Race Eberhardt, a 37-year-old man, is the first action star with Down Syndrome. His film debut, Strait Undercover, set to release this summer. Race has been in love with acting since he was 10 and was involved in theatre troops in Rochester. Now, he gets to live out his dreams of being an actor.
The movie is about a USDA agent with the power to communicate with Earth’s plants, who goes undercover to take down a mega corporation that has been poisoning the local farming lots. The main character, Race, who is based off the actor, is a compassionate and charming character. The director, Ben Gonyo, said “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,” while talking to PEOPLE newsletter.
While Eberhardt isn’t the first person with Down Syndrome to star in a movie (David Desanctis starred in “Where Hope Grows”), he is the first person with his condition to be the centerpiece of an action film. The trailer for the movie is on the official Strait Undercover YouTube channel, so go check it out!
