It has been nearly three decades since Independence Day was released to the summer movie public. It was the instant classic alien invasion movie that turned writer/director Roland Emmerich into the big-budget spectacle filmmaker that we know him as today and, in 2016, spawned a sequel called Independence Day: Resurgence.
One of the most interesting things about the Independence Day cast is that, while the movie was chock-full of names and faces that the average movie fan would recognize today, there was no "movie star" in the mix. It was very much an ensemble cast where everybody pulled their weight to build the larger story together. This doesn't mean that the movie didn't produce at least one bonafide movie star, though. Let's start there.
Will Smith (Capt. Steven Hiller)
After successfully transitioning from rap musician (as The Fresh Prince) to TV star (leading The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast) to movie star (co-leading Michael Bay's Bad Boys), Will Smith led the defense against the alien invasion as fighter pilot, Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day. Smith went on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest stars with hits like the Men in Black movies and won a Best Actor Oscar for King Richard in 2022 on a night that also saw his career take a strange turn when he slapped Chris Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. As for Will Smith's upcoming projects, the Bad Boys: Ride or Die star continues to produce Bel-Air, which has a third season coming to Peacock in August 2024, has a sequel to I Am Legend in the works, and has signed on to star in a sci-fi thriller called Resistor for Sony.
Bill Pullman (President Thomas Whitmore)
After coming to prominence with his comedic work in films like Ruthless People and Spaceballs, Bill Pullman was cast in Independence Day as, arguably, his most famous role, Thomas J. Whitmore: one of the best movie presidents, mostly due to the epic speech he delivers near the finale. Some of Pullman’s most notable movie and TV credits since include playing the President again for NBC's short-lived comedy, 1600 Penn, reprising Whitmore in Independence Day: Resurgence, and playing the only recurring character of USA’s quasi-anthology crime drama, The Sinner. One of his more recent notable acting turns saw him go bad as Alex Murdaugh in Lifetime's two-part true crime drama, Murdaugh Murders: The Movie.
Jeff Goldblum (David Levinson)
An ID4 vet who would also reprise his role of David Levinson in Resurgence is Jeff Goldblum, who has starred in several other great sci-fi movies as an “overly educated nerd,” such as Seth Brundle in David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of The Fly or in the Jurassic Park movies as Ian Malcom. He would more recently become one of the usual suspects in Wes Anderson’s movies, starred in one of the best Marvel movies (Thor: Ragnarok) as the Grandmaster, and does ads for Apartments.com. He has an upcoming 2024 movie (namely the first half-of the two-part movie adaptation of Wicked as The Wizard) and an upcoming Netflix TV show called Kaos as a modern incarnation of Zeus.
Mary McDonnell (Marilyn Whitmore)
Starring in Independence Day as First Lady Marilyn Whitmore is Mary McDonnell, who probably came to your attention in the early ‘90s when she scored a pair of Oscar nominations – one in 1991 for Dances with Wolves, and then a second in 1993 for Passion Fish. She is probably best known today for another role that combines sci-fi with politics – President Laura Roslin in the Battlestar Galactica cast – and later found a home on TV with a role on The Closer and its spin-off, Major Crimes. She more recently lent her voice to Netflix’s animated The Witcher spin-off movie, Nightmare of the Wolf, and joined the cast of Mike Flanagan’s series adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher for the same platform.
Judd Hirsch (Julis Levinson)
Playing David's father, Julius, is Judd Hirsch, who has been acting since the early 1970s and is probably best known for playing Alex Reiger on the comedy series Taxi, or more recently, for his role on the CBS hit series Numbers. He later had regular roles on a few short-lived series – ABC's Forever and the CBS sitcom, Superior Donuts – but memorably recurred alongside the Goldbergs cast as “Pop-Pop.” Some of his recent big screen credits following Resurgence, include one of the best A24 movies, Uncut Gems, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama, The Fabelmans (for which he received his second Academy Award nomination after 1981’s Ordinary People), and an upcoming drama called Connescence, which is now in post-production.
Vivica A. Fox (Jasmine Dubrow)
Steven Hiller’s wife, Jasmine Dubrow, was one of the earliest major roles for Vivica A. Fox, who later went on to star in even more action films – most notably the 1996 crime drama, Set It Off, and Quentin Tarantino’s two-part revenge tale, Kill Bill, as Vernita Green. Since then, the Booty Call star has done a series of smaller films and TV guest spots, -- such as her recurring role on Fox's hit series, Empire, as Candace -- and returned to the role of Jasmine in Independence Day: Resurgence. The year 2024 saw Fox appear in the Tyler Perry parody, Not Another Church Movie, and she has several other projects in the works.
