Home Improvement child star shunned fame for surprisingly normal job after show

Suing his parents, piloting submarines and getting married at 17 all happened to this Home Improvements child star after they quit Hollywood in pursuit of a ‘normal’ life

Running right through the 1990s Home Improvement is a classic from the golden era of sitcoms, launching Tim Allen’s career and making for some all-around classic TV.

For anyone whose memory needs a refresher from almost three decades ago, the comedy followed Tim ‘The Toolman’ Taylor as he hosted Tool Time, a show within a show with his best pal Al Borland. When he wasn’t pretending to be a handyman, Tim was at home with his wife Jill, and their three sons, Brad, Randy and Mark.

The show ran for a solid eight seasons and, despite a $50million offer to make a ninth, both Allen and Patricia Richardson, who played Jill, decided to call it a day and bring the show to an end.

The show made big stars of all its cast including the three sons who were as young as just six-years-old when they first began working on Home Improvement and changing the course of their lives.

But Taran Noah Smith who played the youngest son, Mark, decided that after eight years in front of the camera, he wanted out of Hollywood. Playing the character from six-years-old and into his early teens the show defined much of his childhood and, when it came to an end in 1999, he turned his back on the industry in pursuit of a more “normal” life.

In 2001 the actor talked about his life plans after the show: “I started Home Improvement when I was seven, and the show ended when I was 16. I never had the chance to decide what I wanted to do with my life. When I was 16, I knew that I didn’t want to act anymore.”

Just two years later and at the tender age of 17, Taran married 33-year-old Heidi van Pelt, a vegan chef, activist and entrepreneur. The marriage hit headlines at the time with many confused at the dynamic from their 16-year age gap.

During their time together the two formed a California-based vegan food and restaurant company, Playfood, which focused on plant-based foods and vegan cheeses. After six years in 2007, the pair’s personal differences and business disputes led to their divorce.

In another bizarre twist, Taran would soon find a new job, teaching people how to pilot submarines. On the new venture, he told KSBW Action News 8: “We want to be able to help people experience the true beauty and wonder that is under the ocean at all times.”

Not only is he a submarine instructor but he’s also a trained engineer, having worked with his dad to make water purifiers that were then used by the military. Speaking to Access Hollywood in 2018 he said: “I’ve been working on a couple of different engineering teams, building machines that make water. Recently one that even pulls water out of the air.”

In 2014 he also volunteered in the Philippines with Communitere, spending six months in the country setting up a resource center to help with disaster relief after a monsoon devastated the country in 2013.

When he was a teenager he had a rocky relationship with his parents, suing them in 2001 for access to his trust fund which he believed they had squandered.

Although, after his divorce he reconciled with his family.

In 2015 his mother said: “Of course, we didn’t touch his money… It was in a trust fund. We couldn’t have touched it if we wanted to. They were trying to get it when he was 17, and we were trying to protect it. Luckily the courts were very good about it and didn’t give it to them”

Smith himself added: “I’d gotten out of the teenage phase and realized my parents weren’t doing anything wrong but were trying to protect me.”

In more recent years he’s continued life as an engineer, now working full time for SpaceX as a Sea Recovery Technician in charge of recovering the used rockets when they land in the sea.