Harrison Ford leads the Clear and Present Danger cast as Jack Ryan. Willem Dafoe plays John Clark, Joaquim de Almeida plays Col. Felix V. Cortez, Henry Czerny plays CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter and Harris Yulin plays National Security Advisor James Cutter. Anne Archer returns as Dr. Cathy Ryan, Thora Birch as Sally Ryan and James Earl Jones as Admiral James Greer. Clear and Present Danger (1994) was directed by Phillip Noyce and opened in US theaters on August 3, 1994. TMDB credits 87 roles in all, and the ensemble mixes returning actors with new ones. Ford, Archer and Birch come back from Patriot Games (1992), which Noyce also directed. Jones plays Greer for a third time, after The Hunt for Red October (1990) and Patriot Games. Every other top billed name, from Dafoe to Czerny, is new to the Jack Ryan films. The notes below cover each lead, and the full table lists every credited role.
| # | Actor | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harrison Ford | Jack Ryan |
| 2 | Willem Dafoe | John Clark |
| 3 | Joaquim de Almeida | Col. Felix V. Cortez |
| 4 | Henry Czerny | CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter |
| 5 | Harris Yulin | National Security Advisor James Cutter |
| 6 | Donald Moffat | President Bennett |
| 7 | Miguel Sandoval | Ernesto Escobedo |
| 8 | Raymond Cruz | Domingo Chavez |
| 9 | Anne Archer | Dr. Cathy Ryan |
| 10 | Thora Birch | Sally Ryan |
| 11 | Benjamin Bratt | Captain Ramirez |
| 12 | Dean Jones | Judge Moore |
| 13 | Ann Magnuson | Moira Wolfson |
| 14 | James Earl Jones | Admiral James Greer |
| 15 | Hope Lange | Senator Mayo |
| 16 | Tom Tammi | FBI Director Emile Jacobs |
| 17 | Greg Germann | Petey |
| 18 | Tim Grimm | Dan Murray |
| 19 | Belita Moreno | Jean Fowler |
| 20 | Jorge Luke | Sipo |
| 21 | Ellen Geer | Rose |
| 22 | Jared Chandler | Insertion Team Radioman |
| 23 | Ted Raimi | Satellite Analyst |
| 24 | Vondie Curtis-Hall | Voice-Print Analyst |
Billing order from the film's credits (TMDB). Actors with a Cinvibe page and characters with a character page are linked.
Also in the cast: John Lafayette (CIA Analyst), Beau Lotterman (CIA Analyst), Rex Linn (Washington Detective), Ken Howard (Committee Chairman), Alexander Lester (John Ryan Jr.), Reg E. Cathey (Sergeant Major), Clark Gregg (Staff Sergeant), Chris Conrad (Sniper Sergeant), Vaughn Armstrong (Blackhawk Pilot), John Putch (Blackhawk Co-Pilot), Colleen Flynn (Coast Guard Captain), Reed Diamond (Coast Guard Chief), Cam Brainard (Coast Guardsman), Brendan Ford (Coast Guardsman), Michael Jace (Coast Guardsman), Patrick Bauchau (Enrique Rojas), Aaron Lustig (Dr. Polk), Lynne Marie Stewart (Greer's Secretary), John Rixey Moore (Spook), Jaime Gomez (Sergeant Oso), Miguel Pérez (DEA Agent), R.A. Rondell (MC Driver), Peter Weireter (FBI Director’s Bodyguard), Blanca Guerra (Escobedo's Wife), Diana Sowle (Cartel Maid), Victor Palmieri (Ambassador Ferris), Trip Hamilton (White House Guard), Cameron Thor (DEA Surveillance Agent), Harley Venton (DEA Agent), Juan Carlos Colombo (Cortez's Bodyguard), Rufino Echegoyen (Escobedo's Driver), Honorato Magaloni (Mining Company Manager), Mario Iván Martínez (Chemist), Eduardo Andrade (Eduardo), Hector Teller (Hector), Alejandro Bracho (Fernandez), Robert Arratia (Colombian Hitman), Eliot Ferrer (Colombian Hitman), David J. Negrón Jr. (Cartel Accountant), Michael A. Mendez (Cartel Gunman), Michael A. Mendez (Cartel Member), Kamala Lopez (Venezuelan Telephonist), Guillermo Ríos (Gate House Guard), Alejandro De Hoyos (Spanish Reporter), Alejandro De Hoyos (CNN Reporter), Barbara Harrison (TV Reporter), Mark Bailey (Reporter), Elizabeth Dennehy (Reporter), Patricia Belcher (INS Officer), Tom Isbell (Restaurant Doctor), Kim Flowers (Restaurant Hostess), Claudia Lobo (Ritter's Wife), Al Verdun (Ritter's Secretary), Catherine MacNeal (Greer's Nurse), Denice Kumagai (Nurse), Marjorie Lovett (President's Secretary), Lee Bear (Cutter's Bodyguard), Glenn E. Coats (Hotel Clerk), Kevin Cooney (CIA Counsel), Lis Kern (Horse Trainer), Thomas Luskey (Homicide Detective), Tom Bower (Clark's Pilot (uncredited)), Christine Moore (Greer’s Widow).
