San Antonio may not be the most star-studded U.S. city. We’re not LA or New York. Hell, we’re not even Dallas when it comes to glitz.
Just the same our high schools have also turned out an unexpectedly eclectic roster of movie stars, chart-topping musicians, TV personalities, sports figures and household names.
From marquee actors to rock icons, these celebrities once sat through the same morning announcements, pep rallies and algebra classes as generations of local students. Did you share a class or two with any of them?
Jeff Hiller — Churchill High School
Emmy Award-winning actor Jeff Hiller, best known for his work as the character Joel on HBO dramedy series Somebody Somewhere, graduated from high school in San Antonio and stayed close to home when he went on to attend Texas Lutheran University. Hiller, who’s openly gay, was a theater and choir kid at Churchill and considered becoming a pastor before his interest in acting took over. “I think one of the main reasons I wanted to be a pastor is because I knew I would have a built-in audience once a week,” he told the Current in an interview.
Saagar Shaikh — Marshall High School
Pakistani American actor may have been born in Houston, but he moved to San Antonio as a teen and graduated from Marshall High School. After earning a business degree from UT-San Antonio in 2011, Hollywood came calling. He’s since landed roles in the Hulu comedy series Deli Boys and in Disney+ superhero project Ms. Marvel. Beyond that, he’s returned to his college alma mater to teach drama.
Norah O’Donnell — MacArthur High School
Broadcast journalist Norah O’Donnell graduated from high school in San Antonio in the early ’90s before getting her degree at Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown University. In a broadcast news career that’s spanned decades, she’s worked as a senior correspondent for CBS News and a contributing correspondent for 60 Minutes. She also served as the anchor of CBS Evening News between 2019 and 2025.
Jonathan Joss — McCollum High School
San Antonio certainly felt the pain when actor Jonathan Joss was died last year in a tragic shooting. Of Spanish, Comanche and White Mountain Apache descent, Joss attended McCollum High School and attended Texas State before leaving the university and finishing his studies at Our Lady of the Lake. The actor gained cult status by playing John Redcorn on King of the Hill and Chief Ken Hotate on Parks and Recreation, and he lent his voice to the video games Days Gone and Wasteland 3. Also, look for his brief but memorable appearance in the Cohen Brothers’ True Grit.
George Strait — Pearsall High School
George Strait attended Pearsall High School in the town of Pearsall, less than an hour south of San Antonio. So he’s close enough to claim. The country music legend graduated in 1970 and discovered his love for music and performing during that time. However, his first foray into music wasn’t singing C&W but playing in a garage-rock band called the Stoics.
Shea Serrano — Southwest High School
New York Times best-selling author, journalist and former teacher Shea Serrano proudly reps San Antonio – more specifically the South Side. Widely known for his addictive Twitter personality, Serrano graduated from Southwest HS. In 2021, he completed his bestselling book trilogy (And Other Things) with Hip Hop (And Other Things), and his TV series Primo, which is based on his upbringing in SA, debuted on Amazon Freevee in May 2023.
Emilio Navaira — McCollum High School
Grammy- and Latin Grammy-winning singer Emilio Navaira became one of Tejano music’s legendary performers, reaching chart success in both the U.S. and Mexico. He also became one of the first in the genre to break into the country music mainstream. The performer, who died in 2016 at age 53, received a music scholarship to Texas State University and originally planned to be a teacher.
Peter Weller — Alamo Heights High School
The guy who played RoboCop, actor Peter Weller, graduated high school in the Alamo City thanks to his dad’s military career. After his iconic role in the sci-fi classic, he’s continued to work in movies, TV and video games. His latest project — The Adventures of Cliff Booth, a period comedy-drama directed by David Fincher and written by Quentin Tarantino — is scheduled to release later this year.
Austin Mahone — Jefferson High School
Austin Mahone may have only gone to Jefferson High School for one year, but we think that’s enough to claim him. The pop star got his start covering songs on YouTube, and now has a slew of releases under his belt. He was born in SA in 1996 and after his one year stint at Jefferson he finished high school in homeschool. He’s gone all in on his Texas roots with his album, A Lone Star Story, released in June 2023.
