You've seen the commercials, with the hot chick in black leather and a blue or red wig -- or wielding sais and kicking Ben Affleck's ass on the big screen. You've seen the tall gray-haired guy on Broadway, or chasing a turn-of-the-century Matthew Broderick around River City and bellowing "You watch your phraseology!". The short older guy with the receding hairline is a "Hey! It's That Guy!" And, yes, the tall guy with the green eyes and forehead wrinkles is Hot Teacher Man from Never Been Kissed. You've seen these actors before -- but never all at once. If you're just joining their adventures on the ABC series Alias, you might be a little confused. So, for those just tuning in, or casual viewers who want to clarify a few things, we've put together our own lighthearted tour through the world of JJ Abrams' acclaimed series. So put on your flak jacket, check your house for bugs, and sit your SpyAss at the computer. It's time for a debriefing. ** keep checking back as more intel comes in from our operatives in the field ** UPDATED with bios for Eric Weiss and the other recurring characters.

Sydney Bristow was recruited by the CIA during her sophomore year of college.  Though she hoped to become an English teacher at the time of recruitment, she was also feeling a little directionless - the prospect of a career in the CIA was appealing, especially when she was allowed to continue her schooling throughout.  She progressed through the ranks quickly - after six months as a secretary at one of the CIA's cover companies (the international bank Credit Dauphine), Sydney was cleared for training with the covert ops division, known as SD-6.   For seven years, Sydney acted as an operative for SD-6.  She soon learned that her unit was considered a "black ops" division - in other words, if she was ever caught, the CIA would deny all knowledge of her and her mission.  It was dangerous work, but Sydney thrived under pressure; in fact, she was one of the best agents SD-6 had.  The director of SD-6, Arvin Sloane, considered her a kind of protege - his wife Emily became a mother-figure in Syd's life.  The SD-6 office was alive with a sense of purpose and patriotism.   Of course, there were problems.  Syd didn't have to worry about keeping her secret career from her father; after losing her mother, Laura, in a car crash at the ago of six, Sydney grew up under the care various nannies and sitters.  Aeronautics manufacturer Jack Bristow had little contact with his daughter, and showed no interest in her life.  But what Syd lacked in family life was more than made up for by her friends.  Sydney's closest friends, Francie Calfo and Will Tippin, were under the impression that she worked for the bank Credit Dauphine.  When they saw her struggling under the strain of a full-time job on top of her graduate program, they would often pressure her to quit work at the bank.  Sydney did not enjoy lying to them, but SD-6 rules severely punished any sort of breach of confidence.    The one person she couldn't lie to was her boyfriend, Danny Hecht.  Danny proposed to Sydney in 2001, after a courtship of three years, and Syd quickly realized that she couldn't lie to the person she was about to marry.  After Danny made a casual comment about children, Syd's guilt got the better of her and she decided to tell him the truth about her job.  Though she took every precaution in telling him, she wasn't able to patch up their relationship completely before flying off on an SD-6 mission.  She stressed the need for secrecy, and promised to call him when she got back.   While Syd was gone, Danny left an incriminating message on her answering machine.  Within moments, word got back to Arvin Sloane.  When Sydney arrived back at Danny's apartment, she found her fiance's body in the bathtub.   Syd knew that Sloane had ordered the hit; she confronted him, but he emphasised that she had known the consequences of her actions.  Sloane gave her time off, which Syd numbly took.  And then extended.  Dixon tried to woo her back to SD-6 after three months, warning her that she wouldn't be allowed to just leave, but Sydney brushed him off.  She wanted a normal life, pursuing her degree and forgetting all about SD-6.  But that wasn't an option.  SD-6 security attempted to assassinate Sydney in a parking garage, failing only due to the sudden appearence of Jack Bristow.  In a terse exchange, he explained to his daughter that SD-6 was not actually a branch of the CIA.  It was a terrorist organization, working under the umbrella of a group known only as "The Alliance of Twelve".  Even more unexpectedly, Jack claimed to have this information because he also worked for SD-6, under the cover company Jennings Aerospace.  All lower-level agents had been lied to, and Syd had one chance to escape: a flight to France, arranged by Jack.    But Syd had other ideas.  Will's sister's passport, a quick change of hair color, and a definite change in attitude later, and Syd was in Taipei.  After a round with the Sadistic Dentist of Asian Persuasion, she managed to grab the prototype of a mysterious machine.  A couple of molars lighter, she returned to LA and slammed the device down on Sloane's desk.  Syd was back, but she wasn't finished.  With little fanfare, she strolled into the CIA and designated herself a "walk-in".  