The Ransom Canyon actor and his wife spend his time off in rural Minnesota

It appears Josh Duhamel didn’t have to acquaint himself too much with the setting of his new show Ransom Canyon.

The buzzy new Netflix Western follows his character Staten Kirkland, as well as Minka Kelly’s Quinn O’Grady, and more members of three ranching dynasties in a small Texas town grappling with the fight for their land — and plenty of romance and drama. Scroll to the end for a Ransom Canyon trailer.

And though in real life the Life as We Know It actor is originally from Minot, North Dakota and spent the last several years living in Los Angeles, his current living situation is not unlike that of his character’s.

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Josh married his wife Audra in 2022

On his decision to leave Hollywood

Josh, speaking with Entertainment Tonight about his lakeside property in northwest Minnesota, shared: “I love it. Maybe it’s not for everybody, but for me I think — when I got this place 16 years ago there was nothing there, it was just empty.”

“I was like, ‘I have to do it.’ Because then I can sort of shape it and do what I want. So for me it’s just given me purpose as far as my off time,” he explained.

He further shared: “I want to be out there building things, teaching my kids … You know I didn’t even own a lawn mower in Los Angeles. Out there I’m on a tractor all day.”

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The actor’s son Axl on their lake

How his kids have adapted

Josh shares one son, Axl, 11, with ex-wife Fergie, and another with wife Audra Mari, Shepherd, who just turned one in January. “It’s like two different worlds, and I think it’s so good for my boy, and my baby boy now too to just start to learn how to do some of the basic things that I think we’ve either forgotten or never learned how to do,” he said.

Speaking on how Axl adapted after spending his early childhood years in Hollywood, the doting dad further shared: “He loves it out there. He’s got a group of friends, there’s like six or seven boys his age — which is strange because it’s not a very big lake and there’s not that many people out there so he looks forward to it.”

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Josh with his two sons

“We have soccer tournaments on the beach. Jet skiing and tubing. That’s what has been a lot of fun for me,” he added.

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He welcomed Shepherd in January 2024

His “doomsday cabin”

Speaking with Country Living, Josh described his cabin in rural Minnesota as akin to a “doomsday cabin.” Noting it’s “about 40 minutes from civilization,” he emphasized: “It’s an exhale whenever we get here.”

Recalling how he developed the land over time from an initial rustic cabin he built, he shared: “We were basically homesteading the first 12 years. For the longest time we didn’t have plumbing. We were using outhouses and washing dishes in the lake.”

“I feel so connected to it — I didn’t just buy the place, I shaped this place. While we’ve made a lot of improvements, you still feel like you’re roughing it, and I love that,” he then reflected.