Nick Stokes

Nick Stokes is a Level 3 CSI from Dallas, Texas. Born August 18, 1971, he is the youngest of seven children born to his father, a Judge and mother, a prosecution lawyer. Nick was expected to go into Law, and left the family fold to go into Law Enforcement instead, after taking his degree at Texas A&M University.

Nick is generally considered the most low-maintenance of the crew, with little drama in his life, and little need for attention. He is a solid, reliable worker and witness for the prosecution, but becomes driven to make a case stick when angered or appalled. Perhaps because he is easily taken for granted, the team is not at all prepared when he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a glass coffin, containing a camera through which his terror and agony can be watched. On shooting out the single light to save the battery that also runs oxygen into his coffin, he inadvertently lets in thousands of fire ants. He is found by Warrick and Grissom barely alive, but eventually makes a full recovery.

More than any other character, Nick represents the emotional heart of the series. He is deeply empathic and does not hide his feelings, especially from the families of victims of crime. He reveals that he was molested as a child by a last-minute babysitter, which may explain in part his need to offer emotional comfort to those in pain - and to help put abusive criminals behind bars. His best friend was Warrick Brown, a fellow CSI with whom he had a brotherly rivalry and affection.

Nick occasionally dates and is friendly and attentive to the women in his life, but doesn't appear to be in any steady relationship during the series. In the final episode of Season 8, he is shown considering asking out the waitress of the crew's regular cafe, but we can assume he is forestalled by news of Warrick's shooting outside the diner.