The Sun City And The Silver Screen: El Paso Actor Has Role In ‘Machete’

An actor from the Sun City is shining on the silver screen.

Billy Blair is a Hanks High graduate who moved to Dallas almost 20 years ago to pursue his passions: music and acting. He’s now starring along big name actors in “Machete,” the gritty action flick directed by Robert Rodriguez and released nationwide earlier this month.

“If you stick with it, whatever road you’re going on, especially acting, you’ll get it,” said Blair in an interview with ABC-7 at his family’s home in West El Paso.

But local actors who want to follow in Blair’s footsteps may not have to travel very far to find success.

“We’ve had locals that have done very well,” said El Paso Film Commissioner Susie Gaines. She acknowledged a surge in independent films in the last couple of years as the industry adapts to changes. She said moviemaking equipment is more accessible and films are getting easier to distribute nowadays– something that has opened doors for filmmakers.

Though a number of El Paso filmmakers have chosen to set their projects in the Sun City (including the Dry Land, Muertas, Ilegales, and more), Gaines said challenges remain in attracting crews.

“Incentives and tax breaks are an issue,” said Gaines. Texas’ economic incentives for filmmakers just don’t match up to other states like New Mexico or Louisiana. “We fight that on a daily basis,”

Still, she said El Paso offers other incentives money can’t buy. “We do very very well with what we do have here. We have natural backdrops as opposed to studios or studio lots like some of the larger cities might have.”

Actors such as Blair agree the Sun City has a presence in Hollywood: “El Pasoans, man, we made it!”