The Transformation Of Robin Williams' Daughter Zelda Has Been Stunning To See

While there are certainly those celebrity nepo babies you didn't know had famous parents, Zelda Williams is not among them. The middle child of beloved comedian Robin Williams' three children (and the late entertainer's only daughter), she's followed her father's path by embarking on a career in showbiz — and quite successfully so.

Zelda, however, has proven to be among the celeb nepotism babies who actually deserve the fame. She's made her mark as an actor in both live-action projects and as a voice actor in animated fare before branching out behind the camera as a producer and director. Sadly, one of the tragic details about Robin Williams is that he didn't live long enough to witness his daughter's success. 

Since making her screen debut at an age when most of her peers were still learning to tie their shoes, Zelda has carved out her own niche in the entertainment industry, and her story is still in its early stages. To find out more about her extraordinary Hollywood journey, read on.

Zelda Williams' life began amidst a cloud of controversy. Her famous father, Robin Williams, had divorced his first wife, Valerie Valerdi, and married his second, Marsha Garces — who'd been the nanny to Zachary, Williams' first child, during his marriage to Valerdi. To say the tabloids jumped on the story is an understatement; Garces was depicted as a homewrecker, a theory that was further fueled when she became pregnant with the comedian's child. Garces was six months pregnant with Zelda when she and Williams tied the knot in 1989.

Zelda was born in New York City in 1989, and the circumstances surrounding her parents' relationship meant that paparazzi lurked around every corner. Once the family moved to San Francisco and the scandal died down, however, life became more normal — or at least as normal as it gets as the child of one of the world's most famous actors. "I didn't really grow up in the spotlight — we lived in San Francisco [...]," she told Variety in 2016.

Because of her father's booming movie career, she would accompany him to the sets of the movies he worked on whenever possible. "I grew up on a lot of sets," she told Smashing Interviews, recalling that her dad would often work with director Chris Columbus, who also lived in San Francisco. They filmed there so that both men could maintain some semblance of a family life, "as opposed to being gone eight months of the year," she added.

Zelda told Smashing Interviews that "Dad was actually home a lot, and that allowed for it to be a bit easier than I imagine some kids and their actor parents have it." However, that situation proved to be fluid. While Williams tried his best, staying home wasn't always possible. 

As Zelda and her younger brother Cody grew older, their father's career forced him to be away from his family for extended periods. "He wasn't around much when I was a kid," Zelda told People in 2008. Then 18, she admitted that she was in the process of getting to know her father at that time in their lives. "He's taking more of a break," she said. "He's not doing four films a year; he's doing one or two [...] Now he has more time for us."

Growing up on film sets, however, gave her an insider's view of how the Hollywood sausage is made — and she was intrigued. "I was fascinated by it early," Zelda told Entertainment Tonight. "When you're that young, I don't think you grasp that it's a job, really; just like a fun thing you go and visit."

Not only did Zelda Williams spend time on her dad's sets, but on one occasion, she actually made it onscreen herself. At the age of 5, she made her screen debut in "In Search of Dr. Seuss," a 1994 made-for-TV movie. In her scene, she appears with her dad, who plays a father reading "The Cat in the Hat" to his two young daughters — one of whom was another youngster, while the other was Zelda. The following year, she appeared in another of her father's films, playing a young ballet student in the Chris Columbus-directed rom-com "Nine Months," in which her dad played an OB-GYN.

Despite those early roles, there was zero possibility that her parents would have pushed her to become a child actor. As she grew older, she did begin to harbor her own aspirations toward acting, which her parents rebuffed, at least in the short term. "They wouldn't let me do acting or audition or even come to LA and take part in it until I was about 17," she recalled when speaking with Smashing Interviews. 

At the time, the teenager balked at her parents' intransigence regarding her acting ambitions. The passage of time, however, led her to appreciate why they took that stance. "I'm glad my parents also told me 'hell, no!' until I was done with high school," she said. "I didn't have to jump into it at 10 or 11 because I was demanding it, and my parents said, 'No.'"

