Main article: List of characters in The Fast and the Furious film series
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto: An auto - machinery mechanic and elite street racer from the United States. Dom is wanted for committing numerous semi-truck hijackings. At the start of the film, he is living in the Dominican Republic and hijacks fuel trucks to earn money. Dom drives a Chevrolet Chevelle SS and later in the movie, his resurrected Dodge Charger which appeared in the first movie.
Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former police officer, auto mechanic and talented street racer. Brian is now an FBI agent hot on the trail of the Mexican drug lord Arturo Braga. Brian drives a Nissan Skyline GTR R34 and later drives a Subaru Impreza WRX STI throughout the movie.
Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's younger sister and love interest of Brian. She reunites with both men when their paths cross over the Braga case. Mia drives a JDM converted Acura NSX.
Michelle Rodriguez as Leticia "Letty" Ortiz: Dominic's girlfriend who lives with him in the Dominican Republic at the start of the film. Her murder at the hands of Braga's organization is what spurs on Dominic to seek revenge.
John Ortiz as Ramon Campos/Arturo Braga: Initially portrayed as a liaison for Braga's organization, he eventually reveals himself to be Braga himself. A powerful drug cartel leader who recruits street racers to move heroin across the US-Mexican border.
Laz Alonso as Fenix Rise: An enforcer for Braga who is responsible for Letty's death. Fenix drives a Ford Gran Torino.
Gal Gadot as Gisele Harabo: A liaison for Braga who eventually sides with Dominic after he saves her life and helps him and Brian locate the drug lord. Gisele drives a TechArt Tuned Porsche Cayman S.
Jack Conley as Penning
Sung Kang as Han Lue: One of Dominic's crew in the Dominican Republic who appeared in this film's timeline sequel, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Han talks about moving to Tokyo when the heat comes down. He says to Dom, "I heard they're doing some crazy shit in Tokyo".
Don Omar as Rico appears in the beginning and the end
Tego Calderón as Tego also appears in the beginning and the end with Rico
Brandon T. Jackson as Alex

After a successful run of hijacking fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) has become an international criminal. Under increasing pressure from the local police, Dom's partner Han (from the third film) decides to flee to Tokyo. Dom is afraid of what will happen to Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) if the authorities ever catch him and link her to him, so he sleeps with her and leaves in the middle of the night.

Some time later, Letty is found to have been shot dead in her wrecked car. Dom returns to the scene of her murder just outside of L.A. There, he discovers traces of nitromethane, which allows him to lead a personal investigation up to a certain David Park, who had purchased the nitromethane for the driver who killed Letty. Park is coerced into helping Dom get a spot in a street race, arranged by Ramon Campos, where he will supposedly find Letty's killer.

Meanwhile, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker), now an FBI agent, is assigned to track down a notorious drug lord named Arturo Braga. Brian's investigation also leads him to David Park. He arrives at Park's apartment while Dom is still interrogating him (by holding him by his ankles outside a window). At the FBI office, Park also tells Brian that the aforementioned street race grants the winner a spot on the team that traffics heroin across the United States-Mexico border for Braga. He visits Dom's sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster), warning her to stay away from Dom, as he will eventually get caught; Mia criticizes him for his betrayal of them five years earlier and asks why he let Dominic go. Brian replies that he doesn't know, and she leaves.

With both of them having the information of the race, Dom repaints and modifies his Chevrolet Chevelle SS while Brian eventually picks a Nissan Skyline R34 from the LAPD impound lot and modifies it. Dom and Brian participate in the race. Almost at the finish line, Dom shoots ahead using nitrous. In a reference to the first film, Brian replies "Too early," and uses nitrous to get ahead of Dom. However, Dom hits Brian's bumper making him spin out, ensuring Dom's victory and contuing his quest for revenge. Having lost the race, Brian uses his position at the FBI to wrongfully arrest Dwight Mueller (Greg Cipes), another of Braga's drivers, in order to usurp Mueller's spot on the team. Ramon Campos, Braga's right hand man, invites the drivers to a party, where Dom ends up in a confrontation with a driver called Fenix, and Brian looks for signs of Braga.

The next day, the team's drivers and their cars are smuggled into Mexico to receive the heroin which they are to import across the border at night. They are to meet with Fenix en route and pass through a path of tunnels to evade the surveillance systems used to monitor the borders. Gisele, Braga's liason, gives Dom a subtle warning in the form of the Spanish phrase "vaya con Dios" After the run, Dom realizes that the drivers are routinely shot and killed after each import job, to avoid having to pay them. Letty, having been in the same situation, was the only driver to get away when they shot her team. The ensuing pursuit led to her car crash and getting shot. Now, just before shooting Brian and Dom, Fenix admits with no remorse that he killed Letty. Suddenly, the cars behind them explode due to sabotage by Dom, who had anticipated the betrayal. Brian uses this diversion to hijack one of the Hummers carrying the heroin, and escape the gunfire with Dom.

Back in marshall, they hide the Hummer in the LAPD impound lot, and Brian claims that Dom now owes him a "10-second car", echoing Dom's line from the first movie. Dom smashes the window of an impounded Subaru Impreza WRX STI which he "gives" to Brian. They go to Brian's place, where Brian calls up Mia to come over and patch up Dom from a gunshot wound he sustained in the earlier fire fight. After dinner, Dom rummages through some of Brian's evidence and learns that Brian had been contacted by Letty, who had ag