The following is a list of characters from Michael Crichton's novels Jurassic Park and its sequel, 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. Jurassic Park III, directed by Joe Johnston, is not an adaptation, but contains characters and events based on Crichton's novels.
Jurassic Park is a 1990[1] science fiction novel written by Michael Crichton, adopted into a feature film released in 1993. As the novel opens, billionaire entrepreneur John Hammond creates a high-tech amusement park on Isla Nublar (a fictional Costa Rican island) filled with dinosaurs cloned using DNA found in prehistoric insects. In order to open the park, he must first gain the approval of several experts in different fields and invites paleontologists Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, mathematician Ian Malcolm, and his investor's attorney, Donald Gennaro, to tour the park. Upon arrival, the experts begin discovering errors in the system, such as dinosaurs in the wrong pens and evidence of dinosaurs breeding in the wild. These errors occur in spite of Jurassic Park being run by expert computer engineers and top-notch technical systems. Soon after, due to a hurricane and industrial sabotage by a disgruntled technician, the park undergoes several technical failures and the dinosaurs escape their pens. A Tyrannosaur attacks the group, separating them, and the staff make a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation. As Ian Malcolm had predicted from the start, it becomes quite clear that they had never been in control. Often considered a cautionary tale on biological tinkering in the same spirit as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the book uses the mathematical concept of chaos theory and its philosophical implications to explain the inevitable collapse of the park.
The two film sequels take place on Isla Sorna, a nearby island known as "Site B," where the dinosaurs were engineered and nurtured for a few months, before being moved to Isla Nublar, the location of the amusement park.
Dr. Alan Grant is one of the protagonists in the first novel, as well as the first and third films. In the novel, Grant is described as a barrel-chested, bearded man with a strong affinity for children, especially ones interested in dinosaurs. Grant, based on paleontologist Jack Horner,[3] is said to be one of the world's most renowned paleontologists, specializing in hadrosaur and other duck-billed dinosaurs such as maiasaura. His scientific achievements, including the first description of maiasaurs, are that of Robert R. Makela and Jack Horner.[4] His movie persona, played by Sam Neill, has elements similar to adventure hero Indiana Jones, such as the fact that he is commonly shown wearing a fedora-style hat.
Dr. Grant is first approached by John Hammond, the eccentric billionaire and creator of Jurassic Park, to take a tour of the park and endorse it so his investors would be more confident. Finding it hard to turn down a request from a major financial donor, Grant agrees, unaware that Hammond has managed to clone real dinosaurs. When the creatures escape, Grant becomes stranded in the park with Hammond's grandchildren. Throughout a great portion of the book, Dr. Grant and the two kids explore the park trying to find their way back to the rest of the group. In the film, much of this time is omitted, with only a few key events occurring on screen.
In the second novel, he makes only one appearance, proposing a theory that the Tyrannosaurus rex could not function in rainy climates and writing off fellow paleontologist Richard Levine's questions about rumors surrounding InGen cloning dinosaurs as "absurd".
The film portrays a much different personality than that of the novel. In the films, Dr. Grant has an introverted personality and does not like children. Throughout the course of the first film, however, he warms to the two children accompanying him, Tim and Lex. This was done because Spielberg wanted to "provid(e) a source of dramatic tension that did not exist in the novel".[5] In the film, Dr. Grant specializes in velociraptors, and believes that birds are closely related to dinosaurs. At the end of the film, his experience on the island changes his view of children (and dinosaurs) and he decides not to endorse Jurassic Park.[6]
He is the central character of Jurassic Park III. In the years since Jurassic Park, Grant has continued his research on raptors and has proposed theories regarding Velociraptor intelligence. Grant reluctantly agrees to join a wealthy couple for an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park's 'Site B,' in exchange for funding for his dig site. Due to a plane crash, however, Dr. Grant and the others become stranded on the island. While navigating the island, he realizes, much to his dismay, that his theories about velociraptors were correct. He discovers that the raptors have advanced intelligence and communication abilities. He manages to escape the island via a rescue operation headed by Ellie Sattler.[7]
In the Jurassic Park universe, Grant is credited with having written at least two popular books on dinosaurs. In both Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, his works are referenced by Tim[jp 1] and Eric Kirby,[7] respectively.
