See the Original ‘Jurassic Park’ Cast over 30 Years Later

Attention all scientists and dinosaurs: it has been exactly 31 years since the thrilling Steven Spielberg movie Jurassic Park hit theaters. It was jam-packed with action, humor, the most realistic prehistoric creatures ever presented on film and an iconic theme song — and now that we have finally gotten the T-Rex back in its cage, we have time to catch up with the original Jurassic Park cast.

Laura Dern

CHARACTER PLAYED: Ellie Sattler

BORN: February 10, 1967, in Los Angeles, California.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Blue Velvet (1986), Wild (2014), Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017), Little Women (2019) and Marriage Story (2019).

PERSONAL: Dern was married to Ben Harper from 2003-2005. They have two children together.

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “I worshipped Steven Spielberg. Jaws and Close Encounters to this day are two of my favorite movies. Without even knowing what the movie was about, I was already in. It felt as radical and indie as anything else I had made. It wasn’t yet a franchise or a blockbuster; it was a bunch of people standing around going, ‘How are we going to do that?'”

FUN FACT: In the scene where Ellie cries after she encounters the raptor, Dern is so scared that she started crying for real.

Sir Sam Neill: The Original Jurassic Park Cast

CHARACTER PLAYED: Alan Grant

BORN: September 14, 1947, in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, UK

BEST KNOWN FOR: Merlin (1988), The Piano (1993), Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Hunt for the Widerpeople (2016) and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).

PERSONAL: Neill was married twice. Once to Lisa Harrow from 1971-1989, and they had one child together, and to Norkiko Wantabe from 1989-2015, and they also had one child.

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “I always think Alan Grant is like an old comfortable pair of boots. They’ve seen better days, but they’re really comfortable, and there’s no way you’ll get rid of those.”

FUN FACT: While filming the scene when Alan lights the flare to distract the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Sam accidentally dropped it. This led to it getting caught under his watch and taking out a large chunk of his skin.

Jeff Goldblum

CHARACTER PLAYED: Ian Malcolm

BORN: October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

BEST KNOWN FOR: The Fly (1986), Independence Day (1996), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Wicked (2024).

PERSONAL: Goldblum has been married three times and has two children with his current wife, Emilie Livingston.

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “As it happens, there are things that my character talks about, has always talked about. The fragility of our species and, the global cooperation that’s needed, and the foundation in science that’s needed, and the ethical use of science that’s needed to unite us in trust and connectiveness as a family. And to reach our potential and do right by ourselves and this glorious planet. All of those things are now more relevant than ever.”

FUN FACT: Goldblum and Dern fell in love while filming Jurassic Park and were even engaged for two years before breaking up. The two remain very close friends to this day.

Sir Richard Attenborough: The Original Jurassic Park Cast

CHARACTER PLAYED: Dr. John Hammond

Born: August 29, 1923, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

DIED: August 14, 2014

BEST KNOWN FOR: Dunkirk (1958), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Miracle on 34th Street (1994) and Elizabeth (1998).

PERSONAL: Attenborough was married to Sheila Shim from 1945 until he died in 2014. They had three children together.

FUN FACT: This was Attenborough’s first acting role since The Human Factor (1979).

BD Wong

CHARACTER PLAYED: Henry Wu

Born: October 24, 1960, in San Francisco, California.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Father of the Bride (1991), Mulan (1998), Mr. Robot (2015-2019) and Gotham (2016-2019).

PERSONAL: Wong has been married to Richert Schnorr since 2018.

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “I thought, ‘Wow, this is such a halfway job of what should happen to this character.’ He just simply vanished from the movie. He has a lot to say at the beginning of the movie, and then when they’re evacuating the island, they don’t really say what happened to him; it just feels a little bit like they just let it go. And, you know, at that time, I was really kind of down on it, and then it was this really huge door that was left open.”

FUN FACT: Wong had less than two minutes of screen time in the original film.

Ariana Richards in the original Jurassic Park cast

CHARACTER PLAYED: Lex

Born: September 11, 1979, in Healdsburg, California.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Grand Tour: Disaster in Time (1991), Angus (1995), Broken Silence: A Moment of Truth Movie (1998).

PERSONAL: Richards has been married to Mark Aaron Bolton since 2013. They have one child together.

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “The casting person just said to me, ‘So, Ariana, we’re going to put you on tape to share with Steven [Spielberg], and you’re going to act like a dinosaur is attacking you. You just have to imagine this is happening, and we want you to let loose and scream.’ That was my entire audition; it was the weirdest audition I’ve ever done in my life!”

FUN FACT: Richards was reportedly very upset that she never got her own action figure.

Joseph Mazzello III

CHARACTER PLAYED: Tim

BORN: September 21, 1983 in Rhinebeck, New York, USA

BEST KNOWN FOR: The Cure (1995), The Sensation of Sight (2006), American Crime Story (2021) and Unexpected (2023).

THOUGHTS ON JURASSIC PARK: “I get great messages all the time from Jurassic Park fans, and I’ve had a lot of great conversations around the world with people who love the film, so it keeps me up to date just having people who enjoy these films so much. It makes me feel like a part of the family, which is a wonderful thing because it’s such a wonderful franchise to be part of. They’re making great movies, and my hope is we keep seeing Jurassic Park a long way into the future.”

FUN FACT: Mazzello filmed the freezer scene on his birthday, and Speilberg had the whole crew sing to him after they finished filming it.

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