Home Alone's Daniel Stern Says 'Stepping Away' from Hollywood Led to 'Living My Real Life' Creating Art on His Ranch (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Daniel Stern in 2014.Photo:WireImage

WireImage

Daniel Sternhas traded in his formerHome AloneWet Bandit identity for something much more befitting of his life today: “Citrus Bandit.”

The actor-turned-writer, sculptor, farmer and philanthropist tells PEOPLE that it’s “overwhelming” how much support he has seen on both TikTok andInstagramas of late as fans have discovered that he now lives a peaceful existence on his California ranch — purchased with the money he saved from his time in Hollywood — growing tangerines and creating passion project art that he describes as an “extension of the human condition.”

“What I love about social media is you can tell your story,” Stern, 67, shares of the recent influx of new and old fans alike to his pages, “and it feels good to tell it. And sort of that’s the final step of any artistic creation is giving it to an audience. So it’s a wonderful world, and I’m so tickled people have discovered some of my stuff through the TikTok thing there.”

Indeed, Stern has been living his “real life,” as he says, hiking, raising cattle, growing produce and creating sculptures out of bronze, a far departure from rubbing elbows with Joe Pesci inHome Alone, narratingThe Wonder Yearsand popping up in more recent series includingShrill.

Despite the distance, both literally and figuratively, from the backlots of Hollywood, Stern’s ranch and pottery studio make him feel like he’s working “on a movie crew,” he says.

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Daniel Stern in 1990’s ‘Home Alone’.20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

“I made enough money that I didn’t have to work,” he says. “I made enough money and I’m kind of frugal … I bought the house in cash. I bought the cars in cash. I bought everything straight up because as an artist, I never knew if [I was] going to make any more bread. And I said to my wife, ‘How much money do I need to sock in the bank so that we can live off the interest and so that I don’t have to work?’ She said, ‘We hit it.’ That was like, ‘Okay, Dan, now you’re going to put your money where your mouth is’ … ‘What am I going to do with it? Am I going to keep chasing another part or that?’ " Instead, he decided to go the path of wholly pursuing his passion projects — and hasn’t looked back since.

Ultimately, Stern says “at this point … I love being in nature. I love being away. I love my solitude and I love being able to focus on what I’m making. So the farm world is a great place for me.”

source: people.com