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February 05, 2021 Slideshows » Arts

25 celebrities who shot movies or TV shows in San Antonio

By Kiko Martinez

        
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The Alamo City may not rival Los Angeles or New York as a filming location, but we've hosted plenty of movie productions — along with a bevy of A-list actors. Here's a rundown of celebs ranging from top-billed stars to cult favorites that have appeared in front of the camera in San Antonio.

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Brendan Fraser – Still Breathing
Fraser plays a street performer living in San Antonio who sees a vision of who he thinks is the woman of his dreams, so he goes out to find her in Los Angeles.
Photo via October Films

Jim Carrey – Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
Carrey returns to reprise his role as the title pet detective who goes on a quest to find a sacred bat of a tribe in Africa. Photo via Warner Bros.

Robert Redford – The Great Waldo Pepper
Filmed at Zuehl Airfield near Fort Sam, Redford plays the title character, a WWI veteran who stars in war movies featuring aerial dog fights.
Photo via Universal Pictures

Jackie Chan – Battle Creek Brawl
Chan’s very first U.S. movie was set in Chicago but shot in San Antonio. He plays a young martial artist forced to participate in a brutal street-fighting contest.
Photo via Warner Bros.

Matt Damon – All the Pretty Horses
Damon plays John Grady Cole, a young cowboy in Texas who travels with a friend on horseback to Mexico to find work.
Photo via Columbia Pictures

Penelope Cruz – All the Pretty Horses
Cruz plays Alejandra Villarreal, the daughter of a wealthy rancher who Matt Damon’s character John Cole falls in love with, much to the displeasure of her family.
Photo via Columbia Pictures

Sean Astin – Toy Soldiers
The thriller stars Astin as Billy Tepper, a boarding school student who must make a stand when a group of terrorist storm their institution and seize control.
Photo via TriStar Pictures

Sandra Bullock – Miss Congeniality
Bullock puts on a pair of high heels and an evening gown to play an FBI agent who goes undercover to stop a bombing at a beauty pageant.
Photo via Warner Bros.

Patrick Swayze – Father Hood
Based on a true story, Swayze plays a deadbeat father who kidnaps his kids and takes them to New Orleans to pull off a heist.
Photo via Buena Vista Pictures

Willie Nelson – Honeysuckle Rose
Nelson stars as Buck Bonham, a country music singer trying to juggle his career and family until the daughter of his former guitarist joins the tour.
Photo via Warner Bros.

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Jennifer Lopez – Selena
Lopez’s breakout role as the Queen of Tejano will always have a special place in the hearts of San Antonians.
Photo via Warner Bros.

Goldie Hawn – The Sugarland Express
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Hawn stars as Lou Jean Poplin, a woman who hopes to reunite her family by helping her husband escape prison and by kidnapping their son.
Photo via Universal Pictures

Jeremy Irons – Lolita
A remake of the 1962 film and based on the book by Vladimir Nabokov, Irons takes on the role of Humbert Humbert, an English professor who falls in love with a teenager.
Photo via Samuel Goldwyn Company

Tom Berenger – Rough Riders
The TV series stars Berenger as Theodore Roosevelt, then-Undersecretary of the Navy, who forms a volunteer militia group known as “The Rough Riders” to fight in the Spanish-American War.
Photo via Affinity Entertainment

Sean Connery – Wrong Is Right
The political satire stars Connery as Patrick Hale, a TV reporter caught in the middle of an international arms deal that could trigger WWIII.
Photo via Columbia Pictures

Steve McQueen – The Getaway
McQueen stars as Doc McCoy, an ex-con who goes on the run with his wife when a heist goes bad.
Photo via First Artists

Paul Reubens – Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
He only spent an afternoon in San Antonio to shoot two short scenes, but Reuben’s Pee-wee had to search in the basement of the Alamo to find his stolen bike.
Photo via Warner Bros.

Robert Downey Jr. – Johnny Be Good
Before he was Iron Man, Downey Jr. starred as Leo Wiggins, the best friend of a top high school football recruit that every college wants.
Photo via Orion Pictures

Ethan Hawke – Waking Life
The experimental animated film features Hawke in a series of existential fever dreams that speak on issues like free will and the meaning of life.
Photo via Searchlight Pictures

Adam Horovitz (King Ad-Rock) – Lost Angels
The former member of the Beastie Boys starred as Tim “Chino” Doolan, a troubled teen from Los Angeles who is sent to a psychiatric hospital after a run-in with the police.
Photo via Orion Pictures

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Ryan Phillippe – Stop-Loss
Phillippe stars as U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Brandon Leonard King, a squadron leader who thinks he is completed with his tour of duty until the government sends him back.
Photo via Paramount Pictures

Lynn Redgrave – My Two Loves
The 1986 TV movie stars Redgrave as Marjorie Lloyd, a gay supervisor of the film’s main character, who begins a relationship with her boss.
Photo via ABC

Antonio Banderas – Spy Kids
Banderas stars as Gregorio Cortez, a father and spy who is kidnapped with his wife and must be saved by their children.
Photo via Troublemaker Studios

Salma Hayek – Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Hayek reprises her role as Carolina, the wife of El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), who she played in the 1995 film Desperado.
Photo via Columbia Pictures

Matthew McConaughey – Newton Boys
McConaughey stars as Willis Newton, the leader of a gang of bank robbers who are very good at their job.
Photo via 20th Century Fox

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