Character actor Nick Searcy, known for roles in "Justified," "The Fugitive" and "Reagan," has spoken out about why he left Los Angeles for Nashville, joining a growing list of celebrities who have quit California in recent years. He told Fox News Digital that after moving to LA in the early 1990s, the city gradually changed for the worse, with work increasingly shifting to locations such as Oklahoma, Atlanta and London, and that pandemic-era restrictions imposed by both the state and his neighbours proved to be the final straw.

Searcy, a North Carolina native, relocated with his Kentucky-born wife to Nashville in 2021, and the couple now split their time between the city and a small town in Kentucky. He said the move was logical given nearby family and friends who had already left California, though he noted Nashville has since become considerably busier as more people follow. He is among numerous stars, including Dennis Quaid, Kevin Sorbo and Kellan Lutz, who have relocated to Tennessee and other states such as Florida, Nevada and Texas, with Searcy suggesting the exodus stems from high taxes and what he called deliberate mismanagement of Los Angeles.