Character Traits List: 100 Positive and Negative Traits With Movie Examples

In 2003, the American Film Institute asked 1,500 actors, directors, critics and others to name the greatest hero in movie history. They didn’t pick Indiana Jones or James Bond. They picked Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer who never throws a punch.

What put him first was a trait. Atticus does the right thing when the whole town is against him. That’s what character traits do: they tell you who someone is before they say a word. This list has 100 of them, 50 positive and 50 negative, and every one comes with a movie character who shows it.

What Are Character Traits?

A character trait is a lasting quality, like honesty or curiosity, that sets a person apart and shapes how they act. Merriam-Webster defines a trait as “a distinguishing quality (as of personal character).” In a story, traits are how the audience gets to know someone fast, which is why the character traits examples below all come from the movies.

Traits come in three kinds. Positive traits are the ones we admire, like kind, brave and loyal. Negative traits are the ones that cause trouble, like jealous, cruel and selfish. Neutral traits, like shy or competitive, can go either way depending on the scene.

Writers also split traits into internal and external. Internal traits live inside the character: their values, fears and habits of mind. External traits are what we see, like a limp, a loud laugh or an expensive suit. Internal traits are the ones that drive the story.

On screen, a trait only counts if we see it. A character who says “I’m brave” isn’t brave until they walk toward the danger. As screenwriting teacher Robert McKee put it in his book Story, “True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure.”

The Greatest Heroes and Villains, by Trait

AFI’s 100 Years…100 Heroes & Villains named the 50 greatest heroes and 50 greatest villains, chosen from 400 nominees. Here are the top five of each, and the one trait that defines them.

The heroes win on principle, grit and nerve. The villains win on control. Only one character made both lists: the Terminator, a villain in 1984 and a hero in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). And six of the top 10 villains are women, against two of the top 10 heroes, Clarice Starling and Ellen Ripley.

50 Positive Character Traits

Positive character traits are the qualities that make an audience trust a character and root for them. Here are 50 good character traits, each with a movie character who shows it on screen.

