No. 8 Best Cincinnatian: Emilio Estevez Actor Emilio Estevez, known for the movie The Way and many others, is not a Cincy native but now resides here in his adopted city. Estevez has had a successful acting and directing career, much like his father, Martin Sheen, and his siblings, Charlie Sheen, Renée Estevez and Ramon Estevez. Photo: Universal Pictures

Emilio Estevez “[Cincinnati]’s so cool! I love being able to tell people in L.A. or New York, either come visit us to see what the hell is going on, or please stay away. One or the other. But I think when they get there, their minds are blown at everything that’s going on in Cincy — between the breweries and the restaurants and the historical preservation of the architecture. It’s a really magical city. I call it the Paris of the Midwest. I didn’t coin that, but that’s how I feel about it.” Emilio Estevez, the Brat Pack actor who gained fame in the ‘80s for his roles in movies like The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire, may have been born in Staten Island, but he’s very much a Cincinnatian now. Estevez says he fell in love with the Queen City during a promotional tour for his 2010 movie, The Way, later buying a home in Over-the-Rhine. In a 2021 interview with Vanity Fair, the actor bragged on his adopted hometown, calling up an 1800s nickname for Cincinnati, “the Paris of the Midwest.” Photo: Universal Pictures


We admit it — we love when celebs earnestly go on and on about how great Cincinnati is.

Actor/director Emilio Estevez is the latest to talk up the Queen City. In a March 25 Vanity Fair interview, Estevez calls Cincinnati “so cool” and “the Paris of the Midwest,” noting that his mother Janet Sheen was born here and his father Martin Sheen is from Dayton.

“I love being able to tell people in L.A. or New York, either come visit us to see what the hell is going on, or please stay away. One or the other,” Estevez tells Vanity Fair writer Julie Miller. “But I think when they get there, their minds are blown at everything that’s going on in Cincy — between the breweries and the restaurants and the historical preservation of the architecture. It’s a really magical city.”

Estevez, who lives in Over-the-Rhine when he’s not working in Los Angeles, says his love affair with Cincinnati began in 2010 after a publicity tour stop for The Way, for which he directed with his father. He filmed The Public primarily at the library downtown in 2017 and takes an interest in city life. Last year, Estevez penned a letter to Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley to plead for the city’s streetcar to return.

“There’s a ton of innovation. And you think about the corporations that are headquartered in Cincinnati! You’ve got Kroger…You’ve got Procter & Gamble. You’ve got Cintas. There are a lot of economic reasons to be there,” he tells Vanity Fair. “Cost of living is just, it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s affordable!’”

The Vanity Fair interview also contains bits about Estevez filming his new Disney+ series The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers in Minnesota when police killed George Floyd, the difficulty of filming during a pandemic, the darker side of being an indie film developer, and critic Gene Siskel hating Estevez’ Repo Men in 1984.

Read the full interview.

Related Stories

This article appears in Best Of Cincinnati 2021.