The 1996 movie Race the Sun is almost sacred in the solar car racing community. It fictionalises the true story of a Hawaiian high school team racing in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. But where is the cast now?
Teachers
- Halle Berry (Sandra Beecher): became a major star, playing Storm in X-Men, Ginger Knowles in Swordfish, and many other roles.
- Jim Belushi (Frank Machi): already well known in 1996, he has acted in multiple later films, such as The Ghost Writer.



Left: Halle Berry at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con (cropped from a photo by Gage Skidmore); Centre: Pritzker School of Medicine in Chicago, where Sara Tanaka did her initial medical training; Right: Casey Affleck in 2016 (cropped from a photo by Bex Walton)
Solar Car Race Team
- Casey Affleck (Daniel Webster): has acted in multiple films. For his role in Manchester by the Sea, he won several awards.
- Eliza Dushku (Cindy Johnson): continued on to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and various film and TV work. In later years, she became politically active.
- Anthony Ruivivar (Eduardo Braz): has acted in various films and has frequently played policemen on television.
- Sara Tanaka (Uni Kakamura): graduated in Medicine from the University of Chicago in 2008, and then specialised in cardiology. She now practices, I believe, in New York.
- Dion Basco (Marco Quito): had a few other acting roles.
- J. Moki Cho (Gilbert Tutu): became a musician, and is on Instagram and on YouTube.
- Nadja Pionilla (Oni Nagano): had a few other acting roles, and is on Twitter.
- Adriane Napualani Uganiza (Luana Kanahele): I don’t know what happened to her.
Other Characters
- Steve Zahn (Hans Kooiman): various film and TV work, including a role as an ape in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017).
- Joel Edgerton (Steve Fryman): acted in multiple films, including playing the young Owen Lars in several Star Wars films.
- Kevin Tighe (Jack Fryman): acted in film and television, as well as on stage.
- Bill Hunter (Commissioner Hawkes): after acting in numerous films, he died in 2011.
- Jeff Truman (Ed Webster): after a career of acting and writing, he died in 2014.
With the obvious exceptions, I would like to see one of these people at the start (or finish) of a major solar car race.
Someone has to do a better solar car story….the hill at the end cracks me up.
Yeah, I’m not sure why they did that.