Ellar Coltrane

{{Infobox person

| name = Ellar Coltrane

| image = Ellar Coltrane 2015.jpg

| caption = Coltrane in April 2015

| birth_name = Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon{{cite web|url=http://www.mocavo.com/Ellar-Salmon-Texas-Birth-Record-Index-1926-1995/08030962362602486668|title=Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon|website=Mocavo.com|access-date=May 5, 2014|archive-date=December 31, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231064535/http://www.mocavo.com/Ellar-Salmon-Texas-Birth-Record-Index-1926-1995/08030962362602486668|url-status=dead}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1994|8|27}}

| birth_place = Austin, Texas, U.S.

| years_active = 2002–present

| occupation = Actor

}}

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.{{cite web|first=Jeff|last=Sneider|title=10 Most Buzzed-About Sundance Actors, From Bill Hader to Maika Monroe|url=http://www.thewrap.com/sundance-2014-buzzed-about-actors-bill-hader|website=TheWrap|date=January 16, 2014|access-date=26 April 2014}}

Life and career

Coltrane was born in Austin, Texas, to Genevieve (née Kinney), an equine-assisted therapist for autistic people,{{cite web|url=http://www.austinmonthly.com/AM/July-2014/Talk/About-a-Boy/|title=About a Boy|first=Sarah|last=Thurmond|date=June 30, 2014|website=Austin Monthly|access-date=October 1, 2017}} and Bruce Salmon, a musician.{{cite web|url=http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/ellar-coltrane-on-his-12-year-movie-role.html|title=Ellar Coltrane on his 12-Year Movie Role|first=Boris|last=Kachka|date=June 21, 2014|website=Vulture|access-date=October 30, 2014}} Their parents divorced when they were nine, and their mother subsequently remarried.{{cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2014/07/boyhood-movie-star-ellar-coltrane-interview/|title=Meet the Star of "Boyhood," the Oscar Frontrunner Everybody's Talking About|first=Michael|last=Mechanic|date=July 3, 2014|website=Mother Jones|access-date=October 1, 2017}} Coltrane's half-sister, Evelyn, was born when they were 11.

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.{{cite web|first=Larry|last=Carroll|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1546688/got-plans-for-2013-check-out-richard-linklaters-12-year-movie|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715154711/http://www.mtv.com/news/1546688/got-plans-for-2013-check-out-richard-linklaters-12-year-movie/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 15, 2014|title=Got Plans For 2013? Check Out Richard Linklater's '12-Year Movie'|website=MTV News|date=November 28, 2006|access-date=October 30, 2014}} During Coltrane's childhood, they also appeared in various other films, including a small role in Linklater's 2006 film Fast Food Nation.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/meet-boyhood-kid-ellar-coltrane-718101|title='Boyhood': 11 Things to Know About Star Ellar Coltrane|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Hilary|last=Lewis|date=November 11, 2014|access-date=October 1, 2017}}

In 2016, Coltrane appeared in the Barack Obama drama film Barry, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2016/film/news/young-obama-movie-barry-jason-mitchell-ellar-coltrane-1201728524/|title='Compton's' Jason Mitchell, 'Boyhood's' Ellar Coltrane Join Young Barack Obama Movie 'Barry'|website=Variety|first=Dave|last=McNary|date=March 14, 2016|access-date=September 18, 2016}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ellar-coltrane-joins-emma-watson-827649|title='Boyhood' Star Joins Emma Watson, Tom Hanks in 'The Circle' (Exclusive)|website=The Hollywood Reporter|first=Borys|last=Kit|date=September 29, 2015|access-date=September 29, 2015}}

Personal life

Coltrane 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/ellar-coltrane-shoplifters-of-the-world-review/|title = 'Boyhood' Star Ellar Coltrane is Leaving Texas—But Staying Far from Hollywood| work=Texas Monthly |date = 26 March 2021 | last1=Vognar | first1=Chris }} Additionally, they have expressed a preference to be identified with singular "they/them" pronouns.

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! 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 \|
rowspan="3"\| 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 \|

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Film

! Role

! Notes

2002

| Lone Star State of Mind

| Young Earl Crest

2005

| Faith & Bullets

| Thomas Chaney Jr.

2006