10 Actors You Didn't Know Are Nepo Babies

These days, it seems like all anyone can talk about in Hollywood are “nepo babies.” Originating in the early 2020s, “nepo baby” describes individuals whose success can be attributed to a parent or relative’s previous success in the same industry due to nepotism. Plenty of celebrities have achieved accolades without fans knowing about their famously talented families. Some of the most iconic A-listers in film and TV owe their successes to extreme privilege, such as people like Ben Stiller (whose parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, were a famous comedy duo in the 1960s), or Zoë Kravitz (whose father Lenny Kravitz is a Grammy-winning rock star, while her mother Lisa Bonet was a famous film and TV actor). 

Most of the time, nepo babies are forced to wear their privilege on their sleeves just by virtue of their names, as Allison Williams (daughter of former NBC anchor Brian Williams) told Wired, “It doesn’t feel like a loss to admit it … If you trust your own skill, I think it becomes very simple to acknowledge.” Others, like Jamie Lee Curtis, have spoken out against the ridicule towards nepotism babies in pop culture. 

For these 10 actors you might not have realized are nepo babies, they’ve obviously put hard work into each role they’ve played. However, like many people in industries all across the world, they had a much easier time breaking into careers in Hollywood than most people because of certain family members helping them get their foot in the door.

Timothée Chalamet is one of the biggest Hollywood success stories in recent years. After beginning his career as a teenager, Chalamet began popping up in notable prestige films like “Interstellar,” “Call Me By Your Name,” and “Little Women.” However, he truly ascended to new heights in the 2020s with roles in blockbusters like “Dune,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Wonka,” and earning a Screen Actors Guild Award for his acclaimed portrayal of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” 

In his SAG Award speech, Chalamet claimed he has high ambitions as an actor, and those were helped a little bit thanks to his family. Chalamet’s maternal aunt and uncle are TV producer Amy Lippman and filmmaker Rodman Flender, the latter of whom also directed episodes of “The Office” and “Gilmore Girls,” as well as the 2011 documentary “Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop.” 

Despite the criticism, one doesn’t have to watch all the best Timothée Chalamet movies to know that he’s truly a one-of-a-kind talent. Even if doors may have been let open for him, that doesn’t discount the hard work he’s done to make a name for himself, which includes following strict guidelines given to him by Leonardo DiCaprio to stay away from drugs and superhero movies. 

Even though her mom, Andie MacDowell, was a bonafide movie star in the 1980s, Margaret Qualley’s career has been a slow burn. Formerly training to be a ballet dancer, Qualley began acting in the HBO series “The Leftovers” before transitioning to film with “The Nice Guys” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” nearly flubbing an audition for the latter before being asked to fly to Los Angeles for a chemistry read with Brad Pitt. 

Qualley’s career truly took off in 2021, when her Netflix series “Maid,” co-starring MacDowell, netted her nominations at the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Her career has continued into the 2020s with an incredibly strong resume, including appearances in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and “Kinds of Kindness,” as well as the bloody, brilliant, bonkers body horror movie “The Substance,” for which her performance, incorporating her dance background, was considered a snub at the 2025 Oscars. 

Despite her very lucky upbringing, as well as being married to super-producer Jack Antonoff (starring in two music videos for his band Bleachers, including the one she co-directed, “Tiny Moves,”), Qualley told Josh Horowitz on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that she doesn’t mind the “nepo baby” label, “I just so desperately want to, like, be good … I always feel like I’m harder on myself than anyone else in the room.” On the plus side, MacDowell even alleges she’s experienced “reverse nepotism” as a result of her familial connection to Qualley and Antonoff. 

While some nepo babies have been humble about their privilege, others have garnered controversy for their less-than-appreciative reactions to the label. One such example is Ben Platt, who rose to stardom after originating the titular role in Broadway’s “Dear Evan Hansen,” a role he questionably reprised in its misguided and messy 2021 film adaptation. It wasn’t long before audiences began to point out how the producer of the “Dear Evan Hansen” film was none other than Marc Platt, Ben’s father. 

As it turns out, Ben Platt comes from Hollywood royalty, given that his father Marc has been a major producer of hit films since the early 2000s, with some key examples being “Legally Blonde,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” and “La La Land.” This past year alone, Platt’s name has appeared on films like “Wicked,” “The Little Mermaid,” and the upcoming live-action adaptation of “Snow White” starring Rachel Zegler. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Platt declined to comment on being cited as a “nepo baby” by New York Magazine. As for his casting in “Dear Evan Hansen,” Platt defended it on The Zach Sang Show, saying people failed to understand “The fact that I created the role and workshopped it for 3 years, and did all of the out-of-town performances, and originated it on Broadway, and received the accolades that I did … [There] was never any kind of discussion that it wouldn’t be me,” (via People). That’s easy to say when the producer is your dad. 

