Main cast
- Jonathan Pryce as Sam Lowry. Pryce has described the role as the highlight of his career, along with that of Lytton Strachey in Carrington.[18] Tom Cruise was also considered for the role.[19]
- Kim Greist as Jill Layton. Gilliam's first choice for the part was Ellen Barkin; also considered were Jamie Lee Curtis, Rebecca De Mornay, Rae Dawn Chong, Joanna Pacuła, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly McGillis, and Madonna.[20] Gilliam was reportedly dissatisfied with Greist's performance, and chose to cut or edit some of her scenes as a result.[20]
- Robert De Niro as Archibald "Harry" Tuttle. De Niro still wanted a part in the film after being denied that of Jack Lint, so Gilliam offered him the smaller role of Tuttle.[21]
- Katherine Helmond as Mrs Ida Lowry. According to Helmond, Gilliam called her and said, "I have a part for you, and I want you to come over and do it, but you're not going to look very nice in it." The make-up was applied by Gilliam's wife, Maggie. During production, Helmond spent ten hours a day with a mask glued to her face; her scenes had to be postponed due to the blisters this caused.[22]
- Ian Holm as Mr Kurtzmann, Sam's boss
- Bob Hoskins as Spoor, a government-employed heating engineer who resents Harry Tuttle
- Michael Palin as Jack Lint. Robert De Niro read the script and expressed interest in the role, but Gilliam had already promised the part to Palin, a friend and regular collaborator. Palin described the character as "someone who was everything that Jonathan Pryce's character wasn't: he's stable, he had a family, he was settled, comfortable, hard-working, charming, sociable – and utterly and totally unscrupulous. That was the way we felt we could bring out the evil in Jack Lint."[23]
- Ian Richardson as Mr Warrenn, Sam's new boss at Information Retrieval
- Peter Vaughan as Mr Eugene Helpmann, the Deputy Minister of Information
Supporting cast
- Jim Broadbent as Dr Louis Jaffe
- Brian Miller as Mr Archibald Buttle
- Sheila Reid as Mrs Veronica Buttle
- Simon Nash as Boy Buttle
- Barbara Hicks as Mrs Terrain
- Kathryn Pogson as Shirley Terrain
- Bryan Pringle as Spiro
- Derrick O'Connor as Dowser
- Elizabeth Spender as Alison "Barbara" Lint
- Derek Deadman and Nigel Planer as Bill and Charlie
- Ray Cooper as Technician
- Gorden Kaye as the M.O.I. porter
- John Pierce Jones as Basement guard
- Ann Way as Old lady with dog
- Myrtle Devenish as Jack's secretary
- Simon Jones as Arrest official
- Bill Wallis as Bespectacled lurker
- Don Henderson as Black Maria guard
- Howard Lew Lewis as Black Maria guard
- Oscar Quitak as Interview official
- Harold Innocent as Interview official
- John Grillo as Interview official
- Patrick Connor as guard
- Roger Ashton-Griffiths as the Priest
- Jack Purvis as Dr Chapman
- Sue Hodge as performer
Cameos
- Co-writer Charles McKeown as Harvey Lime, Sam's co-worker.
- Director Terry Gilliam as the smoking man at Shang-ri La Towers.
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