HOLLYWOOD Q&A

Q: Why do I recognize the guy who plays Daniel in “Fear the Walking Dead”? I’m almost certain I’ve seen him before. A: I’m also certain that you’ve seen Rubén Blades at some point over his 36-year acting career on the big and small screens.

He’s mostly known as a go-to supporting man — the guy to call to play a Latino character with gravitas and, occasionally, desert-dry wit.

Among his best-known roles are Sheriff Montoya in the critically acclaimed 1988 picture “The Milagro Beanfield War” (directed by a young guy by the name of Robert Redford), Det. Danny Archuleta in 1990’s “Predator 2,” and retired FBI man Jorge in the 2003 action thriller “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.”

However acting is only part of Blades’s stardom. He first found fame as a salsa musician — indeed, his first film credit is as a song composer for a 1983 short film.

His music and acting occasionally came together, such as in the 2016 boxing biopic “Hands of Stone,” in which several of his songs appeared, and he played boxer Robert Duran’s manager.

Blades’s musical and acting fame also boosted his third career, as a political activist and politician. He even ran for the presidency of his native Panama in 1994, and later served as minister of tourism in the mid2000s.

Q: I’m a huge fan of the movie “The Transporter,” particularly for the visuals — the look of it. Where was it filmed?

A: The short answer is France, but you probably want more detail.

“The Transporter” (2002) is probably the best-known film from director/producer Luc Besson’s Europa Corp production house, which is beloved by fans over here for producing American-style action films with a European sensibility. (It also has its detractors, who have called it a “Eurotrash action factory,” but we’re not talking about them right now.)

Part of that European feel has come from the clever decision to shoot them in Europe.

This is certainly true of “The Transporter,” about a former British special-forces tough guy living in France as a driver for hire to the high-end criminal community.

And he’s living well, as shown by the scenes at his house/villa/ miniature castle, the externals of which were filmed on location in the small town of Cassis on the French Riviera — the English term for the gorgeous and rich part of southeastern France that lies on the Mediterranean coast.

Indeed, much of the film was shot in or near the French Riviera (known in French as the Côte d’Azur).

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