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For characters that debuted in TRON: Legacy and tropes that apply to characters here that also appeared in the sequel, please see that movie's page. See also the character page for Tron Uprising.

Humans

"Greetings, programs!"

Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges)

A former programmer at ENCOM whose ideas for video games were stolen by Dillinger. Dillinger subsequently fired him from the company to silence him. When we meet him, Flynn has spent at least a year seeking evidence of Dillinger's theft, with no success. Alan and Lora enlist him to help them put an end to Dillinger's abuse of power, but the MCP responds to their efforts in a way none of them could have predicted.

Action Survivor: When he first enters the games.
Acting for Two: For Flynn and Clu.
Audience Surrogate
Deadpan Snarker
Did Not Get the Girl: Broke up with Lora before the film, and briefly kisses Yori.
God in Human Form: As a User to the programs.
Heroic Sacrifice: Thinks jumping into the laser will cause this, but it simply rematerializes him back into reality.
Hollywood Hacking
Jerk with a Heart of Gold
Last Kiss: With Yori.
Master of Unlocking
Messianic Archetype: From the programs' perspective he is a literal divine being who descends from on high, joins the fight against evil, and returns to his own world by sacrificing himself to save program-kind.
Nerds Are Sexy
Playful Hacker
Sarcasm Mode: He's usually never off this mode.
There's No Place Like Home: although his goals do eventually shift from "get home" to "free the system".
Trapped in Another World

Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner)

One of the programmers at ENCOM, with big nerdy glasses and a hot-air popcorn machine, he created TRON.

Glasses Pull
Nerd Glasses
Nerds Are Sexy
Nice Guy
Only Sane Man: Appears to consider himself as such compared to Flynn and Lora.
Sour Supporter: He isn't thrilled with the idea of helping his fiancee's ex-boyfriend, at least at first.
To Be Lawful or Good: He's very much on the fence about warning Flynn, much less helping. The "lawful" option would be to look the other way, let Flynn get caught, and give up on his software. The "good" option involves about a half-dozen felonies for all the right reasons. He takes the "good" option.

Ed Dillinger (David Warner)

The Corrupt Corporate Executive responsible for the Master Control Progam, and Flynn's termination from ENCOM. He is now Senior Executive Vice President thanks to his "contribution" to the company line.

Corrupt Corporate Executive
Dirty Coward
Even Evil Has Standards: Dillinger balks when MCP expresses desire to hack into the Pentagon and Kremlin.
Idiot Ball: He pretty much ran with this one, but willingly letting the MCP hack the Pentagon and Kremlin just so it wouldn't tell the world about all the programs he'd stolen will forever be one of the classics.
Jerkass
My God, What Have I Done?: Reacts this way when he learns the full extent of the MCP's plans.

Lora Baines (Cindy Morgan)

One of the programmers at ENCOM, specializing in laser research and digitizing objects. Also the current love interest of Alan Bradley, and the former love interest of Kevin Flynn.

Defrosting Ice Queen: Towards Flynn by the end of the first movie.
Hot Scientist
Ice Queen: Flynn halfheartedly accused her of acting like this before they broke up; he may or may not have been serious.
Sweater Girl
The Mister and the Ex: Alan as the Mister, Flynn as the ex.

Walter Gibbs (Barnard Hughes)

An ENCOM scientist. Gibbs founded ENCOM, originally running it out of his garage, before Dillinger took over, and doesn't approve of Dillinger's methods.

Cool Old Guy
For Science! : He was so happy to be working in a lab with his laser project that he all but handed Dillinger the company he built.
Kicked Upstairs: By Dillinger.
Nerd Glasses

Programs

"That's Tron. He fights for the Users."

TRON (Bruce Boxleitner)

A security program, written by Alan, that threatens the Master Control Program's plans to infiltrate and take over government computers. Held prisoner by Sark as a Game Grid gladiator when Flynn first sees him.

Action Hero
Badass: And how.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Yes, he's the biggest Badass in cyberspace. He's also a very loyal and sweet guy. He's visibly shaken when it looks like Flynn and Ram were killed. When he's running through the city, an urgent call from his User pending, he goes to rescue his girlfriend first (and if you believe that Deleted Scene, go back to her place for a while). His Kingdom Hearts incarnation is even more so.
Friendly Sniper: Is an expert at throwing his disc.
Meaningful Name: TRON means "trace on," similar to his functions in the game. Also abbreviated from "electronic."
Name Tron
Religious Bruiser
Supporting Protagonist
Tron Lines (Imagine that): Blue, with a large T on his chest made of light squares.