Daisy Edgar-Jones had her fair share of success prior to 2020, but the British actress really exploded in the mainstream after starring in the Hulu limited series “Normal People” opposite Paul Mescal. She has since appeared in plenty of big studio films, including “Where the Crawdads Sing” and “Twisters,” though American viewers may not know how important her family is overseas. While her mother works in film editing, her father Philip Edgar-Jones is a top executive at Sky, one of the biggest multimedia companies in the U.K. 

Nevertheless, Edgar-Jones put the work in to get cast in “Normal People,” going through the regular rigamarole of sending in an audition tape and being selected to screen-test with Mescal. As casting director Louise Keily told Backstage of the first time she watched Edgar-Jones’ tape, “I thought, ‘I think we have something.’ It felt like suddenly all of the things about Marianne that we needed exist in this one actor.” Given that “Normal People” was produced by BBC Three and not Sky TV, Edgar-Jones had no outside help in landing that part. 

Edgar-Jones hasn’t commented on the allegations that she benefited from nepotism, though for what it’s worth, she’s allegedly very humble about her rise in celebrity status over the past few years, partially due to the fact that “Normal People” debuted during the pandemic. We guess she has a lot to be grateful for between her fortunate upbringing and early passion for acting. 

The actors who get cast as lead roles in music biopics are subject to a lot of scrutiny, depending on their looks, acting abilities, and willingness to do their own singing for the part. However, one music biopic actor in particular had zero issue with starring in 2015’s “Straight Outta Compton,” chronicling the rise and fall of the hip-hop group N.W.A., because he’s actually the son of one of the group’s key members.

 Ice Cube rose to fame in N.W.A. during the ’90s, before becoming a respected comedy actor with films like “Friday,” “Are We There Yet?,” and “21 Jump Street.”  O’Shea Jackson Jr., his son, was cast as his father in “Straight Outta Compton,” but despite the obvious nepotism at play there, many critics praised Jackson’s performance. As Rolling Stone wrote in their review, “Cube’s look-alike son, O’Shea Jackson Jr., does a smashing job playing his dad, blending sensitivity with seething intensity.” Since that film, Jackson has appeared in supporting roles in films like “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Cocaine Bear,” as well as the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”  

Unlike others in his position, Jackson is obviously proud of his father’s influence on his career, telling The Kelly Clarkson Show, “If I were to run away from that or shy away from in it in any way, in my eyes that’s disrespectful to everything he had to go through.” Maybe more nepo babies would be accepted if they portrayed their own parents on-screen.

Zoey Deutch has been acting ever since she was a kid, appearing on Disney Channel and The CW, but her career really started to kick off in the late 2010s with appearances in comedies “Everybody Wants Some!!,” “Why Him?,” and “Set It Up.” More recently, she’s come into her own as an actress playing the ditzy blonde Madison in “Zombieland: Double Tap,” as well as the satirical comedy “Not Okay” with Dylan O’Brien. However, comedy acting is truly in her blood, given that her mom played one of the most iconic film characters of all time.

Deutch’s father, filmmaker Howard Deutch, directed films such as “Pretty in Pink” and “The Great Outdoors,” but her mother, Lea Thompson, is best remembered as Lorraine, mother to Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly, in the “Back to the Future” movies. Deutch got a chance to work with her entire family in her mother’s directorial debut, 2017’s “The Year of Spectacular Men,” in which she co-stars alongside her sister, Madelyn Deutch, who also wrote the screenplay. 

While Deutch hasn’t commented on the nepotism allegations, Thompson is very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her daughter, telling Us Weekly, “Being able to create something with my two daughters that I admire and love was my proudest moment.” Deutch also accompanied her mom to a screening of “Back to the Future” back in 2015, showing she’s definitely not ashamed at the legacy of her mom’s iconic acting career. 

Long before he was part of the best moments from the “SNL 50” anniversary special, Jason Sudeikis performed with The Second City Touring Company and founded The Second City in Las Vegas. It’s not difficult to imagine that line of work would eventually lead Sudeikis to “Saturday Night Live,” but he had some extra help thanks to his uncle, former two-time host and “Cheers” star George Wendt. After recommending Sudeikis to then-head of talent Marci Klein, the young comic was hired as a writer in 2003 before being promoted to cast in 2005. 

