How do you get to be a Hollywood actor?
- Dakota Johnson is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson.
- Melanie Griffith is the daughter of actress Tippi Hedren.
- Zoey Deutch is the daughter of actress Lea Thompson and director Howard Deutch.
- Margaret Qualley is the daughter of Andie MacDowell.
- Jack Quaid is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.
- Laura Dern is the daughter of Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern.
- Maggie & Jake Gyllenhaal’s mother was a screenwriter/director.
- Sean Young’s father was a television producer and her mother, Lee Guthrie was a screenwriter and PR executive.
- Sofia Ritchie and sister Nicole: yes, Lionel’s daughters.
- Sigourney Weaver was the daughter of NBC executive Sylvester Weaver.
- Ione Skye is the daughter of folk singer Donovan.
- Jennifer Grey is the daughter of Joel Grey. Her daughter, Stella, is also pursuing an acting career.
- Natasha Richardson is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson, and granddaughter of Michael Redgrave.
- Maya Hawke: actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.
- Juliette Lewis is the daughter of actor Geoffrey Lewis
- Maude Apatow: of course. Director Judd and actor Leslie Mann.
- Colin Hanks: well, at least he hasn’t hidden his last name.
- Kaia Gerber: model Cindy Crawford.
- Rashida Jones: here’s an interesting one– daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton (“Mod Squad”).
- Eve Hewson: daddy Bono didn’t pull any strings, honest.
- Angelina Jolie: daddy– with whom she does not currently have a good relationship– Jon Voight.
- Sarah Sutherland: it’s getting on to the next generation too. She is the grand-daughter of esteemed Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, and daughter of his son, the un-esteemed Kiefer Sutherland.
- Liv Tyler is the daughter of Steve Tyler (and, famously or not, kind of a daughter to Todd Rungren too).
There are many, many more.
Did you think that you could take acting and dance classes, get top-notch dental work, audition and audition and audition, and, through hard work, talent, and determination eventually end up working in the film or television industry?
The jobs in Hollywood movies are too good to be available to any sort of riff-raff or some talented nobody without any relatives in the industry. No, it is only right that the children of established stars should inherit the privilege of glamour and wealth and fame.
And how do you get to be a pop star?
For a while Rufus was running around as part of a “sons of” club, a group that included Sean Lennon, Chris Stills and Harper Simon. “They were all getting signed and written about and had publicists and photo shoots and beautiful girlfriends,” Ms. Wainwright says in the memoir. “Were their songs better than mine?” The chip on her shoulder led her to write a grand statement song, its title a vulgar epithet. Contrary to what she has told journalists in the past, the song isn’t about her father — or, rather, it isn’t exclusively about him. Martha Wainwright
That’s Rufus Wainwright III, son of Loudon Wainwright Jr., John Lennon’s son, Stephen Stills’ son, and Paul Simon’s son.
Now what would the children of celebrity Hollywood stars be doing with their lives if they were not the crown princes and princesses of entertainment royalty? Some job that has measurable performance parameters with a demanding skill set? I’m sure they have all seriously considered it. Or would they seek a job that you get because your father or mother knows somebody in the industry and the talents in this industry are judged according to manifestly subjective standards that anyone can, as a favor, manipulate into your favor?
In other words, I am not saying they are without talent. I am guessing that any of this progeny with absolutely no talent would probably not get very far regardless of parental influence. But I am saying that many young people have talents, but very, very few of them get the opportunity meet with a powerful agent or director or producer and get privileged access to the machinery that gets you into the movies, or tv, or the recording studio. That includes the acting/singing/dancing classes, mentoring, and so on.
Take Dakota Johnson. As she grows up, she sees her parents leading the wonderful lives of movie stars, celebrities, privileged by fame and exposure. She wants to be an actress too, of course. Does she have special gifts? Is she exceptionally talented? Does she work incredibly hard to refine her craft? Maybe. Like hundreds of other young, ambitious women. But does she also get opportunities that others do not get, and a few acting classes, and some cosmetic surgery, and then the privileged access to casting directors and producers?
Here’s a trashy site that gives you a glimpse of just how privileged actors have become. It is my view that most of these films will be artistically diminished by serving the vanities of the actors rather than the imperatives of the artistic vision, of the writer and director. But the die is cast when they seek funding: if Leonardo Di Caprio agrees to be in your film, you have guaranteed yourself millions of dollars for the production.
Without him, or someone like him, you will be forced to actually make a good film and hope for critical recognition and a small profit.
Is there a chance at all of an outsider with real talent building a successful career in the entertainment business? Sure. Perhaps a video goes viral, as it did for Justin Bieber and Allie Sherlock. Perhaps an independent film-maker who can’t afford Hollywood royalty casts you in a strong film that makes waves at a festival. In the age of the internet, there are new possibilities.
But the entertainment industry considers established stars an investment, like expensive machinery or stage sets, and they always want squeeze as much of a return as possible from their investments, and that means using names for popular films, even if these actors are 20 years older than the character they are supposed to be playing, and 50 years older than the young ingenue who is supposed to fall in love with him.
Children are inheriting their parent’s Hollywood Privilege
Martha Wainwright, Suzzy Roche, Rufus Wainwright III, Lucy Wainwright Roche.