After a 50-year career supervising and working with wild animals in the movie industry in Hollywood and around the world, adding over a hundred film credits to his resume, and with another similar number of credits gathered from coordinating and performing as a stuntman also in Hollywood movies and television serials, it was time for F. Celis Belina to retire and dedicate himself full-time to a new career as a novelist. In 1963, Belina's small private collection of wild animals in Acapulco, Mexico-including several lions, a young Indian elephant, three young chimpanzees, two leopards, and assorted smaller native animals-opened the doors to Hollywood, when his collection of animals and the natural and accessible jungles in the area attracted Tarzan and his movie crew for the first of several movies and a television series, to be filmed in the Acapulco area in years to come. The same production company took Belina and the animals to the jungles of Brazil for almost two more years. And from there, they all were taken to Hollywood, California. Being the only person who would wrestle with his own big cats opened new horizons for Belina when he started doing work as a stuntman. Very soon, he was wrestling other people's animals. Horse falls, high falls, and bar fights came next, followed by car chases and car rolls, and getting blown away by all kinds of weapons, including those of extraterrestrials. Eventually, this movie career led him to the idea for writing Land of the Elephants.
Read moreShow less
Biography from IMDb.
- Actor, producer and writer
- 5 on MovieCove
What are Fernando Celis' films like?
Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Self.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 1 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 3 · Serious 2 · Dark 0
Grounded 2 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
Gentle 2 · Charged 3 · Intense 0
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 1
Straight-faced 1 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 1
Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 1
Casual 3 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 4 · Affecting 1 · Heavy 0
Resolved 4 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 0
Moods and endings
- Happy2
- Bittersweet1
- Ambiguous2
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Fernando Celis' films?
As of October 24, 2026, 3 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Fernando Celis' titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
5 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page.
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all films
Tammy and the T-Rex(1994)
Midcredits score: 28th percentile of all films
High Risk(1981)
Midcredits score: 35th percentile of all films
Across the Great Divide(1976)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Midcredits score: 63rd percentile of all films
Career shape
Across their 5 MovieCove titles from 1974 to 1998.
How do Fernando Celis' films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 35th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 39th percentile for acclaim.
- 50th to 74th2
- 25th to 49th2
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
4 of their 5 titles are Mixed.
- Crowd Pleaser1
- Mixed4
Reviewers score the acting 52/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles; fans 61, detractors 29. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Fernando Celis work with?
People who share at least 2 of Fernando Celis' MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Stewart Raffill shares the most, 5.
Directors
- Stewart RaffillShared titles: The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), Tammy and the T-Rex (1994), High Risk (1981), Across the Great Divide (1976), When the North Wind Blows (1974)See all 5 shared titles with Stewart Raffill
Actors
- George 'Buck' FlowerShared titles: Tammy and the T-Rex (1994), Across the Great Divide (1976)See all 2 shared titles with George 'Buck' Flower
Cinematographers and editors
- Terry KelleyShared titles: The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)See all 2 shared titles with Terry Kelley
- Gérard AlcanShared titles: Across the Great Divide (1976), When the North Wind Blows (1974)See all 2 shared titles with Gérard Alcan
- R. Hansel BrownShared titles: Across the Great Divide (1976), When the North Wind Blows (1974)See all 2 shared titles with R. Hansel Brown
Producers
- Joseph RaffillShared titles: High Risk (1981), Across the Great Divide (1976), When the North Wind Blows (1974)See all 3 shared titles with Joseph Raffill
- Diane KirmanShared titles: The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)See all 2 shared titles with Diane Kirman
- Gerald GreenShared titles: The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998), High Risk (1981)See all 2 shared titles with Gerald Green