Trait	What it means	Movie example
Adventurous	Eager to explore the unknown and take risks	Moana, Moana (2016): sails past the reef her father forbids to return Te Fiti’s heart
Ambitious	Driven to rise and reach big goals	Tess McGill, Working Girl (1988): a secretary who steps into her boss’s role to land her own merger idea
Brave	Faces danger or fear head on	Mulan, Mulan (1998): cuts her hair and joins the army in her father’s place
Calm	Stays steady under pressure	Rudolf Abel, Bridge of Spies (2015): facing execution as a spy, he answers every worry with “Would it help?”
Caring	Looks after other people’s needs	Roz, The Wild Robot (2024): a robot who raises an orphaned gosling until he can swim and fly
Charming	Wins people over with easy appeal	Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986): fakes sick, fools his parents, then charms his way onto a parade float
Cheerful	Upbeat and full of good spirits	Buddy, Elf (2003): redecorates Gimbels overnight, thrilled that Santa is coming to the store
Clever	Quick to learn and solve problems	Matilda Wormwood, Matilda (1996): reads her way through the library and outwits her crooked father with pranks
Compassionate	Feels for others’ suffering and acts to ease it	Sister Helen Prejean, Dead Man Walking (1995): becomes a death-row inmate’s spiritual adviser and stays with him to the end
Confident	Believes in their own abilities	Elle Woods, Legally Blonde (2001): scores 179 on the LSAT, gets into Harvard Law, then wins a murder trial
Creative	Makes new and original things	Remy, Ratatouille (2007): a rat who wins over a critic with his ratatouille
Curious	Eager to find out and understand	Alice, Alice in Wonderland (1951): chases the White Rabbit down a hole to learn why he’s late
Determined	Keeps going until the goal is reached	Erin Brockovich, Erin Brockovich (2000): signs up all 634 Hinkley plaintiffs and helps land a $333 million settlement
Disciplined	Sticks to hard routines and self-control	Maggie Fitzgerald, Million Dollar Baby (2004): a waitress who keeps training at the Hit Pit until Frankie agrees to coach her
Empathetic	Understands and shares what others feel	Sadness, Inside Out (2015): sits with Bing Bong after he loses his rocket and simply listens
Fair-minded	Judges by the facts, without bias	Juror 8, 12 Angry Men (1957): the lone “not guilty” vote, he asks the jury to talk through the evidence
Forgiving	Lets go of anger toward those who hurt them	Philomena Lee, Philomena (2013): forgives the nun who gave her son away, leaving Martin speechless
Funny	Makes others laugh	Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters (1984): the team’s wisecracking mouth, trading deadpan one-liners with ghosts
Generous	Gives freely of time, money or help	George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): hands over his honeymoon money to stop a run on the Building and Loan
Gentle	Soft, mild and careful with others	Totoro, My Neighbor Totoro (1988): accepts Satsuki’s umbrella at the bus stop, then calls the Catbus to find Mei
Grateful	Thankful for what they have	Lou Gehrig, The Pride of the Yankees (1942): dying, he calls himself “the luckiest man on the face of the Earth”
Hardworking	Puts in steady, tireless effort	Tiana, The Princess and the Frog (2009): works two waitress jobs, saving every tip for her own restaurant
Honest	Tells the truth and plays straight	Frank Serpico, Serpico (1973): refuses his share of police payoffs and reports the corruption
Hopeful	Believes good things will come	Annie, Annie (1982): clings to half a locket, sure her parents will come back with the other half
Humble	Modest, with no need to boast	Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi (1982): leads a nation to independence yet lives simply in an ashram
Idealistic	Believes the world can live up to its ideals	Jefferson Smith, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): a new senator who filibusters for hours against a corrupt machine
Imaginative	Dreams up vivid ideas and worlds	Walter Mitty, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013): zones out into daydreams so often his boss calls him “Major Tom”
Independent	Thinks and acts for themselves	Merida, Brave (2012): refuses an arranged match and competes for her own hand
Innocent	Pure-hearted and free of cynicism	Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump (1994): drifts through decades of history with no agenda beyond Jenny and his mama
Kind	Treats everyone with warmth	Waymond Wang, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): pleads with everyone to be kind, and it changes how Evelyn fights
Loyal	Stands by people through everything	Hachi, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009): waits at the station for his owner for about ten years after his death
Observant	Notices small details others miss	Marge Gunderson, Fargo (1996): works out that the dead trooper had stopped a car with dealer plates
Optimistic	Expects the best and sees the bright side	Perrito, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022): a sunny dog, disguised as a cat, who dreams of being a therapy dog
Passionate	Driven by strong love for something	Sebastian Wilder, La La Land (2016): gets fired for playing jazz at a Christmas gig and dreams of his own club
Patient	Persists calmly without giving up	Annie Sullivan, The Miracle Worker (1962): keeps working with deaf and blind Helen Keller through tantrums and a dining-room battle
Persuasive	Talks others into seeing it their way	Nick Naylor, Thank You for Smoking (2005): a tobacco lobbyist who talks a dying Marlboro Man into taking hush money
Playful	Loves fun, games and joking around	Josh Baskin, Big (1988): plays the giant floor piano at FAO Schwarz with his boss and wins a big promotion
Principled	Lives by firm moral beliefs	Sir Thomas More, A Man for All Seasons (1966): refuses to swear the king’s oath and goes to his death for it
Protective	Shields others from harm	Ellen Ripley, Aliens (1986): refuses to leave Newt behind and walks into the alien hive alone
Resilient	Bounces back from hardship	Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind (1939): finds Tara stripped bare and vows, “I’ll never be hungry again”
Resourceful	Finds clever ways to make do	Mark Watney, The Martian (2015): grows potatoes on Mars and makes water from leftover rocket fuel
Responsible	Owns their duties and follows through	Nani Pelekai, Lilo & Stitch (2002): an orphaned teen raising her little sister, who loses her job and fights to find another
Romantic	Devoted to love and grand gestures	Noah Calhoun, The Notebook (2004): writes to Allie every day for a year and restores their dream house
Selfless	Puts others first, even at a cost	Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games (2012): volunteers for the deadly Games in her little sister’s place
Sincere	Means exactly what they say	Mark Darcy, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001): tells Bridget plainly that he likes her just as she is
Spontaneous	Acts on impulse and lives in the moment	Maude, Harold and Maude (1971): at 79, steals cars on a whim and moves a city tree to a forest
Tolerant	Accepts people and ways unlike their own	Lt. John Dunbar, Dances with Wolves (1990): learns the Lakota language and ways until the tribe takes him in
Trustworthy	Reliable and worthy of others’ faith	Hoke Colburn, Driving Miss Daisy (1989): her driver for 25 years, he earns the trust of a woman who calls him her best friend
Wise	Has deep insight and sound judgment	Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda (2008): sees the Dragon Warrior in clumsy Po and makes Shifu promise to believe
Witty	Quick with clever, sharp remarks	Hildy Johnson, His Girl Friday (1940): out-talks her ex-husband editor in rapid-fire, overlapping banter

50 Negative Character Traits

Negative character traits are the qualities that cause trouble, for the character and everyone around them. Villains are built from them. So are the most interesting heroes. Here are 50 bad character traits, each with a movie character who shows it.

