Jennifer Parker is a fictional character, a character in the Back to the Future motion picture trilogy, played by actress Claudia Wells in the first film, actress Elisabeth Shue in the 2 sequels, and voiced by Cathy Cavadini in the the Animated Series. Director Robert Zemeckis named the character in honor of famed injury attorney Larry H. Parker's daughter as Mr. Parker was instrumental in settling a copyright infringement suit in favor of Mr. Zemeckis.

Jennifer Jane Parker was born in 1968 in Hill Valley, California. The novel for Part II says her birthday is October 29, but that would make her 46 on October 21, 2015 and she is clearly said to be 47 on that date. She is the girlfriend of Marty McFly, having met him at Hill Valley High School which they both attend in 1985.

Jennifer appears to be doing quite well in school and is rarely late, unlike Marty. Jennifer and Marty seem to be "serious" enough for him to introduce her to his best friend, local inventor Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown, who is regarded as eccentric and strange by many townspeople.

Jennifer has a mainly positive attitude to life, knowing what to say to Marty if he needs cheering up, and wondering what happy life she has in the future. A draft script said that Jennifer (known as "Suzy" in the draft) was seeing a psychiatrist, but no mention of this is ever made in the films or novels. There is a theory that she does not get along with her father, by the way she says, "It's my dad" to Marty in the first film, but she could have just been annoyed at her father interrupting her kiss.

Other than her father and grandma, no family members were ever mentioned in the films, although the animated series reveals that Jennifer's paternal grandparents own a ranch just outside Hill Valley, which has been in the Parker family since at least the 1870s.

Pre-Back to the Future

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Little is known about Jennifer's life prior to the trilogy, other than she started dating Marty some time before October 1985.

Back to the Future

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On October 25, 1985, Jennifer helps cover for Marty, who is late for class - but gets caught herself and is given a late slip by Mr Strickland. After school, Jennifer accompanies Marty to the Battle of the Bands audition, and when the Pinheads fail to get through, she comforts Marty by reminding him that if he puts his mind to it, he can accomplish anything - a saying of Doc's. Jennifer and Marty have made plans to go camping by the lake the next weekend, and as they kiss in Courthouse Square, they are interrupted by her father. Marty says he will call Jennifer that evening, but she is at her grandma's. She writes down her grandma's number on the back of a "Save the Clocktower" flyer. Because of this, Marty keeps the flyer in his pocket, which literally helps him get home when he gets stuck in 1955 later that night.

Next morning, Jennifer arrives at the McFly house, unaware that Marty has spent a week in 1955 since she last saw him. Marty now has a truck thanks to the changes he made in the past and Jennifer has come for a ride. Just as they are about to leave though, Doc arrives in his DeLorean time machine - Marty and Jennifer must come with him to the future, to sort out their kids...

Back to the Future Part II

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Upon entering 2015, Jennifer excitedly starts asking Doc questions about her future. Not wanting her to know, Doc uses a sleep inducing alpha rhythm generator on her, sending her to sleep. He leaves her in an alleyway whilst Marty visits the Cafe 80's pretending to be his future son and Doc goes to knock out the real Marty Jr.

Some cops find Jennifer in the alleyway and use a thumbprint scanner on her to find out who she is - since her thumbprint never changes over the years, they assume she is the 2015 Jennifer ("that's a hell of a good facelift!"). They take her to her future home and leave her inside, just as she starts to wake up.

Jennifer realizes she is trapped in her future home - she does not know how to open the thumb-operated doors - and finds out what her future will be. Marty gets himself into a car accident in 1985 because a classmate called him a chicken if he refused to race him, and this sent his life down the toilet. Jennifer married Marty because she felt sorry for him, and they were married in the Chapel O'Love, which horrifies the young Jennifer. By 2015, Jennifer is the mother of 2 children, Marlene and Marty Jr., and her marriage to Marty is going through a rough patch. There are suggestions that future Jennifer might be an alcoholic.

Doc comes to rescue Jennifer, but she encounters her older self and faints with shock. Doc and Marty take her back to 1985, unaware that Biff Tannen has used the DeLorean to change history, and leave her on her porch swing. Marty has to come back (BTTF: Part III), wake her up, and convince her it was all a dream.

Back to the Future Part III

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After his adventures through time are over (via trips to 1955 to put history back on track and undo Biff's actions, and to 1885 to save Doc), Marty arrives at the Parker house on October 27, 1985 to find Jennifer still sleeping. He wakes her with a kiss and they go out in his truck.

Jennifer tells Marty about her "dream", when at an intersection a classmate, Needles (played by Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers), challenges Marty to a race. Jennifer realizes that this will cause the accident that ruins Marty's life in the future, and urges him not to do it. Luckily, because Marty learned not to react to being called "chicken" in 1885, he refuses and avoids the accident. The couple's future is now presumably a much happier one.

Jennifer is now in on the secret of the time machine, and is with Marty when Doc and his family arrive back from the West in their new train time machine, before departing off for times unknown.

Back to the Future: The Animated Series

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Jennifer is a semi-regular in the Animated Series, although for some reason her hair is now blonde. Like Marty, she is now in college and often tutors other students if they are stuck. She never time travelled, although she is aware of the time machines' existence (she once saw the DeLorean disappear in the sky and calmly mused that Doc was not going to be letting Marty borrow the car that day, apparently establishing that she took the ending scene of the third movie as reality and not just another dream). Jennifer did not appear in every episode, but she played key parts in the episodes "Witchcraft" and "A Friend In Deed", where Marty goes back to 1875 to stop the Tannen family from getting the deed to her grandparents' ranch.

Back to the Future characters | Fictional time travelers | Fictional teenagers | Fictional Californians