Jesse Greenwood is the main protagonist of the Free Willy Series. In the first film, this twelve-year-old street boy has lost his family and spends his days stealing from people and living on the streets.
He was played by Jason James Richter, who also portrayed Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story III.
That is, until he befriends Willy, a lonely orca, while doing community service at a local aquarium, and finding a new family.
Eventually, he rescues Willy and returns him to the wild after learning that his keepers want him dead to collect insurance money, keeping him out of the reach of an evil man named Dial.
In a TV series, Jesse and Willy go on exciting adventures under the sea.
In the second film, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Jesse, with his half-brother, Elvis, and his first ever girlfriend, Nadine, reunites with Willy and together they successfully battle a burning oil spill to ensure Willy's escape to the open ocean with his sister, Luna, and his younger brother, Little Spot.
In the third film, Free Willy 3: The Rescue, Jesse is now a secondary character, and he, along with his old Native American friend, Randolph, and a shy new friend Max Wesley, try to foil Max's father's illegal whaling operation to preserve the birth of Willy's and mate, Nikki's, son.
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