Cast and characters in Avatar

* Sam Worthington as Jake Sully, a disabled Marine who becomes part of the “Avatar” program. Cameron cast the Australian actor after searching the world for promising young actors, preferring relative unknowns to keep the budget down. Worthington auditioned twice early in development, and he has signed on for possible sequels. Cameron felt that because Worthington had not done a major film, he was “game for anything”, giving the character “a quality that is really real. He has that quality of being a guy you’d want to have a beer with, and he ultimately becomes a leader who transforms the world”.
* Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine, a botanist who mentors Jake Sully and who teaches the Na’vi English. Weaver dyed her hair red for the part. Her character was named “Shipley” at one point. The character reminded Weaver of Cameron, being “very driven and very idealistic”.
* Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, a Marine fighter pilot. Cameron had wanted to work with Rodriguez since seeing her in Girlfight.
* Giovanni Ribisi as SecFor administrator Parker Selfridge, one of the film’s primary antagonists. He is the reason the humans are in Pandora: to retrieve a valuable mineral worth 20 million per kilo. He is known to be a passive-aggressive character.
* Joel David Moore as Norm Spellman, a biologist who studies plant and nature life (like Weaver’s character). He also uses an avatar.
* Stephen Lang as SecFor’s Colonel Miles Quaritch, one of the main antagonists. Lang had unsuccessfully auditioned for a role in Cameron’s Aliens (1986); the director remembered Lang and cast him in Avatar. Michael Biehn, who was in Aliens, read the script and watched some of the 3D footage with Cameron, but was ultimately not cast in the role.
* Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel, a scientist who works in the Avatar Program.
* Matt Gerald as SecFor Corporal Lyle Wainfleet.

Tags: Cast and characters in Avatar