A decade after Dolly Parton brought her Great Smoky Mountains childhood to NBC audiences, the young actors who portrayed her family in Coat of Many Colors and its 2016 sequel Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love have taken dramatically different paths — some still working steadily in Hollywood, others stepping away from the camera entirely.
The two made-for-television films, which aired in 2015 and 2016 respectively, dramatized Parton’s early years in rural Tennessee, tracing how her parents — Avie Lee and Lee Parton, played by Jennifer Nettles and Ricky Schroder — navigated poverty, grief, and an expanding household. Nine of Dolly’s eleven siblings appear across the two films, with a rotating cast of child actors bringing them to life. Baby Larry, who died days after birth in real life in 1955, was not portrayed on screen. Three additional Parton siblings — twins Floyd and Frieda, and younger sister Rachel — never appeared in either film.
The Actors Who Kept Working
Alyvia Alyn Lind, who played young Dolly in both films at just eight years old, has built the most prominent post-Coat of Many Colors career. She had already been playing Faith Newman on The Young and the Restless since 2011, a role she held until 2021, and has since starred in multiple television series including Daybreak, Chucky, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Wayward, along with film appearances in Overboard, Masquerade, and Walk. Ride. Rodeo. She comes from an established entertainment family — her mother is actress Barbara Alyn Woods, her father is producer John Lind, and her sister Natalie Alyn Lind currently appears on Dutton Ranch. Alyvia maintains over 433,000 Instagram followers.
Kelli Berglund, who replaced Carson Meyer in the role of eldest sibling Willadeene for the 2016 sequel, has remained consistently active. Already known for the Disney XD series Lab Rats from 2012 to 2016, Berglund went on to appear in Now Apocalypse, Animal Kingdom, The Goldbergs, and the Starz series Heels, in which she played Crystal Tyler across 16 episodes between 2021 and 2023. She became engaged to musician Tyler Wilson in 2024 and has over 1.3 million Instagram followers. Carson Meyer, for her part, pivoted away from acting after her 2020 film Minyan. She founded a non-toxic skincare brand called C & The Moon, studied alternative health at New York University, works as a birth doula — with clients including Mandy Moore and Gigi Hadid — and published a book in 2025 titled Growing Together: Doula Wisdom & Holistic Practices for Pregnancy, Birth, & Early Motherhood.
Parker Sack, who portrayed eldest Parton son David in both films, continues to act. His credits since the movies include Dopesick, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, and Unstoppable, with his most recent IMDb listing being the 2026 short film Untold Valor, in which he played Private First Class Hudson. Farrah Mackenzie, who played Dolly’s sister Stella, has also kept a steady presence on screen, most notably appearing in 29 episodes of the CBS series United States of Al and eight episodes of Utopia. A notable footnote: the real Stella Parton appeared in the Coat of Many Colors films herself, playing a character named Corla Bass.
Those Who Stepped Back
Dylan Rowen, who played brother Denver in both films and later appeared in a 2017 episode of Nashville, lists only two acting credits after that point — a 2018 short and a 2019 episode of Famously Afraid — and appears to have shifted focus toward music. Blane Crockarell, who debuted as brother Bobby in the first film, has appeared in Chaos Walking and A Nashville Christmas Carol among other projects, but has not posted publicly on Instagram since November 2025. Hannah Goergen, who made her debut as Cassie Parton in the 2016 sequel, has minimal credits since, with her last IMDb listing being a short film called Always Forward. Twins Carter and Colby Zier, who shared the role of baby Randy in Christmas of Many Colors — a common industry practice for minimizing young children’s time on set — appeared in two additional projects, Manhunt and A Bad Moms Christmas, before leaving the industry.
With Natalie Alyn Lind already part of the Dutton Ranch cast and Kelli Berglund continuing to land prominent television roles, at least some members of the Coat of Many Colors ensemble remain squarely in the spotlight — keeping the films’ legacy visible for fans of both Parton and the broader country music world they helped dramatize.