Following those early screen appearances, Zelda Williams made her official acting debut in the 2004 feature "House of D," which marked the directorial debut of David Duchovny, whose relationship with Gillian Anderson was at the heart of the success of "The X-Files." Her dad was the film's star, and she played the love interest of the film's teenage protagonist, played by Anton Yelchin, who sadly died before turning 30. 

As Robin Williams explained in a 2005 interview with comingsoon.net (via Robin Williams Fansite), he and Duchovny were rehearsing at the Williams family home when Zelda asked if she could audition for the first-time director. Her innate talent immediately shone through, and Duchovny was impressed. "She was so natural that he went, 'I'm gonna look at other people, but I think she can do this,'" Robin recalled. "She got it on her own. She did great." However, he also insisted that this teenage role would be the exception, not the rule. "She wants to continue, but we also want her to continue school," he said. "We keep saying things like, 'Natalie Portman — remember that! Jodie Foster — degree!'" he quipped, referencing child actors who experienced success in adulthood after going to college.

For Zelda, seeing herself on the big screen for the first time was a moment that was both triumphant and riddled with anxiety. "You're always your biggest critic, and I'm actually a kind of pessimistic, self-deprecating person, so when I see myself up there I pick myself to pieces," she admitted. "I can't say that it's an easy experience or that it's going to get any easier."

In 2011, Zelda Williams began appearing with dad Robin Williams in a series of TV commercials to promote Nintendo's new video game, "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time." In the spots, they shared that the comedian named his daughter after the video game's titular princess. As he explained in a video interview, he'd purchased one of the first Nintendo systems on the market while his wife Marcia Garces was pregnant, and they'd both become immersed in playing the game. They both agreed that Zelda could be an excellent name for their unborn daughter. "And I think both my parents really liked the name, and so it stuck," Zelda said.

Over the years, both father and daughter became huge fans of the "Legend of Zelda" games. "Seeing my dad all excited when he's playing is really fun," Zelda said in a Nintendo press release. "We started to play the game around the same time and we exchange tips on how to solve puzzles and we always try to play together!"

Interestingly, the commercials received some unexpected backlash from those who didn't believe her name actually was inspired by "The Legend of Zelda." "But the gaming community [...] immediately [started] complaining that I was pretending to be named after the game etc.," she told Media Mikes, adding that she found it funny nonetheless.

After her unexpected movie role in "House of D," Zelda Williams put acting on the back burner while she completed high school. After that, she followed through on her promise to pursue acting and landed a role in the 2008 indie film "Were the World Mine." More roles followed (including an appearance in a Cobra Starship music video), until she was cast in the hit MTV series "Teen Wolf" in 2013. 

She'd also taken to screenwriting. "I am now writing scripts," she told Media Mikes in 2013. "I am very lucky to have found the team that I did to work with, since they are pushing them along well. Hopefully I will be going into production on one of my scripts soon."

In the years that followed, Williams added more screen credits to her acting resume. That included roles in a few movies (like "Noobz," "Never," and the Lifetime TV flick "Girl in the Box"), and becoming a series regular in the TV drama "Dead of Summer," playing a transgender character in the summer-camp horror series for the Freeform network.

In addition to racking up on-camera acting roles, Zelda Williams also began landing roles as a voice actor. Following in the footsteps of her father (who'd earned acclaim with his portrayal of the animated genie in Disney's "Aladdin"), she portrayed characters in some video games, including "Kick-Ass 2" and "King's Quest." In 2014, she was cast as Kuvira in Nickelodeon's animated series "The Legend of Korra." The following year, she appeared in several episodes of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."  

Interviewed for Gaming Bible, Williams admitted she felt fortunate to have carved out her own niche as a voiceover (VO) actor. "Most folks go through hundreds of auditions before landing something, so I consider myself incredibly lucky with the VO characters I've already gotten to play," she said, while also revealing that some people in the industry were hesitant to approach her. "Also, weirdly, I've been told my voice is intimidating enough that some folks didn't think I'd be open to being approached with projects, which I find hilarious," she added.

