A handsome vampire with curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and the characteristically pale skin of his kind. He stands 183cm tall. However, his personality is that of a hedonist and ephemeralist, showing a cruel side as he commits murders without a shred of guilt. In short, he is the polar opposite of Louis de Pointe du Lac. In the latter half of the story, he appears in a shabby and miserable state, seemingly having fallen into ruin. As the story is told from Louis's perspective, there is no explanation as to how Lestat fell into such a pathetic condition.

The narrator of Interview with the Vampire. The story is structured as a confession of his life to a reporter, Daniel Molloy. He is described as having black hair. He became a vampire in 1791 at the age of 25. At the time, he owned an indigo plantation near the Mississippi River close to New Orleans. Despondent over his younger brother's suicide, he wandered the slums, drinking daily and despairing to the point of intentionally losing duels. He caught the eye of Lestat de Lioncourt and gave up his humanity to become a vampire. Unlike Lestat, Louis constantly agonizes over his humanity. Because their personalities and values are so different, they argue incessantly (pathetically, the first half of the novel is mostly about whether they will stay together or not). Eventually, while struggling with the urge to drink human blood, Louis finds a young girl (Claudia) in a house devastated by plague and feeds on her. Afterwards, Lestat, Louis, and Claudia live together as a family. Louis raised Claudia with love, and after she developed the mind of an adult woman, they shared a relationship akin to platonic lovers. Meanwhile, Claudia, weary of living in a child's body for 60 years and of Lestat's control over her and Louis, decides to kill Lestat. However, Lestat, whom they thought was dead, returns. To protect Claudia, Louis attacks Lestat with a lamp and flees with her. Lestat accuses Claudia of trying to kill him, and Louis, Madeleine, and Claudia are captured by the vampires of the Théâtre des Vampires. Louis is locked in a coffin with a padlock, while Madeleine and Claudia are killed. Armand releases Louis from the coffin. Armand claims he was powerless to stop it, but Louis blames him for standing by and watching Claudia die. Realizing that his own past bystander attitude was the root of all tragedy, Louis vows no longer to live as a spectator and sets fire to the Théâtre des Vampires. Almost all the vampires there perish, except for Armand, whom Louis warned in advance. Eventually, he parts ways with Armand after an argument over their differing values. This concludes the interview with Daniel. In the final scene of the book, when Daniel expresses admiration for Louis's journey and says he wants to experience it himself, Louis becomes furious, asking if he really wants such a miserable life. He bites Daniel and drinks his blood but disappears without turning him into a vampire.

Louis de Pointe du Lac found her beside her mother, who had died of the plague, and drank her blood; Lestat de Lioncourt then gave her his blood to turn her into a vampire. She lived with them for about 70 years like family. However, because she was turned as a child, her body remained permanently frozen in that state. As time passed, she developed the mind of an adult woman and grew to loathe her unchanging form, longing for an adult body. She shared a near-romantic bond with Louis and was on decent terms with Lestat, but she eventually came to believe Lestat was shackling her and Louis, leading her to kill him to escape his control. She attempted to kill him after drugging him with opium. Lestat returned, battered but alive, and accused Claudia of the attempted murder. For the crime of trying to kill her maker, Claudia was sentenced to death by exposure to sunlight along with Madeleine, and she crumbled into ash.

A vampire who has the appearance of a 17-year-old but is already over 600 years old at the time of the interview. Even among vampires, he is considered ancient. He is described as cold, powerful, and exceptionally beautiful—so much so that he is often mistaken for a beautiful girl. He is very conservative and places great importance on following rules. However, he secretly suffers, constantly remembering the happy moments he shared with Marius. (He is portrayed as a supporting character with relatively little screen time or backstory.)

The reporter who interviews Louis in Interview with the Vampire. At the end of the novel, he sets out on his own to find Lestat.