Hoban 'Wash' Washburne is best known to everyone as just plain Wash.  He is portrayed by the incredibly talented Alan Tudyk.  Wash is the pilot of Serenity and also happens to be married to the first mate, Zoe (Gina Torres).

Though we do not know the name of Wash's home planet, we do know that it was cursed with pollution so thick that one could not see the stars.  The reason why Wash became a pilot was to see the sky beyond his home.  According to the novelization of 'Serenity', Wash was 2nd in his class at flight school and Mr. Universe (David Krumholz) was first.  However, this was only because Mr. Universe hacked the records.  In order to keep Wash silent about the hack, he promised the use of his skills whenever they were needed in the future.  Though it is not known whether Wash served in the Unification War, actor Alan Tudyk states on the commentary for 'War Stories' that he believed Wash did serve.  According to Tudyk, Wash was a pilot, though it is not known what side he served on.  He believes that Wash's ship was shot down on its first mission and he spent time in a POW camp entertaining other prisoners with shadow puppets. (Wash references shadow puppets in another episode, 'The Message'.)

After the Unification War, Wash travelled across the universe visiting other planets.  By the time Wash met Captain Malcolm Reynolds, his reputation as a pilot was so respected that he was being actively courted by many other captains.  In the episode 'Out of Gas' we see how Wash became a member of the Serenity crew as Mal tells Zoe that Wash has a list of recommendations as long as his leg.  Though Zoe strongly dislikes him at their first meeting, in time the pair eventually fall in love and marry.  Though Zoe seems very serious most of the time, her relationship with Wash is passionate and fun, and both partners are extremely loyal to each other though at times Zoe's loyalty to Mal irritates Wash.

• Wash was the 4th person to join the Serenity crew, but he is actually ranks 3rd in the length of time spent as part of the group.  He was hired after Bester, the original mechanic, but Bester was later replaced by Kaylee.
• Wash achieves almost a zen-like calm when flying through even the stickiest of situations.  His panic in the episode 'The Message' is an exception to this, as Tim Minear openly admitted that they were just going for a laugh.
• Wash once visited a planet in which people were known to juggle geese.
• His trademarks are his colorful Hawaiian shirts and his plastic dinosaur toys that decorate his cockpit.
• Scenes were often filmed to make Wash seem shorter than his warrior wife Zoe.  In reality, Alan Tudyk is about 2 inches taller than Gina Torres.
• The name on Wash's fake badge in the episode "Ariel" is E. Norma Sclevages. (Enoromous Cleavage)