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Max Payne (voiced by James McCaffrey) is a fugitive DEA 

agent and former NYPD detective whose wife Michelle and 

newborn daughter were killed in connection with the Valkyr 

drug case. Max then goes undercover in the mob, and 

eventually becomes a one-man-army vigilante waging a 

personal war on crime (and in particular, those criminals 

responsible for his family's death). Max ends up killing 

hundreds of gangsters and conspiracy enforcers while on the 

run from the police determined on stopping his vendetta against

 all those responsible for his family's death. He uses metaphors 

and wordplay to describe the world around him within his 

inner monologues, which often contradict his external responses 

to characters he speaks with. The first game presents the story 

as retold by Max from his point of view.

CharactersMona Sax (voiced by Julia Murney): The twin sister 

of Lisa Punchinello and a contract killer, Mona is the femme 

fatale of the game. She has a grudge against her sister Lisa's 

abusive husband, Mafia boss Angelo Punchinello, whom she 

desires to kill. After Puchinello is killed, she sides with Nicole 

Horne who hires her to kill Max. Finding herself unable to do 

so, she is shot in the head by Horne's henchmen and collapses 

into an elevator. She reappears in the sequel as a playable 

character.    Nicole Horne (voiced by Jane Gennaro): The 

game's main antagonist who led a secret military program 

code-named Valhalla. She had Michelle Payne killed after she 

viewed a document that shows that Horne is still producing the 

Valkyr drug despite the fact that the project was suspended. 

Horne commands a well-armed private army of hitmen and 

mercenaries. She is killed by Max at the end of the game.   

 Alfred Woden (voiced by John Randolph Jones): For most of 

the game he remains a mysterious unseen character, only 

interacting with Max through phone calls where he either 

warns him of a coming threat or provides information. Towards 

the end of the game he meets Max face-to-face and introduces 

him to an Illuminati-like society known as the Inner Circle. 

Woden tells Payne that Horne is his real enemy and expresses 

his wishes for Payne to get rid of her. He is seemingly gunned 

down by Horne's men while in a meeting with Max, but is later 

seen on a security terminal getting up off the ground and 

leaving his dead comrades. He reappears in the sequel as a U.S.

 senator.    Don Angelo Punchinello (voiced by Joe Ragno): An 

Italian mob boss who distributes Valkyr and become involved in 

a gang war against the Russians. He remains the main villain 

throughout most of the game until it was discovered that he was

 being controlled by Horne. He is later killed by her before he 

can give Max too much information.    Vinnie Gognitti (voiced 

by Joe Dallo): A high-strung mobster working for Lupino who 

is terrified that his boss will kill him due to Lupino's Valkyr-

induced psychosis. Max confronts him to discover where he can 

find Lupino, but this encounter results in Payne shooting 

Gognitti in the gut and then pursuing him through the city's 

buildings and rooftops. When Max catches up with him he 

forces the information out of Gognitti and leaves him bleeding 

in an alley (in the 1998 trailer Vinnie was shown being 

summarily executed by Payne in a cut scene, but this was 

changed later along with an other tweaks to the story). He 

reappears in the sequel as a Mafia under-boss     Vladimir Lem 

(voiced by Dominic Hawksley): A Russian mob boss and 

prominent gunrunner currently in a war against Angelo 

Punchinello. He teams up with Max providing him with 

weapons in one part of the game and occasionally chauffeuring 

him around to key locations. He reappears in the sequel as a 

charismatic restauranteer who maintains his shady connections 

in organized crime. He is portrayed by Marko Saaresto of Poets 

of the Fall (a friend of the game's writer Sam Lake). The band 

also wrote the main theme, "Late Goodbye", for Max Payne 2.  

  Jack Lupino (voiced by Jeff Gurner): A Mafia under-boss and

 an occultist, who oversees Valkyr distribution for the 

Punchinello crime syndicate. He has been driven crazy by his 

Valkyr addiction and has become a Satanist, obsessed with

 making a Faustian pact with the Devil (he also owns 

Necronomicon, a fictional book from the Cthulhu Mythos and 

Cthulhu is one of the deities he worships). When Max confronts 

him he is the middle of a Satanic prayer; a gun fight ensues and

 Lupino is killed by Payne.    B.B. Hensley (voiced by Adam 

Grupper): A corrupt DEA agent and a supposed friend of Max.

 Receiving pay outs from Horne, he radios Max telling him to 

meet agent Alex Balder at the train station and then shoots 

Balder dead, framing Max for his murder. Towards the end of 

the game he meets Max and is revealed as a traitor working for 

Horne. Payne kills him in a gun fight.    Deputy Chief Jim 

Bravura (voiced by Peter Appel): A high-ranking NYPD officer

 who is pursuing Max for most of the game and is not deterred 

in arresting him, even though the TV commentators don't see 

the violence as a bad thing because mobsters are the only 

victims. At the end he finally arrests Max, but in the game's 

sequel he becomes Max's boss.    Michelle Payne (voiced by 

Haviland Morris): Working for the district attorney’s office, 

Michelle came across a file that incriminated Horne, which 

later led to her murder and the killing of her child by Valkyr 

junkies sent to her home. She repeatedly appears through the 

game in flashback and nightmare sequences.