| A | B |
| Ivan | A silverback gorilla who lives in a stationary circus. He is a talented gorilla who can draw pictures and write simple words. He lives in his domain all the time, never leaving it for any reason. |
| Bob | A stray dog who does not trust humans because humans threw him and his siblings out of a car. |
| Stella | An elephant that was born in the wild, but captured and bought by a circus and was often abused in the circus. She has a foot that was injured in the circus and it often becomes infected. She works in this circus with Mack in the ring when her foot does not hurt. |
| Ruby | A baby elephant that was owned by another circus for only a month before they declared bankruptcy. She is not well trained and is weary of humans. |
| Julia | the daughter of the janitor who works at the circus. This girl is an artist and she often gives art supplies to Ivan. She is a good friend to Ivan and the only one who sees what are in his drawings. |
| George | He is Julia's father and the janitor at the circus. George does not like what is happening with the animals at the circus, but he cannot do anything because his wife is sick and he needs the job. |
| Mack | He is the owner of the circus. He is a good man, but he has become depressed since his wife left him. Mack treats the animals with indifference and his decision not to call a vet to help Stella leads to her death. In the end, this man loses all his animals and is forced to try to survive in his business without the animals. |
| Tag | She is Ivan's twin sister. Ivan and Tag were taken at the same time by humans and transported to America. However, she hung on to her memories of the jungle and Ivan believes it is this that eventually led to her death. |
| Maya | She is an employee of the zoo. She comes with the inspector to the circus and checks out the animals. When the zoo decides to take custody of the animals, the young lady works with them to make them feel comfortable with the transport crates.When Ivan arrives at the zoo, she becomes his primary caretaker in order to help him integrate into his new home. |