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The Sleuth
Hercule Poirot (Alfred Molina)
 Slightly eccentric, fastidiously dressed in an expensive suit, Hercule Poirot is the renowned Belgian detective famous for solving intriguing cases worldwide. Meticulous, strong-willed and precise, Poirot applies himself to his work with a fierce concentration. Possessed of an old-fashioned gallantry, he is the ultimate gentleman, disdainful of those he finds distasteful. Because of his unique reputation, he is called upon to solve a seemingly unsolvable riddle when a passenger is brutally murdered on board the famed Orient Express, on which Poirot also happens to be traveling. The Poirot of 2001 is an updated version of Agatha Christie's original, but he is still very much the relentless investigator he has always been, with a hypnotic intensity in his ever-searching eyes.
The Victim
Samuel Ratchett (Peter Strauss)
 The sinister American businessman Samuel Ratchett may have smooth manners, but he is palpably evil, with an unmistakable cruelty in his eyes and a deadly temper. A renowned collector of antiquities, Ratchett asks Poirot to handle a case for him, and is outraged when Poirot refuses. When Ratchett is found dead of multiple stab wounds to his chest aboard the Orient Express, Poirot agrees to take the case.
The Suspects
Caroline Hubbard (Meredith Baxter)
 A small-time actress whose name used to appear above the title, Caroline Hubbard is an American traveling alone on the Orient Express. Having been fired from a picture shooting in Istanbul, she is determined at least to travel like a movie star. She is terrified when she sees a strange man in her compartment, and later shows Poirot a bloody knife that suddenly appears in her makeup bag. But like her fellow passengers, Caroline Hubbard may be hiding something. She may be a better actress than we've been led to believe.
Nina Alvarado (Leslie Caron)
 Elegant, aloof, dressed in designer clothes and expensive jewelry, Nina Alvarado is the widow of Central American dictator Generalissimo Alvarado. With homes in Paris and New York, she has been in Istanbul to buy Turkish carpets for the "modest little house" she is furnishing on the Amalfi Coast. She plans to leave the Orient Express in Venice, so that she can visit her "dear friend" Donatella Versace in Milan for the Spring shows. But, like everyone else on this strange journey, she may not be telling the whole truth.
Mary Debenham (Natasha Wightman)
 Cool, beautiful and reserved, Mary Debenham is an Englishwoman in her late twenties. Poirot first meets her in Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, where he overhears her in cryptic and sinister conversation. Later, he learns that she works for a relief organization concerned with the welfare of children in Baghdad, and is traveling back to London on the Orient Express for a vacation. An expensive way for a young relief worker to travel, thinks Poirot. Under Poirot's questioning, she is curt and abrupt; from what she has heard, Ratchett deserved to be killed.
Bob Arbuthnot (David Hunt)
 Bob Arbuthnot is an American, founder and CEO of one of the most successful software companies in the world. A self-professed "gadget guy," Arbuthnot scoffs at Poirot's preference for using his "little gray cells," rather than modern technology, when solving crimes. Although Poirot knows that in the Grand Bazaar, Mary Debenham was in conversation with Arbuthnot, the two behave as though they have never met when they board the train.
William MacQueen (Adam Jones)
 The young American William MacQueen is assistant to Samuel Ratchett, with a degree in Mesopotamian Art from Yale. Ratchett hired him for advice on art purchases, but MacQueen soon realized that Ratchett was not what he seemed, and had been trying to leave his employ. It is MacQueen who discovers Ratchett's mutilated body aboard the Orient Express.
Helena and Philip Von Strauss (Amira Casar and Kai Wiesinger)
  Beautiful jet setters Helena and Philip Von Strauss have been sightseeing in Turkey. In spring, they will train for an Everest expedition, though the frail young Helena does not seem up to such an ordeal. Their home is in Monaco--Helena is French (or is she?) and Philip is German--and they are taking a restful trip back to Paris on the Orient Express.
Tony Foscarelli (Dylan Smith)
 Brash, sharply dressed young Italian American Tony Foscarelli is a sales representative for the famous portable exercise device, the Ab-Liminator, which he is only too eager to demonstrate to his fellow passengers.
Wolfgang Bouc (Fritz Wepper)
 An old friend of Poirot, Wolfgang Bouc is Director of the Orient Express. When Poirot runs into him in Istanbul, Bouc persuades him not to return to Paris by air, but to take a leisurely trip on the Orient Express. After all, if anyone can secure Poirot a compartment on the crowded train, it is surely his old friend Bouc.
Vera Rossakoff (Tasha de Vasconcelos)
 The enigmatic, stunningly beautiful Russian, Vera Rossakoff, is actually a jewel thief. Her headquarters are in Istanbul, where she runs an upscale nightclub as a front for her criminal activities. Few men can resist her wiles, but the only man she truly loves is the world's most famous detective, the very many who could sabotage her "career."
Pierre Michel (Nicolas Chagrin)
Pierre Michel has been a conductor on the Orient Express for many years. Since the tragic suicide of his daughter, he has consoled himself with this undemanding and quiet job…until this trip.
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