After its publication in 1990, Jurassic Park began a dinosaur craze that still extends into the realm of film and television today. The book’s well-loved characters are first featured in the 1993 movie of a budding Universal Pictures franchise, starring Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and more. The film solidified the novel as one of the most influential fiction books of the 20th century.
Dr. Alan Grant
The novel’s main protagonist
Paleontology professor
Levelheaded and maintains a clear perspective
A paleontologist professor at the University of Denver. He is someone who believes in hard work and getting out into the field. He and Dr. Ellie Sattler receive funding from the Hammond Foundation for a dig in Montana.
He loves kids, struggles with technology, and is levelheaded. His composure and knowledge serve him and the other characters well when the dinosaurs escape and they’re forced to contend with the many dangers the park presents.
Grant deals with the children at the park, Lex and Tim, particularly well and spends much of the book protecting them. He’s drawn to their enthusiasm and Tim’s interest in learning more about paleontology.
He is the main protagonist of the novel and one of the only characters to maintain a clear perspective and understanding of what’s going on in the park.
John Hammond
The owner and founder of Jurassic Park, InGen, and the Hammond Foundation
Dinosaur fanatic
Tainted by greed and ego
John Hammond is the head of the Hammond Foundation and the owner and operator of Jurassic Park. He also owns InGen and is known around the world as a dinosaur fanatic. He’s invested millions in a project aimed at successfully cloning dinosaurs and opening an amusement park/zoo/preserve on Isla Nublar so the wealthy can come and see them.
His greed and ego get in the way of his understanding of what exactly it is he’s created and the dangers the park presents. He’s determined to open the park and have the public enjoy it no matter the costs. He’s particularly annoyed by Dr. Ian Malcom’s predictions that the park is doomed to fail spectacularly.
As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that although Hammond expresses the right sentiment regarding everyday people visiting the island, he knows that only the world’s richest kids would ever step foot there. It’s steadily revealed that more than anything, Hammond is in it for the money. He meets a dramatic and ironic end within the park.
Dr. Ian Malcom
Another key protagonist
Mathematician passionate about the chaos theory
Arrogant and irritating, but ultimately correct
Dr. Ian Malcom is another protagonist of the novel. He’s a mathematician who is highly skeptical of the island and Hammond’s intentions. He predicts nothing but failure and death for Jurassic Park and relates the animals to mathematical chaos theory.
His character is outgoing, confident, and at times, arrogant. He gets on the nerves of all the other characters in the novel, especially Hammond, but he ends up being entirely correct in what he predicts for the park.
Dr. Ellie Sattler
Paleobotanist and keen archaeologist
Intelligent, kind, and caring
Dr. Ellie Sattler is another protagonist in Jurassic Park. She is a paleobotanist and works with Grant at his digs. She’s highly educated, thoughtful, and willing to get her hands dirty to help the group.
In one key moment, she steps away from the tour to help understand why a stegosaur is sick. She also plays a key part in saving the group from the escaped velociraptors.
Tim Murphy
Fascinated with dinosaurs
Develops a bond with Alan Grant
Hammond’s grandson
Tim Murphy is Hammond’s grandson. He’s talkative, loves dinosaurs and computers, and soon becomes obsessed with learning more from Alan Grant. Grant admires his enthusiasm and takes care of him and his sister, Lex.
Lex Murphy
Not interested in dinosaurs, prefers baseball
Hammonds grandaughter
Also bonds with Alan Grant
Hammond’s granddaughter. She doesn’t get along too well with her younger brother but is very intelligent. She dislikes dinosaurs and loves baseball.
Dennis Nedry
Key villain
Intelligent but sloppy and disorganized
Uses computer virus in an attempt to steal dinsaur embryos
Dennis Nedry is a villain in the novel. He’s a computer-system analyst at the park, overweight, and very hard to like. Nedry is smart but incredibly sloppy and disorganized.
His irritation with Hammond and belief that he should be paid more than he is leads him to betray his employer and intentionally infect the park’s computer system. He attempts to smuggle dinosaur embryos out of the park and meets a gruesome fate for his effort.
