28 celebrities who went to high school in San Antonio

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. Now, Padalecki stars 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.
Photo via The CW / Walker

Shaquille O'Neal, Robert G. Cole High School
Believe it or not, famed basketball player, possessor of mad hip-hop skills and star of the whimsical 90's genie comedy Kazaam Shaquille O'Neal went to high school right here in the Alamo City. After starting high school in Germany due to his stepfather's military career, his family moved to San Antonio, where he lead the team at Robert G. Cole High School to a 68-1 record over two years, as well as a state championship win.
Photo via Instagram / shaq

Robert Rodriguez, St. Anthony High School
Robert Rodriguez has been repping SA since being born here in 1968. The director, who went ot St. Anthony High School, is known for everything from Machete to Spy Kids, and announced in 2020 that he'd directed an episode for the second season of the hit Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
Photo via Twitter / Rodriguez

Anthony Alabi, Antonian College Preparatory High School
Born in San Antonio in 1981, Anthony Alabi went on to attend 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. Most recently, Alabi has been featured on Disney's Raven's Home as Coach Spitz and starred opposite Tia Mowry-Hardict in Netflix's Family Reunion.
Photo via Netflix / Family Reunion

James Roday Rodriguez, Taft High School
Psych star James Roday Rodriguez recently re-embraced his Latino heritage by retaking his surrname after performing for years under the name James Roday. The San Antonio native was born here 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 two movies. Recently, he also played Gary Mendez on ABC's A Million Little Things.
Photo via ABC / A Million Little Things

Chrysta Bell, Alamo Heights High School
Songstress and longtime David Lynch collaborator Chrysta Bell has roots right here in the Alamo CIty — she was born in San Antonio 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.
Photo via Showtime / Twin Peaks

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 on the channel fom 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 2020 his new animated series The Midnight Gospel hit Netflix, and the spinoff miniseries Adventure Time: Distant Lands debuted on HBO Max.
Photo via Twitter / buenothebear

Bruce McGill, MacArthur High School
Even if you're not a Bruce McGill stan, you probably recognize him, because he's made 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, and has been in everything from Animal House to USA's Rizzoli and Isles in his decades-spanning career.
Photo via USA / Suits

Adam Martinez a.k.a. AdamRayOkay, Southwest High School
Adam Martinez may not have an IMDb page, but he's undeniably famous. The San Antonio native leapt to viral fame when his puro comedy character Rosa in early 2020, and is now a cross-platform social media juggernaut. With a Cosmo photoshoot and come out with a makeup collab with BH Cosmetics now under his belt, we're sure there's more to come.
Photo via Instagram / adamrayokay

Sendhil Ramamurthy, Keystone School
Before he made a splash in shows like Covert Affairs and Heroes, Sendhil Ramamurthy gew up in the 2-1-0 and graduated from Keystone School. In addition to recent roles on TV series The Flash and New Amsterdam, Ramamurthy now plays "hot dad" Mohan Vishwakumar on Mindy Kaling's Netflix series Never Have I Ever.
Photo via Netflix / Lara Solanki

Shea Serrano, Southwest High School
New York Times best-selling author, journalist and former teacher proudly reps San Antonio – more specifically the South Side. Widely known for his addicting Twitter personality, Serrano graduated from Southwest HS.
Photo via Instagram / laramiserranophoto

Ricardo Chavira, LEE High School
Though he's 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 new series about the pop star. Chavira was born in San Anto in 1971 and graduated from LEE High School — then named Robert E. Lee — and later attended the University of the Incarnate Word.
Photo via YouTube/ Netflix

Sam Sanders, Samuel Clemens High School
Ok, we know Samuel Clemens HIgh School is technically in Schertz, but we're still counting it. San Antonio native Sam Sanders went to Clemens High before double majoring in music and political science at UIW. After getting his master's in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, he joined NPR, where he served as a correspondent and key member of the elections unit and was one of the original co-hosts of NPR's Politics Podcast. Since 2017, he's hosted It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, a twice weekly show that alternates between "deep dive" interviews and news roundups.
Photo via Instagram / samsanders

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 signed with Elektra Records in 2019 to produce the follow-up to his 2017 album Dirty Work.
Photo via Instagram / austinmahone

Henry Thomas, East Central High School
Most often recognized for his breakout role at Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terresstrial, San Antonio native Henry Thomas has become a horror fixture of late with starring roles in Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and its follow-up The Haunting of Bly Manor. The actor was born in SA in 1971 and went to East Central HS.
Photo via Netflix / The Haunting of Bly Manor

Jesse Borrego, Harlandale High School
Nobody reps the 2-1-0 like Jesse Borrego. Born in San Antonio in 1962, the Harlandale HS graduate still lives here today. 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 was recently seen on the third season of Starz series Vida.
Photo courtesy of CineFestival

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 as a musician, Perez has expanded into the food scene, with two pepper sauces he released in collaboration with Cajohn's Fiery Foods.
Photo via Instagram / chrispereznow

Jonathan Joss, McCollum High School
You can't geet much more San Antonio than Jonathan Joss, who was born born in the Alamo City in 1965 as Jonathan Gonzales. 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 played John Redcorn on King of the Hill and Chief Ken Hotate on Parks and Recreation, and recently lent his voice to the video games Days Gone and Wasteland 3.
Photo via Netflix / Parks and Recreation

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.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons / Rhododendrites

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. The TV star has appeared in Pretty Little Liars, How To Get Away With Murder and Being Mary Jane, and plays Dr. Neil Melendez on ABC's The Good Doctor.
Photo via ABC / The Good Doctor