Jared Padalecki — Madison High School
Jared Padalecki’s breakout role may have been playing Dean Forester on Gilmore Girls, but he’ll likely always be remembered for his 15-season run as Sam Winchester on Supernatural. From there, Padalecki went on to star as the famed Texas Ranger formerly played by Chuck Norris in the TV series reboot Walker. The actor was born in the Alamo City in 1982 and graduated from Madison HS and now calls Austin home.
Robert Rodriguez — St. Anthony High School
Robert Rodriguez has been repping SA since being born here in 1968. The director is known for gonzo Hollywood projects ranging from Machete and Once Upon a Time in Mexico to Spy Kids, and he more recently directed episodes of the hit Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. He also plays in a band that produces music for his soundtracks.
Shawn Michaels — Randolph High School
Though he was born in Arizona, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels’ ties to SA make him an Alamo City prodigal son. No, not really, but we do rep him since he attended Randolph AFB’s on-base school. He would later be trained by local, acclaimed boxing legend José Lothario. The legendary wrestler is now an executive with WWE that oversees creative for the company’s NXT brand, as well as developing talent.
Anthony Alabi — Antonian College Preparatory High School
Born in San Antonio in 1981, Anthony Alabi attended Antonian College Preparatory High School before moving on to play college football at Texas Christian University. First snagged by the Miami Dolphins in the 2005 NFL draft, Alabi played professional football untill 2009, when he retired to pursue acting. Alabi played Coach Spitz on Disney’s Raven’s Home and starred opposite Tia Mowry-Hardict in Netflix’s Family Reunion, and recently played Zach Hammond in the 2023 remake of the video game Dead Space.
Ada Vox — South San Antonio High School
Drag performer Ada Vox made a splash on American Idol in 2018, reaching the top 10 in that year’s competition. Vox was born Adam Sanders in San Antonio in 1993. In December 2021, she joined 14 fellow drag queens on the new Paramount+ series Queen of the Universe, singing live to compete for a $250,000 prize, and placed second.
Nicholas Gonzalez — Central Catholic High School
Nicholas Gonzalez didn’t originally plan to be an actor, but we’re glad he became one. He was born in San Antonio in 1976 and went to Central Catholic HS before going to Stanford to study English. While he was there, a professor who saw him in a one-man theater performance convinced him to pursue acting, and the rest is history. In addition to appearances on Pretty Little Liars, How To Get Away With Murder and Being Mary Jane, the TV star played Dr. Neil Melendez on ABC’s The Good Doctor. From there, he jumped to NBC’s La Brea as U.S. Air Force Pilot Capt. Levi Delgado.
Henry Thomas — East Central High School
Most often recognized for his breakout role as Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, San Antonio native Henry Thomas has become a horror fixture of late with roles in Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass. The San Antonio-born actor is also a published fiction author.
James Roday Rodriguez — Taft High School
Psych star James Roday Rodriguez was born in San Antonio in 1976 and went to Taft HS before making his name playing a fake psychic detective on the long-running USA comedy series for eight seasons and three movies. He also played Gary Mendez on ABC’s A Million Little Things and has since turned much of his attention to directing, writing and producing for a variety of networks.
Shaquille O’Neal — Cole High School
NBA Hall of Famer and basketball commentator Shaquille O’Neal went to high school in the Alamo City, where he led his team to a 68-1 record over two years and helped the win the state championship during his senior year. Easy to see how he parlayed that into a meteoric rise in college and the pros.
Rick Riordan — Alamo Heights High School
You may know Rick Riordan for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series, but did you know the author’s a tried and true San Antonian? Born and raised in the Alamo City, Riordan went to Alamo Heights High School before heading to college at North Texas State University (now UNT). He transferred to UT Austin to study English and History, then came back to San Antonio and nabbed a teaching certification at UTSA.
Sendhil Ramamurthy — Keystone School
Before he made a splash in shows such as Covert Affairs and Heroes, Sendhil Ramamurthy gew up in the 2-1-0 and graduated from Keystone School. In addition to roles on TV series The Flash and New Amsterdam, Ramamurthy played “hot dad” Mohan Vishwakumar on Mindy Kaling’s Netflix series Never Have I Ever.
