What is Taran Noah Smith’s net worth?
Taran Noah Smith is a former American child actor who has a net worth of $300 thousand. Taran Noah Smith began acting as a child, and was almost immediately cast as the youngest son on the sitcom, “Home Improvement”. He played the role of Mark Taylor for the next eight years, appearing in 201 out of the show’s 204 episodes over eight seasons. In the years after Home Improvement ended, Taran earned a bit of notoriety for suing his parents to gain control of his trust fund and for dating a women who was 16 years his senior when he was only 17. He later reconciled with his parents and in 2015 even helped his mother write a book titled “Stardom Happens” which detailed her son’s experiences in Hollywood.
Career
Taran Noah Smith was born in San Francisco, California, on April 8, 1984. Taran was exposed to the entertainment world through his older sister who had done some professional modeling work.
“Home Improvement” was his very first professional acting job. Upon landing the role, Taran’s parents signed a seven-year contract with the studio that produced the series. Unfortunately that contract essentially locked-in Taran’s potential earnings for all but one season of the show. Taran appeared on the show, which also starred Tim Allen, Patricia Richardson, Zachery Ty Bryan and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, for 8 seasons between 1991 and 1999.
After Home Improvement he had guest-starring roles in such projects as “Ebbie”, “Little Bigfoot 2: The Journey Home”, and “7th Heaven”.
With a desire to become a director, Taran enrolled at the University of Southern California Film School. It was here that he met a much older woman named Heidi van Pelt. As we detail in a moment, Taran would later marry Heidi. After just a few months at USC, Taran dropped out to open a vegan restaurant, farm, and non-dairy cheese manufacturer called Playfood, with Heidi.
Personal Life
Taran was seven when he first began starring on Home Improvement. He was 16 when the series ended. When he was 17 years old, in 2001, Tarn married a woman named Heidi van Pelt. The marriage made headlines because Heidi, at 33, was 16 years his senior at the time of their marriage. They divorced in 2007.
Trust Fund Lawsuit
Soon after the run of “Home Improvement” ended, Taran went to court in an attempt to gain control of his trust fund from his parents. He did not feel that they were acting in his best interests. In the lawsuit he claimed his parents squandered portions of his earnings on a mansion for themselves. His parents were concerned that he was being manipulated by his new, much older wife, Heidi van Pelt. They also claimed they did not have any influence over his money because it was in a trust fund.
According to court documents the trust fund was worth $1.5 million in the early 2000s.
Taran ultimately did gain control of the trust fund, ironically just a few months earlier than would have been otherwise scheduled with his 18th birthday on the horizon.