{"id":805408,"date":"2026-08-07T05:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805408\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:56:08","slug":"boyhood-child-star-reveals-he-now-lives-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-with-shockingly-normal-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805408\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Boyhood’ child star reveals he now lives ‘in the middle of nowhere’ with shockingly normal job"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cBoyhood\u201d star Ellar Coltrane<\/a> is far removed from his child actor past.<\/p>\n

Coltrane \u2014 who spent 12 years making director\u00a0Richard Linklater\u2019s<\/a> groundbreaking 2014 film, \u201cBoyhood,\u201d from ages 6 to 18\u00a0\u2014 is currently doing manual labor and working on becoming an EMT.<\/p>\n

Coltrane, now 31, told Variety<\/a> in a Q&A published Tuesday that he also lives \u201cin the middle of nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty far away from film,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ellar Coltrane, who starred in Richard Linklater\u2019s \u201cBoyhood,\u201d said he\u2019s now working to become an EMT. He\u2019s pictured here last month at the film\u2019s 12-year reunion at Austin Film Society\u2019s AFS Cinema. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Coltrane filmed the coming-of-age drama from ages 6 to 18. \u00a9IFC Films\/Courtesy Everett Collection \/ Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Although he\u2019s acted in a few short films over the years and is involved in the independent film community in El Paso, Texas, he noted that he\u2019s \u201cmoved on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do manual labor, and I\u2019m a volunteer firefighter, and I\u2019m working on my EMT license right now,\u201d he shared. <\/p>\n

Still, he admitted he does miss collaborating, and would be open to working on the right project with a director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I can get into that head space with an artist and work closely with them to figure out how I can express what they\u2019re trying to express, I think I can do really good work,\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut just showing up on a big set with a million producers as an actor, I don\u2019t know how to do that,\u201d he continued. \u201cI was never really trained as an actor. I was trained by Richard and [co-star] Ethan [Hawke] as a collaborator and part of the machine of the film. So I\u2019m hoping for more small, independent passion projects that I can be a part of, because I have a lot to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coltrane (pictured here with his on-screen dad, played by Ethan Hawke) told Variety in a Q&A that he\u2019s \u201cmoved on\u201d and now does manual labor. \u00a9IFC Films\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

He also said he \u201clives in the middle of nowhere.\u201d He\u2019s pictured here with his on-screen mom, played by Patricia Arquette. \u00a9IFC Films\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

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Coltrane, who was homeschooled and raised by the arts community in Austin, Texas, said he was grateful for the experience of filming \u201cBoyhood,\u201d which he likened to summer camp. He\u2019s also thankfull he avoided the pitfalls of being a traditional child star.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big saving grace for me, in that context of being a child actor, and later interacting with the Harry Potter kids and other people who starred in a long-term project or started a career around the same time, for them there was something released to the world also in childhood,\u201d he noted. \u201cI didn\u2019t have to experience that and I am grateful for that, because when I did experience celebrity, it was a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from Coltrane and Hawke, the epic coming-of-age drama also stars Patricia Arquette and Linklater\u2019s real-life daughter, Lorelai Linklater.<\/p>\n

Arquette (pictured here with Coltrane at the 12-year anniversary of the film) won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her performance in the movie. Maggie Boyd\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Back in 2014, Hawke praised Coltrane, noting he was \u201chandling himself so beautifully.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

Coltrane, pictured here in March 2017, said he\u2019s still open to acting if it\u2019s the right project and director. WireImage<\/p>\n

Coltrane plays Mason Evans Jr. from ages 6 to 18 \u2014 the film shot from 2002 to 2014 \u2014 as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents (played by Hawke and Arquette) and his sister (played by Lorelai).<\/p>\n

Arquette won an Oscar<\/a> in the best supporting actress category for her performance as his mom, Olivia Evans.<\/p>\n

Hawke praised his on-screen son<\/a> back in September 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest, best mystery is this kid Coltrane,\u201d the actor said in a conversation with Linklater for Austin Way Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is handling himself so beautifully .\u2009.\u2009. When I asked Charlie Sexton [Bob Dylan\u2019s guitarist, who has a role in the film] what he thought about the movie, he told me the biggest miracle .\u2009.\u2009. is that the kid didn\u2019t turn out to be a jerk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u201cBoyhood\u201d star Ellar Coltrane is far removed from his child actor past. Coltrane \u2014 who spent 12 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[254526,91,108891,88,206,36128],"class_list":["post-805408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-boyhood","tag-celebrity-news","tag-child-stars","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-richard-linklater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}