Why actor Nick Searcy ditched California’s high taxes, bureaucracy for Nashville’s southern hospitality

Mark Wahlberg, Joe Rogan, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman and Sylvester Stallone.

While the stars are among the prominent names who have traded California for homes elsewhere, there are many others to add to the roster.

Among them is veteran character actor Nick Searcy, who has a lot to say about his departure from the Golden State. ‘TWILIGHT’ STAR KELLAN LUTZ TRADED CALIFORNIA FOR TENNESSEE LAND AND BIBLE STUDIES Searcy, who moved to Los Angeles in the early ’90s, became a Hollywood character actor, known for his role in the popular TV series "Justified," as well as film roles in 1993’s "The Fugitive," 2000's "Cast Away," 2003’s "Runaway Jury" and, more recently, 2024’s "Reagan" and Netflix’s "The Perfect Couple," which was also released that year.

The actor, an outspoken conservative, told Fox News Digital that in the early ’90s, LA was still a wonderful place to work.

"I’m old enough to remember when Hollywood was this beautiful, kind of inaccessible place that, you know, if you were really good at acting, you could some day move to.

That’s how I grew up," Searcy recalled.

"There was a lot of activity.

I had 15 auditions a week during pilot season… but then it started to go downhill.

They started to centralize more and more of the Democrat power base, and they just systematically took that city down," he continued.

NEWSOM SAYS FILM TAX INCENTIVES ARE BRINGING HOLLYWOOD HOME BUT INDUSTRY EXPERTS WARN IT MAY BE 'TOO LATE' As the years went on, Searcy said he increasingly worked outside Los Angeles, including in Oklahoma, Toronto, Atlanta, the Dominican Republic and London.

"It was like, I would never shoot anything in Los Angeles," he said.

And he said to his wife, "Why are we here? Why are we still here paying all these taxes?" KEVIN SORBO SAYS HE ‘ESCAPED’ CALIFORNIA, SLAMS DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP IN FIERY REMARKS The last straw for Searcy was when COVID hit.

"We realized that it wasn’t just the government that was crazy, it was all of our neighbors," Searcy quipped.

"They were wanting to put us in jail for not wearing our mask over our nose or not getting vaccinated.