6 Actors You Didn’t Realize Had Famous Parents

Nepotism is sometimes the key to success in Hollywood. There would be no Kylie Jenner if Kim Kardashian didn’t put her family on the map. Well, there would be no reigning dynasty of reality television without Kim. The same goes for almost every job in Hollywood. The business is all about who you know. While your talent can withstand you in the industry, it’s who you’re connected to that gives you an opportunity. There are plenty of famous actors who have famous parents. Luckily, their skills have set them apart from their famous last names and they’ve been able to create their own identities through their work. Here are six famous actors who have famous parents. 

Rashida Jones

The Office star is the daughter of music producer, composer, and all-around legend Quincy Jones. She produced a documentary, Quincy, about her father, that is available on Netflix. As for why she wanted to make a film about her dad’s life in such an intimate medium, she told Entertainment Weekly: “As much as my dad’s career has been followed and celebrated, nobody quite has the same relationship that I have been lucky enough to have with him. And I think there are so many things that are missing from the documentation of his life because he’s so accomplished. There’s never even time to get to who he is as a person, which is very much connected to why he’s so successful as an artist. For Al and I, it was important that we got to his heart, and how that’s connected with his work.”

Margaret Qualley

Like mother, like daughter is the case of Margaret Qualley and her mom Andie MacDowell. Qualley proved she was just as convincing of an actress as her famous mother when they co-starred in the Netflix limited series, Maid. The film starred Qualley as a young mother struggling to raise her daughter while trying to keep her free-spirited and mentally unstable mother together. It was the first project they filmed together. 

MacDowell was impressed with her daughter’s work ethic, telling Vanity Fair: “On Sundays, I would make bone broth from scratch with loads of vegetables. She would come over and have soup with me, and we would get massages,” says MacDowell, who plays Qualley’s mother on camera too. “That was the only time I saw her at all during the week.”

Tracee Ellis Ross and Evan Ross

Diana Ross produced more than just Motown hits. Her family is an extension of her entertainment legacy. All five of her children are in the business in some regard, but Tracee and Evan have had the most success. Tracee is most known for her work on hit sitcoms like Girlfriends and Black-ish. Evan got his break on the film ATL. 

Maya Rudolph

Rudolph has emerged as a shining comic with her work on SNL and in cult classic films like Bridesmaids. She’s the daughter of singer Minnie Riperton, who had hits such as “Memory Lane” and the classic “Lovin’ You.” Riperton is a legend for her vocal range and high whistle registry. She died of cancer at the age of 31 in 1979 when Rudolph was 6. 

Losing her mother at a young age, coupled with her mother’s celebrity, was not easy to grapple with. “When I was a kid, and people would come up to me or stare at me because of my mom, I didn’t like it. I really didn’t like it. I used to think, ‘Oh, they’re staring at my hair, because it’s so big and ugly.’ Because I didn’t realize people were just staring at my mother, like, ‘Wow, that’s her daughter!’” the actress says. “I didn’t know; I was a kid. And kids always personalize things,” she once said, per E! News.

Billie Lourd

Scream Queens star Billie Lourd is the daughter of Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher, and Bryan Lourd. Of her mother’s sudden 2016 death, she told the New Daily podcast: “It was brutal. It was really, really brutal, and I still hesitate and stutter because it’s really hard for me. I miss my mom every day and my grandma, but really, my mom the most.” 

Lourd’s grandmother, Debbie Reynolds, was also a famous actress and singer who lost her husband to a former friend, Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds died a day after her beloved daughter, Fisher. 

Mariska Hargitay

The longtime Law & Order: SVU staple has Hollywood roots and acting is deep in her blood. Her dad is actor Mickey Hargitay. He starred in films including Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The Loves of Hercules, Promises! Promises! and L’Amore Primitivo, as well as an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2003 as a grandfather. Her mother is legendary actress Jayne Mansfield. She was killed in a car crash in 1967. Mickey died of cancer in 2006.