Taiwanese Opera have four primary classifications of characters: the male lead（生/sheng）, the female lead（旦/dan）, the supporting male lead（淨/jing）, and jester（丑/chou）. For the male lead（生/sheng）, it is further expanded into three major categories based on ages, the male lead（siao sheng）, the elderly man（lao sheng）, the male youngster（tong sheng）. The female lead（旦/dan） has two different ways of classification. One is based on ages, that is, the female lead（siao dan）, the elderly woman（lao dan）; the other is based on disposition and personality, such as the female lead（siao dan）, the sorrowful female character（ku dan）, the primary supporting actress（hua dan）, as well as the female martial artist（wu dan）. As for the supporting male lead（淨/jing）in traditional theatric forms, usually this character has colorfully painted face, featuring unyielding and protrusive male characters. According to gender, the jester（丑/chou）is divided into male jester and female jester. The male jester is called san hua（三花）, while the female jester is called cai dan（彩旦）or san ba dan（三八）. The function of jester character is be a laughingstock or to bring some light bantering atmosphere into the drama. Without jester, the drama wouldn’t be so worthy of watching.

The Male Lead（siao sheng）－
A male character with gentle demeanor, dressed in bright-colored and masculine costumes, wearing “wen-sheng cloth”（cloth that symbolizes a man of letters）on their head.

The Elderly Man（lao sheng）－
A sedate elderly male character with mustache or beard, wearing “yun-wai cloth（cloth that symbolizes an elder gentleman）” on their head.

The Male Lead（wen sheng）－
An elegant male intellectual.

The Male Martial Artist（wu sheng）－
A majestic male character who masters martial arts.

The Female Lead（dan）－
portraying all female character in the drama. It is classified as the following.

The Primary Supporting Actress（hua dan）－
A young and vivacious female character, dressed in bright-colored costume.

The Elderly Woman（lao dan）－
An amiable elder lady, dressed in warm-colored costume.

The Sorrowful Female Character（ku dan）－
A rueful female character, dressed in dark-colored costume to unfold her depression.

The Female Martial Artist（wu dan）－
A chivalrous female character who masters martial arts.

The Supporting Male Lead（淨/jing）－
Traditionally called “hua lien（painted face）” in traditional theatric forms.

Jing portrays male characters that possess strong, intense, and protrusive personality, such as Magistrate Bao (包公/Bao Gong) , who is extremely impartial and incorruptible, Lord Guan（關公/Guan Gong or Guan Yu）, who is famous for sense of honor and justice, Zhang Fei（張飛）, a fierce warrior whose bravery carved his name in history, and Tsau Tsau（曹操）, an extremely cunning and ambitious politician. Therefore, all jing characters have to wear colorfully-painted makeup to make their personality stand out, and almost all jing characters are played by male actors.However, in modern Taiwanese Opera, jing characters now simply apply more exaggerating makeup on their facial features instead of putting on colorful paint on their faces.

The Male Jester（san hua）－
A male jester, dressed untidily in exotic costumes, wearing wen-sheng cloth or wu-sheng cloth on his head to show his eccentricity.

The Female Jester（cai dan or san ba dan）－
A female jester with a mole on her face, usually enacts a matchmaker or funny female character. Sometimes, in order to promote more hilarious effects, a male actor may cross-cast as a female jester.