Jack Dawson, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was a 20-year old artist from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Orphaned at the age of 15, he worked a variety of jobs. After a stint as a logger, he came to Santa Monica, California, where he drew portraits on the pier for 10 cents a piece. Working his way from place to place on tramp steamers and similiar accomadations, he went to Paris whre he studied art. Subsequently, he found himself able to return to his native land in the grandest style pssible for one with no money: sailing on the Titanic on a ticket he won in a poker game.

Rose DeWitt Bukater, played by Kate Winslet, was born to one of the very best families in Philadelphia. She was only 17 years old when she became engaged to Caledon Hockley. Intelligent, poised, and beautiful, Rose has been schooled since childhood to be everything a young woman in society was expected to be. Rose's engagement to Hockley, heir to a Pittsburgh steel fortune, was considered an admirable catch, a perfect pairing of wealth and social position. Yet her spirit rebelled against the rigid confines and expectations of Edwardian society controlling her destiny.

Caledon Hockley, played by Billy Zane, was the 30-year old scion of a wealthy Pittsburgh steel family. Handsome, self-confident, rich beyond meaning, he aspired to sophistication and insisted on propriety. He found in Rose DeWitt Bukater a suitable young woman to fill the role of wife in his aristocratic future, and he presented her to his peers with the pride of ownership, basking in others' reaction to her beauty and her pedigree. As a wedding present for her, he purchased one of the largest and most valuable diamonds in the world, the legendary blue stone once worn by Louis XVI known as the Couer de la Mer - the Heart of the Ocean.

Ruth DeWitt Bukater, played by Frances Fisher, was the mother of Rose. She was a society empress from one of the most socially prominent families in Philadelphia. After the death of her husband, her family fell on hard times, but she was determined to achieve financial salvation through her daughter's marriage to Caledon Hockley. A woman who ruled her household with an iron will, she was intolerant of Rose's rebellious nature, and found in Cal an ally in her efforts to control Rose.

Mrs. Margaret "Molly" Brown, played by Kathy Bates, was the wife of a Colorado mining millionaire. Intelligent though self-taught -- she spoke several languages -- she was a plain spoken woman without background in high society, who was generally shunned by the socialities of Denver. When Titanic was sinking, she was evacuated in lifeboat #6, under the command of Quartermaster Hichens. Having been at the wheel of the ship when it hit the iceberg, Hichens was completely unnerved and directed the boat away from the sinking ship as fast as possible. He was terrified that they would be swamped by the suction as the ship went down, or overwhelmed by swimmers desperate to be saved. Mrs. Brown and several more women wanted to return to help save others, but they were overruled by Hichens' bullying and by the frightened silence of the majority of the lifeboats passengers. As Hichens' fears became less and less rational, Mrs. Brown effectively took over command of the boat and persuaded the women to help with the rowing. Her heroism and selflessness during the disaster was much talked about afterwards and earned her the moniker "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."

Captain E.J. Smith, played by Beranrd Hill, joined the White Star Line in 1880 and remained with the company for the rest of his life. Popular with his crews as well as the passengers, Smith was widely regarded as a charming, personable officer. He became the captain of choice for many of the rich and powerful in the transatlantic set, earning the nickname "the millionaire's captain". Through most of his long career, he had never been involved, as he recounted in 1907, "in an accident of any sort worth speaking about. I never saw a wreck and never have been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort." White Star Line had made it virtually a tradition to have Smith in command on the maiden voyages of its most important ships. At the conclusion of Titanic's maiden voyage, Captain Smith was scheduled to retire in glory

Thomas Andrews, played by Victor Garber, then aged 39, was the Managing Director of Harland & Wolff Shipyards, nephew to Lord Pirrie (Harland & Wolff's chairman) and one of the Titanic's designers. A tireless workaholic, he had supervised every detail of the ship's construction and outfitting, and was the world's foremost expert on every aspect of her. He sailed on Titanic with a hand-picked team of seven experts, the Harland & Wolff "guarantee group", who spent most of the voyage trouble-shooting last-minute problems and perfecting the finishing of this, the company's greatest creation. Andrews himself brought along Titanic's complete blue prints, and worked practically non-stop on the voyage, carrying a notebook everywhere, making notes about imperfections and ideas for improvements. He was, for instance, concerned that the coat-hooks were attached to the walls with an unsightly number of screw, which he intended to change.

J. Bruce Ismay, played by Johnathon Hyde, was the 50-year old Managing Director of White Star Line. and was one of the most powerful men in the shipping business. Son of Thomas H. Ismay, Joseph Bruce Ismay had ascended to the management of the company with his brothers by the turn of the century. In 1902, the American financier J. Pierpoint Morgan, who was buying shipping companies for his enormous International Mercantile Marine (IMM) trust, negotiated the purchase of White Star Line. J. Bruce Ismay alone of his family remained with the company. In 1907, inresponse to the competition posed by rival Cunard Line's new mammoth liners Lusitania and Mauretania, Ismay conceived of a trio of even larger, grander and more luxuriant ships that would re-assert White Star's dominance of the lucrative and pretigious transatlantic trade. Titanic was the second of this trio. Ismay sailed on her maiden voyage, confident that Titanic represented the triumph of his career.

Fabrizio De Rossi, played by Danny Nucci, was a young Italian, about 20, with dreams of finding success and happiness in America. A good friend of Jack Dawson's, he was playing poker in a Southampton pub on the morning of April 10, 1912, with Jack and two brothers from Sweden. At 11:55 AM, Jack won the last hand, cleaning out the Swedes of everyting including two third class tickets to New York on Titanic...which was casting off in precisely 5 minutes. He and Jack considered themselves the luckiest men in the world.

Spicer Lovejoy, played by David Warner, was valet and bodyguard to Caledon Hockley. An ex-Pinkerton with a background in railroad security, his job was to keep Cal out of trouble and protect the family name. In the course of his duties, he was ready to use whatever means necessary, including the threat of physical force, to prevent anyone from interfering with his employer.

Rose Calvert, played by Gloria Stuart, is Rose 83 years later. A lot of Rose's rebelliousness, spunk and fire still remain from the days we saw her on board Titanic. And for the first time, Rose finally tells her story about that maiden voyage, and most of all, about her love affair with a man named Jack Dawson.

Brock Lovett, played by Bill Paxton, is the treasure hunting explorer looking for an exquisite necklace called The Heart of the Ocean, which he is sure went down with the Titanic. Brock and his crew search high and low for the necklace, but do not find it. Instead, they find Rose, who is the only key to solving the mystery of the infamous necklace.

Lizzy Calvert, played by Suzy Amis, is Rose's granddaughter. She is very protective of her grandmother and is accompanying her on her trip aboard the Keldysh, where Rose tells her story.