List of characters in Jurassic Park
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The following is a list of characters from Michael Crichton's novels Jurassic Park and The Lost World. Details are also given on the characters' roles in Steven Spielberg's film adaptations, Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as well as Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston. The latter is not an adaptation but contains characters and events based on Crichton's novels.
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[edit] Recurring characters
These characters appear in more than one film/novel.
[edit] Dr. Alan Grant
Grant, played by Sam Neill in the film, is a key figure in the Jurassic Park franchise and an expert renowned in his field of paleontology. John Hammond (founder of InGen) convinces Grant and his coworker (and girlfriend in the movie) Dr. Ellie Sattler to take a tour of the preserve and later to endorse the park itself. Following the discovery that InGen had successfully cloned dinosaurs, Grant quickly found out the danger of tampering with nature. Mayhem struck when the dinosaurs escaped and Grant, who previously disliked children, found himself becoming a father figure and hero for Lex and Tim. In the novel Grant had a strong affinity for children - particularly because of their interests in dinosaurs. The screenwriters made the change to add tension between Grant and Tim & Lex, especially between Grant and Tim who idolizes the man in both film and novel.
[edit] Dr. Martin "Marty" Guitierrez-Books only
A doctor from the United States who moved to Costa Rica to practice, he plays an expository role in both novels. He is Richard Levine's best, and perhaps only, friend. He did not appear in either movie. In the first book he is the one who at the end tells Grant that some dinosaurs may have escaped the island.
[edit] John Hammond
Hammond is the creator of Jurassic Park and founder of InGen. He is likened to Walt Disney with his Disneyland (he comments at one point in the Jurassic Park movie: "Why didn't I build in Orlando?") . He is played by Richard Attenborough. In the movie version he appears as a sympathetic grandfather, but in the book he is depicted as an eccentric, polite CEO solely interested in profit and dinosaurs. He appears in the Lost World film's beginning and end. This differs from the novels; he is killed near the end of Jurassic Park and is mentioned briefly in the second book.
In the original novel, he survives until after the power has been turned back on. Once all of the raptors are away from the lodge, he goes outside for a walk and hears a tyrannosaur roaring. Not knowing that it is just his grandchildren fooling around with the speakers, he jumps down a hill and breaks his ankle. Before he can climb up the hill, he is killed by a large group of procompsognathids. This was reworked into The Lost World film, but with Dieter Stark replacing Hammond, and the procompsognathids being regular Compsognathus.
[edit] Dr. Ian Malcolm
Ian Malcolm is a mathematician specializing in the study of the chaos theory and refers to himself as a "chaotician". Jeff Goldblum played the role of Malcolm in the Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park movies. Malcolm is John Hammond's primary critic in both the novel and film, accurately predicting the instability of Hammond's creation. Malcolm is seriously injured in the first book, and presumed dead. However, he returns in the second book, The Lost World, alive but crippled. He survives the film with a comparatively minor leg injury, and was returned with a minor limp for the film adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In both the films and books Malcolm is an eccentric character who dresses entirely in black; he is described as having the mannerisms of a rock star in the original Jurassic Park, but is sobered by his experiences there and returns as a more measured man in The Lost World.
[edit] Dr. Ellie Sattler
She is Dr. Alan Grant's graduate student, and joined him on the tour of InGen's dinosaur preserve. In the movie she is in a relationship with Grant, whereas in the book she is engaged to a doctor. (In the film Jurassic Park III we learn that the relationship between her and Dr. Grant did not work out, although they remain close friends.) Laura Dern plays Ellie in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III.
[edit] Lewis Dodgson
An ambitious, unethical rival scientist, Dodgson is not above corporate espionage and theft to advance Biosyn's technology. In the first novel and film, Dodgson hires Dennis Nedry to steal embryo samples for reverse engineering. In the sequel novel, Dodgson is much more ambitious. He takes a team to Isla Sorna in an attempt to collect a tyrannosaur egg. He is ultimately killed when a tyrannosaur feeds him to a nest of T. Rex newborns. In the second movie, Dodgson's attributes are split between the characters of Roland Tembo and Peter Ludlow. In the film Jurassic Park, he is played by Cameron Thor.