Dr. Ian Malcolm is another key figure in the Jurassic Park universe. The character of Ian Malcolm functions as the "ironic commentator inside the story who talks about the action as it takes place".[10] He is a mathematician at the Santa Fe Institute who specializes in chaos theory. His character is based on both Ivar Ekeland and James Gleick.[jp 2] Malcolm's all-black clothing style reflects that of Heinz-Otto Peitgen, a mathematician who wrote a richly illustrated book on fractals.
Throughout the first novel, he makes several predictions based on chaos theory about the consequences and ultimate failure of attempting to control nature. These predictions often prove to be correct. During his time on the island, Malcolm is seriously injured during the initial Tyrannosaur attack. He survives and is brought back to the visitor's center, and spends the remainder of the novel bedridden, usually under the influence of high doses of morphine, continuing to comment on the Park's inherent flaws and impending collapse. Though he is declared dead at the end of the novel, in the sequel, he explains that the declaration was premature. Due to timely intervention by Costa Rican surgeons, he survives the ordeal, but ends up with a permanent leg injury, requiring a cane to walk.
Malcolm is the primary protagonist of the second novel. This time, he is asked to join an expedition to Isla Sorna, Jurassic Park's secondary site, by wealthy adventurer Richard Levine. Malcolm initially declines, but decides to go when word comes back that Levine has gone alone and is trapped on the island. Malcolm takes charge of Levine's remaining expedition and mounts a rescue. The Ian Malcolm of this novel is more proactive and vigorous, and seems to know much more about dinosaurs. As in the first novel, however, Malcolm is again injured in a dinosaur attack but survives. In the film adaptation of the second novel, John Hammond hires Malcolm and others to visit the island in order to document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat. Malcolm agrees, but only to rescue his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding, who had already set out for the island. Once there, the team must contend with a storm, menacing dinosaurs and a rival expedition intent on harvesting dinosaurs for a Jurassic Park-like attraction on the mainland.
Ellie Sattler is, in the novel, a graduate student studying under Dr. Alan Grant who specializes in paleobotany. She accompanies Dr. Grant on the tour of InGen's dinosaur preserve. Though she is initially thrilled to tour the park, she is disappointed at how little attention the staff has paid to reproducing prehistoric plant life, such as by placing poisonous plants in public areas and near the swimming pools. While the rest of the group tours the Park by Land Cruiser, she stays with Dr. Harding, the park vet, to help discover the cause of sick Stegosaurus.[jp 3] After the T-Rex attack, she helps Dr. Harding take care of Ian Malcolm’s injuries. During the raptor assault on the visitor's center, Sattler uses herself as bait in an attempt to distract a pack of velociraptors trying to get into the lodge. Though she survives the events of the novel, she does not play a role in the sequel novel. She is mentioned in passing as having married a Berkeley physicist, and doing guest lectures there on prehistoric pollens.
Ellie has a more dominant role in the first film than in the novel. Steven Spielberg wrote out Ed Regis completely and caused Gennaro to be killed off near the beginning of the film, making Ellie do many of the things done by Donald Gennaro in the novel. In the film, it is Ellie who ventures out of the bunker with Muldoon to bring the park's power systems back online. Additionally, in the film, Ellie is both a doctor of paleobotany and in a relationship with Dr. Grant. Spielberg did this not only to add tension to the film, but also because he felt that she didn't get enough attention in the book.[5]
She appears briefly in Jurassic Park III. According to the film, her relationship with Dr. Grant ended after the first film, but they remain close friends. She is married to Mark Degler, an attorney for the U.S. State Department who specializes in treaty law. They live in Washington, D.C. with their children and host Alan for dinner. Later, when he is stranded on the island, it is Ellie who Grant calls for help. She tells her husband, who sends in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marines to rescue them.