Adam Baldwin (Major Mitchell)
Unless you've watched Independence Day recently, you probably didn't even remember that Adam Baldwin was in it as Major Mitchell, unless you recognized him as the kid from My Bodyguard or Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket. It wasn't until 2002 that most people would come to know Baldwin from his role in the Firefly cast as Jayne Cobb. The fandom for that cult series outlived its single-season run, ensuring Baldwin would still have a strong following as he later starred on NBC's Chuck, TNT's The Last Ship, and in the Kurt Warner biopic, American Underdog, as Coach Allen. Baldwin has, more recently, made guest spots on procedural like S.W.A.T. and his war history drama, Love, Courage, and the Battle of Bushy Run, came out in 2024.
Mae Whitman (Patricia Whitmore)
President Whitmore’s daughter, Patricia, was played in ID4 by Mae Whitman the same year she played George Clooney’s daughter in the rom-com, One Fine Day. She went on to star opposite Alia Shawkat on the 1960s-set sitcom State of Grace and in the Arrested Development cast before joining the Parenthood cast, which she followed up with another NBC series called Good Girls. She is also an accomplished voice actor, with notable animated roles including Katara on Avatar: The Last Airbender, several great DC TV shows as various characters, and reprising Roxy Richter in Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Harvey Fierstein (Marty Gilbert)
David Levinson’s ill-fated friend and employer, Marty Gilbert, was played by Harvey Fierstein, who is best known for his work on the stage, for which he's won four Tony Awards. However, you likely remember him from Mrs. Doubtfire as Robin Williams’ brother and the designer of his English nanny costume, recognize his gravelly voice as Yao in the original Mulan, or did not know he was on How I Met Your Mother as Lily’s smoker’s voice. After playing Edna Turnblad in NBC's live performance of Hairspray in 2016, Fierstein lent his voice to Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and appeared in the Bros cast most recently.
Harry Connick Jr. (Captain Jimmy Wilder)
While his character – Hiller’s wingman, Jimmy Wilder – didn’t survive the first act of Independence Day, Mae Whitman’s Hope Float’s co-star, Harry Connick Jr., was one of the cast’s better-known names, particularly for his music career, which included the When Harry Met Sally… soundtrack. His eclectic acting career also involved dealing with more extra-terrestrial visitors in The Iron Giant, playing a serial killer in Copycat, and a recurring role alongside the Will & Grace cast. He was also an American Idol judge at one time, played Daddy Warbucks in 2021's Annie Live! cast for NBC, and has a rom-com called Find Me Falliing due for a 2024 release on Netflix.
Randy Quaid (Russell Casse)
Russell Casse – an everyman whose sacrifice helped save the planet – was played by Randy Quaid, who is best known as Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon's Vacation movies, an Amish man with an astonishing bowling talent in Kingpin, and his Academy Award nominated performance in 1974’s The Last Detail. In more recent years, he began dealing with legal issues stemming from a 2010 burglary charge in Santa Barbara and, until 2015, resided in Canada seeking refugee status due to a conspiratorial fear of assassination in Hollywood, according to a Vanity Fair story. The Brokeback Mountain star’s last acting role was a 2018 comedy called All You Can Eat.
Robert Loggia (General William Grey)
Playing General Grey, the man who was in charge of the United States military response to the alien threat, was Robert Loggia, who – with over 200 acting credits on his resume – was an incredibly prolific actor. Outside of Independence Day, the actor was best known from Brian DePalma’s Scarface, the iconic piano scene opposite Tom Hanks in Big, his reunion with Bill Pullman in the 1997 David Lynch movie, Lost Highway, and his Academy Award nominated performance in 1986’s Jagged Edge. The actor was unable to reprise his role in the sequel, as he passed away in 2015.
Whether it is actually the Fourth of July or any other time of the year, those seeking a fun sci-fi flick cannot go wrong with rewatching this classic that was the most popular movie at the box office for 1996. However, amid the cutting edge special effects and explosive action sequences, I think many would agree that the talented, star-studded Independence Day cast deserves a great deal of the credit for its enduring success.
