Former child actor Ellar Coltrane has opened up about the very different path his life has taken since his years in Hollywood.
Coltrane became widely recognized for his role in Richard Linklater’s 2014 coming-of-age drama Boyhood. The ambitious project was filmed across 12 years from 2002 to 2014 and followed his character, Mason, as he grew up in Texas from early childhood into his college years. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, with Patricia Arquette winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Now 31, Coltrane has gone on to appear in several indie productions, including Summer Night, The Get Together, Spiral into the Yellow Void, and more recently El Fantasma, in which he played Lee Harvey Oswald and filmed in Mexico City. In recent years, though, he has largely left the entertainment world behind and embraced a quieter lifestyle.
Rather than working on film sets, he now spends his time doing physical work far removed from the celebrity scene.
“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.”
He also explained that he has stayed connected to moviemaking through the independent film scene in El Paso, which he said has given him a fresh sense of inspiration.
“I’ve become kind of integrated with the independent film community in El Paso, which is really wonderful. I’m really inspired by the energy there and what my friends are up to.”
Reflecting on that community, Coltrane said it brings back memories of an earlier creative era in Texas.
“It reminds me of Austin 20 years ago,” he added.
Coltrane recently reunited with his onscreen parents Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette, along with director Richard Linklater, in Austin for the 12th anniversary celebration of Boyhood held in July 2026. The film is currently playing in over 100 theaters across the U.S. and Canada through a special anniversary theatrical release.
Although he said he has largely put his former screen career behind him, time spent at screenings hosted by the Austin Film Society has reminded him that there are still parts of filmmaking he misses.
Among the things he looks back on most fondly are working on set and building something alongside other creatives. He also suggested that smaller productions suit him far better than major studio films.
Coltrane said he was ‘never really trained as an actor’, and indicated that if he does return more seriously, he would want it to be through independent projects.
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 interview, Coltrane also spoke candidly about the difficulties he faced as a young performer. He recalled one moment from his teenage years when he arrived on set at 17 while struggling badly with anxiety.
“[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.”
Unlike many child actors who experience overwhelming fame early in their careers, Coltrane noted that he was somewhat spared that pressure because the world did not see the finished film until he was 18 years old, by which time he was already transitioning away from the spotlight.