Menendez brother who was 21 years old when he murdered his parents. Lyle is currently serving out his life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. He is now 56.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight in September 2024, Chavez said he "thoroughly" prepared for his role in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

"Every actor dreams of doing a period piece," he said. "There's a lot of information [about Lyle] and also a lot of information we don't have. That's your job as an artist [to fill in the gaps]."

Before tackling the role of Lyle, Chavez won a Daytime Emmy and appeared in more than 350 episodes of General Hospital before saying goodbye to the soap opera in spring 2024.

"It's changed everything about me," Chavez told PEOPLE of his time on the iconic ABC series. “Before the show, I was selling cars in Florida. This show has given me the gift few people get in life — the privilege to earn an income doing what I love to do every single day.”

Off-screen, Chavez is in a relationship with Victoria Abbott.

Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez

Cooper Koch plays Erik Menendez — the younger Menendez brother who was 18 years old when he and Lyle murdered their parents. Erik is also incarcerated at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. He is now 53.

In September 2024, Koch told The Hollywood Reporter that he has a "new sense of gratitude" for his loving parents after studying and portraying Erik.

"That really helped me empathize a lot with Erik and to understand that that’s something that he wasn’t given and didn’t have," he said.

Koch is relatively new to the industry, acting in a handful of Power Book II: Ghost episodes and starring in a few short films.

Javier Bardem as José Menendez

Javier Bardem portrays José Menendez, Erik and Lyle's father, who was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. At the time of his death, José, 45, was the CEO of a successful video distribution company and had an estimated net worth in the tens of millions.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story marks Bardem's first TV series as an actor. He is most known for his work in No Country for Old Men and Being the Ricardos.

"When the material came, it was obvious that it was something that I would like to be part of because of the conversation [it] will bring to the table about the wounds of abuse through generations," he said during a screening of the series in N.Y.C.

When he's not acting, Bardem spends time with his wife Penelope Cruz and their two children, son Leo and daughter Luna.

Chloë Sevigny as Kitty Menendez

Chloë Sevigny plays Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez — Erik and Lyle's mother. She met José while they were both studying at Southern Illinois University and the pair wed in 1963. Kitty, a former school teacher, was 47 years old at the time of her murder.

In March 2024, Sevigny spoke with Harper’s Bazaar about embodying Kitty.

"I do want to bring dignity to her, even in her faults, and try to empathize with how she felt," she said. "But turning a blind eye to any sort of sexual abuse — how do you even begin to understand that or play that? ... But [Kitty's] father abused her mother, and it’s the cycle of abuse that the show is really examining."

The Oscar nominee is most known for starring in American Psycho and Zodiac. Off-screen, Sevigny married Sinisa Mackovic a few months before welcoming their son Vanja in 2020.

Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne

Nathan Lane plays investigative journalist Dominick Dunne, who covered the Menendez trial for Vanity Fair in the '90s. Dominick was also one of two reporters granted full access to the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995. He died in 2009 at age 83.

According to Dominick's son, actor Griffin Dunne, he was "not a terribly unbiased" reporter. "During O.J., he sat with the Browns and Nicole's family ... he always looked at it from the rights of the victim," Griffin told PEOPLE in June 2024.

At the time of the murders, Lane was in his early thirties and just getting his acting career off the ground.

“I can’t say that I followed it all that closely, but once you start to look at either the court testimony or all the other research about what went on in their household, it’s pretty disturbing,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I think it was easy for people in the beginning to think these two spoiled rich kids will kill their parents for the money, for the inheritance, but it’s much more complicated,” Lane continued. “It doesn’t change the fact that they committed this horrific act, but I think maybe you start to understand what led to that.”

Lane has been married to his husband, Devlin Elliot, since 2015. He's best known for voicing Timon in 1994's The Lion King, and most recently, playing Teddy Dimas in Only Murders in the Building.

Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson

Ari Graynor plays Los Angeles defense attorney Leslie Abramson who served as Erik's lead counsel. She was under investigation for some years after the Menendez case due to allegations that she asked Erik's psychiatrist to delete portions of his notes. The investigation was closed after the state bar decided there was insufficient evidence against Abramson.

The attorney is now retired, according to The State Bar of California.

Graynor kicked off her acting career in 2001 as a guest star on The Sopranos. Since then, she's appeared in several other TV series — Fringe, Bad Teacher and Showtime's I'm Dying Up Here.

Dallas Roberts as Dr. Jerome Oziel

Dallas Roberts portrays Dr. Jerome Oziel — the therapist Erik and Lyle see after the murder of their parents. Oziel taped the brothers' confessions and later testified at their trial.

He surrendered his medical license in 1997 after he leaked information about the crime to his then-girlfriend, Judalon Smyth, per CNN. Smyth was the original person who tipped the police off about Lyle and Erik's culpability in the murder of their parents.

Viewers will likely recognize Roberts from his roles in The Good Wife as well as Netflix's Insatiable. The actor is married to theater set designer Christine Jones, and the couple share two children.

Leslie Grossman as Judalon Smyth

Leslie Grossman plays Judalon Smyth, the girlfriend and former patient of Oziel. Smyth informed police that Oziel was in possession of Erik and Lyle's confession tapes and she was a key witness in the Menendez brothers' trial.

On Instagram, Grossman said she felt "grateful and excited" to be cast in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

This isn't the first time Grossman has appeared in a Murphy production. Their working relationship dates all the way back to 1999 when she starred in a TV series he created titled Popular. Grossman has also played various parts in the FX anthology series American Horror Story.

The actress was married to John Bronson from 1999 to 2020 and the pair share a daughter named Goldie.

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