Gary Sinise Explains Why He Left LA for Tennessee

Published: November 18, 2024

Gary Sinise Explains Why He Left LA for Tennessee

By Movieguide® Contributor

Actor and veterans advocate Gary Sinise is opening up about why he left California for Tennessee.

Sinise, who used to live in Los Angeles, now resides in Nashville. He left the state to care for his wife and son after they were diagnosed with cancer.

“I made the decision to move our family back in 2021,” he said.

“We were in the cancer fight during that time,” he explained. “The last acting I did was in 2019, and I kind of had to stop because traveling away from the family for long periods of time wasn’t possible with what we were going through.”

He explained that, within two months of each other, his wife, Moira Harris, had been diagnosed with breast cancer while their son, McCanna Anthony “Mac,” was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

“My dad had just had a stroke, and my mom was alone, and I had to…take care of her…I kind of had my hands full,” Sinise added.

His son’s battle against chordoma, a “type of cancer [that] forms in a person’s spine or at the base of their skull,” was “especially difficult.”

“This cancer with no cure and trying to find drugs and doctors or anybody that could do anything for him was like a full-time job. Plus, he became more and more disabled by the cancer as time went on,” Sinise explained.

Although Mac lost his battle earlier this year, passing away at the age of 33, Sinise is grateful for what he accomplished, namely composing his album “Resurrection & Revival,” which his dad is now sharing with the world.

“He was happy at the end of his life, and he had achieved something that he set out to do which was to record all this music and make a full album of it. And that gave me a lot of joy, you know, just watching him enjoy those moments,” Sinise said.

He released Part One of the album earlier this year. Part Two began shipping on Nov. 10.

“After Mac passed away on January 5, I began going through his files and discovered so many beautiful compositions that he had never released,” Sinise posted on Instagram. “With the help of his dear friend Oliver Schnee and some of Mac’s talented musician pals, we’ve been able to bring these pieces to life.”