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Elisabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore 

Elisabeth is a former Hollywood star and Oscar winner who is dismissed from her long-running aerobics TV show due to her age. She’s plagued by self-loathing and body dysmorphia, and she is desperate to regain her youth and career. She turns to an illegal drug called The Substance to create a younger version of herself.  

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Sue, played by Margaret Qualley 

The younger version of Elisabeth, created through taking The Substance. Sue is almost supernaturally beautiful and youthful. She’s irresistible, effortlessly attracting and seducing anyone who lays eyes on her. Sue quickly gains fame and success when she replaces Elisabeth on her workout show, and her career skyrockets from there. Obsessed with her newfound fame and disgusted by Elisabeth’s helplessness and self-loathing, she refuses to follow the rules of The Substance’s seven-day switch process, a decision with monstrous consequences.  

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Monstro Elisasue, played by Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley 

Monstro Elisasue is the grotesque fusion of Elisabeth and Sue, created when Sue recklessly overuses The Substance in a moment of panic. No longer two separate beings, Monstro Elisasue is a horrifying, unstable mutation of both women. Both Sue and Elisabeth are trapped in a monstrous body that cannot sustain itself. Her once-flawless features are stretched and distorted, her pink, raw-looking skin sagging and splitting over her enormous and misshapen body. Despite her decayed and collapsing figure Monstro Elisasue still clings to the idea of perfection and believes she can host the New Years’ Eve event on live TV. In a desperate attempt to cover her horrible face, she wears a mask of Elisabeth’s old promotional photo—a frozen reminder of the face that Hollywood once adored. She speaks in a disturbing chorus of both Sue’s and Elisabeth’s voices at once. 

Harvey, played by Dennis Quaid  

The self-interested producer who fires Elisabeth from her show because of her age. Harvey is a slimy caricature of a Hollywood executive, who wears flashy clothes and always sports perfectly coiffed hair. He represents the entertainment industry’s indifference to the feelings of aging women.  

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Fred, played by Edward Hamilton-Clark 

A middle-school friend of Elisabeth’s whom she runs into outside the hospital after her accident. Fred is a fan of Elisabeth’s and tells her that she is the “most beautiful girl in the whole world.” He’s delighted when Sue asks him out on a date and sends her several plaintive text messages when she doesn’t show up.  

Male Nurse, played by Robin Greer; Man in the Diner, played by Christian Erickson 

The hospital nurse who secretly provides Elisabeth with the USB key that leads her to The Substance, setting the events of the film in motion. An older version of this nurse appears in the diner scene, when he tells Elisabeth that Sue will soon begin to “eat away” at her. 

The Substance Voice, voiced by Yann Bean 

The seductive, ominous voice of the drug that tempts Elisabeth into her transformation. We never see the speaker, but it’s this voice that narrates the advertisement for The Substance and chastises her over the phone when she calls for help. 

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