Donald Gennaro
Lawyer working for Hammond’s InGen
Changes opinion on the park to a negative one
Donald Gennaro is the main lawyer for Hammond’s company, InGen. He wants the park to be safe for its visitors, but knows that he could make a fortune from it. He wants to open the park at first, but after seeing the disaster first-hand, is more than willing to help destroy it. It’s not worth the risk to people’s lives, he believes. Donald survives the first book but is mentioned as having died of dysentery in the time before the sequel novel.
Dr. Henry Wu
Jurassic Park’s brilliant resident geneticist
Unknowingly and unadmittedly creates breeding dinosaurs
Dr. Henry Wu is the park’s geneticist. He’s extremely intelligent but lacks common sense or complete knowledge of the instincts and capabilities of the creators he’s helping to create. He unknowingly engineers the dinosaurs with the ability to change sex. He refuses to acknowledge his mistake or admit that the dinosaurs are, in fact, breeding.
Robert Muldoon
Jurassic Park’s warden
Thinks that Velociraptors in the park are a bad idea
Brave and experienced
Robert Muldoon is Jurassic Park’s warden. He drinks a lot but can maintain order in the park, at first anyway. Muldoon’s background as a guide in Africa means that he has a great deal of on-the-job experience. He’s willing to risk his life to hunt down the dinosaurs and was one of the first to assert that having velociraptors in the park is a huge mistake.
Ed Regis
Disgruntled InGen Employee looking after Hammond’s grandchildren
Ed Regis is a minor character and disgruntled InGen employee. He’s in charge of public relations for the park and is irritated that he has to watch over Hammond’s grandchildren while they visit.
John Arnold
Chief park engineer
Mistakelingly believes he is in control of the park
John Raymond Arnold, or Ray Arnold, is the chief engineer. He finds himself in disagreement with Ian Malcolm on multiple occasions. He’s constantly nervous and unsure of himself, though. Arnold thinks he’s in control of the park, but, like other characters in the novel, he quickly finds out that that’s far from the truth.
Dr. Harding
Vet at the park
Worked at San Diego Zoo
Dr. Harding is a vet at Jurassic Park. He used to work at the San Diego Zoo and is a minor character.
Bob Morris
EPA Investigator suspicious of Hammond’s activities
Another minor character. He is an EPA investigator who is suspicious of what Hammond is up to on his island.
Dr. Roberta Carter
Medical doctor based in Costa Rica
Treats InGen an employee with a suspicious “construction” injury
Dr. Roberta “Bobbie” Carter works in Costa Rica and treats an injured InGen employee who supposedly got hurt in a construction accident.
Manuel
Medical assistant to Roberta Carter
A paramedic working for Dr. Carter.
Dr. Lewis Dodgson
Rival to Hammond and InGen
Hires Nedry to steal dinosaur embryo
A geneticist who works for Biosyn Corporation and who hires Nedry to smuggle dinosaur embryos out of the park. Lewis plays a much larger part in the second book, The Lost World.
FAQs
Who survived in the Jurassic Park book?
The main characters, including Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Hammond’s grandchildren, Muldoon, and a few others, survive Jurassic Park. But many others, including Hammond, Ian Malcolm, and Nedry, do not make it out alive.
How old is Lexi in the Jurassic Park book?
She is around eight years old in the Jurassic Park book. In the novel, she is the younger sibling and her brother, Tim, is the older sibling. The Jurassic Park filmmakers switched up this dynamic.
What was the doctor’s name in Jurassic Park?
In the novel, the doctors on the island include Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ian Malcom, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and more. There are various doctors of different professions working for InGen/Hammond as well.
How old are Tim and Lex in the Jurassic Park book?
In the book, Tim is ten years old, and Lex is around eight years old. Their relationship is similar to that presented in the film, with Lex uninterested in dinosaurs and Tim entirely fascinated by them.
How many Jurassic Park books are there?
There are only two Jurassic Park books, despite there being a ‘Jurassic Park III’ movie. The whole franchise is far larger, with 7 films in the series as of 2023.
Who is the most famous Jurassic Park character?
Much of each character’s fame has come from the film series, with Jeff Goldblum’s “Ian Malcolm” being one of the most memorable and recognisable. Looking at the franchise as a whole, it could be said that Chris Pratt’s “Owen Grady” is the most famous, who first appears in Jurassic World (2015), fighting the “Indominus rex” in 2015, and most recently in Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
