Where original Jurassic Park cast are now – secret kids to Peaky Blinders role, shock career change and tsunami tragedy | The Sun

IT'S been nearly three decades since the first Jurassic Park movie burst on to our screens in 1993, and even now the film is just as popular.

The iconic franchise began with John Hammond – played by the late Richard Attenborough – creating an incredible theme park on Nublar Island off the coast of Costa Rica, filled with real-life dinosaurs.

Catastrophe soon ensues, with the dinosaurs breaking free of their cages and causing havoc for the terrified park guests.

Now the franchise's sixth instalment, Jurassic World Dominion, is set to be released on June 10.

Here we take a look at what happened to the cast of the original film.

Sam Neill

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Sam Neill, now 74, made a name for himself playing the film's hero Dr Alan Grant, a palaeontologist who was invited to visit the park.

Since then he's had roles in hit TV shows including Peaky Blinders, Merlin and The Tudors.

He also recently reprised his scientist role for Jurassic World Dominion, starring alongside original cast members Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, and Jurassic World's Chris Pratt.

Sam owns a vineyard in New Zealand, where he grew up, and has two adult children with former partners Lisa Harrow, a fellow actress, and ex-wife Noriko Watanabe. He also has an older son, who was adopted.

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Speaking previously to The Times, Sam said: "I’ve got a slightly unusual family; it’s more extended than most.

"My first son, Andrew, was given up for adoption when he was very small. I was quite small, too – in my early twenties.

"I didn’t see him for 25 years and then we went looking for each other."

Laura Dern

Now 55, Laura Dern has had a glittering career since playing paleobotanist heroine Dr Ellie Sattler.

Over the years she has appeared in films including Marriage Story and Little Women, as well as popular shows like Big Little Lies.

She has also won a whole host of awards, including an Oscar, Emmy and five Golden Globe Awards.

After Jurassic Park, Laura went on to date co-star Jeff Goldblum from 1992 to 1997, and she was also once engaged to Billy Bob Thornton, who went on to wed Angelina Jolie.

She got hitched to musician Ben Harper in 2005 and the pair share two kids, although they divorced in 2013.

Ariana Richards

Lex actress Ariana, now 42, went on to win a number of Young Artist Awards, including best young actress and favourite newcomer for the role.

She went on to appear in the Jurassic Park sequel, The Lost World, as well as films like Broken Silence, Empty Nest and The Princess Stallion.

In 2001 the actress graduated with a degree in fine art, and married Irish stunt performer Mark Aaron Bolton in 2013. The pair welcomed a daughter shortly after.

She now predominantly works as a painter, and recently appeared on the red carpet for the Jurassic World: Dominion premiere.

Richard Attenborough

Legendary Oscar-winning actor Richard Attenborough played Jurassic Park creator John Hammond in the first film and the 1997 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

He died in 2014 at the age of 90, but before that had a highly successful career spanning over six decades.

Richard was one of Britain's leading actors before becoming a highly successful director too.

Films he acted in included Brighton Rock and The Great Escape, and he directed award-winning Gandhi.

Tragically he lost his daughter Jane, her mother-in-law and his 15-year-old granddaughter Lucy in the tsunami that hit Thailand on Boxing Day in 2004. 

He is survived by his famous younger brother, Sir David Attenborough, now 96.

Joseph Mazzello

Tim Murphy, played by Joseph Mazzello, was in one of the first groups to tour the park, along with his sister Lex.

It was far from the perfect trip for the young siblings, who at one point narrowly escaped being eaten by a T-Rex.

He went on to act in films The Social Network, Shadowland, Beyond All Boundaries, and played Queen bassist John Deacon in the Oscar nominated Bohemian Rhapsody.

Now 38, Joseph also runs a comedy YouTube channel.

BD Wong

Bradley Darryl Wong has starred in four of the Jurassic movies, including all the Jurassic World ones.

His gene-splicing character Dr Henry Wu always fails to consider the dangers of his experiments until it is too late.

Wong is a TV regular, starring in Law & Order and Mr Robot.

Off screen the 61-year-old Californian is openly gay and has a son Jackson Foo, born using a surrogate mother.

Tragically, Jackson's twin brother Boaz Dov died shortly after being born in 2000.

Wayne Knight

Once a struggling actor who performed street magic and worked as a private investigator to make ends meet, Wayne has worked solidly since the late 1980s.

Few will forget his greedy theme park worker Dennis Nedry getting his comeuppance in the 1993 original.

But the 66-year-old American is better known these days as Newman in the beloved US sitcom Seinfeld.

Knight was married to make-up artist Paula Sutor from 1996 to 2003, and since 2006, he has been married to film editor Clare de Chenu, with whom he shares son Liam.

Samuel L Jackson

Jackson played plucky engineer Ray Arnold whose line "hold onto your butts" and death by Raptor are iconic.

He went on to be one of the most successful box office stars of all time, with movies including the Star Wars prequels and several Marvel blockbusters, earning a combined £21billion.

The 73-year-old actor has been married to actress LaTanya Richardson since 1980 after meeting her in college.

During the Covid pandemic Jackson was outspoken, urging fans to socially distance, wear masks and to donate blood.

Jeff Goldblum

The 69-year-old actor's character Dr Ian Malcolm famously pronounced "life finds a way" in Jurassic Park, when told the all-female dinosaurs couldn't reproduce.

The leather jacket-wearing academic again warns about messing with nature in the final Jurassic World movie.

In real life, Goldblum is on his third marriage, hitched to dancer and retired Olympic rhythmic gymnast Emilie Livingston, who is 30 years younger than him.

He was previously married to Geena Davis from 1987 to 1990 and Patricia Gaul between 1980 and 1986.

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The couple have two young children, Charlie Ocean, six, and River Joe, five.

Inbetween acting, Goldblum is an accomplished jazz pianist.

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