[edit] Jurassic Park
These characters only appear in Jurassic Park.
[edit] John Arnold
John Arnold (played by Samuel L. Jackson in the film) ran the main control center from within the visitors center. After Dennis Nedry turned off the power to the park, Arnold volunteered to go outside and restore it, succeeding at doing so. In the movie he was renamed Ray Arnold, and was killed by raptors, off-screen, This is comfirmed when Ellie found his arm behind some tangled wires in the maintenance shed.
[edit] Donald Gennaro
Gennaro, portrayed by Martin Ferrero in the film, was the lawyer that accompanied the first group to Isla Nublar. In the film he was killed by a tyrannosaur while hiding from it in a port-a-potty. In the novel Gennaro survives but is mentioned as having died of a dysentery sometime in between the first novel and its sequel. In the book and film he is portrayed as an egotistical, worried, greedy person. In the film he abandons Tim and Lex when the tyrannosaur escapes its paddock, though ironically that leads to him being eaten by the carnivore while everyone else survives. In the book he helps Muldoon shoot the tyrannosaur and ventures unwillingly down into the nest to count the raptors.
[edit] Dr. Gerry Harding-Books only
Jurassic Park's chief veterinarian, who makes a brief appearance with the sick triceratops in the first Jurassic Park film. In the first book he appears to help a sick stegosaurus and then helps Ian Malcolm recover. He survives a raptor jumping onto him from the roof, unlike Henry Wu, and is rescued at the end of the book. He thinks that Malcolm is dead but actually manages to revive him in time. It is not made clear whether he is related to Sarah Harding; Crichton later revealed that this was the case. In the novel The Lost World, Sarah informs Ian Malcolm that her father was a veterinarian specializing in birds. Harding is played by Gerald R. Molen, the film's producer. The character is not given a first name in the novel, but it is assumed that "Gerry" is derived from "Gerald."
[edit] Robert Muldoon
Jurassic Park's game warden. Muldoon was from Kenya, and had been a long-time employee of John Hammond, working at Hammond's animal park in his homeland. Muldoon was aware of the dinosaur's threats and felt that they should be destroyed. In the novel, Muldoon has a larger arsenal of weapons and is an alcoholic, while the film counter-part only has a Franchi SPAS-12 and is much more serious. In the film, Muldoon is killed by raptors, but in the novel, he manages to kill a few of them instead and escapes the island. He is not mentioned in the novel's sequel. Muldoon was portrayed by Bob Peck in the film adaptation.
[edit] Alexis Murphy
"Lex" is Tim Murphy's younger sister and John Hammond's granddaughter. She is a sporty young girl who loves baseball and is relatively outgoing. She was played in the film by Ariana Richards, and made a brief cameo in The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
[edit] Tim Murphy
Tim is Lex's older brother and John Hammond's grandson. He is very intelligent for his age and easily annoys and is annoyed by his younger sister. He is portrayed as a computer genius in the novel but in the film adaption, this was given to his sister and their ages were also switched. He was played by Joseph Mazzello in the first film, and also made a brief cameo in The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
[edit] Dennis Nedry
Nedry worked for John Hammond and was in charge of networking Jurassic Park's computers. In the book Nedry doesn't know what InGen does- he was ordered to program without many details, and was called to the island to fix numerous bugs. However, Hammond refused to pay him any extra money for his work. Eventually Lewis Dodgson of Biosyn offered Nedry $1.5 million to steal embryos from Jurassic Park's labs. In order to do this - and make a swift escape from the visitor center - Nedry had to shut down the park's security systems, including the electric fences surrounding the dinosaur paddocks. In both the book and the movie, Nedry is poisoned and subsequently killed by a dilophosaurus. His death in the novel is far more graphic than in the movie,(his death is not shown in the movie, however he is assumed dead), as Nedry's stomach is slashed open and his corpse is eaten by compys. Just before he dies, he drops the shaving cream can containing the frozen embryos. Wayne Knight played the role of Nedry in the movie adaptation.
