Actor Taran Noah Smith, who played the youngest Taylor sibling, Mark, on the hit '90s sitcom Home Improvement, made a rare on-camera appearance on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling podcast, marking his first public interview in 14 years. The former child star last reunited with his on-screen family back in 2011 for an Entertainment Weekly cast feature.
Home Improvement ran for eight hugely successful seasons from 1991 to 1999. Led by Tim Allen as accident-prone TV host Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, the series also starred Patricia Richardson as his quick-witted wife Jill, with their three sons played by Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran. Actress Pamela Anderson also had her breakout acting role on the show, appearing as the original "Tool Time girl" Lisa, in the first two seasons, from 1991 to 1993.
Now 41, Taran looks worlds away from the fresh-faced youngster viewers remember. Sporting long, curly brown hair and a full beard, he appeared relaxed and reflective as he looked back on his years on the beloved series, which he joined at just seven years old.
He also spoke about his character’s dramatic shift during the show’s later seasons, when Mark transformed from a sweet, shy little brother into a brooding goth teen. The change, he revealed, wasn’t his idea but rather one sparked by the show’s head writer, whose son dressed in a similar style.
"The whole idea of the older brothers beating up on me or teasing me didn’t really work any more because now I was taller than both of them," Taran explained. "The decision was made to make me gothic and… I was in wardrobe with black fingernails and a dog collar and I went backstage and came face to face with [the head writer’s] son who was not in wardrobe but looked just like me," he laughed.
While some of Taran’s former castmates recently reunited for guest spots on Tim Allen's comedy Shifting Gears, including Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning, Taran chose a very different path after Home Improvement wrapped in 1999.
The actor stepped away from Hollywood and later pursued a variety of careers, including running a California-based non-dairy cheese manufacturer and restaurant, Playfood, specializing in vegan and organic food, with his then-wife. He also worked as a submarine-piloting instructor. In a 2021 interview, he explained that he simply grew out of the profession he’d entered as a child.
"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," he shared with Capital Journal.