Zelda Williams' life changed irrevocably in August 2014, when her father Robin Williams was found dead at the age of 63 after taking his own life. After examining his life just before he passed away, reporters revealed that he'd been misdiagnosed with Parkinson's, but was actually suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive condition that leads to a decline in cognitive abilities, with symptoms including visual hallucinations. 

Zelda was crushed by the loss of her beloved dad. "It's going to take a lot of work to allow myself to have the sort of fun, happy life that I had," she admitted in a 2015 interview with NBC's "Today," her first interview after his death. To honor his memory, she'd gotten a small tattoo of a hummingbird. "Hummingbirds are fun and flighty and strange," she said. "It's hard to keep them in one place and Dad was a bit like that."

Her father's death coincided with her renewed interest in writing, as she explained years later. "At the time, I was quite afraid of being outside, of being around strangers. A lot of stuff had gone really sideways for my family and for myself, and I had become quite introverted and reserved," she told Rolling Stone in 2025. She added that writing felt like "the only thing anyone couldn't take away from me," compared to other forms of creative expression.

In July 2016, Zelda Williams spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her role in the TV series "Dead of Summer," and the responsibility she felt as a cisgender female portraying a transgender male character weighed on her. "The thing I'm most terrified about is the transgender community being insulted by him," she said of the character, Drew. "I hope that they're happy with him, because I'm proud of him [...] I'm really excited for people to see who he is."

During the course of that interview, she revealed that she was bisexual. "I was always comfortable with my sexuality," she said. "I finally feel confident in how I present myself."

Zelda discussed her sexuality further in a subsequent appearance with comedian Chelsea Handler for Netflix, explaining that her openness about being bisexual was her way of contributing to lessening the stigma. "For me, there's a lot of erasure of bisexuality. I think a lot of people — especially in women — they tend to have really bad responses to it," she explained, as reported by Entertainment Tonight. As Zelda pointed out, she'd observed an attitude that equated bisexuality wth a rejection of monogamy, something with which she vehemently disagreed. "Your sexuality doesn't really dictate that," she explained. "Being bisexual doesn't mean I'm suddenly willy nilly running around."

Zelda Williams made her directorial debut by helming singer JoJo's 2016 music video for her single "Save My Soul." In 2018, she directed her first short film, "Shrimp," set within the world of female dominatrixes. "When I embarked on creating 'Shrimp' a couple of years ago, I never could've imagined where this journey would take me, or the wonderful people I'd come to know along the way," she shared in a statement to Variety.

She was also the producer of "Shrimp," which she followed up by serving as both producer and director of an episode of a streaming series called "Dark/Web." That was followed by directing a few more music videos, and then another short film, the sorority-set horror-comedy "Kappa Kappa Die."

Speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle, Williams noted that her evolution from actor to director had been an organic one. "I'm not entirely sure I ever really fit in as an actor," she said. "I don't mind it. I think it's a wonderful career. But I started transitioning towards directing and writing about 10 years ago."

In 2023, Zelda Williams was listed among IndieWire's 28 rising female filmmakers to watch that year, announcing that she'd teamed up with screenwriter Diablo Cody (whose work has included the acclaimed film "Juno" and the TV series "The United States of Tara") to make her feature directorial debut with "Lisa Frankenstein." A horror-comedy set during the 1980s, the 2024 feature tells the story of a suburban teenage girl (Kathryn Newton) who falls in love with a centuries-old corpse she digs up (Cole Sprouse) — and then embarks on a murder spree to acquire fresh body parts for him when his begin decaying.

"I started transitioning toward wanting to direct and wanting to leave behind acting around when Dad died," Zelda told Rolling Stone. "Being behind the camera became a much less self-conscious place than being in front of it." And as she told Variety, the path that her career had taken her on had led exactly to where she wanted to be. At that point, her focus was on directing. "I don't really know, I don't really care," she said when asked if she planned to resume her acting career. "I liked acting, but I won't say I'm all that remarkable," she explained. "I am deep down not a person who loves the attention that comes along with acting."