Reclusive 'Home Improvement' Child Star, Now 41, Looks Completely Unrecognizable During Rare Appearance — 25 Years After the Hit Sitcom Ended
This child star looks nothing like he did 25 years after the show ended.
Nov. 18 2025, Published 3:45 p.m. ET
Home Improvement fans are in shock over what former child star Tarah Noah Smith looks like today, after the ex-actor made a rare podcast appearance, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Smith, 41, quit showbiz after the beloved ABC sitcom ended its eight-season run in 1999, and he's unrecognizable now compared to what viewers last saw, with long curly hair and a heavy mustache and beard.
A Huge Transformation
Tarah Noah Smith now sports long hair and works for SpaceX.
Smith made an appearance on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling podcast in February, but the episode only appeared on the host's Patreon channel instead of YouTube.
A clip was posted to Instagram at the time featuring the former star, who played Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson's character's youngest son, Mark Taylor, on Home Improvement. Smith was seven years old when the show debuted in 1991, and it went on to become a massive hit for ABC. He was 16 years old when the series wrapped.
The podcast marked reclusive Smith's first public appearance in 7 years. He got together with co-star Zachary Ty Bryan for a 2018 Access Hollywood appearance where the two dished about life on the set in their younger days.
Fond Memories From Hit Show Revealed
Smith told a hilarious story about why his character was turned into a goth kid in Season 7.
Smith shared a story about how his character, Mark, was made "goth," noting that the arc was "not" his idea.
"The whole story of the older brothers beating up on me and teasing me didn't really work anymore because I was taller than both of them," he explained, referring to his on-screen siblings played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Bryan, 44.
"Over the break between Season 6 and Season 7, the decision was made to make me gothic," Smith dished.
"And I found out later, the head writer on the show had a son who was right around my age. And about halfway through the season, I'm in wardrobe," including black fingernails and a dog collar, "and I went backstage and came face to face with his son, who was not in wardrobe but looked just like me," he recalled.
"We have this very awkward moment where it was like 'Oh, I'm your dad's way of kind of dealing with you here. Sorry?" he told his fellow teen at the time.
Life After Hollywood
Smith reunited with his TV brother Zachary Ty Bryan in a 2018 appearance on 'Access Hollywood.'
While Smith briefly studied film and cinema at the University of Southern California in the early aughts, his love of a more technical pursuit led him to pursue a career in engineering.
According to his LinkedIn page, Smith currently works for Elon Musk's SpaceX as a sea recovery technician. Based in Los Angeles, he recovers "orbital boosters and fairings as they land."
Other jobs Smith has held include a flight technician for Near Space Labs, where he was "Responsible for launch and recovery of stratospheric balloons and maintenance of their Earth Imagery payloads."
Smith has also spent 13 years working as a marine service technician, installing and repairing electrical and mechanical components on sailing and motor vessels.
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Following His 'True Passion'
Smith made a rare red carpet appearance for a PETA event in 2005.
Smith reflected in his bio on why he left acting to pursue a science-based career.
"Engineering is in my blood. My father finished building an airplane around the time I was born, and he gave me my first Makita drill when I was four years old. I don't feel whole without at least a Leatherman in my pocket, and I usually travel with a full workshop's worth of tools wherever I go," Smith noted.
"I was lucky enough to have a successful career as a child actor, but stopped acting once I became an adult and followed my true passion, which is to use my head, my hands, and my tools to find novel solutions to humanity's challenges, and to create ever more effective ways to bring them into reality," he proudly added.
