If Loving You is Wrong

If Loving You is Wrong is a soap opera, created, executive produced, written and directed by Tyler Perry that is seen on the Oprah Winfrey Network (or OWN). It was the second originally scripted series for OWN, following the success of Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots.

The series takes place in the fictional town of Maxine and focuses on the lives of five men and five women who are close friends. The five women, Alex, Esperanza, Natalie, Kelly and Marcie bonded as friends as a result of their young children being on the same sports team. The series began in 2014, and was as much of a success as The Haves and The Have Nots, which had been on for two seasons when this series appeared.

The show is based on Tyler Perry's 2014 movie, The Single Moms Club. In fact, one of the movie's actresses, Zulay Henao, reprised her movie role of Esperanza in the TV show, although her story from the movie was modified for the television series.

Cast

• Aiden Turner as Brad Montgomery, a businessman married to Alex, The father of two children, Peter and Paisley, is close friends with Edward, although he does not realize that his neighbor and his former best friend, Randal, is embarking on an affair with his wife until the second season, where the two get into a heated confrontation.

• Amanda Clayton as Alex Montgomery, Brad's wife, the mother of two children named Peter and Paisley. She is also involved in an affair with her next door neighbor, Randal who calls her Peppa. It is possible she is pregnant with Randal's child (as Brad is sterile after the births of their two children).

• Zulay Henao as Esperanza, a divorced mother of a daughter, by her chauvinistic and exceedingly brutal ex-husband, Edward. She is dating a man named Julius, who is related to members of a Colombian drug cartel, which causes her trouble for her and Edward. She works for the Maxine Police Department as a 911 dispatcher. Esperanza was a character in the movie, "The Single Moms Club" which was the inspiration for the series, although her backstory was modified for the TV series. Henao was the only actress from the movie to reprise her role on the series.

• Joel Rush as Edward, a highly corrupt City of Maxine police officer and the antagonist of the series. The father of a daughter by his ex-wife, Esperanza and two more children by his second wife, Yolanda. Edward is a very chauvinistic and controlling man, who is also more than a bit deceitful and exceedingly brutal in his doings. This corruption shows in his work as a police officer. Partnered with Lushion who has a hostile working relationship with him due to Lushion's solid sense of right and wrong. However, he is best friends with Brad.

• April Parker Jones as Natalie, a working single mother of four children who lives in the inner city section of Maxine. She owns her own fast food restaurant called Burger Blast. Sees a lot of her former lover, Lushion, since he is the father of her younger son, Frankie.

• Heather Hemmens as Marcie, an estate agent who is married to psychiatrist, Randal. Her friendship with Alex is destroyed when she discovers that she is the one called "Peppa" who is having an affair with her husband.

• Edwina Finley Dickerson as Kelly Issacs, a widowed single working mother who is raising her young son, Justice, on her own. She is involved with a man named Travis, who breaks her heart by getting engaged while in Haiti. Despite his engagement, which he broke off, he still loves Kelly and aims to still make a life with her.

• Matt Cook as Joey, Natalie's oldest son, who was released from Prison.

• Charles Malik Whitfield as Lushion, Natalie's ex, the father of her youngest son, Frankie, who was a former security guard who now is a rookie police officer partnered with Edward. Has a solid sense of right and wrong, and because of his high moral fiber, is often at odds with the corrupt Edward.

• Tiffany Hadish as Jackie, a business-savvy woman who is Natalie's assistant manager at Burger Blast.

• Denzel Wells as Travis, Kelly's ex, who was on a relief mission in Haiti. He gets engaged there and breaks it off with Kelly. Then he breaks off with the new fiancée and then tries to get back with a disinterested Kelly.

• Eltony Williams as Randal, a psychologist who destroyed his marriage with Marcie and his friendship with Brad by sleeping with the latter's wife, Alex, whom he calls "Peppa". Brad and Randal have a vicious fight in the latter's backyard, where Brad destroys the boat they were working on.

• Jasmine Guy as Mattaline, the wealthy mother of Travis. At first, not in approval of Kelly, but later changes her mind and warms up to her. She relents and she approves of her.

• Dawan Owens as Quon, one of Joey's running buddies, whom is not liked by either Natalie or Lushion and at times, by Joey himself.

• Brianne Davis as Yolanda, Edward's second wife, whom he met after his divorce from Esperanza, and has two children with him. An alcoholic, she recently left Edward, because of his propensity to control and dictate his ex-wife's life.

• Octavio Pizano as Julius, the new boyfriend of Esperanza, who is a target of Edward's jealous rages. He is also related to a drug cartel in Colombia, which puts Edward and Esperanza in constant danger.