Jimmy Darmody

Jimmy Darmody
Boardwalk Empire character
Jimmy Darmody in a promo image for the season 1 episode "Belle Femme".
First appearance	"Boardwalk Empire"
Last appearance	"To the Lost"
Created by	Terence Winter
Portrayed by	Michael Pitt
Information
Nickname(s)	Princeton, Jimmy Irish
Occupation	Gangster; bootlegger
Family	Gillian Darmody (mother) Louis Kaestner (father)
Spouse(s)	Angela Darmody
Children	Tommy Darmody

James Edison "Jimmy" Darmody is a fictional character in Boardwalk Empire, played by Michael Pitt. He is one of the main characters in the first two seasons of the series. Unlike most of the other main characters in the series, Jimmy is not based on any historical figure, being entirely a fictional creation of the writers. Pitt is also the only actor besides Steve Buscemi to appear in every episode for which he is credited.

Jimmy is the son of Atlantic City political boss Commodore Louis Kaestner (Dabney Coleman) and showgirl Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol). His mother was only 13 at the time of his birth, while his father was 54. The Commodore's protege, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Steve Buscemi), arranged for the Commodore to have sex with Gillian, at the Commodore's request. Jimmy was raised by his mother with support from Nucky, who became a father figure to Jimmy; the Commodore, meanwhile, was indifferent to his son. Nucky eventually took over the Commodore's political machine and set Jimmy up for great success when he grew up. Jimmy went to Princeton University, where he met his future wife Angela (Aleksa Palladino). He left school to fight in World War I, leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend. In Season 2, it is revealed that he joined the Army because he felt guilty about a drunken sexual encounter with his mother, and because he likely faced expulsion from college after assaulting a professor who had made a pass at her. He injures his leg in France from shrapnel from a German grenade and walks with a limp for the rest of his life.

In January 1920, Jimmy has recently moved back to Atlantic City after recovering from his war injury. He is haunted by the trench warfare he experienced, and refuses to go back to school. He ends up working for Nucky as his driver and bodyguard. Frustrated that he is not doing more, he hijacks a shipment of bootlegged liquor that Nucky sold to Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) and shoots the deliverers. One of them survives and identifies Jimmy, but Nucky gets him out of trouble by blaming the hijacking on Hans Schroeder (Joseph Sikora) and sending Jimmy to Chicago. There, he works for Johnny Torrio (Greg Antonacci) alongside Al Capone (Stephen Graham), with whom he committed the hijacking. When Nucky faces trouble back home from Philadelphia gangsters hired by Rothstein, he takes Jimmy back into his operation.