Spot the Hollywood
nepo babies

Last week someone tweeted a fan poster for Robert Eggers’ remake of Nosferatu, now in pre-production. Since “nepo baby” was a trending topic, I applied a nepo test to the three actors whose names were printed across the top. Bill Skarsgård? Son of Stellan, brother of Alexander. Lily-Rose Depp? Daughter of Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp. Only Nicholas Hoult seemed to be letting the side down, but then I looked him up and found his grand-aunt was Dame Anna Neagle. Check! Check! Check! A nepo hat-trick!

Spotting the “nepo baby” is quite the pastime on TikTok and other Generation Z hangouts whose denizens seem only now to be cottoning on that the world of entertainment is no more a meritocracy than the worlds of journalism, literature or politics. The TikTok shock is almost endearing as post-Millennials discover to their chagrin that Maude Apatow, star of TV’s Euphoria, didn’t pull herself up by the bootstraps, but is the daughter of one of Hollywood biggest power couples; that Zoë Kravitz, who plays Catwoman in The Batman, is the daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet; that Ansel Elgort, who plays Tony in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, is the son of fashion photographer Arthur Elgort; that Jaden Smith is… no wait, everyone already knows he’s the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, right?

It’s noteworthy that the nepo babies most affronted by being slapped with the label are those whose talents have yet to, shall we say, fully develop. Lily-Rose Depp says: “Maybe you get your foot in the door, but you still just have your foot in the door. There’s a lot of work that comes after that.” True, but one still wonders how many hardworking daughters of no one you’ve ever heard of have racked up ten leading roles before the age of 23.

On the other hand, I should own up to having once been unfairly dismissive of Léa Seydoux, purely on account of her lineage. Seydoux was vanilla love interest in the last two Bond pics, but I’ve seen her being terrific in Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013), Crimes of the Future (2022) and (especially) One Fine Morning (2022), so I’m sure that earlier in her career, filmmakers seeking finance for their projects wouldn’t have been influenced at all in their casting decisions by her grandfather and grand-uncle being chairmen of two of France’s biggest film companies, Pathé and Gaumont.

The public is still addicted to the myth of teenage Lana Turner being discovered sipping cola at the soda counter of Schwab’s Pharmacy, but today’s stars mostly skip the soft-drink stage by springing fully formed from the loins of showbiz royalty. Gwyneth Paltrow, Scott Eastwood, Vincent Cassel, Lily Collins… It would be easier to make a list of who isn’t a nepo baby.

But nepotism is hardly a recent phenomenon in the performing arts. Acting has always been riddled with dynasties: Hustons, Foxes, Redgraves et al. Drew Barrymore, for example, is the grand-niece of Lionel Barrymore (Mr Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life), granddaughter of John Barrymore, and great-granddaughter of Maurice Barrymore, a star on nineteenth century Broadway. Not only that, but her godparents are Sophia Loren and Steven Spielberg. On the downside, she had to go into rehab at the age of thirteen.

Acting has always been riddled with dynasties: Hustons, Foxes, Redgraves

Being a nepo baby can be a poisoned chalice, but more seasoned performers readily own up to the pros as well as the cons.  Jeff Bridges, son of Lloyd, says, “You don’t want to have a famous father, let alone get a job because of your famous father, you know? But I’m a product of nepotism. That’s how I got my foot in the door.” And Jane Fonda, bless her, cuts straight to the chase with, “I was the daughter of Henry Fonda. That’s how I got famous.”

Children following in the family business is a tendency as old as time, and none of this would be concerning, except that the widening wealth gap makes it increasingly difficult for outsiders to break into a profession where family connections give you a head start over those who weren’t born into an acting elite. In Britain, the brief window that allowed Stanley Baker (son of a coal miner), Michael Caine (son of a fish-market porter) and Glenda Jackson (who grew up with an outside toilet) to slip past the gatekeepers is closing up, leaving the field clear for public-school toffs like Benedict Cumberbatch (Old Harrovian, third cousin sixteen times removed to Richard III, son of Wanda Ventham), or Helena Bonham Carter (Old Westminster, great-granddaughter of a British prime minister).

Sometimes though, family connections won’t be enough to save you. In The Last Tycoon (1976), Robert De Niro plays a studio head who becomes obsessed with a young starlet who resembles his late wife. She’s played by Biba poster girl Ingrid Boulting (stepdaughter and step-niece to Britfilm stalwarts the Boulting brothers) who is essentially wiped off the screen by another actress in a small supporting role. In the battle of the nepo babies, Anjelica Huston may be daughter of John and granddaughter of Walter, but she has more screen presence in her little finger than pretty Ingrid has in her entire body. It’s not hard to guess which of them went on to have the Oscar-winning career. Talent trumps genes. But talent plus genes? Unbeatable!

Anne Billson is a film critic, novelist and photographer