Zach Galifianakis on Why He Left Hollywood for a Small Town in Canada: ‘The Lifestyle Never Fit Me’
Zach Galifianakis on Why He Left Hollywood for a Small Town in Canada: ‘The Lifestyle Never Fit Me’
Natalia SenanayakeWed, April 22, 2026 at 7:55 PM UTC
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Zach Galifianakis on 'This Is a Gardening Show'Credit: Netflix -
Zach Galifianakis has lived in a small town in British Columbia, Canada, for nearly 10 years, where he embraces a rural lifestyle
He says Hollywood never suited him and prefers to keep his personal life separate from his career
His new Netflix docuseries, This Is A Gardening Show, highlights his love for gardening and rural living
Zach Galifianakis is pulling back the curtain on why he decided to put down roots in a small town in Canada and build a life away from Hollywood.
The actor and comedian, 56, opened up about his life in rural Canada during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published on Wednesday, April 22. The small town in British Columbia that Galifianakis now calls home served as the backdrop for his new gardening docuseries, This Is A Gardening Show, which premiered on Netflix April 22.
“I've been visiting that area for over 25 years, so I knew the garden tradition here. But, yeah, I've lived there close to 10 years — off and on. Mostly on now,” he told the outlet of his home in Canada. “Because I grew up in a small area, I wanted to get back to that. And L.A. was never my… I was never going to sit at Norms Diner and retire here.”
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Galifianakis then dove deeper into his relationship with Hollywood, explaining why he prefers to keep his personal life separate from his work.
“The lifestyle of Hollywood never fit with me. It's not my thing. So I work in it, but then I separate it. For me, it's more healthy that way — to live in it and constantly go to things, that ain't me. Maybe it would be if I'd been successful when I was younger, but I was a busboy at a strip joint till I was 28,” he said.
He added that the reason why he has such a “healthy relationship with show business” is because he is just “not that into it.”
Last week, Galifianakis shared a little more insight into his quiet life in Canada during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
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“I love it,” he told host Jimmy Kimmel of his small town, which boasts “maybe a thousand” residents. “I love where I live. I love Canada, it's a great country.”
“British Columbia is very beautiful,” he added, noting that he lives “pretty rurally” on an island off the coast of the Canadian province.
Fans will catch a glimpse of his rural lifestyle on This Is A Gardening Show, which offers a “refreshing and whimsical take on gardening” as Galifianakis interviews various subjects with his usual sense of humor and learns more about the topic, according to the streaming platform.
Zach Galifianakis and wife Quinn LundbergCredit: Michael Loccisano/Getty
PEOPLE previously chatted with The Hangover star about why he has never preferred "my real life and show business to combine," especially when it comes to keeping his wife Quinn Lundberg and their two sons out of the spotlight.
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When asked about his past comments in which he used to tell his two sons that he works as a librarian rather than in Hollywood, he noted, "I said that when they were younger because I didn't want them to know anything."
"But I keep show business away from my family. I've never wanted my real life and show business to combine. This is my work, and that's why they're not here," he added to PEOPLE of his sons at the Los Angeles premiere of Lilo & Stitch in May 2025.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