Harrison Ford plays Jack Ryan, the CIA analyst who is made acting deputy director of intelligence while Admiral Greer is treated for cancer. Ford returns to the role from Patriot Games (1992), where TMDB also credits him as Jack Ryan. Alec Baldwin had played Ryan in The Hunt for Red October (1990), so this is the second film in a row with Ford leading the series.
Willem Dafoe plays John Clark, his first part in the Jack Ryan films. TMDB lists him in neither The Hunt for Red October nor Patriot Games. Dafoe is billed second, directly under Harrison Ford, so a newcomer to the series sits at the top of the ensemble next to its returning lead.
Joaquim de Almeida plays Col. Felix V. Cortez and is billed third. The Deseret News review of August 5, 1994 named him and Miguel Sandoval as the actors playing the chief drug lords, which puts Cortez on the cartel side of the plot. TMDB shows no earlier Jack Ryan credit for de Almeida, so Cortez is his first appearance in the series.
Henry Czerny plays CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter. In a May 2021 interview piece, /Film called this film his first mainstream movie, with Czerny playing Ritter opposite Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan. The Deseret News review described Ritter as a CIA operations chief who schemes against Ryan, which makes him one of the main opponents inside the agency.
Harris Yulin plays National Security Advisor James Cutter. After the yacht murders, President Bennett quietly lets Cutter start a covert campaign against the cartel. The Deseret News review described Cutter as conspiring with CIA Deputy Director Robert Ritter. TMDB lists no role for Yulin in either earlier Jack Ryan film, so he is new to the series here.
Donald Moffat plays President Bennett. His anger over the murder of a businessman friend sets the covert operation in motion. The Deseret News review described this President as a puppet, which suits a story where Cutter and Ritter do much of the work out of sight. TMDB credits show this is Moffat's first role in the Jack Ryan films.
Miguel Sandoval plays Ernesto Escobedo, who leads the Colombian cartel that a murdered friend of President Bennett was laundering money for. Escobedo is the target of the covert campaign the White House approves, and the Deseret News review named Sandoval among the actors playing the chief drug lords. TMDB shows no earlier Jack Ryan credit for Sandoval, so this is his first role in the series.
Raymond Cruz plays Domingo Chavez and is billed eighth in the TMDB credits, ahead of the returning Anne Archer. TMDB lists him in neither The Hunt for Red October nor Patriot Games, so Chavez is his first part in a Jack Ryan film. Cruz is one of several newcomers among the first dozen names.
Anne Archer plays Dr. Cathy Ryan, the wife of Jack Ryan. She returns to the part from Patriot Games, where TMDB credits her as Dr. Caroline "Cathy" Ryan, and the Deseret News review of August 1994 noted that she was reprising her role. She was not in The Hunt for Red October, so this is her second film as Cathy.
Thora Birch plays Sally Ryan, the daughter of Jack and Cathy Ryan. She returns from Patriot Games, where TMDB also credits her as Sally Ryan. The Deseret News review noted that Anne Archer and Birch were reprising their roles as Jack Ryan's wife and daughter. This is her second time playing Sally, after the 1992 film.
Benjamin Bratt plays Captain Ramirez and is billed eleventh in the TMDB credits. The Deseret News review described his part as an Army role, which places him on the military side of the story, away from Washington. Bratt is new to the series, and TMDB shows no role for him in either earlier Jack Ryan film.
