Where Is Forrest Landis Now? The Baker Kid Who Chose the Board

By CelebPaid Research · Updated October 7, 2026 · 8 min read

Thematic illustration: a skateboarder, evoking Landis's post-acting life. This is a generic image, not a photo of the subject.Image via Wikimedia Commons

He was the runaway — Mark Baker, "FedEx" to his sister Sarah, the Baker kid who bolts in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) and gets the film's most emotional reunion. Forrest Landis was nine, discovered four years earlier by a Chicago talent scout, and the role was his first professional acting job — landed within five weeks of his family's move to Los Angeles. Five years later, he was done.

Landis retired in 2008 and took up skateboarding. This is the verified story of where Forrest Landis is now.

The Peak: Mark Baker and the Five-Week Miracle (2003–2008)

Born August 9, 1994, in Palm Beach, Florida, raised in Indianapolis, Indiana — discovered at four, modeling in New York City by five (Lord & Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale's, Target), commercials by six (McDonald's, Kraft, General Mills, MasterCard, SpongeBob SquarePants). In 2003, the family moved from Indianapolis to Los Angeles "for Forrest to focus on auditions" — and within five weeks, he booked Mark Baker in Cheaper by the Dozen, the 20th Century Fox blockbuster with Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt.

The run that followed was the child-actor dream, compressed: Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005) reprising Mark; Flightplan (2005) as Rhett Loud opposite Jodie Foster (Disney/Imagine); The Skeleton Key (2005) with Kate Hudson (Universal); the first leading role in Doubting Thomas with AnnaSophia Robb, Lea Thompson, D.L. Hughley, and Rider Strong; Little Athens; guest spots on ER (where Cynthia Nixon played his mother), LAX, and Showtime's Weeds. Five years, two blockbusters, Jodie Foster — and then Spy School (2008), the last credit, at fourteen.

Young Artist Award for Best Young Ensemble (Cheaper by the Dozen). The runaway kid, the Jodie Foster co-star, the Weeds guest — the complete arc, from discovery to done, in half a decade.

The Board: Skateboarding and the Second Life

After Spy School, Landis retired — "believed that Landis has retired from acting and has taken up skateboarding" (Alchetron). He stayed in Los Angeles, where the skateboarding is less a hobby than an identity: his Instagram (@itsfordog, per the Yahoo roundup) documents the life — and in 2018 he wrote: "Here's to 24 more years... I love you skateboarding." That same year, co-star Kevin G. Schmidt posted a reunion photo: "Getting older happens, growing apart is a choice. Grateful we got a chance to reconnect and proud of the man you've become."

The skateboarding isn't casual — per NETTV4U, "he enjoys skateboarding with his friends and is thinking of making a career out of it." The Baker kid who ran away in the movie grew up to run toward something: the board, the pavement, the LA skate scene. Mark Baker's arc was the runaway who comes home; Forrest Landis's is the actor who ran away from acting and found the thing that felt like home.

He's also credited as a producer and writer (Alchetron) — the behind-the-camera itch, the Baker-kid work ethic applied to making things rather than performing them. Sister Lauren, Indianapolis roots, LA life: the whole picture is the normal one, the one the five-week miracle made possible and the fourteen-year-old wisely banked.

The Meaning: The Five-Year Career

Five years. That's the whole acting career: 2003 to 2008, discovery to Spy School, nine to fourteen. It's the shortest professional arc in this series that isn't a single film — and it might be the smartest. Landis got the blockbusters, the Foster film, the ensemble award, and got out before high school ended, before the industry could ask him to be anything but a kid.

The skateboarding is the thesis: the physical, outdoor, unobserved life — the opposite of the set, the camera, the call sheet. The kid discovered by a talent scout at four spent his teens being watched; the adult spends his days on a board, moving, unwatched. "I love you skateboarding" — the love letter to the thing that replaced the thing.

And the Kevin Schmidt reunion post is the coda: "proud of the man you've become." Not the actor — the man. The Baker kids grew up; the one who ran away in the fiction found his footing in the fact. Thirty-two, LA, on a board. The five-week miracle, followed by eighteen years of ordinary magic.

Where Is Forrest Landis Now?

As of 2026, Forrest Landis lives in Los Angeles, retired from acting since Spy School (2008), devoted to skateboarding (possibly professionally), with producer/writer credits. Thirty-two, private, on a board.

Mark Baker ran away from home in the movie. Forrest Landis ran away from Hollywood in life — and landed on his feet, on four wheels.

The Five-Week Miracle: Discovery to Done

The timeline still astonishes: discovered by a Chicago talent scout at four; modeling in New York at five for Lord & Taylor, Saks, Bloomingdale's, Target; commercials at six for McDonald's, Kraft, General Mills, MasterCard, SpongeBob; family moves from Indianapolis to Los Angeles in 2003 "for Forrest to focus on auditions" — and within five weeks, the nine-year-old books Mark Baker in a Steve Martin blockbuster.

Five weeks. From new kid in town to the Baker family. The audition machine that chews up thousands of kids in years processed Forrest Landis in just over a month — the scout's eye, the modeling polish, the commercial timing, all converging on the right room at the right moment. It's the Hollywood dream, compressed to its essence: the outsider arrives, the door opens, the kid walks through.

What followed was the dream's full menu, served fast: the blockbuster and its sequel, Jodie Foster, Kate Hudson, the first leading role (Doubting Thomas with AnnaSophia Robb), the prestige TV guest spots (ER, Weeds), the ensemble award. Five years, start to finish — the career as a tasting menu, every course sampled, none overeaten.

And then the check, paid at fourteen: Spy School, the last credit, the exit. The five-week miracle gets all the attention, but the five-year career is the real feat — the discipline to take the dream, taste all of it, and put it down. Most kids chase the miracle for a decade and never catch it. Landis caught it in five weeks, enjoyed it for five years, and spent the next eighteen on a skateboard. The miracle wasn't the booking. The miracle was knowing when to leave.

Then vs Now: Two Chapters

Forrest Landis acted for five years and skateboarded for eighteen. The board won — four wheels over four cameras, the pavement over the soundstage, the push over the performance. The five-week miracle got him in; the five-year career got him out; the eighteen-year ride is the life. Mark Baker ran away and came home; Forrest Landis ran away and stayed gone, on a skateboard, in Los Angeles, loved by the thing he chose. Here's to twenty-four more years — and then twenty-four after that. The Baker kid who bolted, the Foster co-star, the Weeds guest, the skateboarder: all the same person, all the same runaway — except this time, he's running toward something, and he's not coming back.

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