John Hammond is one of the primary antagonists of the novel. He is the owner of Jurassic Park and founder of InGen. According to the novel, his full name is John Alfred Hammond,[jp 4] but in a video game based on the film, he is referred to as John Parker Hammond.[11] Though he is not modeled after anyone in particular, in an interview, Crichton explained that Hammond was like the "dark side of Walt Disney".[3] He is portrayed as a cold, eccentric CEO interested only in making a profit and succeeding in creating dinosaurs. When rehearsing to Dr. Wu why he chose to spend his money on an amusement park rather than helping mankind, Hammond replied, "That's a terrible idea. A very poor use of new technology...helping mankind (is) a very risky business. Personally, I would never help mankind."[jp 5]
In the novel, Hammond takes little responsibility for the park or its failures and instead blames others for anything that goes wrong. He concludes that the people he selected as the park's senior staff have character flaws that prevent his vision for the park from being realized. During the events of the novel, he remains in the relative safety of the visitor's center, continuing to believe that he is in control, even as the situation around him grows exceedingly dire. When his grandchildren get lost in the park, he maintains his belief that order will soon be restored and that the children are in no real danger. Near the end of the novel, when the staff regains control of the park, he goes outside for a walk. He rationalizes the disaster in the cold manner of a corporate systems analyst, deciding that everything that has happened was merely a fluke and that next time he will do better, believing that he can use this catastrophe to solve any later problems. While he is out, however, he is startled by the sound of a T-Rex roar, falls down a hill and breaks his ankle. He is unable to climb up the hill and is subsequently killed by a pack of procompsognathus.
In a stark contrast to the cool, uncaring persona depicted in the novel, Hammond's portrayal is considerably different in the films. His film persona is as a sympathetic grandfather who means well and appears less interested in profit than his novel counterpart. The film's Hammond has a deeper, more emotional understanding of creating attractions for children and families, and desires to make this attraction a scientific reality (as opposed to an illusion). However, he is misguided in his steadfast belief that his creations are under control, as he underestimates the power of genetics. He also has little regard for scientific research doctrine, being more interested in the applications of genetic engineering than in the moral implications of such creations. When the security system breaks down, he and his staff work to restore power and rescue the experts and his grandchildren, while themselves remaining in a secure control room. By the film's conclusion, as he and the other survivors leave the island, he acknowledges the dangers that he has created. Hammond leaves the island willingly, but reluctantly, and is last seen pondering both the potential and the danger of what his creations represented. In the second film, he is older and appears to be in failing health. His position as CEO has been taken away by his nephew, so he devotes what resources he has left keeping the dinosaurs of Site B isolated from the rest of the world. His nephew, however, arranges a large expedition to capture as many dinosaurs as possible and rebuild Jurassic Park on the mainland. In an attempt to stop him, Hammond sends a small party, including a reluctant Ian Malcolm, to intercept them. Ultimately, the expedition is halted and Hammond is able to publicly advocate his idea to leave the dinosaurs in peace on the island.
Dr. Marty Guitierrez is an American biologist who lives in Costa Rica. He plays an expository role in both novels. In the first novel, he identifies an unknown lizard that attacks a little girl as a Basiliscus amoratus. He is initially unhappy with this identification because the lizard was more poisonous than expected and had three toes. He searches the beach where the she was attacked and finds the corpse of a similar lizard in the mouth of a howler monkey, which he promptly sends to the laboratory for tropical diseases at Columbia University in New York for further study.
In the second novel, he finds and shows Richard Levine a dried up corpse of an unknown creature, oddly similar to the ones found prior to the Jurassic Park incident. He informs Levine that no one knows where these creatures are coming from.
Alexis Murphy ("Lex") is Tim Murphy's sister and John Hammond's granddaughter. A relatively outgoing girl about seven or eight with blonde hair, she is described as "a sporty young girl who loves baseball",[jp 6] and wears a baseball glove slung over her shoulder and a baseball cap just about everywhere. Her selfish and childish behavior often annoys the people around her and puts her and the group in danger. Throughout the novel, she shows characteristics of her grandfather, John Hammond, such as being unkind, careless and unappreciative of the events occurring around her.[12]
In Spielberg's 1993 film, Lex is the elder of the two siblings and has a completely different personality, similar to that of her brother's from the novel. In the film, Lex has advanced computer skills that help the survivors escape a pack of velociraptors. While initially frightened by many of the dinosaurs, Lex eventually gains maturity and courage, and is instrumental in rebooting the Park's systems. Much like Dr. Ellie Sattler, Lex's personality is improved to add strong female roles to the film.[5] She makes a cameo in the second film when Ian Malcolm comes to visit John Hammond.
