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Josh Brolin says he became a full-time stock trader after Hollywood stopped calling
By Brie Stimson
Published October 16, 2026
Josh Brolin said he wasn’t taken seriously as an actor until 2007’s Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men" — and in the years before landing the movie, he had a short career as a full-time stock trader.
The 58-year-old son of actor James Brolin told Theo Von on his "This Past Weekend" podcast that despite early success on "The Goonies," his career in Hollywood was going nowhere.
Before he was cast as Brand in "The Goonies," he said he went to "350 auditions," and people told him, "It's not for you."
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Josh Brolin said he worked as a stock trader full-time in his 30s when his Hollywood career was floundering. (Getty Images)
He said the '80s classic was his first time ever in front of a camera, admitting, "I ruined the first day of shooting 'cause I couldn’t stop laughing" because he was so nervous.
Steven Spielberg told him to "take a breath" on the first day, because "we need to get through this."
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Soon after making "The Goonies," he went to New York to study acting and do theater. He said that he "took it seriously," and he "had 22 years of taking it seriously because nobody was interested until really I did ‘No Country,’ and then ‘No Country’ kind of changed s---."
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During that period, Brolin said he worked as a landscaper for a year and then became a stock trader when he was 30, "for almost five years full-time."
"I was really good at it," he admitted, explaining that he worked from home using three screens, "four tabs per screen."
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Josh Brolin, center, stands with the cast of "The Goonies." (Getty Images)
He said he did both swing trading and day trading.
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"I made more money in those four years, really … than I had made in 20 years acting. But I didn’t really make hardly anything acting."
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"Day trading I loved, man," he added.
Josh Brolin promotes "No Country for Old Men" with Kelly Macdonald and Javier Bardem at the Cannes Film Festival. (WireImage)
Even after he found critical acclaim in the industry, the money wasn’t blowing him away.
For "No Country for Old Men," he said he was paid $100,000, "so I cleared what, $30,000? That’s not considered a great year."
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Josh Brolin and the cast of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite in New York City in 2010. (WireImage)
But his Hollywood career began to turn around quickly after that.
While filming "No Country for Old Men," Brolin said he sent in an audition tape for "American Gangster" with his 16-year-old son playing Denzel Washington’s part.
"And that’s the last audition I ever did," he said.
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Brolin is now starring in the thriller "Whalefall," about a diver who is swallowed by a whale. Brolin plays the main character's estranged father.
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/josh-brolin-full-time-stock-trader-hollywood-stopped-calling