Ellie Sattler

Dr. Ellie Sattler is a fictional character in the Jurassic Park franchise. She is introduced in Michael Crichton's 1990 novel Jurassic Park, which began the franchise. Steven Spielberg directed the 1993 film adaptation, casting Laura Dern as Sattler and giving the character a more substantial role compared to the novel. She is a paleobotanist in both the novel and its film adaptation. In the novel, she is a student of Dr. Alan Grant. For the film, Spielberg made them a romantic couple, with Sam Neill portraying Grant.

Dern briefly reprised the role in 2001's Jurassic Park III. In the film, Sattler and Grant have broken off their relationship but remain friends. She is married to Mark and has two children. Dern's character was initially absent from the film, but script rewrites during pre-production added a small role for her. Director Joe Johnston chose to break-up Grant and Sattler, believing that Dern looked too young to be in such a relationship; Neill is 20 years older than Dern.

Dern and Neill would return again for major roles in Jurassic World Dominion, released in 2022. In the film, Sattler is divorced and now working as a soil scientist. She and Grant eventually rekindle their romantic relationship. Colin Trevorrow, the film's director and co-writer, was in agreement with Dern and Neill on reuniting their characters romantically. Trevorrow and co-writer Emily Carmichael also wanted Sattler to have a major part in the film, helping to drive its plot. Dern's interest in climate change was incorporated into the character, inspiring Sattler's occupation as a soil scientist.

Dern and Neill also reprised their roles for the video games Jurassic World Evolution and Jurassic World Evolution 2, lending their voices to downloadable content packs released in 2019 and 2022 respectively.

Dern named Sattler as her favorite role in 2019. The first film gave Dern international recognition, and is often ranked among her best performances, seen by some critics as a modern portrayal of an action heroine. Dern considers the character a feminist icon of the 1990s.

In the first novel, Sattler is a paleobotanist and graduate student who is studying under paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant. John Hammond's investors demand that he bring experts to his island, Isla Nublar, to certify the safety of a new theme park he is building there called Jurassic Park. Grant and Sattler agree to Hammond's invitation to tour the park, in exchange for $50,000 of funding for the dig site. They are awestruck to learn that Hammond has cloned living dinosaurs.

Although Sattler is initially thrilled to see the park, she finds poisonous plants in public areas and near swimming pools, and is angered by how little attention the staff has given to reproducing prehistoric plant life. After a tour, the rest of the group returns to the Visitor Center while Sattler stays with veterinarian Dr. Harding, to take pictures of a sick Stegosaurus. The dinosaurs eventually escape, and after a Tyrannosaurus attack, Sattler helps Harding care for Dr. Ian Malcolm's injuries. During a Velociraptor assault on the Visitor Center, Sattler uses herself as bait to distract the pack of raptors trying to get into the lodge.

In the novel, it is stated that she plans to marry a Chicago doctor sometime the following year. She is briefly mentioned in Michael Crichton's sequel novel, The Lost World, in which she is now known as Ellie Sattler Reiman. It is stated that she married a physicist and gives guest lectures at his workplace, University of California, Berkeley, while raising two young children.