Timothy Murphy (Tim) is Lex Murphy's brother and John Hammond's grandson. He is described as a bespectacled boy of about eleven[jp 6] who has an interest in dinosaurs and computers. His quick thinking and encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs aid the group several times, and Tim is instrumental in discovering that dinosaurs have escaped the island, as well as regaining the means to warn the mainland in time. Later, Tim's ingenuity and technical knowledge allow him to navigate the Park's computer systems and reactivate the physical security systems before the Velociraptors gain access to the visitor's lodge. His expertise regarding dinosaurs rivals Dr. Grant's, and is clearly superior to that of Dr. Henry Wu, the scientist who created the dinosaurs. Already familiar with his work before they meet, Tim almost immediately strikes up a friendship with Dr. Grant. According to Grant, "it's hard not to like someone so interested in dinosaurs".[jp 7] Tim's father doesn't share his interest in paleontology, so the dinosaur-loving Grant forms an instant bond with Tim during their time in the park.
In Spielberg's film, Tim and Lex's personalities were swapped so that Lex was the older sibling. This was done so that Spielberg could work specifically with actor Joseph Mazzello, who was younger than Ariana Richards.[5]
Dr. Lewis Dodgson is antagonist of the Jurassic Park series and one of the few characters that appears in both novels. His name is derived from Charles Dodgson, who wrote under the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll".[12]
In the Jurassic Park universe, Dodgson is an ambitious scientist who is unafraid to make aggressive moves generally considered unethical to get what he wants, saying that he "won't be held back by regulations made for lesser souls".[lw 1] Dodgson works for Biosyn, a company that rivals Hammond's and has a far spottier scientific reputation. Dodgson is described in the novels as more of a salesman than a scientist, and someone who specializes in both reverse-engineering and the adulteration/theft of the work of others. He hopes to get his hands on Hammond's technology in order to create dinosaurs of his own. He and his company seek to clone dinosaurs not as an attraction, but as potential test subjects for laboratory applications. He is portrayed as cold, ruthless and impatient. During the first novel, Dodgson hires Dennis Nedry to steal dinosaur embryos for his company, but the plot fails. In the sequel novel, Dodgson is much more ambitious and takes a team to Isla Sorna in an attempt to collect fertilized dinosaur eggs. Dodgson and his team, unconcerned with the dangers of these animals, are quickly killed.
Dodgson makes a short appearance in the first film and is completely written out of the second film. For the second film, his character's profit-driven actions and naivete regarding the dinosaurs are transferred to Peter Ludlow, Hammond's nephew and CEO of InGen.
John Raymond Arnold ("Ray") is Jurassic Park's chief engineer, running the main control center from the visitor center. He is described as a thin, chain-smoking man and a chronic worrier. A gifted systems engineer, Arnold had designed weapons for the U.S. military and later worked at several different theme parks and zoos before joining the Jurassic Park team. He was a grudgingly optimistic man, who maintained total faith in the computer systems and continued to believe that despite the setbacks, things would work out in the end. When Dennis Nedry locks them out of the system, Arnold, after much persuasion by Donald Gennaro, shuts off all power to the park and resets the computer-control systems. After turning the power back on, he believes the problem has been solved, when it has actually been made worse. By shutting down the main power grid, he turned off several systems that were unaffected by Nedry's lockout, including the Velociraptor paddock. He realizes his mistake many hours later, and volunteers to go outside and restore power to the main generator. Before he is able to, however, he is killed by an escaped velociraptor.
In Spielberg's 1993 film, Arnold is occasionally referred to as "Ray", although his first name is John. This was done to distinguish him from John Hammond.[14] This Arnold has a smaller role than in the novel but retains the same personality and outlook. Arnold's death is not shown on camera, but the appearance of a severed arm confirms his death. In a deleted scene from second movie, Arnold's family is said to have received a $23 million settlement from InGen in a lawsuit regarding his death.
Donald Gennaro is the attorney sent on behalf of Jurassic Park's investors to investigate the safety of the park after several reports of missing or dead workers. He is described as a short, muscular man and represents an "everyman" personality among the characters.[12] Though he is initially worried only about disappointing his supervisors, he soon drops this when his life is threatened, focusing on survival instead. When problems begin to occur, he consistently handles them appropriately, accompanying Robert Muldoon on a mission to subdue the tyrannosaurus and successfully restoring power, despite being ambushed by a velociraptor. Grant claims that his negative attitude comes from trying to avoid responsibility for his role in creating the park. Near the end of the novel, Gennaro realizes that he is partially responsible for everything occurring when Grant says, "You sold investors on an undertaking you didn't fully understand...You did not check on the activities of a man whom you knew from experience to be a liar, and you permitted that man to screw around with the most dangerous technology in human history."[jp 8] Though he survives the events on the island, he dies of dysentery sometime after.
