Karuna Banerjee
Karuna Banerjee plays the role of Sarbajaya, the role for which she is best known, and which she played in all three movies in Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy. In 1959, she was nominated for a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of Sarbajaya in Aparajito. Other films include Headmaster, Shubha Bibaha, Devi, Kanchenjungha, and Interview.
Kanu Banerjee
Kanu Banerjee plays the role of Harihar, and was an established film and theater actor at the time of his casting. He began appearing in films as early as 1927, and his other notable credit is as Ramakrishna in the Prafulla Chakraborty film Bhagaban Sri Sri Ramakrishna.
Chunibala Devi
Chunibala was a character actress in theater, but had appeared in several films as well by the time she appeared in Pather Panchali. She had been retired for many years by the time Satyagit Ray asked her to take on the role of Indir.
Uma Dasgupta
This was Uma Dasgupta's only acting credit. Durga Chew-Bose, a writer who was named for the character, writes of Dasgupta's performance, "Das Gupta’s performance haunts, and not just because of the tragedies that befall her character. It’s so much more than that. While Durga doesn’t overwhelm the screen, the way she grins kindly at Apu, or holds his chin while combing his wet hair, or dances freely during a monsoon—these movements of a girl—fine-tune the film."
Subir Banerjee
Subir Banerjee was discovered by Satyajit Ray's wife playing on the roof of a neighboring apartment building. His father was not eager to have him play the role, but eventually agreed. Because the shooting took so long, Ray worried that Subir's voice would break and ruin the continuity of the narrative, but luckily this did not happen.
Runki Banerjee
Runki Banerjee appears in the first few scenes of the movie as the pre-adolescent Durga.
