{{Short description|American actor (born 1994)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ellar Coltrane | image = Ellar Coltrane 2015.jpg | caption = Coltrane in 2015 | birth_name = Ellar Coltrane Kinney Salmon<ref>{{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}}</ref> | 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. He is best known for his role as Mason Evans Jr. in Richard Linklater's film ''Boyhood'', for which he won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer.<ref>{{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|archive-date=16 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216140316/https://www.thewrap.com/sundance-2014-buzzed-about-actors-bill-hader/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Life and career== Coltrane was born in Austin, Texas, to Genevieve (née Kinney), an equine-assisted therapist for autistic people,<ref name="austin monthly">{{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}}</ref> and Bruce Salmon, a musician.<ref name="vulture">{{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}}</ref> His parents divorced when he was nine, and his mother subsequently remarried.<ref name="mother jones">{{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}}</ref> Coltrane's half-sister, Evelyn, was born when he was 11.<ref name="austin monthly"/><ref name="vulture"/>
In 2001, at age six, Coltrane was cast by filmmaker Richard Linklater to play the principal 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> During Coltrane's childhood, he also appeared in various other films, including a small role in Linklater's 2006 film ''Fast Food Nation''.<ref name="thr">{{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}}</ref>
In 2016, Coltrane appeared in the Barack Obama drama film ''Barry'', which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.<ref>{{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}}</ref> The following year, he 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 2021, Coltrane spoke of his 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", and expressed a preference to be identified with singular ''they/them'' pronouns.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>
Since, Coltrane has started using ''he/him'' pronouns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.instagram.com/ellarcoltrane.ks/|title=Ellar Coltrane Instagram profile|access-date=January 24, 2026}}</ref>
==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 | |}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|1294664}}
{{Navboxes |title = Awards for Ellar Coltrane |list = {{Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer}} {{Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Breakthrough Performance}} }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Coltrane, Ellar}} Category:1994 births Category:21st-century American actors Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:Living people Category:Actors from Austin, Texas