Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon (born August 27, 1994) is an American actor. They are best known for their role as Mason Evans Jr. in Richard Linklater's film Boyhood, for which they won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer.[2]
Ellar Coltrane | |
---|---|
Born | Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon[1] August 27, 1994 Austin, Texas, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2002–present |
Life and career
editColtrane was born in Austin, Texas, to Genevieve (née Kinney), an equine-assisted therapist for autistic people,[3] and Bruce Salmon, a musician.[4] Their parents divorced when they were nine, and their mother subsequently remarried.[5] Coltrane's half-sister, Evelyn, was born when they were 11.[3][4]
In 2001, at age six, Coltrane was cast by filmmaker Richard Linklater to play the title character in the film Boyhood; Linklater wanted to make an unprecedented film that would show a boy's coming of age, but with the actors growing up or aging on screen. Coltrane and other members of the cast were filmed intermittently for several days at a time between May 2002 and August 2013, by which time Coltrane had turned 19; there were 45 days of filming altogether.[6] During Coltrane's childhood, they also appeared in various other films, including a small role in Linklater's 2006 film Fast Food Nation.[7]
In 2016, Coltrane appeared in the Barack Obama drama film Barry, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.[8] The following year, they co-starred with Emma Watson in James Ponsoldt's film adaptation of the Dave Eggers novel The Circle (2017), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.[9]
Personal life
editColtrane has spoken of their discomfort with binary gender roles: "For me, the binary gender demarcation always has felt just kind of like ... a charade, like this character that I have to play."[10] Additionally, they have expressed a preference to be identified with singular "they/them" pronouns.
Filmography
editYear | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Lone Star State of Mind | Young Earl Crest | |
2005 | Faith & Bullets | Thomas Chaney Jr. | |
2006 | Fast Food Nation | Jay Anderson | |
2009 | Hallettsville | Young Tyler Jensen | |
2014 | Boyhood | Mason Evans Jr. | Filmed from 2002–2013 |
2016 | Barry | Will | |
2017 | The Circle | Mercer Regalado | |
The Last Movie Star | Shane McAvoy | ||
Blood Money | Victor | ||
2018 | The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot | "The Clerk" | |
2019 | Summer Night | Jameson Ford | |
2020 | The Good Lord Bird | Salmon Brown | |
2021 | El Fantasma | Lee Harvey Oswald | |
2021 | Shoplifters of the World | Dean |
References
edit- ^ "Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon". Mocavo.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (January 16, 2014). "10 Most Buzzed-About Sundance Actors, From Bill Hader to Maika Monroe". TheWrap. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
- ^ a b Thurmond, Sarah (June 30, 2014). "About a Boy". Austin Monthly. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ a b Kachka, Boris (June 21, 2014). "Ellar Coltrane on his 12-Year Movie Role". Vulture. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ Mechanic, Michael (July 3, 2014). "Meet the Star of "Boyhood," the Oscar Frontrunner Everybody's Talking About". Mother Jones. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ Carroll, Larry (November 28, 2006). "Got Plans For 2013? Check Out Richard Linklater's '12-Year Movie'". MTV News. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
- ^ Lewis, Hilary (November 11, 2014). "'Boyhood': 11 Things to Know About Star Ellar Coltrane". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 1, 2017.
- ^ McNary, Dave (March 14, 2016). "'Compton's' Jason Mitchell, 'Boyhood's' Ellar Coltrane Join Young Barack Obama Movie 'Barry'". Variety. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
- ^ Kit, Borys (September 29, 2015). "'Boyhood' Star Joins Emma Watson, Tom Hanks in 'The Circle' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ^ "'Boyhood' Star Ellar Coltrane is Leaving Texas—But Staying Far from Hollywood". 26 March 2021.