For his film, Spielberg condensed the characters Ed Regis and Donald Gennaro into the same character. The result is a character who is cowardly, greedy, mean-spirited, and often worried. When the other scientists criticize Hammond's park for various reasons, Gennaro is the only one left who supports the concept. Despite this, he is described as a "blood-sucking lawyer"[6] by Hammond himself. When the electric fence around the tyrannosaurus paddock fails, Gennaro is overcome by fear and abandons Tim and Lex. Hiding in a restroom stall, he is subsequently eaten by the tyrannosaurus moments after it breaks out of its pen. In a deleted scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park, it is stated that Donald Gennaro's family received $36.5 million from InGen in a settlement regarding his death.
Dr. Gerald (Gerry) Harding is Jurassic Park's chief veterinarian. Formerly a bird expert for a major zoo, he accepted the job because he wanted to become famous for being the first person to write up zoo guidelines for the care of dinosaurs. When the group first encounters him, he is looking after a sick stegosaur. With the help of Ellie Sattler, he finds the source of their sickness and is able to treat it. Being the only doctor on the island, he is the one who treats Malcolm after he is attacked by the tyrannosaur. He is attacked by a velociraptor during the assault on the visitor's center, but ultimately survives his time on the island. Though it is not addressed directly in either of the books, Michael Crichton later revealed that Sarah Harding is Gerry's daughter.
He makes a brief appearance in the first film with a sick triceratops before leaving on the boat for the mainland. He also appears as one of the main characters in Jurassic Park: The Game, a film-inspired video game, where a reference is made to his daughter Sarah.[15]
Robert Muldoon is Jurassic Park's game warden. Described as a burly man about fifty years of age with deep blue eyes and a steel gray mustache, Muldoon is a former wildlife hunter who had worked with Hammond on one of his previous parks in Kenya. He has experience working with dangerous animals and has a unique view of the dinosaurs. While most people are mystified by the creatures, Muldoon holds a realistic, unromantic view of the animals from his experience working with other dangerous predators. Muldoon is one of the few people who is truly aware of the potential danger that would be present if the dinosaurs ever escaped, saying "raptors are smart. Very smart. Believe me, all the problems we have so far are nothing compared with what we'd have if the raptors ever got out of their holding pen."[jp 9] He firmly believes that these animals should be destroyed, and constantly urges Hammond to get more, better weapons in case of an emergency. Hammond ignores these warnings and in one scene calls Muldoon a drunk. He spends most of the novel riding around the park, usually with Gennaro, attempting to restore order. He is later attacked by a pack of velociraptors, but survives by wedging himself into a pipe. He manages to kill a few of them, and eventually escapes the island with the other survivors.
In the film, his character is much more serious. In the introduction, when a worker is attacked by a velociraptor that the park staff are transporting, he gives the order to kill it. He notes that the raptors have tested the perimeter fence in different places, probing for an opening. He remains in the control room with Hammond and Arnold, commenting on the many safety and security failures of the park. After the power failure, he drives Sattler to the Tyrannosaurus escape site where they rescue Dr. Malcolm. During an attempt to restore power, Muldoon uses his fedora to set a trap for a velociraptor which instead outsmarts and ambushes him. Because his death was never shown on screen, rumors that the character would return in future films, albeit scarred, persisted until Bob Peck's death in 1999. The non-canon Jurassic Park comic sequels, published by Topps Comics, depicts Muldoon as surviving the velociraptor attack, claiming that Muldoon had become so acquainted with the raptors that they were prone to play around. According to the comic, the attack seen on film was not an attack, but simply the velociraptors playing with him.
