‘Jurassic Park’ Cast: Where are They Now? Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and More

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'Jurassic Park' Cast: Where are They Now? Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and More

An adventure 60 million years in the making, Jurassic Park sparked five sequels, becoming one of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time. The blockbuster hit, which was released in 1993 and was directed by Steven Spielberg, was based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel of the same name. The film was set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, where wealthy businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) created a wildlife park of real dinosaurs. After industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power grid, a small group of visitors, including Dr. Allen Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Hammond's grandchildren, Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello), struggle to escape and survive the perilous island. The action film won more than 20 awards following its initial release, including three Academy Awards for its technical achievements in visual effects and sound design. In 2018, the sci-fi adventure was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant.” After the release of its first two sequels, Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997) and Jurassic Park III (2001), the franchise took a 15-year hiatus before returning to develop the Jurassic World trilogy, starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. [jwplayer 68c2H3m0-zhNYySv2] Jurassic World: Dominion, the sixth and final installment in the long-running franchise, which debuted in June 2022, united the stars of the 1993 original with Pratt and Howard for one final dino romp. "It's a big deal," Howard revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly the week of the film's premiere. "We had been talking about this sort of fantasy idea of what a third movie would be, where we were like, 'Oh, my God, it would be Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern and Sam Neill.' We always aspired to reach that point." “I obviously understood the allure of having the legacy cast back,” Pratt added during the round table. “I was just wondering how were we going to do it in a way that actually pays off these characters? And when [director Colin Trevorrow] told me, I was like, ‘That’s actually perfect. It’s a real story. It’s completely unexpected.” Trevorrow, for his part, was mostly focused on making sure Dern, Neill and Goldblum's return felt organic and authentic to who the characters had always been. “From the very beginning, we talked about where Ian Malcolm is now. Has he changed, and if he has, how has he changed?” he explained to EW. “And Laura, with Ellie Sattler, an iconic character who had inspired so many young girls to become scientists and paleontologists, how has her life changed? Once we figured that out, we were able to create storylines that were echoing something that was coming from the actors.” Scroll through to see where the cast of Jurassic Park is now: [podcast_block]

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Jeff Goldblum

Goldblum has starred in two of the highest-grossing film franchises of the '90s. Following the Jurassic Park trilogy, he portrayed David Levinson in Independence Day (1996) and its 2016 follow-up, Independence Day: Resurgence. 

Prior to his blockbuster status, Goldblum made a name for himself in a variety of cult classics, including Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Big Chill (1983) and The Fly (1986). 

The Pennsylvania native has starred in various projects on the small screen. He portrayed Zack Nichols in the eighth and ninth seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent from 2009 to 2010 and received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his time on Will & Grace in 2005. 

In 2017, Goldblum received critical acclaim for his role in the MCU film Thor: Ragnarok and returned for Jurassic World: Dominion, the final installment in the franchise in June 2022. 

Goldblum married Patricia Gaul in 1980, but the two divorced five years later. In 1987, he tied the knot with Geena Davis, his costar in Transylvania 6-5000, The Fly and Earth Girls Are Easy. The pair called it quits in 1991.

In 2014, the Sesame Street alum announced his engagement to gymnast Emilie Livingston, who is 30 years his junior. The two married in November of that year and share two sons, Charlie and River. 

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Laura Dern

Following her role as Dr. Ellie Sattler in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, the California native went on to try her hand at television, starring in the comedy-drama series Enlightened from 2011 to 2013. The Recount actress returned to the big screen for 2014’s Wild, in which she earned an Academy Award nomination for her role as Bobbi opposite Reese Witherspoon. 

Dern won a Primetime Emmy award and a Golden Globe for her role as Renata Klein in the 2017 drama series Big Little Lies. She reunited with David Lynch for Twin Peaks: The Return that same year. She has since played memorable roles in films including Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Little Women (2019) and Marriage Story (2019), the last of which scored her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

She reprised her role as Dr. Ellie Sattler in 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion.

The Happy Endings star married musician Ben Harper in December 2005, five years after they met at one of his concerts. The pair, who divorced in 2013, share two children together: son Ellery Walker and daughter Jaya. 

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Sam Neill

Following his appearance in the Jurassic Park trilogy, the New Zealand native made appearances in the 1998 television series Merlin, 2007's The Tudors, Happy Town in 2010, 2012's Alcatraz and Peaky Blinders in 2013.

He has narrated and produced several critically acclaimed documentaries, including New Zealand: Earth’s Mythical Creators, which won him a Golden Globe award for Outstanding Narrator in 2016. 

Neill dated actress Lisa Harrow from 1980 to 1989 and the former couple share one son, Tim. The same year he called it quits with Harrow, Neill married makeup artist Noriko Watanabe, but the two split in 2017. They share one daughter, Elena. 

Neill currently resides in Alexandra, New Zealand, and owns the winery Two Paddocks. He returned to the big screen for 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion. 

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Ariana Richards

While Richards has made appearances on television in Boy Meets World (1996), The Golden Girls (1987) and other various made for TV films, the California native has focused more on her painting in recent years. 

The child actress married Mark Aaron Bolton in January 2013 and the couple share one daughter. 

While she did not reprise her role as Lex Murphy in Jurassic World: Dominion, Richards did show her support for the rest of the OG cast at the film's premiere in June 2022. 

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Richard Attenborough

The England native had an illustrious career prior to Jurassic Park, winning two Academy Awards for Gandhi in 1983, which he produced and directed. He also helmed the onscreen version of the musical A Chorus Line (1985) and the drama Cry Freedom (1987), both of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. 

In the years after Jurassic Park, Attenborough infamously portrayed Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street and later made supporting appearances in the films Elizabeth and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 1998.

Attenborough married actress Sheila Sim in 1945 and the two share daughters Charlotte and Jane, and son, Michael. In December 2004, Jane was tragically killed in a tsunami caused by an Indian Ocean earthquake. 

Attenborough died in August 2014, at the age of 90. 

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Joseph Mazzello

After his turn as Tim in Jurassic Park, Mazzello went on to star as Dustin Moskovitz, one of the cofounders of Facebook, in the 2010 film The Social Network. He later appeared in G.I. Joe: Retaliation in 2013 and starred as John Deacon in the 2018 Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. 

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Wayne Knight

Known best for his roles in Seinfeld and 3rd Rock From the Sun, Knight crossed over to the big screen for Jurassic Park, where he starred as the film's human antagonist Dennis Nedry. The New York native has since focused mostly on voice acting, lending his talents to Disney's Tarzan, Toy Story 2 and Tom and Jerry: The Lost Dragon, which debuted in 2014. 

Knight married makeup artist Paula Sutor in 1996 but the two divorced seven years later in December 2003. He met his second wife, Clare de Chenu, in October 2006, and the two share son Liam.