Chrystabell — Alamo Heights High School
Songstress and longtime David Lynch collaborator Chrystabell has Alamo City roots. She was born here and went to Alamo Heights High School. Though her work with the enigmatic filmmaker originally began in the music sphere, she made her screen debut as FBI Agent Tammy Preston in the hotly anticipated 2017 return of Lynch’s iconic TV series Twin Peaks. She continues to release music and tour.
Pendleton Ward — LEE High School
You may not recognize his face, but you’d definitely recognize his drawings — Pendleton Ward is the brains behind hit Cartoon Network series Adventure Time, which ran 2010-2018. The animator and voice actor was born in San Antonio in 1982 and graduated from now-LEE High School before moving to California to attend CalArts. In addition to Adventure Time, Ward has worked on various animated series including The Midnight Gospel and Bravest Warriors. He reportedly has a new Cartoon Network series in the works titled The Elephant.
Ricardo Chavira — LEE High School
Though he starred in hit TV series from Desperate Housewives to Scandal, Ricardo Chavira arguably landed his greatest role yet in 2019: playing Tejana queen Selena’s father Abraham Quintanilla Jr. in Netflix’s series about the pop star. After getting his diploma from LEE High School — then Robert E. Lee — he attended the University of the Incarnate Word.
Credit: Amazon / Reacher
Bruce McGill — MacArthur High School
Even if you don’t know Bruce McGill by name, you have likely seen his appearances on tons of TV shows since he started acting in the late ’70s. McGill was born in San Antonio in 1950 and went to MacArthur HS before going to the University of Texas at Austin for college. He’s appeared anything from Animal House to USA’s Rizzoli and Isles in a decades-spanning career. Some of his more recent film roles include Lincoln, Ride Along and Ride Along 2.
Jesse Borrego — Harlandale High School
Nobody reps the Alamo City in Hollywood quite like Jesse Borrego. The Harlandale grad still lives here today and remains active in the community. While he may be best known for his roles in Fame and Blood In Blood Out, Borrego’s had his share of roles on hit TV series — from Dexter to Fear the Walking Dead — and appeared in the third season of Starz series Vida. He regularly appears in roles in indie films, including a variety of short projects.
Chris Perez — Jefferson High School
Known best as Selena’s husband, musician Chris Perez was born in San Antonio in 1969 and went to Jefferson HS. Though he’s still active performing, Perez has expanded into the food scene, with two pepper sauces he released in collaboration with Cajohn’s Fiery Foods.
Jessica Collins — Tom C. Clark High School
A graduate of Tom C. Clark High School, Jessica Collins is known for her roles in the Oscar-winning film Zero Dark Thirty, the AMC television series Rubicon and NBC’s Revolution. She also played Emma Beesly on Netflix’s 2021 miniseries Clickbait and Amber Chesborough in the Apple TV+ series Echo 3.
John Quiñones — Brackenridge High School
TV personality Juan Manuel “John” Quiñones was born here in 1952 and attended Brackenridge before heading to St. Mary’s University for college via the the Upward Bound program. The groundbreaking Latino broadcaster is known for hosting ABC’s What Would You Do? and as a correspondent on Good Morning America and 20/20.
Christopher Cross — Alamo Heights High School
Born in San Antonio in 1951, singer-songwriter Christopher Cross is best known for ’70s and ’80s yacht-rock hits including “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind” and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).” A graduate of Alamo Heights High School, Cross later made Austin his home. After facing serious health problems from a bout with COVID-19, Cross has returned to performing.
Marcia Nasatir — Jefferson High School
Born in San Antonio in 1926, Marcia Nasatir was a pioneer for women in Hollywood — particularly women working as producers. In 1974, Nasatir became the first female vice president of a major Hollywood studio when she took the helm of United Artists. She grew up in San Antonio, attending Jefferson High and going to movies at the Majestic and Aztec as a kid. She died in 2021 at the age of 95.