Trait	What it means	Movie example
Aggressive	Quick to attack or confront others	Terence Fletcher, Whiplash (2014): throws a chair at Andrew, then slaps him for missing the tempo
Aloof	Distant and hard to reach	Captain Georg von Trapp, The Sound of Music (1965): raises his seven children with cold military discipline after his wife’s death
Arrogant	Believes they’re better than everyone else	Lydia Tár, Tár (2022): belittles a Juilliard student who rejects Bach until he storms out
Bitter	Holds onto old hurts	Miss Havisham, Great Expectations (1946): jilted at the altar, she raises Estella to break men’s hearts
Bossy	Constantly ordering people around	Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada (2006): berates Andy for failing to get her a flight home during a hurricane
Careless	Doesn’t think about how their actions hurt others	Daisy Buchanan, The Great Gatsby (2013): kills Myrtle while driving Gatsby’s car, then stays with Tom and lets Gatsby take the blame
Cold	Shows little warmth or emotion	Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca (1940): tells the second Mrs. de Winter she can never replace Rebecca and urges her to jump
Controlling	Needs to dictate what others do	Margaret White, Carrie (1976): locks her daughter in a prayer closet
Cowardly	Lacks courage when danger comes	The Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz (1939): joins Dorothy’s trek to beg the Wizard for courage
Cruel	Causes pain without remorse	Cruella de Vil, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961): has Dalmatian puppies stolen so she can turn their fur into coats
Cynical	Expects the worst of people	Harry Lime, The Third Man (1949): looks down from a Ferris wheel and asks who would care if one of the “dots” below stopped moving
Deceitful	Lies to get ahead	Eve Harrington, All About Eve (1950): invents a tragic backstory to worm her way into Margo’s life
Defensive	Treats criticism or help as an attack	Will Hunting, Good Will Hunting (1997): mocks every therapist, even insulting Sean’s late wife in their first session
Disloyal	Betrays the people who trust them	Cypher, The Matrix (1999): sells out his crew to Agent Smith to be plugged back into the Matrix
Envious	Resents what someone else has	Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999): covets Dickie Greenleaf’s charmed life, then kills him and takes it
Greedy	Always wants more	Gordon Gekko, Wall Street (1987): declares that greed is good and plans to sell Bluestar Airlines off for parts
Gullible	Easily tricked	Pinocchio, Pinocchio (1940): lets Honest John talk him into Stromboli’s show, then onto Pleasure Island
Hot-tempered	Loses their temper fast	Happy Gilmore, Happy Gilmore (1996): brawls with Bob Barker in the middle of a pro-am round
Hypocritical	Preaches values they don’t live by	Warden Samuel Norton, The Shawshank Redemption (1994): quotes Scripture to inmates while taking kickbacks from prison labor
Impatient	Hates to wait	Simba, The Lion King (1994): sings “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” while he’s still a cub
Impulsive	Acts on sudden urges	Ariel, The Little Mermaid (1989): trades her voice to Ursula for legs to chase a prince she barely knows
Indecisive	Can’t make a choice and stick to it	Maggie Carpenter, Runaway Bride (1999): leaves three fiancés at the altar and can’t even pick her favorite eggs
Insecure	Lacks confidence in their own worth	Ken, Barbie (2023): feels lost without Barbie’s attention, so he tries to win respect through patriarchy
Irresponsible	Ignores duties and consequences	Alan Garner, The Hangover (2009): spikes the bachelor party’s drinks, and the groom goes missing
Jealous	Afraid someone will take the affection they want	Annie Walker, Bridesmaids (2011): wrecks the bridal shower after her rival Helen upstages her gift
Judgmental	Quick to condemn others	Sister Aloysius Beauvier, Doubt (2008): condemns Father Flynn with nothing but her certainty as proof
Lazy	Avoids work or effort	Peter Gibbons, Office Space (1999): hypnotized into not caring, he skips work and guts a fish on his desk
Manipulative	Controls people through deceit	Amy Dunne, Gone Girl (2014): fakes her own murder, with a planted diary, to frame her husband
Moody	Prone to sudden mood swings	Nadine Franklin, The Edge of Seventeen (2016): swings between sulks and outbursts and ends her friendship with Krista over Darian
Narcissistic	Obsessed with their own importance	Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard (1950): insists, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
Neurotic	Anxious and overthinking everything	Alvy Singer, Annie Hall (1977): buys Annie books about death and picks over his anxieties in therapy
Obsessive	Fixated to an unhealthy degree	Annie Wilkes, Misery (1990): holds her favorite author captive and breaks his ankles so he can’t leave
Overprotective	Shields someone so much it smothers them	Ming Lee, Turning Red (2022): bans Mei from the 4*Town concert and humiliates her over a crush
Paranoid	Suspects others are plotting against them	Lt. Cmdr. Queeg, The Caine Mutiny (1954): turns the ship upside down over missing strawberries, rolling steel balls in his hand
Pessimistic	Always expects the worst	Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh (2011): a gloomy donkey who expects the worst, even when his friends try to help
Petty	Holds small grudges and gets even	Regina George, Mean Girls (2004): promises to help Cady get Aaron, then kisses him in front of her
Pompous	Self-important and showily grand	Professor Henry Higgins, My Fair Lady (1964): boasts he can pass a flower seller off as a duchess
Possessive	Treats a person as theirs to own	Judge Claude Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996): tries to burn Esmeralda at the stake when she rejects him
Reckless	Takes dangerous risks without care	Martin Riggs, Lethal Weapon (1987): suicidal since his wife’s death, he takes wild risks that rattle his partner
Rude	Disrespectful and impolite	Bobby Dupea, Five Easy Pieces (1970): gets his group thrown out of a diner after arguing with a waitress
Ruthless	Will do anything to win, without mercy	Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men (2007): kills anyone in his path and leaves some lives to a coin toss
Sarcastic	Uses mocking remarks to sting or amuse	Megara, Hercules (1997): brushes off Hercules’ rescue with wisecracks
Secretive	Hides important things from others	Alfred Borden, The Prestige (2006): hides, even from his wife, that “Borden” is really twin brothers
Selfish	Puts their own needs first	Kuzco, The Emperor’s New Groove (2000): plans to flatten Pacha’s village to build his own summer home
Snobbish	Looks down on people of lower status	Ruth DeWitt Bukater, Titanic (1997): scorns Jack, who saved her daughter, and pushes Rose to marry rich Cal
Spoiled	Used to getting everything they want	Veruca Salt, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971): demands a golden goose in “I Want It Now,” then goes down the chute
Stubborn	Refuses to back down	Colm Doherty, The Banshees of Inisherin (2022): cuts off his own fingers rather than be friends with Pádraic again
Timid	Shy and easily frightened	George McFly, Back to the Future (1985): so meek that Biff has bullied him since high school
Vain	Excessively proud of their looks	The Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): orders Snow White killed when the Magic Mirror names her the fairest
Vengeful	Driven to get even	Mattie Ross, True Grit (2010): hires Rooster Cogburn to hunt down Tom Chaney, her father’s killer

