Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jack Twist in the film Brokeback Mountain. Jack is a cowboy living in America in the 1960s who meets another cowboy named Ennis del Mar while looking for a job. After Jack meets Ennis, he quickly realizes that he has romantic feelings for Ennis and from that point Jack tries to get closer to Ennis. After the do begin a clandestine relationship, they realize that because of the social context, they must keep their feelings a secret and see one another in the mountains, the only place safe for them. Jack tries to maintain his façade by marring a woman and having a child with her but he always thinks back to his lover, Ennis. Jack is more impulsive than Ennis and this proves to be his downfall. Jake dies suddenly when he is involved in a car related accident.
Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger plays the role of Ennis del Mar, a shy and withdrawn cowboy who goes on Brokeback mountain with Jack Twist. In comparison with Jack, Ennis is much more resilient to giving in to his homosexual desires and he needs to be drunk to agree to sleep with Jack. Ennis is at times violent towards Jack and this can be seen as him trying to fight against his desires. The reason why Ennis refuses to start a relationship with Jack as he wants is revealed towards the end of the film when Ennis tells Jack that he once knew a homosexual couple killed because of their relationship. Ennis tries to live a conventional life and to have a normal family with his wife Alma but is unable to because Jack appears once more in his life.
Michelle Williams
Alma is played in the movie by the actress Michelle Williams. Alma is Ennis’s loving and loyal wife and she has two children with Ennis. Alma is not extremely learned but she is hard working and is extremely loyal to her husband. Even though she finds about his affair with Jack, she continues to live with him and refuses to tell him that she knows the truth. While Alma is forgiving, she does have prejudice against gay people and she criticizes harshly Ennis for his tendencies.
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid plays the role of a rich sheep owner who hires Ennis and Jack to take care of his sheep. Joe is portrayed as being a cruel man who is bent on earning as much money as possible and a person who does not care about the well-being of his workers. He is also prejudiced against gay men and while he doesn’t tell Ennis and Jack that he saw them getting cozy on the mountain, he refuses to hire Jack a year later because of what he had saw on the mountain.
Anne Hathaway
Lureen is played by the actress Anne Hathaway in the film. Lureen is the daughter of a rich businessman who ends up marring Jack and having a child with him. The relationship between Lureen and Jack is portrayed as being quite normal, with Lureen not suspecting that Jack cheats on her. Despite this, she hints at the end of the movie that there might have been some tension between the two of them because Lurren never really understood Jack and his ways.
Peter McRobbie
Jack’s father is played by the actor Peter McRobbie. John Twist appears only for a short period of time towards the end of the movie when Ennis goes to visit Jack’s parents after he found about Jack’s death. Peter McRobbie plays the role of a stern but yet loving father who may have known about his son’s true sexuality but accepted him anyway.
Roberta Maxwell
Jack’s mother is played by the actress Roberta Maxwell in the film. Roberta is an old lady who loves her son and who was deeply affected by his death. When Ennis wants to take an item from Jack’s room, she lets him and even bags the shirt he wanted to take.
Scot Michael
Monroe is a shop clerk working in the same shop as Alma.
Hannah Stewart ( age 3), Keanna Dube (age 5), Sarah Hyslop (age 9-12), Cheyenne Hill (age 13), Kate Mara (age 19)
The character of Alma Jr. is played by various actresses because Alma Jr. ‘’grows up’’ in the film. The actress who appears the most is Kate Mara who plays Alma Jr. at the end of the movie. Then, Alma comes to her father to invite him to her weeding. What is consistent however is the idea that Alma Jr. needs her father’s approval and that she craves to be near him.
Jacey Kenny (age 7-8), Brooklynn Praulx (age 4), Cayla Wolever( age 11)
Jenny is Ennis and Alma’s youngest daughter in the film and her character is played by various characters as well to suggest the passing of time.
David Harbour
Randall is a character that appears briefly in the film. He is a man Jack and Lurren meet during a party and they become friends. It is hinted that Randall was the man taken by Jack to his parents’ ranch and so it is possible that Randall was one of Jack’s lovers.
Anna Faris
Lashawn is played by actress Anna Faris. Lashawn is Randall’s chatty wife who takes over the conversation during the first meeting she has with Jack and Lureen. Lashawn is portrayed as not being extremely intelligent and as being quite shallow.
Jake Church
Bobby is Jake and Lurren’s ten year old son. He appears during the Thanksgiving dinner where he refuses to stop watching the TV and eat.
Jerry Callagham
The judge appears only once on the screen for a short period of time when Ennis and Alma get a divorce.
Linda Cardellini
Cassie is a beautiful waitress Ennis has a short relationship with. Cassie is portrayed as having a questionable character and Ennis’s children are not quick to accept her as a possible partner for their father.
Graham Beckel
L.D. Newsome is Jack’s father in law who cannot accept him as a suitable option for his daughter.
Mary Libairon
Mary Libairon plays the role of Lureen’s mother. She is more malleable than her husband and does not hate Jack in the same way L.D. Newsome does.