She met agents Michael Vaughn and Eric Weiss, was quickly brought on as a double agent, and placed under the operational direction of Vaughn.  Unexpectedly, she also found out that Jack Bristow was the other double agent in SD-6.  She returned to work at SD-6, now not only lying to her friends, but lying to her coworkers about her life.   Since finding out SD-6's true intentions, Sydney has steadily fed information to the real CIA.  She's botched SD-6 missions when possible, placed decoy artifacts and attempted to minimize damage caused by The Alliance.  During her first year as a double, Syd became aware of Sloane's obsession with a 15th century inventor named Milo Rambaldi - many of her missions centered on the acquisition of Rambaldi artifacts, which often display highly advanced technology.  The importance of Rambaldi's works are not completely clear yet, but they did kick off a massive artifact search in the intelligence community.  While in pursuit of Rambaldi's works, Syd occasionally came up against the K Directorate agent Ana Espinosa - Syd's counterpart in the Russian intelligence organization, and one of the only other spies who consistently challenged Syd's superiority.  Syd's other reoccuring opponent came seemingly out of nowhere; Mr. Sark emerged as a major player when he began to work for a figure known only as "The Man", and quickly became notorious in both SD-6 and the CIA's files.  His youth notwithstanding, Mr. Sark is one of the more deadly and unpredictable members of the espionage world.   Meanwhile, Will and Francie continued to urge Syd to quit her job, but also gave her the emotional support she needed.  Francie started up a restaurant, which took up much of her time.  Will, a journalist, tried to solve the mystery of Danny's death and in doing so nearly exposed  Syd and SD-6 in the newspaper, an act which would ruin any chance the CIA had of tracing the rest of the Alliance's organization.  He ended up in the hands of Sark and SDAP.  Eventually, Syd and Jack managed to rescue Will from Sark.  He has recently been set up as an analyst for the CIA, working under a cover travel magazine.    Another change in Sydney's life came in the form of her relationship with her father.  After realizing that Jack was also a double agent, Syd allowed herself to begin to trust him.  That made it even more painful when she discovered notes in cyrillic script in the margins of books Jack had imported, supposedly for his wife Laura.  At Vaughn's insistence, Syd brought the information to her CIA superiors - only to find out that the notes weren't written by her father at all, but by her mother.  Laura Bristow, also known as Irina Derevko, had been a KGB agent directed to seduce and marry a highly-placed CIA operative.  Unbeknownst to him, Jack Bristow was chosen as her target.  Over her years as a KGB operative, Syd's mother killed 12 CIA agents.  One of those agents was Vaughn's father.    That wasn't the last heard of Derevko.  A few months after learning her mother's true motives, Syd realized that Derevko could have survived a car accident.  After tracing a Rambaldi artifact to a warehouse, Sydney discovered that "The Man" was actually her mother.  In an unexpected twist, Derevko turned herself in to the CIA soon after first seeing her daughter and began aiding Jack and Syd in their work.  With his employer now in CIA custody, Sark changed his allegiance and joined Sloane's SD-6 outfit.  Syd was highly suspicious of him; during a previous interaction, Syd had been exposed as a CIA operative, and she had no confidence in Sark's integrity.  But her suspicions seemed unfounded; Sark gave reliable intel, participated in missions, and Sloane seemed none the wiser.   But then the CIA got intel that was too valuable to sit on, and the entire game changed forever.   The CIA raided SD-6 and all Alliance branches simultaneously, taking down the entire operation in one swoop. Syd and Vaughn finally gave in to their mutual attraction, Derevko was proven very reliable in her intel, and all of Syd's SD-6 colleagues were taken in for screening - except for Sark and Sloane, who were nowhere to be found.   It might seem that Syd's life just got a lot easier, but that's certainly not the case.  Currently, the CIA are trying to track Derevko, who escaped during a mission with Jack.  She's since teamed up with Sark and Sloane, who seem to have been working together from the beginning. Derevko's motivations are still unknown - though she's switched sides, she is also fixated on protecting Sydney.  Sydney and Vaughn's relationship is still sorting itself out, as the two deal with being lovers and coworkers. Wife issues abound:  Jack's affected a lot more by his erstwhile wife's betrayal than he might like to admit, and Sloane and Dixon have both lost their wives in an eye-for-an-eye scenario.  And then there's Will, who would be happily dating Francie - were she Francie anymore.  It's only a matter of time before Syd and Will realize that their friend has been replaced by a Sloane-sponsored operative who is just wearing Francie's face, while the real Francie was assassinated months ago in the kitchen of her restaurant.  Meanwhile,  the Rambaldi quest continues, with the weapons becoming more complex and dangerous and a Prophecy looming...