When a Good Trait Goes Bad

Can a negative trait be a positive one? Often it’s the same trait, pushed too far. Confidence becomes arrogance. Protecting someone becomes controlling them. That turn is where a lot of great stories start.

• Confident to arrogant: Thor, in Thor (2011), attacks Jotunheim against his father’s orders. Odin strips his powers and banishes him to Earth.
• Protective to controlling: Marlin, in Finding Nemo (2003), smothers his son so much that Nemo swims out to a boat in defiance and gets caught.
• Ambitious to ruthless: Tony Montana, in Scarface (1983), has his boss killed and takes over his whole operation.
• Curious to obsessed: Roy Neary, in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), fills his house with dirt to sculpt a mountain, and his family leaves.

When the flaw takes over, the character has to win the good trait back, or lose everything. That’s the subject of our next guide, on character flaws.

How to Choose Traits for Your Character

The best characters aren’t a list of adjectives. They’re a few traits that pull against each other. Here’s how to pick yours:

1. Pick one strong trait and one that fights it. Erin Brockovich is determined and abrasive. Elle Woods is confident and underestimated. The friction makes them watchable.
2. Show it in a choice early. Mulan cuts her hair. Katniss volunteers. One action in the first act tells us more than a page of description.
3. Let the plot test it. Put your character where their best trait costs them something, or their worst trait gets them in trouble. Our character profile template helps you map it out, and our guide to character development shows how traits grow into an arc.

For more on what makes a character stick, see our list of the most memorable characters in film.

FAQs About Character Traits

The Final Cut on Character Traits

Character traits are the qualities that make a character who they are. Positive traits win us over, negative traits cause the trouble, and the best characters carry both. On screen, a trait is only real when we see a character act on it.

Which trait would you build your next character around? And which one would you give them to fight it?

For more on building characters, see our guides to secondary characters, the anti-hero and archetype examples in movies.