[edit] Ed Regis-Books Only
Regis was a Publicist for InGen who acted as a babysitter during Dr. Grant's visit to the park. He meets a fate similar to the film version of Donald Gennaro, namely that of being eaten by Tyrannosaurus after running out of the car (though he hides between two rocks and is instead eaten by the younger T. Rex). He was written out of the movie, and certain aspects of his character were given to Gennaro.
[edit] Dr. Henry Wu
Wu was the chief geneticist in Jurassic Park and head of the team that created the dinosaurs. In the movie he reveals that all the dinosaurs on the island are female. Wu was played by B.D. Wong. In the novel, Wu has a much larger part; he proposes genetically altering further Saurian creations to make them more manageable, something that Hammond opposes. Eventually he is killed by Velociraptors. In the movie, he survives after leaving with many other scientists to return to the mainland before the hurricane's arrival.
[edit] The Lost World
These characters appear only in The Lost World.
[edit] George Baselton-Books Only
A renowned biology professor, Baselton was once hired by InGen to cover the Jurassic Park incident in the media. He is later hired by Biosyn and goes to the island with Dodgson to steal Tyrannosaur eggs. He and Dodgson find the nest, with Dodgson using a device to keep the animals away. However, Dodgson treads too far, causing the device to become unplugged, therefore, allowing the tyrannosaurs to proceed towards them. Remembering something he had heard, Baselton freezes, believing the Rex would not be able to see him. This ultimately fails and he his killed. He was replaced in the film adaptation by Robert Burke. In the movie Burke seems to be a incompetent version of Robert Bakker.
[edit] Eddie Carr
Eddie is the field equipment expert. He becomes a part of the team sent to the island since the vehicles he designed were not field tested. In the novel, he is described as a slender and strong 25 year old who prefers the wild, while his film version is much older. In both the novel and movie he saves the day, but is subsequently eaten by dinosaurs (raptors in the novel, a T. Rex in the film). In the movie he was played by Richard Schiff.
[edit] Kelly Curtis (Malcolm)-Edited for the film
Kelly is the closest friend of Arby's. Like Arby, she is smart, yet, in all other issues she is completely different; she is white, adventurous and free-spirited. She lives with her recently divorced mother in a middle-class neighborhood. Unlike her classmates, Kelly is fascinated by science and idolizes Sarah Harding. It was her idea to accompany Malcolm and Thorne once she learned that Harding would join the group later, but she left the planning to Arby. The movie features Kelly, however, her character was merged with Arby's, creating a female African-American. She is Malcolm's daughter and was portrayed by Vanessa Lee Chester.
[edit] R.B. Benton-Books Only
Better known as Arby, he is a young African American who is friends with Kelly. His character was not in the film adaption, having merged with Kelly's characteristics to form an entirely new persona.
[edit] Sarah Harding
Dr. Harding (played by Julianne Moore) is a behaviorial paleontologist, and the girlfriend of Ian Malcolm. She is very intelligent, but has little common sense at moments, and puts herself in danger many times. Because of her last name and mentioning her father being a veternarian, it is very likely she is Dr. Garry Harding's daughter.
[edit] Howard King-Books Only
Howard is an assistant to Lewis Dodgson. Once a successful biologist employed by Biosyn, he loses credibility when his research fails, but Dodgson hires King as his assistant in the reverse engineering department. In time, he learns how to deal with Dodgson and how to cover his mistakes. In the book, he accompanies Dodgson to the island, but they separate when they fail to retrieve eggs from a tyrannosaur nest. Eventually, he is killed by velociraptors as he tries to escape into a field. King's character was replaced in the movie with Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare). In the movie, Dieter was portrayed as a ruthless hunter and second-in-command to Roland Tembo's team. He is killed by a pack of compsognathids after he lost his way in the forest.
