10 times Wilmington actors scored big parts in locally shot movies and TV shows

With so many movies and TV shows having been filmed in the Wilmington area over the decades, it obviously adds up to hours upon hours of screen time.

And while most of the major and even minor roles for the bigger productions have gone to actors from Los Angeles, New York or elsewhere, Wilmington-based actors have found plenty of moments to shine.

Production nationwide, and in Wilmington, is largely shut down as the industry waits for the striking Screen Actors Guild union to settle its differences with the studios and streaming services. Actors are seeking better pay and assurances over the industry's use of artificial intelligence, among other demands.

While we wait for actors to get back to work, however, let's take a look at 10 times Wilmington actors got to step into the spotlight on big projects or next to big-name stars.

'Halloween Kills'

This bloody 12th entry in the long-running horror movie series shot locally in 2019, but wasn't released until 2021 due to the pandemic.

It's packed with performances by actors with Wilmington ties, most notably Robert Longstreet as the grown-up version of legacy "Halloween" character Lonnie Elam, who appeared in the 1978 original.

Jacob Keohane, who lived here throughout the 2010s, has some memorable scenes as Deputy Tobias, encouraging a fellow cop to kill mask-wearing villain Michael Myers while making it look like an accident during a flashback to the original film. Wilmington's Holli Saperstein also has a prominent scene as a distraught mother looking for her teenage son in the chaotic "Halloween Kills" hospital sequences.

Port City horror: Everything you need to know about Wilmington's starring role in 'Halloween Kills'

'Florida Man'

Several Wilmington actors got small parts in this off-the-rails Netflix series, which dropped earlier this year. It stars Edgar Ramirez ("Yes Day") as a cop-turned-mob-enforcer who decamps from Philadelphia to Florida to find his boss' runaway girlfriend.

Wilmington actor Nick Basta gets a ton of screen time as Gil Franco, a gambler who owes money to the mob and who gets gruesomely injured trying to escape from Ramirez in a wild opening scene. Later, Basta's character is further roughed up by the mob and he plays a key role throughout the series as Gil's name is invoked repeatedly.

Florida Man: Popular and 'absurd' Netflix show loaded with Wilmington locations, actors

'George & Tammy'

Longtime Wilmington actor Gray Hawks is one of the few locals to have shared the screen with an Oscar winner.

In the Showtime country music mini-series "George & Tammy" from late last year, which chronicles the tumultuous marriage of singing legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Hawks plays a real estate agent who sells Oscar winner Jessica Chastain, who plays Wynette, her new house. (The distinctive, '60s-modern mansion with lots of white latticed brick is on Blythe Road in Wilmington's Glen Meade neighborhood.)

You'll recognize Hawks as one of the actors in the commercial for Wilmington's O'Brien Service Co., in which two AC repairman ramp the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge.

Also in "George & Tammy": the Port City's William Flaman shows up as the bartender who Michael Shannon, as Jones, confides in and later frightens with his unruly behavior.

'The Black Phone'

Wilmington actor Troy Rudeseal plays a prominent role in this acclaimed, Wilmington-shot 2022 horror film as police Det. Miller, who's investigating the disappearance of several children taken by The Grabber, a serial killer played by Ethan Hawke.

Also on the "Phone": Wilmington actor Banks Repeta as a child murder victim; Banks' mother, the Wilmington-based actress Nina Repeta ("Dawson's Creek"), as a neighborhood mom; Parrish Stikeleather as a science teacher; and Rocco Poveromo as the polished chief of police.

This December, you can see Rudeseal in person at Thalian Hall, when he returns to the Wilmington stage to play Max Bialystock in musical "The Producers" at Thalian Hall.

Filmington: Wilmington-shot 'Black Phone' beats box office expectations, features old-school locations

'Tammy'

They're not technically actors, but Wilmington musicians Big Al Hall and the band Possum Creek (Jones Smith and Ben Chontos) got some prime screen time in this 2014 comedy starring Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon. The boys played a bluegrass band in scenes shot at Wilmington bar The Blue Post. Possum Creek even scored a couple of songs on the "Tammy" soundtrack.

Big Al Hall & Possum Creek: Band on big stage with 'Tammy'

'One Tree Hill'

Former Wilmington actor Cullen Moss had a recurring role as trash-talking baller Junk Moretti in this long-running Wilmington-shot series. Moss, who also appeared in several other Wilmington-shot shows and movies, including "Eastbound and Down" and "Iron Man 3," went on to parlay his Wilmington experience into an acting career that's seen him take prominent roles in TV series including Max's "The Staircase" and Netflix's "Outer Banks."

'The Hudsucker Proxy'

The only Coen Brothers movie ever made in Wilmington, "The Hudsucker Proxy" featured such big-name stars as Paul Newman, Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Perhaps its most memorable scene, however, shot on the streets of downtown Wilmington, featured a Southport boy, now a man, named Arthur Bridgers. See the video above in all of its hula-hooping glory.

'American Gothic'

In this often-overlooked supernatural drama of a TV series, which shot in Wilmington and aired for one season on CBS in 1995 and '96, Wilmington actress Tamara Mercer (then Tamara Burnham) plays a big role in the show's 12th episode, "Dr. Death Takes a Holiday." Mercer plays the gambling-addicted wife of a nefarious judge, neither of whom are up to any good. You can stream the episode on Apple TV.

'Blue Velvet'

Before Oscar-nominated director David Lynch came to Wilmington in 1985 to shoot what critics now call one of the best films of all time, Fred Pickler had never acted in a movie. Yet somehow, the former New Hanover County Sheriff's Office deputy landed a key role in "Blue Velvet" as The Yellow Man, a corrupt police officer, sharing scenes with stars Dennis Hopper and Kyle MacLachlan. His Wilmington accent ("Let's get a move on!") is unmistakable.

'Firestarter'

Wilmington actors have been scoring big movie roles ever since the first days of Wilmington's film industry. One need look no further than 1984's "Firestarter," the incendiary thriller based on Stephen King's novel that's credited with sparking Wilmington's film industry. It starred Drew Barrymore, David Keith, George C. Scott and Martin Sheen, among other big names.

In one scene, a flashback to how government experiments accidentally created people with superhuman abilities, a young, bearded Wilmington actor named Scott Davis plays one of the experiment's less successful subjects. Gentle questioning from Davis' character soon gives way to eyes gushing blood and hair-raising screams.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: When have Wilmington actors been featured in big movies or TV shows?