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"Music is what I want to do for the rest of my life."

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If you were watching TV in the eighties, you knew Brian Bonsall as Andy Keaton on the hit sitcom Family Ties (1986-89). In the nineties you probably recognized him playing Worf's son on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992-94). He also starred in the films Father Hood (1993) with Patrick Swaye, Blank Check (1994) and the cult classic TV film Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme (1990). If you haven't seen much of him since, that's because he's one of those child actors who just didn't take much interest in pursuing it as a lifelong career, choosing instead to get into music in his adulthood.

Lifestyles Of The Struggling Artist

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Bonsall officially retired from acting in 2000. Turning your back on a promising career in acting to follow your dream in music is a daring move, but not without some major risks. Case in point, you've probably never heard a Brian Bonsall song on the radio. Thus far, the peak of Bonsall's musical career has been touring with the band The Ataris. The Ataris' work is packed with references to 1980s entertainment and youth culture, with their album So Long, Astoria (2003) being named for the town in which The Goonies is set, so it makes sense that they would be eager to tour with Andy Keaton from Family Ties.

Although Brian Bonsall was famous before he ever picked up a guitar, his journey in the music scene hasn't been so different from that of anyone else who chooses the life of the starving artist over fortune and fame. Bonsall's personal net worth has been estimated at anywhere from five thousand to five million dollars, but it may be well below even the more modest estimate. Remember that Bonsall's last film role was around twenty five years ago now, and Family Ties went off the air three decades ago. No doubt Bonsall earns some royalty checks from time to time when the rights change hands or the show is rerun, and we'd bet on that being how he keeps the lights on, but it's unlikely that Bonsall's time on Family Ties is going to buy him a penthouse apartment anytime soon.

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While it may be easy to read Bonsall's career as a story of failure, he did not flunk out of Hollywood. The offers were still coming in in the 1990s, and Blank Check, his final major role, earned thirty million on a modest thirteen million dollar budget. Bonsall's decision to leave film and television for a life in music was his own, and not merely an attempt at staying relevant while the film offers dried up.

Still it is ironic that the star of Blank Check, a movie about a pre-teen boy cashing a million dollar check and living a life of luxury, has chosen the life of a struggling artist over that of a rich and famous actor. It goes to show that while fortune and fame may seem fun, they don't amount to much if you're not doing what you want to be doing with your life.

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The Music Life

Like many young rock artists, Brian Bonsall has had his troubles with the law, and like many young rock artists, Bonsall has been in more bands than you can count on one hand, including Thruster, The Light on Adam's Stereo and the Late Bloomers, all Boulder, Colorado-based punk groups.

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Bonsall's music career has yet to hit the soaring heights of his time as a child actor, but it may well be that Bonsall isn't interested in fame in the first place. After all, he did leave a promising acting career in order to pick up a six string guitar and play for small crowds in Colorado. 

"I don't think I could compare myself to Macaulay Culkin, because we're pretty much two different kinds of actors."