Competitive financial incentives for filmmakers have revitalized big-budget film and television production in the Garden State, and in turn have created many new jobs, vastly increased local spending and spurred infrastructure growth. The program has been remarkably effective, and it has allowed many native New Jersey celebrities to return to their roots for their latest projects.

Kevin Smith (l) and Jason Mewes in Clerks

Ever since film director, actor and Red Bank native Kevin Smith famously launched his career with his Leonardo-based indie sensation “Clerks,” he’s worked in New Jersey time and again. His impressive filmography includes “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” “Jersey Girl,” “Clerks II,” and “Live Free or Die Hard”, as well as the popular AMC television series “Comic Book Men.” Smith revisited Monmouth County in 2021 to shoot the feature film “Clerks III” in Atlantic Highlands, Holmdel, Matawan, Middletown and Red Bank.

Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises

Millburn High School graduate Anne Hathaway, who came to Newark to appear as Catwoman in “The Dark Night Rises,” returned to New Jersey 10 years later in 2021 to star in a pair of feature films. Fox Searchlight Picture’s “Eileen” tells the story of a woman whose friendship at a prison facility takes a sinister turn. It was filmed in South Amboy, Metuchen, Cranford, Harding, Jersey City, Springfield, Summit and Paramus. Hathaway also had a role in Focus Feature’s “Armageddon Time,” a coming-of-age story about growing up in Queens in the 1980s, that was filmed in Bayonne, Jersey City and Teaneck.

Pictured from left are Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman & Zach Braff in Garden State

South Orange native Zach Braff gained stardom in the long-running ABC comedy series “Scrubs.” He famously returned to his home state in 2003 to direct and star in the indie hit “Garden State.” Zach’s back once again, making his latest picture “A Good Person.” This drama tells the sobering story of a woman struggling to keep her life together after her involvement in a fatal accident. Writer, director, and producer Braff filmed the story in Clifton, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Livingston, Montclair, Morristown and Rutherford.

Steven Spielberg (l) and Tom Cruise filming War of the Worlds

Steven Spielberg, who spent part of his childhood in Haddon Township, previously directed two movies in New Jersey: “Catch Me If You Can” and “War of the Worlds.” The latter film starred Tom Cruise, a graduate of Glen Ridge High School. More recently, Spielberg returned to Paterson and Newark to film 20th Century Studios’ highly anticipated remake of “West Side Story.” He chose Clifton native Rachel Zegler to play Maria, garnering her this year’s Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama or Musical.

Rechel Zegler

The name Gandolfini is inextricably linked to New Jersey. Westwood native James Gandolfini created one of television’s most iconic and memorable characters, Tony Soprano. The ground-breaking series “The Sopranos” also starred New Jersey, as the state’s locales were integral to the show. When series creator David Chase (who grew up in Clifton and North Caldwell) decided to make a feature film about Tony Soprano as a youngster, New Jersey was called upon once again. Appropriately enough, James’ son Michael Gandolfini was tapped to take on his father’s role for the Warner Brothers feature film “The Many Saints of Newark.” Actor Ray Liotta, who grew up in Union and earned instant stardom in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” (filmed extensively in New Jersey in 1989), also played a key role in “The Many Saints of Newark,” much of which was shot in Bloomfield, Hasbrouck Heights, Jersey City, Newark, Passaic and Paterson. Incidentally, Michael returned again in 2021, to star in StudioCanal’s “Cat Person,” filmed in Florham Park, Newark and Jersey City.

Michela De Rossi (l) and Ray Liotta in The Many Saints of Newark

Two things are clear: you can’t take New Jersey out of the actor, and you can’t take the actor out of New Jersey!