Sudeikis has gone on to have lots of success in comedy, including films like “Horrible Bosses” and “We’re the Millers” and TV shows like “The Last Man on Earth” and “Ted Lasso,” the latter netting him Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Wendt, for his part, is proud of his nephew’s success, telling Steve Kmetko on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast of the advice he gave Sudeikis, “[He] told me just get on the best show on television and one of the greatest shows of all time and just pretty much take it from there.’ And he goes, ‘So I did.'”

Sudeikis hasn’t forgotten about Wendt either, as it turns out. In the season 3 finale of “Ted Lasso,” a photo of Geronimo can be seen at the frequented Crown & Anchor pub, a reference to the same framed photo seen in the titular bar from “Cheers.” 

Hannah Einbinder currently stars in “Hacks,” one of the best TV shows on Max currently, as Ava, a young writer hired by Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a legendary stand-up comedienne, to write jokes for her. The role has won Einbinder a Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and she was also named one of Variety’s 10 up-and-coming comics in 2021, alongside Ayo Edebiri and Josh Johnson. However, Einbinder’s history with comedy can be traced back an entire generation, when her mother was part of one of the biggest movements in comedy history.

Aside from being known as Hannah Einbinder’s mom, Laraine Newman rose to prominence as a member of the original cast of “Saturday Night Live,” alongside the likes of John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Dan Aykroyd. After several years of putting in the work as a stand-up comedian, “Hacks” was Einbinder’s first acting role. As Newman told People, she supported her daughter’s dreams of becoming an actor, saying, “[She] tearfully admitted to me at one point, like the dirty secret, ‘I want to be an actor.'”

Einbinder’s family history came full circle in fall of 2024, when she cameoed with her “Hacks” co-star Jean Smart to introduce Jelly Roll’s second musical performance on “Saturday Night Live,” making her debut on the show that her mother was once a part of nearly 50 years after the very first season. Hopefully, Einbinder will host “Saturday Night Live” all on her own one day.

After the long and illustrious career that Nicolas Cage (seen above in “Dream Scenario”) has had, it may seem unfair to call him a “nepo baby,” especially given how much he tried to avoid associations with his family. In case you weren’t aware, “Cage” is a stage name inspired by Marvel Comics’ Luke Cage, as the future “Ghost Rider” star was born Nicolas Coppola, nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now.” Early in his acting career, Cage made appearances in several of his uncle’s films, including “Rumble Fish” and “The Cotton Club.” 

As he discovered his greater passion for the Thespian arts, Cage was hungry for bigger opportunities to be given to him by his uncle, but the iconic director showed little empathy towards his nephew’s dreams. Cage was all the better an actor for it, having to prove himself early on with films like “Raising Arizona” and “Moonstruck,” before becoming a box office draw with “Con Air” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” both of which are considered some of the best Nicolas Cage movies. 

Nowadays, Cage describes his Coppola connections as a heavy weight on his career, having to fight the feeling that other actors believed he didn’t deserve his place in Hollywood. As he told Far-Out Magazine, “[My] fellow actors didn’t accept me. They said I was there because of Francis Coppola … I felt I had to work twice as hard as the next guy to prove myself.” How wrong those doubters must feel now!

What’s more surprising: the fact that Kate Hudson is the daughter of a Hollywood A-lister, or the fact that she’s not the only successful actor from that family? Hudson is the daughter of Goldie Hawn and Bill Hudson, and she’s also half-siblings with Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt Russell (Hudson’s step-father) and Hawn. Hudson is far from ashamed of her mother’s legacy, telling MTV that Hawn is “the woman that I’ve learned the most from, and who I look up to, who has conducted her life in a way that I can look up to.” 

It’s no surprise, in that regard, that Hudson’s acting career started early, but not even her own mother could predict how far her daughter would go in just a few short years. At 21 years old, Hudson starred in the 2000 film “Almost Famous,” which netted her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and an Oscar nomination. Subsequent years saw Hudson rise to A-list status with appearances in “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days,” “You, Me, and Dupree,” and “Bride Wars.” 

Hudson, for her piece, has criticized the “nepo baby” discourse as irrelevant given how many people in the industry work hard in spite of their family connections, as well as pointing out how common nepotism is in many different industries. At least Hudson’s not hiding from her family, given that she and her brother Oliver Hudson co-host a podcast, “Sibling Revelry,” discussing family bonds with celebrity guests.