|  Home  |  Plot  | Character Description  |  Movie Analysis  |  Criticism / Related Sources  |  Pictures  |

Main Character Descriptions

Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke)

The main character of the story, Vincent is deemed an “invalid” at birth because of his natural conception.  His main birth defect is a weak heart which is predicted to beat for only 30.2 years.  He dreams of outer space exploration, but with his less than perfect genetic code, those dreams can never be fulfilled.  Therefore, he resorts to borrowing the assumed genetic code of Jerome Morrow.  Under this false identity he is able to get a job at the highly prestigious Gattaca Space Academy, ultimately becoming a First Class Navigator and traveling to Titan, Saturn’s fourteenth moon.  Working at Gattaca, he meets and falls in love with Irene Cassini, who shares a similar heart problem.

Jerome Eugene Morrow (Jude Law)

Born with genetic perfection, his future is full of an array of wonderful possibilities.  However, as explained in the film, “Jerome had been engineered with everything he needed to get into Gattaca, except the desire to do so".  Throughout his whole life, Jerome could never live up to his genetic code and, while attempting to commit suicide, he crippled himself.  Without the ability to walk, Jerome puts his genetic code up for sale on the black market and Vincent ultimately assumes his identity.

Irene Cassini (Uma Thurman)

Also an employee at Gattaca, Irene has an almost perfect genetic code.  Even though she was  genetically engineered, she was accidentally left with a heart defect.  She falls in love with Vincent while he is under the false identity of Jerome.  When she discovers his true identity, she learns how much one is capable of despite their genetically predetermined future.