"End of line."

Master Control Program (voice of David Warner)

The Big Bad. An artificially intelligent program used by Dillinger to advance his career at ENCOM by assimilating the functions of all the other programs on their mainframe. It eventually begins planning to take over other systems, like the U.S. Military's computers, and even overcomes Dillinger's control. Inside the computer world, the MCP is a totalitarian dictator attempting to stamp out even the belief in users.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot
Big Bad
Evil Sounds Deep
Flat Earth Atheist: Is not one himself, but promotes the attitude among the programs.
Huge Holographic Head
Instant A.I., Just Add Water
Ludicrous Precision
Nay Theist
Serkis Folk
Sinister Geometry
Turned Against Their Masters
Verbal Tic: "End of line."
We Used To Be Friends: Unless what he says was a lie this piece of dialogue implies it.
MCP: You shouldn't have come back Flynn.
Flynn: Hey hey hey, it's the big master control program everyone's been talking about.
MCP: Sit right there, make yourself comfortable. Remember the time we used to spend playing Chess together?
You Will Be Assimilated: Kills programs and takes on their functions.

Commander Sark (David Warner)

The Dragon to the MCP, with Dilinger's face and voice. Runs the gladiatorial games.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Sark becomes a giant after the MCP transfers all its functions to him.
The Dragon
Fantastic Racism
Nay Theist
Orange Lines, Take Warning: Unique to him, Sark's Tron Lines glow a brilliant orange when he is angered or sent into a blind rage.
Robots Enslaving Robots
We Can Rule Together: Offers Tron a place by his side.

CLU (Jeff Bridges)

One of the programs Flynn used to hack into the ENCOM system.

Defiant to the End
Hollywood Hacking
Machine Monotone: Unlike almost all of the other programs. Graned, he was the only one from a different system.
Not As You Know Them: Following the events of the movie, CLU was rebuilt and vastly upgraded into a powerful Admin program who later became the Big Bad of the sequel. Some fans consider them the same character because they have the same name and actor, but they have very distinct functions and characterization.
Sacrificial Lamb / Sacrificial Lion
Screams Like a Little Girl

Yori (Cindy Morgan)

A program written by Lora. She appears to be a 3D simulation program and may play a role in the digitization process.

Ace Pilot
Badass Damsel
The Chick
The Engineer: She designed the Solar Sailer that gets them out of the city and most of the way to the fight with Master Control.
Last Kiss: With Flynn as Flynn jumps into the beam.
Lingerie Scene: Cut from the final release, but seen on DVD.

Ram (Dan Shor)

An actuarial program for an insurance firm conscripted into the gladiatorial games. An ally to Tron and eventually Flynn.

Action Survivor
Badass Bookworm / Badass Normal / Badass Unintentional: Ram seems pretty damn good at the gladiator games he was forced into despite being an actuarial program with no security features.
Go Out with a Smile
Mr. Exposition: He gives Crom, and by extension the audience, the low-down on the MCP's regime and the game grid.
Sacrificial Lion

Dumont (Barnard Hughes)

A Tower Guardian who is nearly killed by the MCP for trying to help the heroes communicate with the real world.

Cool Old Guy
Defiant to the End
Obi-Wan Moment: Sark's troops storm the gates of his tower, intending to arrest him and drag him to certain de-rez. He calmly (but sarcastically) addresses Sark as just another Program seeking communion with a User.
Turbulent Priest: Guardians serve a priest-like role in the system, and he maintains the last free tower. He's cranky and embittered for a good reason, but he's just fine with being a pain in the ass.

Crom (Peter Jurasik)

A banking program conscripted into the games.

Jewish and Nerdy: He has a pronounced New York Jewish accent and is essentially a pencil pusher.
Sacrificial Lamb

Bit

A binary digit resembling a compound of dodecahedron and icosahedron, Bit can only say "yes" or "no" when asked a question, and is used by other programs for advice.