Home Alone’s Daniel Stern Says ‘Stepping Away’ from Hollywood Led to ‘Living My Real Life’ Creating Art on His Ranch (Exclusive)

Daniel Stern has traded in his former Home Alone Wet Bandit identity for something much more befitting of his life today: “Citrus Bandit.”

The actor-turned-writer, sculptor, farmer and philanthropist tells PEOPLE that it’s “overwhelming” how much support he has seen on both TikTok and Instagram as of late as fans have discovered that he now lives a peaceful existence on his California ranch — purchased with the money he saved from his time in Hollywood — growing tangerines and creating passion project art that he describes as an “extension of the human condition.”

“What I love about social media is you can tell your story,” Stern, 67, shares of the recent influx of new and old fans alike to his pages, “and it feels good to tell it. And sort of that’s the final step of any artistic creation is giving it to an audience. So it’s a wonderful world, and I’m so tickled people have discovered some of my stuff through the TikTok thing there.”

Indeed, Stern has been living his “real life,” as he says, hiking, raising cattle, growing produce and creating sculptures out of bronze, a far departure from rubbing elbows with Joe Pesci in Home Alone, narrating The Wonder Years and popping up in more recent series including Shrill.

Despite the distance, both literally and figuratively, from the backlots of Hollywood, Stern’s ranch and pottery studio make him feel like he’s working “on a movie crew,” he says.

“I’m fascinated by the cinematographer and the prop department. It takes all these people. So I love living in all these different worlds. It’s the same in my sculpture world. I make these fun sculptures, but I’m dealing with a city and the city council who has commissioned the piece, and I’m going to tell them their story. And then I deal with the city engineer, and then I deal with the foundry and the mold makers. So I’ve got all these other people in my life outside of show business, and I think it makes my show business stuff deeper because I’m living my real life,” he shares.

Stern’s decision to purchase a ranch and begin “stepping away” from the public gaze was informed by a wish to disconnect from the “overwhelming” reality of being a big star.

“I made enough money that I didn’t have to work,” he says. “I made enough money and I’m kind of frugal … I bought the house in cash. I bought the cars in cash. I bought everything straight up because as an artist, I never knew if [I was] going to make any more bread. And I said to my wife, ‘How much money do I need to sock in the bank so that we can live off the interest and so that I don’t have to work?’ She said, ‘We hit it.’ That was like, ‘Okay, Dan, now you’re going to put your money where your mouth is’ … ‘What am I going to do with it? Am I going to keep chasing another part or that?’ ” Instead, he decided to go the path of wholly pursuing his passion projects — and hasn’t looked back since.

Ultimately, Stern says “at this point … I love being in nature. I love being away. I love my solitude and I love being able to focus on what I’m making. So the farm world is a great place for me.”