Dennis Nedry is one of the novel's human antagonists. He is described as an obese, messy computer scientist. Nedry works for Hammond as the system's programmer and is in charge of networking Jurassic Park's computers. Though he was not given any details about InGen's operation, Nedry was expected to fix numerous bugs and issues without knowing the ultimate goal. He feels left out of the loop and doesn't feel like he is respected or paid enough for the very essential job he does. This leads him to make a deal with Dodgson of Biosyn to steal several dinosaur embryos for $1.5 million. In order to do this, he shuts down the park's security systems, including several electric fences surrounding select dinosaur paddocks. He intended to steal embryos from a secure lab, drive them through the park to a waiting agent at the dock, and return to his post before being noticed. Though it was only meant to be temporary, he crashes his Jeep and is subsequently blinded and killed by a dilophosaurus. Though his pride in his knowledge of complex computer systems made him feel more important than the other workers, Tim is later able to easily navigate the system in order to restore power to the visitor's center.[jp 10] In the sequel, Malcolm does not include him as one of the people whose deaths can be attributed to the park. This implies that his death is unknown to most of the characters who presumably believed he escaped the island. Nedry's role in the film is generally the same as that of the novel.
Dr. Henry Wu is a character in the first novel. Dr. Wu is the chief geneticist in Jurassic Park and head of the team that created the dinosaurs. He was a child prodigy, gaining early attention from his undergraduate thesis at MIT. Though he is the one that brings the dinosaurs to life, he demonstrates little concern for the animals, to the extent that he can't even remember exactly what species he has created. He proposes genetically altering the dinosaurs, not to improve them, but to make them more manageable, but could not get Hammond's approval.[jp 11] When he is later presented with the fact that the dinosaurs have been breeding, essentially proving that he had failed to engineer them properly, he mistook it as a "tremendous validation of his work".[jp 12] In the novel, he is killed during the assault on the visitor's center when a velociraptor jumps down onto him from the center's roof. Wu has a greatly reduced role in the film, and leaves the island on the last boat to the mainland before the power failure.
Wu is indirectly mentioned in the second novel when Malcolm discovers old InGen documents addressed to Dr. Henry Wu scattered throughout the abandoned manufacturing plant on Isla Sorna.
Appears in: Jurassic Park (novel only)
Ed Regis is a publicist for InGen. Regis is often given odd jobs by Hammond that are beyond his area of expertise, such as escorting a wounded worker to a Costa Rican hospital and acting as a babysitter for Lex and Tim during their visit to the park. Despite being overconfident about the park and almost negligent about the accidents that have been occurring, fear overtakes him quickly as things begin to go wrong. When the tyrannosaurus breaks free of its pen, he abandons the tour vehicle, leaving Lex and Tim behind. After hiding between some boulders, he tries to make his way back up to the cars but is pounced upon and ripped apart by a juvenile tyrannosaurus. His severed leg is later discovered by Gennaro and Muldoon as they investigate the attack.
Ed Regis's character is written out of the film, though certain aspects of his character, such as his nervousness and cowardliness are given to the film's version of Donald Gennaro. Gennaro's death sequence during the T-Rex attack in the film is also reminiscent of Regis's death.
These characters first appear in The Lost World.
Appears in novel only
In the Jurassic Park universe, Richard Levine is one of the world's most brilliant and richest paleontologists. Dr. Marty Guitierrez seems to be his only real friend, though he eventually forms a delicate relationship with Ian Malcolm. Levine's egotism and spontaneous personality prove to be a source of constant irritation to the rest of his colleagues, mainly Malcolm. The children, Arby Benton and Kelly Curtis, however, look up to him, causing him to develop a paternal attitude towards them.
Levine originally intended to travel to Isla Sorna as part of Malcolm's team, but, instead, heads out on his own before the Costa Rican government has a chance to destroy the island. When the rest of his team arrives, they find themselves constantly running after him when he decides to continue his research regardless of what else is happening around him. Though he is bitten twice by Compies, he ultimately escapes the island without major harm.
Appears in novel only
Jack "Doc" Thorne is a materials engineer who specializes in building field equipment, vehicles, and weaponry for scientists all over the world. He is an eclectic mix of character traits, relying on both practical expertise and Eastern philosophy, claiming that one needs to know philosophy and history to succeed in engineering. His company, Mobile Field Systems, is hired by Richard Levine to outfit his expedition to study the dinosaur population on Isla Sorna. Thorne's contribution to Levine's mission includes a large research trailer, nicknamed "The Challenger", an electric SUV, a motor bike, a pair of Lindstradt air rifles, and a modified satellite phone. When Levine goes missing on the island, Thorne ends up heading to Isla Sorna with Ian Malcolm and Eddie Carr to retrieve him. On the island, Thorne ends up saving his friends multiple times, and ends up surviving his time on the island. Thorne himself is not a character in the film, though parts of his character are integrated into its portrayal of Eddie Carr and Roland Tembo.
