All About the First Actor with Down Syndrome to Lead an Action Movie: Race Eberhardt 'Has That It Factor'

Mar. 15, 2025

Race Eberhardtmight soon be a household name!

“This is a story about an underdog USDA agent who dreams of doing something big with his career,” asynopsis for the filmreads. “He’s the only one in his department with the guts to go undercover.”

“His ‘special ability’ centers around his capacity to communicate with Earth’s plants, a skill he takes for granted until it ultimately saves the day. 🎞️,” it adds.

Fish & Crown President/DirectorBen Gonyo, who directedStrait Undercover, spoke toTodayin an interview that aired Wednesday, Jan. 29, where he said of Eberhardt, “He has that ‘it’ factor that when I see him on camera, I want to see more.”

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Race Eberhardt inStrait Undercover(2025).Strait Undercover Film/Youtube

Strait Undercover Film/Youtube

Eberhardt plays Race Strait, the protagonist of the film. And as Gonyo explained onToday, “The goal was to create a character around the real-life Race.”

The filmmaker continued, “It wasn’t to try to push him into a box, to be something. So we took his real-life essence and then wrapped a story around it.”

“For us, it was very important to not make the story about the disability,” Gonyo continued in his interview withToday. “What we see traditionally in films is that the characters on screen are forced to identify with their disability, almost as the reason they’re on screen. I feel like that’s a way that it used to be done, and we want to look forward and do it in a new way.”

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The director also toldTodaythatStrait Undercover"is an example of artists doing it differently."

“And maybe that can inspire other people and they can see, ‘If you can see it, you can be it.’ You know, that saying? Maybe that they can take something from that,” he added.

For Eberhardt — who began acting at age 10, including in local productions ofMary PoppinsandBeauty and the Beast— he now counts Race Strait as a “new hero” among other big-name action stars and characters likeChuck Norris,Tom Cruiseand Jason Bourne (Matt Damon).

As for Gonyo, “He is a dream-come-true guy,” Eberhardt said on theTodayshow, to which the filmmaker replied, “Both of our dreams comin' true.”

Strait Undercoveris slated for a summer 2025 release, and is available for preorder now atstraitundercover.com.

source: people.com