The actor has kept busy with voiceover work after his move to Utah — including a new semi-autobiographical scripted podcast series — but admits he is “itching” to get back in to performing again.
Once a staple in the Hollywood scene while starring on one of the biggest sitcoms on television, Ty Burrell disappeared after ABC’s Modern Family went off the air. It was a very intentional vanishing act.
Burrell and his wife Holly traded the hustle and bustle of the actor’s life in Los Angeles for a quieter homelife in Salt Lake City, Utah, moving there shortly after his hit sitcom went off the air. More than five years later, and Burrell says he hasn’t looked back … much.
“We moved here right after [the show] ended, and I don’t have any regrets,” he told People. “It’s been lovely and a great place to raise the kids.”
Calling the life he and his family have built for themselves in Utah, “spectacular,” Burrell admitted that there was an unexpected adjustment for him, though it’s one he’s fully embraced. “When we moved here, it almost felt like cosplay, like we were pretending to be people who were outdoorsy,” he said of their new lives living in the mountains. “Now, we truly love it.”
For now, he’s keeping his toes in the Hollywood world with voiceover work, including his latest project, which shifts his talents to the exploding realm of podcasts. Last month, Burrell announced a new semi-autobiographical story, The Good Life, that also closely parallels his own recent move.
While Burrell told People he had a lot of fun making it and hopes it does well enough to warrant a second season, he also admitted, “I’m starting to get the itch again to perform.” Could a live-action adaptation be the next move?
The Good Life tells the story of a family who leaves Los Angeles to live in Applegate, Oregon and run the general store. If it’s not quite Burrell’s modern-day story, it is based on something his parents did when he was younger. At this rate, his current adventures in Utah could come down the line as The Good Life: The Next Generation.
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“I’ve been thinking of how best to tell this story forever,” Burrell told People on July 27 about the project, sharing that The Good Life “is a different iteration of” his childhood adventure,” but the stories are rooted in truth.”
Burrell’s truth is that his father decided it would be a great idea to buy this general store in a town of 200 people, “so only 200 customers were possible.”
“I still remember my dad in the car after we signed the papers. He looked in the rearview mirror and said, ‘Kids, we’re sitting on a gold mine!'” he shared. His dad, however, was wrong — though they did make a run of it for eight years.
“We lost money,” Burrell said, sharing just how tiny and multipurpose that little store was. “This is not an exaggeration,” he shared. “It was the post office, it was the library, it was the fire department. There was a fire truck in a little section of it. It was the hardware store. Grocery store.”
In this fictionalized version of his story, Burrell serves as the narrator, with Jennifer Garner taking on the lead role inspired by his father. The Good Life also stars Jennifer Garner, Ego Nwodim, Colton Dunn, and Jillian Bell and is available on Audible.
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