Appears in film only
Ajay Sidhu, played by Harvey Jason, is Roland Tembo's hunting partner from India. He warns Tembo and his men to stay out of the long grass, but they disobey this warning and are eventually killed by velociraptors. His death is not shown on screen, but it is assumed that he died in the long grass with Tembo's men. Ajay's passing changes Roland Tembo's mind about hunting. His best friend's death causes Tembo to quit the expedition and give up his pursuit of the ultimate prey.
Eddie Carr, played by Richard Schiff, is the group's field equipment expert. He is added to the team sent to the island because the vehicles he designed had not been field-tested. Eddie is frightened by Isla Sorna and wants nothing more than to retrieve Richard Levine and get off the island as soon as possible. He has a slightly antagonistic relationship with Ian Malcolm, who does not like that Carr's world is so heavily influenced by unreliable electronics. He is eventually killed by a pack of raptors while fighting them off with an iron pipe. In the film, he is killed by the two adult T-Rex before they push the trailers off the cliff.
In the second novel, he is described as a compact, strong 25 year old who prefers the city. In the film, he has black hair, is balding, and is at least ten years older than the description in the novel, taking on the characteristics of both himself and Doc Thorne.
Appears in novel and edited in film
Kelly, played by Vanessa Lee Chester, is a close friend of Arby and, in the film only, Malcolm's daughter. Kelly is fascinated by science and idolizes Dr. Sarah Harding. When she learned that Sarah would be on the trip, she decided to sneak aboard. In both the film and novel, Kelly manages to overpower a velociraptor by hitting one onto a broken pipe and shooting one with a Lindstradt air rifle, respectively. The film adaptation merged her character with Arby's.
Appears in novel only
R.B. "Arby" Benton is a young African American who is friends with Kelly. He tends to be quiet and shy, but is very intelligent and good with computers. When Kelly expressed interest in stowing away in the Challenger with him, it was he who came up with a plan on how to do so.
Among rumors for the production on the fourth installment in the film franchise is the inclusion of a teenage version of Arby in a role similar to that of the novel.
Dr. Sarah Harding, played by Julianne Moore, is an animal behaviorist who specializes in African predators. She is intelligent and rugged, and employs common sense and practicality in dangerous situations, putting the safety of her colleagues first. Her calm, skilled personality permits her to quickly take command of the group and devise ways for them to survive and escape the island. She and Ian Malcolm were in a relationship for a period, where, at one point, she claimed she was in love with him. The relationship didn't work out, though they still remained close friends. She is idolized by Kelly who sees her as tough and smart. Though it doesn't say in either the films or the novels, Michael Crichton confirmed that she was Dr. Gerry Harding's daughter.
In the movie, Dr. Harding's character is merged with that of Richard Levine's. She is still intelligent, but impulsive and too eager to interact with the animals, often placing herself and others in danger. Her character in the film is a behavioral paleontologist, rather than an animal behaviorist, who specializes in dinosaur parenting behavior.
Appears in the novel, only.
Howard King is an assistant to Lewis Dodgson. Once a successful biologist employed by Biosyn, he lost credibility when his research on blood-coagulation factors failed. Dodgson hired King as his assistant in the reverse engineering department. He is divorced and has one child, who he sees only on weekends. In the novel, he accompanies Dodgson to the island, but they separate when they fail to retrieve eggs from a Tyrannosaurus nest. King eventually begins to disagree with Dodgson's dark desires, relieved when he sees his beaten body. Eventually, he is killed by velociraptors while trying to escape from a field. His death is worked into the third movie via Udesky.
Appears in novel only
George Baselton is Stanford University's Regis Professor of Biology and assistant to Lewis Dodgson. It is his job to keep Dodgson and Biosyn in the clear, no matter what happens. When he and Dodgson are trying to steal Tyrannosaur eggs, the sonic device Dodgson is using to keep the parent Tyrannosaurs at bay becomes unplugged. Both men stand absolutely still, falsely believing the dinosaurs' vision is based on movement. The Tyrannosaurs subsequently kill him.
