Who Are The Main Characters In Parkland?

Ever notice how disaster stories often fixate on the big names while ignoring the side characters who actually lived it? That’s why 'Parkland' resonated with me—it zooms in on the forgotten players. Take Zapruder: Giamatti plays him not as some noble historian but as a trembling mess, horrified that his home movie became evidence. Then there’s Ron Livingston’s James Hosty, the FBI agent who knew Oswald pre-shooting; his gritted-teeth frustration at institutional failures feels ripped from a modern whistleblower drama.

The medical team’s frantic efforts hit harder than any action movie—Efron’s Dr. Carrico isn’t some genius savant, just a guy sweating through his scrubs, barking orders while blood pools on the floor. And Dale’s Robert Oswald? Man, that scene where he quietly burns his brother’s note—no music, just the crackle of paper—it wrecks me every time. Even smaller roles, like the Dallas PD detectives (hello, Tom Welling!) arguing over jurisdiction, add layers to the institutional chaos. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion from twenty different angles.

Parkland, the 2013 film about the JFK assassination, focuses on a sprawling cast of ordinary people caught in history's grip. The standout for me was Zac Efron's portrayal of Dr. Charles Carrico, the young resident surgeon who fought to save Kennedy at Parkland Hospital—his mix of professionalism and raw emotion stuck with me long after the credits rolled. Paul Giamatti brings haunting depth to Abraham Zapruder, the accidental filmmaker whose 8mm footage became infamous; watching him grapple with guilt over 'capturing' the murder was heartbreaking. Then there’s James Badge Dale as Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey’s brother, whose quiet devastation humanizes the villain’s family in a way most adaptations ignore.

What’s fascinating is how the film sidelines traditional 'heroes'—Jackie Kennedy (played subtly by Kat Steffens) is almost a background figure, while Billy Bob Thornton’s Secret Service agent Forrest Sorrels embodies bureaucratic exhaustion. It’s a mosaic of perspectives: Marcia Gay Harden’s no-nonsense nurse, Colin Hanks’ conflicted FBI agent… even Jackie Weaver’s brief turn as Oswald’s mother crackles with delusional intensity. The film’s strength lies in how it frames these characters not as plot devices but as messy, unprepared witnesses to chaos.

What stuck with me about 'Parkland' was its refusal to glamorize anyone. Jackie Kennedy’s barely audible 'I’m not letting go' as she clutches JFK’s body is chilling, but it’s the background characters who fascinate—like the Parkland hospital staff debating whether to save the president’s blood for evidence or transfusions (darkly practical). Or Oswald’s mom, screeching about her son’s innocence while the cops eye her with exhausted skepticism. Even the mortician who nearly drops the casket becomes a tragicomic figure. The film’s genius is in these tiny, imperfect reactions—not heroes or villains, just humans drowning in history’s riptide.