Ryan Murphy TV showrunner, the king of true crime drama, has put a spin on the sensational Menendez brothers' murder trial. Monster: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez premiered on Netflix on September 19, 2024, and is the second season of the Emmy Award-winning mega-producer's series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story This new series follows Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez after they were murdered by their sons, Eric and Lyle, while focusing on the trial that sentenced the two wealthy young men to life in prison.

For the series, creators Murphy and Ian Brennan assembled a cast made up of talented newcomers, veteran actors, and Hollywood's biggest stars. Read more about the cast of Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Eric Menendez here.

Eric Menendez (the mild-mannered younger brother of Menendez, who was 18 at the time he and Lyle murdered their parents) is played by Cooper Koch, an L.A.-born actor and graduate of New York's Pace School of Performing Arts, who made a series of short films during college He is 28 years old and began his career with a series of short films while in college. Before his breakout role in “Monsters,” Koch had a supporting role in Season 1 of “Power Book II: Ghosts.

At the time of the release of Monsters, Eric Menendez was serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. He is now 53 years old.

Lyle Menendez - who was 21 at the time of the murders and is portrayed as the more aggressive older brother in Monsters - is played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez. 25-year-old Chavez was born in Houston, Texas, and appeared from 2021 until earlier this year in General He began his acting career as Spencer Cassadine in “Hospital. In addition to Monsters, he has also been cast in the Murphy-produced FX series Grotesquerie, which premieres just one week after the Netflix series.

At the time of the release of Monsters, Lyle Menendez is now 56 years old and serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

Lyle and Eric's father, Jose Menendez, was born in Cuba and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. He was 45 years old at the time of his death and was a billionaire as CEO of a video distribution company.

Javier Bardem was an Oscar-winning actor who had his first recurring role in a television series in Monsters. The Spanish actor had worked with Murphy on the 2010 film Eat, Pray, Love, and according to TheWrap, Bardem was eager to work with the media mogul again. He is best known for his roles in the films Before Night Falls, No Country for Old Men, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Mother., The Little Mermaid, and Dune. (and, of course, for being married to Penelope Cruz).

Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez (mother of Eric and Lyle) was a former teacher who met Jose while attending Southern Illinois University. She married future tycoon José in 1963. Kitty was 47 years old at the time of the murder.

Acclaimed actress and eternal “it” girl Chloe Sevigny made her film debut in 1995's “Kids” and began modeling before becoming an indie darling. 1999 starred in “Boys Don't Cry” and was nominated for an Academy Award In 1999, she starred in “Boys Don't Cry,” for which she received an Oscar nomination, catapulting her into the mainstream. She has since appeared in films such as “American Psycho,” “Dogville,” and “Zodiac,” as well as series such as HBO's “Big Love. He appeared in two seasons of American Horror Story and Feud, and became a Murphy-verse regular: Capote vs. the Swan.

Dominick Dunne is an investigative reporter who covered the Menendez trial for Vanity Fair in the 1990s. He frequently covered high-profile crime cases, including the deaths of William Woodward, Jr. and his own daughter, Dominick Dunne, and was one of only two reporters granted full access to the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial He died in August 2009, leaving behind five best-selling books.

Nathan Lane is a Broadway legend and has won three Tony Awards and three Emmy Awards throughout his career. He is best known for his roles as Timon in The Lion King, Max Bialystock in The Producers, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, and Albert in The Birdcage. He has also recently appeared in series such as American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson (also a Murphy Barth series), The Gilded Age, and Only Murders in the Building.

Leslie Abramson, a former L.A. defense attorney, was Eric's lead defense attorney during his murder trial. After the brothers' convictions, she was investigated for “allegedly asking Eric's psychiatrist to delete some of his notes,” but according to PEOPLE, the investigation was inconclusive.

Ali Greiner grew up in Boston and made her acting debut in a small role on The Sopranos, and has appeared on Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in 2008, Whip It in 2009, For a Good Time, Call in 2012, CBS 's Bad Teacher, 2017's The Disaster Artist, Showtime's I'm Dying Up Here, and FX's Mrs.

Dr. Jerome Oziel, Eric and Lyle's therapist who treated the brothers after their murder and recorded their confession. The role is played by Dallas Roberts. The Houston native actor has appeared in 2005's Walk the Line, 2007's 3:10 to Yuma, Showtime's The L Word, AMC's The Walking Dead, 2013's Dallas Buyers Club, Netflix's Insatiable and 2022's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, among many others.

Judalon Smythe was Oziel's mistress and a former patient at the time of the murder. She was also the one who tipped off the police that the therapist had recorded the brothers' confession.

Leslie Grossman is a Murphy-verse regular, having appeared in seasons 7-12 of American Horror Story and in a supporting role in Nip/Tuck. Other notable credits include The WB's “Popular” and “What I Like About You,” ABC's “Scandal,” NBC's “The Good Place,” and Hulu's “Love, Victor.”

Jason Butler Harner plays Les Zoeller, the lead detective on the Menendez case. He is best known for his role as FBI Agent Roy Petty in the Netflix hit Ozark. He is also well known for his supporting roles in series such as Homeland, Ray Donovan, The Walking Dead, The Handmaid's Tale, Rabbit Hole, Sugar, and Clipped.

Peter Hoffman (pictured above, center left), Jose's former business partner, is played by Shondaland favorite Jeff Perry. A stage and film actor, he is best known for his role as Chief of Staff Cyrus Bean in Scandal, but his acting career spans decades, including My So-Called Life, Nash Bridges, Grey's Anatomy, Alaska Daily, and Inventing Anna. . and a career as an actor.