In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, Sam Neill plays the paleontologist Alan Grant.
Grant is introduced as a Montana-based researcher specializing in velociraptors and other predatory dinosaurs. John Hammond invites him and paleobotanist Ellie Sattler to inspect the newly created park on Isla Nublar before its public opening. Their visit changes when the park’s cloned dinosaurs escape their controlled areas.
The character’s expertise is central to the film. Grant understands raptor behavior and dinosaur anatomy, but he begins the story uncomfortable around children. During the crisis, he protects Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim, and develops a more reassuring attitude toward them.
Alan Grant is sometimes confused with Ian Malcolm, the mathematician played by Jeff Goldblum, or Robert Muldoon, the park’s game warden. Grant later returns as a central character in Jurassic Park III, again portrayed by Sam Neill.