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The Cast of ‘Independence Day’: Where Are They 30 Years Later?  

In honor of the sci-fi blockbuster’s 30th anniversary, THR checks in on the all-star cast, including Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum and Vivica A. Fox.

July 2, 2026 11:00am, Published on July 2, 2026

Fireworks, backyard barbecues … the Fourth of July has plenty of great traditions. But sitting in a dark, air-conditioned theater while watching a blockbuster movie that’s stuffed to the brim with explosions? It doesn’t get much better than that.

Independence Day was released on July 3, 1996, and it had everything you could ask for in a July 4 movie: patriotism, international cooperation, spaceships, an exploding White House and more movie stars than you could count. It even had the name of the holiday in the title.

With all that going for it, it’s not surprising that Independence Day became top-grossing film of that year, earning $817.4 million at the global box office. As the enduring sci-fi classic celebrates its 30th anniversary, THR looks back at the cast and what they’ve been up to in the years since Will Smith knocked out a nasty-looking alien and declared: “Welcome to Earth.”

Will Smith as Capt. Steven Hiller

As hard as it may be to believe now, director Roland Emmerich had to convince the studio to cast Will Smith in the part of the Marine captain who has first contact with the genocidal alien race and plays a key role in destroying them. Known at the time primarily as a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and star of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smith was in Bad Boys the year before Independence Day came out, but his draw at the international box office was somehow still considered an open question.

The July 4th favorite cemented Smith’s movie-star status, and in its wake, he headlined 1997’s Men in Black with Tommy Lee Jones. The same year, he released his Big Willie Style album, whose breakout singles included the M.I.B. theme song, along with “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Just the Two of Us.” He went on to star opposite Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State (1998), followed by the deliciously campy Wild Wild West (1999), with that film’s catchy title theme being featured on his Willennium album.  

The new millennium brought Smith continued success with the title roles in The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) and Ali (2001), followed by the sequels Men in Black II (2002) and Bad Boys II (2003). His hot streak continued with the action sci-fi I, Robot (2004) and rom-com Hitch (2005), and he was ubiquitous in the zeitgeist by the time he starred in The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), I Am Legend (2007) and Hancock (2008). Smith once again donned “the last suit you’ll ever wear” in the time-traveling Men in Black 3 (2012), with other highlights including the live-action version of Aladdin (2019) as Genie. He’s also been a producer on numerous projects, including ones in which he did not star, like the 2010 Karate Kid reboot featuring his son, Jaden, and Jackie Chan.

Smith won an Oscar for his lead performance in King Richard (2021), playing the father of Venus and Serena Williams. Famously, however, minutes before his name was announced, the A-lister slapped Chris Rock onstage after the comedian made a joke referencing Smith’s wife. He apologized for his behavior and resigned from the Academy, but was banned from the Oscars for a decade, and the fallout reverberated into the reception of his follow-up project, Emancipation (2022). More recently, he executive produced Bel-Air, the dramatic reimagining of Fresh Prince, and in 2025 released his first musical album in two decades, Based on a True Story.

Bill Pullman as President Whitmore

Who knew that the actor who played Lone Starr in Spaceballs could produce the gravitas needed to deliver one of the most memorable presidential speeches in film history? Although, really, it should be no surprise since Bill Pullman already had a long résumé that included Newsies (1992), A League of Their Own (1992) and While You Were Sleeping (1995) when he was cast as President Whitmore, the dashing but besieged U.S. president forced to reckon with an extraterrestrial invasion in Independence Day.

He went on to star in David Lynch’s psychological thriller Lost Highway (1997), which also featured Independence Day co-star Robert Loggia. Pullman also played a police detective in Nora Ephron’s Lucky Numbers (2000), starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow. Among his numerous other roles, he appeared in the horror flick The Grudge (2004), starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, and played a Napa Valley winery owner in Bottle Shock (2008), which cast Chris Pine as his son.

Pullman has appeared on Broadway in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, which won the 2002 Tony for best play, as well as a production of David Mamet’s Oleanna, opposite Julia Styles.

He played a small-screen U.S. president in the short-lived series 1600 Penn, and returned to the Independence Day fold for the 2016 sequel Resurgence, which included much of the original cast (except Will Smith, who opted to focus on other projects, and Mae Whitman, whose role was taken over by Maika Monroe). In The Equalizer (2014) and its 2018 sequel, Pullman played a CIA operative and confidant of Denzel Washington’s Robert McCall.

Pullman was also the only person to star in all four seasons of the anthology series The Sinner, as police Detective Harry Ambrose. More recently, he was one of the stars of the gone-too-soon Netflix series The Boroughs. Among his upcoming projects, Pullman will reprise his role as Lone Starr in Spaceballs: The New One, due out in 2027, with his son Lewis (Top Gun: Maverick) set to play his onscreen progeny.

Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson

Jeff Goldblum, who had already played an iconic role as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993), played David Levinson — the brains to Will Smith’s brawn — in Independence Day. A bike-riding environmental activist who was previously married to the White House communications director, David decodes the aliens’ communications signal and later has the genius idea that allows humankind to fight back by giving the aliens’ spaceships a computer virus.

Goldblum would go on to star in the 1997 Jurassic Park sequel, The Lost World, then took a break from the franchise before reappearing in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World: Dominion (2022). He also broke into the Marvel universe as Grandmaster, the overseer of a gladiator competition on a faraway planet in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) — following a teaser appearance in the credits of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017) — as well as the series What If …?

The actor, known for his quirky choices, is a regular collaborator of Wes Anderson, with roles in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) and Asteroid City (2023). The busy Goldblum made time to return to the Independence Day franchise for the 2016 sequel and has guested on TV shows from Friends to Will & Grace, Glee and Portlandia. He’s also had memorable turns in commercials, including for Apple in the ‘90s and lately as the spokesman for Apartments.com.

More recently, he played the Wizard in the acclaimed movie adaptation of Wicked (2024) and Wicked: For Good (2025). This year, he voiced Henry David Thoreau in Ken Burns’ miniseries on the writer-philosopher. When he’s not acting, Goldblum has become well known as a jazz musician, releasing his first album, The Capitol Studios Sessions, in 2018. He’s released several other albums since, including Night Blooms, a collaboration with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, and regularly performs both in Los Angeles and worldwide.

Editor’s Note: The online article is longer, and more photos. See online below. –DrWeb

Source: ‘Independence Day’ Cast: Then and Now