It do n’t get any more nepo baby than this !
Nepo babies undeniably have a leg up in Hollywood, whether or not they acknowledge it — and this is never more obvious than when they literally get their start in their parents' projects.
Even if it’s just a small role, appearing in a high profile project is something many actors never even get close to — most people can’t even get in the audition room for these projects unless they have a great agent and a lot of credits (and don’t even get me started on if they belong to the SAG-AFTRA union or not).
Here are 15 Nepo babies that literally got their start from their parents…basically making them the ultimate Nepo babies.
1.Judd Apatowcasthis daughters Maude andIris Apatowin three of hisfilmswhen they were young kids:Knocked Up, Funny People, andThis Is 40. Maude was then cast in three episodes ofGirls(on which her fatherwasan executive producer).
Her next role was inOther People: she wasrecommendedfor the role by casting director Allison Jones. Jones had previously donethe castingfor Judd Apatow’sFreaks and Geeks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin,Talladega Nights, Knocked Up, Superbad, Funny People, and This is 40…and thus had known the Apatows since Maude was two.
This all led to a role in a film by Sam Levinson, himself a nepo baby (more on that later). He then cast her inEuphoria,largely considered her breakout role.
2.Speaking of Sam Levinson…his father is Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson. His fathercast himin his 1992 filmToys(starring Robin Williams) when Levinson was a kid, then later facilitated his breaking in as a writer, asking him to co-write the 2017 dramaWizard of Lies starring Robert De Niro. The elder Levinsontold Collider,“I discussed it (the project) with my son, Sam, and he put together 20 pages. I sent that over to Bob and Jane Rosenthal, and we had the meeting and they thought it looked good, so I told them that my son wrote it. Bob has known Sam since he was 10 years old, and he said, ‘All right, good.’ That’s how we proceeded.”
Levinson — who had only a single writer/director credit from an indie film before his father asked him to work onThe Wizard of Lies— springboarded off the film to the 2018 dark satireAssassination Nation. Euphoriaquickly followed.
3.Gwyneth Paltrow was born to an actor mom and a director/producer dad…and her godfather isliterallySteven Speilberg. Her first role was in a TV pilot (with Zach Braff, btw)called Highwritten and directedbyher father. She then made her professional stagedebutin 1990 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, where her mother had starred in several productions.
After asmall rolein the John Travolta filmShout,she was cast in her godfather’s filmHook.She then did some smaller projects before having a larger role inFlesh and Bone,and, more memorably,Se7en— her career largely took off after that.
4.Sofia Coppola, daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, began her career as an actor,appearingin her father’s filmsThe Godfather, The Godfather Part II,The Outsiders,Rumble Fish,The Cotton Club,Peggy Sue Got MarriedandThe Godfather Part III(a performance that was critically panned). Coppolalater saidit was never her dream to be an actor and that she was just helping her father out.
She would go on to become a writer/director, and got a leg up here too from her father, who asked her toco-writehis segment of the anthology filmNew York Stories— the other segments were directed by Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Afterdirectinga short film and a few music videos, SofiareadThe Virgin Suicidesand decided she had to adapt and direct a film version. The film was critically acclaimed and her career took off.
5.Bryce Dallas Howard is a nepo baby to theextreme— her mother is a writer, and her father is director Ron Howard. She is the granddaughter of actors, her godfather is Henry Winkler. Her first roles were asextrasin her dad’s films, including the Academy Award-winningApollo 13andA Beautiful Mind,plus the box office smashHow The Grinch Stole Christmas.
After studying acting in college, most of her first large roles were in theater — she wasnoticedinAs You Like Itby M. Night Shyamalan, who cast her inThe VillageandLady in the Water —neitherof which she had to audition for. After that, her career continued to take off.
6.Blake Lively’sfatheris actor Ernie Lively, and her first role was in a film he directed calledSandman.Her mother is a talentmanager. Her brother was also an actor, andgothis agent* to send Blake on a “couple” auditions one summer — which is when she bookedThe Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants(in which her fatheralsoappeared in). Of course, her career skyrocketed from there.
7.Jeff Bridges is thesonof actor Lloyd Bridges and actor/writer Dorothy Bridges. Growing up, heappearedon his father’s showsSea Hunt,The Lloyd Bridges Show,andThe Loner.He continued on with a handful of small roles before landingThe Last Picture Show, launching his career.
8.Jessica Capshaw — best known now for starring as Arizona inGrey’s Anatomy— is thedaughterof actor/producer Kate Capshaw and the stepdaughter of Steven Spielberg.
Her first role was in a film her mother was starring in,The Locusts.She had a couple other small roles before she was cast in her stepfather’s filmMinority Report,whichwasa hit.
9.Will Smith’s son Jaden Smithgot his startstarring alongside his father inThe Pursuit of Happyness.After landing a role in the pannedThe Day the Earth Stood Still, he was cast inThe Karate Kid,which his parents produced, and starred again alongside his father inAfter Earth.
10.Cooper Hoffman, the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman, had grown upmakingsmall films with his father’s collaborator and friend Paul Thomas Anderson and his son. Hoffman wasn’t even interested in acting until Anderson told him aboutLicorice Pizzaand asked him to read the script. Once Hoffman told Anderson he wanted the role, Hoffman went through a number of camera tests with the Haim sisters (which he said he would consider auditions “to see if I could actually do it.") He was only 17, with no prior acting experience.
11.Scott Eastwood mayhave triedto avoid profiting off his surname by initially using his mother’s last name, but I’m not sure he fooled anybody (in fact, one directornotedhe looked exactly like “his dad 25 years ago”). His first-ever film or TV role was in his father Clint’s filmFlags of Our Fathers.He later appeared in his father’sGran TorinoandInvictus,and has had a long, consistent career since then.
12.Anjelica Huston —daughterof director John Huston andgranddaughterof actor Walter Huston —didn’t even wantto act, saying she was given roles in her father’s films “without really [her] consent.” Her first substantial role wasinher father’s filmA Walk with Love and Death,and her performancewas notwell regarded…but she did continue to have a long career in Hollywood, and she worked with her father again onThe Dead.
13.John David Washington, whosefatheris Denzel Washington, appeared intwo small rolesin his father’s projects (includingMalcolm X), thenco-producedone of his father’s films before beginning to make it on his own.
John David’s breakout role was starring inBlacKkKlansman,a Spike Leefilm— Lee was afrequent collaboratorwith Denzel, and had already directed John David inMalcolm X.
14.In another example, Ang Lee’s son Mason Lee issetto make his major debut (after a number ofsmall roles,including as a baby in one of his father’s films) in an upcoming Bruce Lee biopic to be directed by his father.
15.And finally, the three members of Please Don’t Destroy (Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy) were most famous for their comedy TikToks before joiningSNL.It seemed like a Cinderella story for them — until it came out that two of them had fatherswho werelongtime writers and producers onSNL.
To bring this post full circle, after their work onSNL, the trio isworkingon a film with Judd Apatow. They will write and star in the film, as well as executive produce it.