Appears in novel only
Diego is Levine's guide on Isla Sorna. He is a young, enthusiastic Costa Rican who went to the island several times as a boy and knows the land better than anyone else. He does not believe there are dinosaurs there and, even when Levine warns him to be quiet, he simply says that they have nothing to fear. He seems to annoy Levine many times, not only through his insistence that only birds live on the island, but also through disobeying his orders to refrain from using items like cigarettes while on Isla Sorna. Diego is killed when he is ambushed by a Carnotaurus while he and Levine watch a Mussaurus in total awe. Carter seems to have inherited his attitude in the second film. Enrique, from the third movie, also resembles Diego.
Appears in film only
Nick Van Owen, played by Vince Vaughn, is a video documentarian and member of Malcolm's expedition to Isla Sorna. He is an experienced documentary filmmaker, having covered wars in Rwanda and Bosnia. He has also worked with Greenpeace, the experience of which later spurs him to act in defense of the dinosaurs. He is the only member of the team to be warned about InGen's expedition, and sneaks into their camp to release captured animals and disrupt their harvesting operation. He also rescues the infant T-Rex from Tembo, leading to a confrontation with its parents that strands both teams on the island. As the teams merge and work towards an escape plan, Nick easily gains the tacit respect of the rugged InGen men, as in one scene he is shown to effortlessly motivate the men while Peter Ludlow fails. His activist nature conflicts with the Great White Hunter style of Tembo, and he later covertly switches the latter's ammunition to ensure the T-Rex adults won't be killed. When the group reaches the InGen compound, it is Nick who fights past the raptors and uses the radio to call for rescue. He is last seen on the first evacuation helicopter, reflecting on the experience. He is not present for the subsequent Incident in San Diego.
Appears in film only
Peter Ludlow, played by Arliss Howard, is the newly elected CEO of InGen. He is John Hammond's nephew, and the main antagonist of the second film. He attained the position during an impromptu meeting with InGen's board of directors after an accident involving a pack of compies prompts them to unanimously oust Hammond with Ludlow as his replacement. His character, based on Lewis Dodgson, is described as ruthless, selfish, greedy, and condescending toward those who worked for him or those he disliked. As a result, he was not very well respected by the members of his team who chose to follow Roland Tembo or Nick Van Owen instead of him.
In an attempt to revitalize Hammond's original attraction, Ludlow assembled an InGen team to recover Isla Sorna's dinosaurs for display in San Diego. In the end, Ludlow only managed to bring back the male Tyrannosaurus Rex and its infant, with disastrous results, as the adult T-Rex began to wreak havoc on San Diego. While trying to recover the infant in the hold of an InGen cargo ship, he was confronted and killed by the adult, whom he'd thought dead after ordering it shot.
Appears in film only
Roland Tembo, played by Pete Postlethwaite, is a famous animal hunter hired by InGen for the expedition. Though he was hired by InGen, his primary motivation for going to Isla Sorna with his hunting partner, Ajay Sidhu was the possibility of hunting the ultimate trophy, a male Tyrannosaurus. Although he gets his prize in the end, he loses the rest of his team, including Ajay, whom Tembo greatly cared about. As a result, Tembo's view of hunting changes. When Ludlow offers him a job at the new Jurassic Park in San Diego, he declines, saying "I've spent enough time in the company of death."
Appears in film only
Dieter Stark, played by Peter Stormare, was appointed by InGen to be Tembo's second-in-command. Despite being his appointed second-in-command, Tembo does not respect him as much as he does Ajay Sidhu. After getting separated from the others, he is attacked and killed by a group of compies.
His death mirrors that of John Hammond from the original novel. Although his name is not verbally mentioned in the film itself, it is listed in the credits.
Appears in film only
Dr. Robert Burke, played by Thomas F. Duffy, is InGen's resident paleontologist. Although he was considered by InGen to be one of their top scientists, he provides several pieces of incorrect information, some of which results in the death of Dieter Stark. Burke is killed by a Tyrannosaur while hiding under a waterfall when he is startled by a snake slithering down into his shirt.
During a conversation with Ian Malcolm, Sarah Harding states, "Robert Burke said that the T-Rex was a rogue that would abandon its young at the earliest opportunity. I know I can prove otherwise." Burke's theory was disproved later in the film when adult Tyrannosaurs attacked the trailer their infant was being held in.
Appears in novel only
Ed James was hired by Dodgson shortly after the events in the first novel to get information from the survivors of the Isla Nublar incident. After following Richard Levine around for a while, he learns the location of Isla Sorna, which he then reports to Dodgson. He does not accompany either team to Isla Sorna.
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