Dean Jones plays Judge Moore and is billed twelfth. The Deseret News review grouped him with Hope Lange and Ann Magnuson as supporting players in smaller parts. Like most of the top billed cast, Jones has no earlier Jack Ryan credit on TMDB, so Judge Moore is his first role in the series.
The Clear and Present Danger cast keeps Harrison Ford at the top of the bill, and new faces fill billing places two to eight. The returning Anne Archer, Thora Birch and James Earl Jones are billed ninth, tenth and fourteenth. Clear and Present Danger (1994), directed by Phillip Noyce, brought back Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan after Patriot Games (1992), which Noyce also directed. It also kept the Ryan household together. The Deseret News review of August 5, 1994 noted that Anne Archer and Thora Birch were reprising their roles. James Earl Jones returns as Admiral James Greer as well, his third film in the part according to TMDB credits.
The rest of the top billing is new to the series. TMDB lists no earlier Jack Ryan credit for Willem Dafoe, Joaquim de Almeida, Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, Donald Moffat, Miguel Sandoval, Raymond Cruz, Benjamin Bratt or Dean Jones. /Film later described the film as Czerny's first mainstream movie. The new actors fill both sides of the story, from the officials around President Bennett to the cartel led by Escobedo. TMDB counts 87 credited roles in all. The clear and present danger movie page covers the plot and production in full.
Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Thora Birch and James Earl Jones return from Patriot Games, and every other top billed name is new. TMDB credits Ford, Archer and Birch in that film as Jack Ryan, Dr. Caroline "Cathy" Ryan and Sally Ryan. James Earl Jones goes back further than anyone. TMDB credits him as Greer in The Hunt for Red October (1990), in Patriot Games and here.
Alec Baldwin, who played Ryan in The Hunt for Red October, is not credited in this film, and Ford had already played Ryan in Patriot Games (1992). Dafoe, Czerny, Yulin and de Almeida are the main new arrivals, with Sandoval, Moffat, Cruz, Bratt and Dean Jones joining them. If you have followed a long running television drama, the pattern will feel familiar: the family at home stays the same while the people at work are new. For every film and actor in the series, start at the jack ryan movies hub.
| Director | Phillip Noyce |
|---|---|
| Writers | John Milius, Steven Zaillian, Donald E. Stewart |
| Producers | Robert Rehme, Mace Neufeld |
| Music | James Horner |
| Cinematography | Donald McAlpine |
Harrison Ford played Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger (1994). It was his second time in the role after Patriot Games (1992), and Phillip Noyce directed both films. In this story, Ryan is made acting deputy director of intelligence at the CIA while Admiral Greer is treated for cancer. Ryan helps win funding for what he thinks is a limited effort against the cartel, and he does not know about the covert campaign already underway.
Willem Dafoe played John Clark in Clear and Present Danger. He is billed second, directly after Harrison Ford. It was his first role in the Jack Ryan films, because TMDB lists him in neither The Hunt for Red October nor Patriot Games.
Yes, James Earl Jones is in Clear and Present Danger as Admiral James Greer, billed fourteenth. It was his third film as Greer, after The Hunt for Red October (1990) and Patriot Games (1992). Greer's cancer treatment is what puts Jack Ryan in the acting deputy director's chair early in the story.
The main villains in Clear and Present Danger are Ernesto Escobedo, played by Miguel Sandoval, and Col. Felix V. Cortez, played by Joaquim de Almeida. The Deseret News review named the two actors as playing the chief drug lords. In Washington, the review also described Henry Czerny's Robert Ritter scheming against Ryan, with Harris Yulin's James Cutter conspiring alongside him.
No, only part of the cast returned for Clear and Present Danger. Harrison Ford, Anne Archer, Thora Birch and James Earl Jones came back from Patriot Games. According to TMDB credits, Willem Dafoe, Henry Czerny, Harris Yulin, Joaquim de Almeida and the rest of the top billed names were new to the series.
Anne Archer played Dr. Cathy Ryan in Clear and Present Danger. She first played the character in Patriot Games (1992). The Deseret News review of August 1994 noted that she was reprising the role, and that Thora Birch was returning as the Ryans' daughter, Sally.
The Clear and Present Danger book is Tom Clancy's 1989 Jack Ryan novel about a covert American campaign against a Colombian drug cartel.
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The Sum of All Fears novel is Tom Clancy's 1991 Jack Ryan thriller, in which a nuclear attack is intended to provoke war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
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