St. Tammany Parish, aka Louisiana’s Northshore, has had a starring role in scores of major motion pictures, and some of the biggest names in Hollywood have soaked up our Southern hospitality. Attracted to Louisiana by tax credits offered to the film industry, production companies are increasingly finding that the Northshore is the perfect backdrop to create some big-time movie magic in “Hollywood South.”

A memorable scene can be set with any number of diverse locations: the majestic and moss-laden centuries-old oaks along the Mandeville lakefront, white sandy beaches of Fontainebleau State Park, the pristine and mysterious Honey Island Swamp, the rich, rolling horse country of Folsom, sensual bayous Cane and Castine, stately historic homes and plantations in Covington, the quaint historic districts of Slidell and Covington, and the maritime community of Madisonville.

Here are just a few of the major productions that have filmed on the Louisiana Northshore:

• Beasts of the Southern Wild, starring Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry and Levy Easterly
• Beautiful Creatures, starring Viola Davis and Emma Thompson
• The Big Short, starring Christopher Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt
• The Big Easy, starring Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin and John Goodman
• The Campaign, starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt
• Dead Man Walking, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn
• Hot Pursuit, starring Reese Witherspoon and Sophia Vergara
• Geostorm, starring Gerard Butler
• The Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively
• JFK, starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Zachary Sklar
• Joe Dirt 2, starring David Spade, Christopher Walken and Jaime Pressly
• The Call, starring Halle Berry
• Man Down, starring Shia LaBeouf, Kate Mara and Gary Oldman
• Our Brand is Crisis, starring Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton
• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, starring Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson
• The Runner, starring Nicholas Cage
• Skeleton Key, starring Kate Hudson
• Terminator 5: Genesis, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and JK Simmons
• True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson
• Trumbo, starring Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Diane Lane and Elle Fanning
• The Whole Truth, starring Keanu Reeves, Renee Zellweger and Jim Belushi
• Where the Crawdads Sing, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson and David Strathairn

TV credits include NCIS: New Orleans, Roots, Pit Bulls and Parolees, Queen of the South, Selling the Big Easy, My 90 Day Fiancé, Secrets of Sulphur Springs, Top Chef, Nightwatch, and more.

Numerous big budget films have used the full-service St. Tammany Film Commission, a part of the St. Tammany Parish Tourist Commission, to fulfill needs in location scouting, production services and staffing. For more information, contact Roberta Carrow Jackson, Manager of Film & Digital Communications at (985) 892-0520.