Boyhood actor who was filmed for 12 years now lives out of the spotlight doing manual labor
A child star who made a name for himself in Hollywood as a teenager has revealed what life is like out of the limelight.
Ellar Coltrane is best known for starring in the 2014 drama Boyhood, a film which was shot over a period of 12 years and saw Coltrane play a lad called Mason as he progressed through childhood and into an adolescence in Texas.
Coltrane, now 31, has also featured in a number of independent movies since including Summer Night, The Get Together and Spiral into the Yellow Void, but has decided to step away from the spotlight in more recent years.
These days, the former actor is doing manual labor many miles away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
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"I live in the middle of nowhere, and I’m pretty far away from film," he told Variety in a recent interview.
"I’ve moved on. I do manual labor, and I’m a volunteer firefighter, and I’m working on my EMT license right now."
Coltrane went on to say he's become 'integrated with the independent film community in El Paso', before adding: "Which is really wonderful. I’m really inspired by the energy there and what my friends are up to."
"It reminds me of Austin 20 years ago," he added.
Coltrane went on to tell Variety that he has since 'moved on' from his life in front of the cameras, though attending screenings at the Austin Film Society in recent times made his realize he does miss some parts of being in Hollywood.
He particularly enjoyed 'being on set' and 'collaborating' with others in the industry, and explained to Variety that he had a preference for independent films compared to those bigger, blockbuster titles.
Coltrane continued by saying he was 'never really trained as an actor', adding that he wants to be involved in more independent films going forward.
He continued: "I do very well collaborating with a director who has a passion project. When I can get into that headspace with an artist and work closely with them to figure out how I can express what they’re trying to express, I think I can do really good work.
"But just showing up on a big set with a million producers as an actor, I don’t know how to do that.
"I’m hoping for more small, independent passion projects that I can be a part of, because I have a lot to offer."
Elsewhere in the Variety interview, Coltrane discussed the pressures of acting in Hollywood as a teenager, which saw him once rocking up to set as a 17-year-old 'very high on marijuana'
"[I] was extremely anxious and self-conscious, and that scene is terrible," Coltrane recalled.
"Needless to say that scene did not make it into the final cut. I never did that again."
Topics: Hollywood, Film and TV, Celebrity
Callum Jones