Water for Elephants characters

Appears from the start

The narrator, appearing both as a man in his nineties confined to a nursing home and as his younger self in 1931. As a young man, he is a veterinary student at Cornell who, days before his final exams, is orphaned and left penniless when his parents die suddenly. Adrift, he jumps aboard a passing train and finds himself part of a traveling circus.

Appears from the start

The beautiful star performer of the circus, who rides and works with the show's horses. Married to the volatile animal boss, she is gentle with the animals and draws the immediate admiration of the newcomer Jacob.

Appears from the start

The charismatic, well-dressed superintendent of animals for the circus and Marlena's husband. Charming and generous one moment and frighteningly cruel the next, he is prone to sudden, violent turns of temper toward both people and animals.

Appears from the start

The ruthless owner and ringmaster of the Benzini Brothers circus. Obsessed with building his show and cutting costs during the Depression, he treats his workers as expendable and rules the operation by intimidation.

Appears from the start

An elephant acquired by the struggling circus in hopes of drawing crowds. At first she seems difficult and unresponsive, frustrating the show and putting her at the mercy of August's temper, but there is more to her than her handlers realize.

Appears from the start

A sharp-tongued dwarf clown, billed as Kinko, who is forced to share his cramped train quarters with Jacob and resents the intrusion at first. He performs with his devoted little dog and slowly warms to the newcomer.

Appears from the start

An old, hard-drinking circus workman who takes the friendless Jacob under his wing when he first joins the show and helps him find a place among the laborers.

Appears from the start

A kind, patient nurse at the assisted-living home where the elderly Jacob resides in the present-day frame, one of the few people there who treats him with genuine warmth and listens to him.