[edit] Richard Levine-Books Only
Levine is one of the world's most brilliant paleontologists, as well as one of the richest; unfortunately, he is also one of its most egotistical. Dr. Marty Guitierrez seems to be his only real friend, though he eventually forms a prickly working relationship with Ian Malcolm. His egotism and enthusiasm about the "aberrant forms" from Costa Rica annoy Malcolm severely. The children Arby Benton and Kelly Curtis look up to him, and it takes the children to break through his seemingly uncaring facade; when he believes Arby is killed by velociraptors, Levine decides he wants to kill every one of them. He does not appear in the movie.
[edit] Roland Tembo-Movie Only
A big-game hunter determined to kill a T-Rex, he was played by Pete Postlethwaite in The Lost World. He is not in the novel. A realist and a survivor, his outlook on hunting predators is changed when his lifelong hunting partner is brought down by velociraptors.
[edit] Nick Van Owen-Movie Only
A wildlife documentarian who accompanies Sarah Harding on her expedition to Isla Sorna. He did volunteer work with Greenpeace and traveled to Rwanda, Chechnya, and Bosnia with Nightline. He is played in the movie by Vince Vaughn.
[edit] Peter Ludlow-Movie Only
The new CEO of InGen after Hammond leaves. Ludlow decides the best way to correct InGen's plummeting stock offerings is by capturing the animals roaming Isla Sorna and bringing them back to a zoo-like setting in San Diego. His ambition proves to be his downfall when he brings a male tyrannosaur and its infant to San Diego. Believing the authorities will kill the adult dinosaur, he attempts to recapture the infant, only to be caught by the adult. The T-Rex breaks Ludlow's leg and uses Ludlow as hunting practice for the tyrannosaur infant, which kills him. He is played by Arliss Howard.
[edit] Jurassic Park III
These characters only appear in the third movie.
[edit] Paul Kirby
The owner of a hardware store who poses as a wealthy businessman in order to lure Grant onto Isla Sorna to help the Kirby's search for their son.
[edit] Amanda Kirby
Paul's ex-wife who accompanies the group to Site B, feeling guilty for having lost Eric.
[edit] Billy Brennan
A young and overenthusiastic graduate student at Grant's digsite whose impulsive actions land the entire rescue party in danger. He later redeems himself by saving them from pterosaurs. His character is played by actor Alessandro Nivola, who also played in the earlier film Face/Off.
[edit] Eric Kirby
The 12-year-old son of Paul and Amanda who ends up stranded on Site B for eights weeks, and must fend for himself. Somehow got T.Rex pee. When asked how replies "You don't want to know."
[edit] Udesky
A meek but sardonic mercenary "booking agent" who travels with his two associates to the island, and is ultimately crippled and killed by raptors.
[edit] Cooper
A tough and quiet mercenary who is killed by the spinosaur on the Site B runway.
[edit] M.B. Nash
The Kirby's mercenary pilot who abandons Cooper and is subsequently eaten by the spinosaur. He was carrying a satellite phone given to him by Paul KIrby at the time he was eaten, which acts as a warning to the other humans. When they hear the chimes of the phone, they know that the spinosaur is near.
[edit] Charlie Degler
The young son of Ellie and Mark, who thinks of Alan Grant as "The Dinosaur Man"
| Novels: | Jurassic Park | The Lost World |
| Films: | Jurassic Park | The Lost World: Jurassic Park | Jurassic Park III | Jurassic Park IV (in development) |
| Settings: | Isla Nublar | Jurassic Park Visitors Center | The Five Deaths | Isla Sorna |
| Various: | List of characters in Jurassic Park | InGen | Biosyn | Jurassic Park (video game) | Dominican Amber | Dragon curve | Michael Crichton | Steven Spielberg | Joe Johnston |
