Sally Field's Three Sons Have Seriously Transformed

Thanks to her work in the likes of "Norma Rae," "Places in the Heart," and "Brothers and Sisters," Sally Field has won numerous Emmys, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards during her glittering career, appeared in box office smashes "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Forrest Gump," and "Lincoln," and has achieved success on the New York Times Bestseller list and, perhaps surprisingly, even the Billboard Hot 100. But it's her three grown-up sons that the Hollywood veteran — also renowned for one of the most misquoted celebrity speeches that went too far — is most proud of.

"They are kind and loving, productive human beings," she gushed while speaking (via YouTube) at the 2012 annual national dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. "Each very different from the other." So what do we know about Peter Craig, Eli Craig, and Sam Greisman? From unconventional childhoods and multiple marriages to mommy's boy confessions and Olympian matchmaking, here's a look at their remarkable transformations.

Peter Craig may be the son of Hollywood royalty. But he didn't always experience the Hollywood life while growing up. In fact, thanks to the hippie ethos of his father Steven Craig — who divorced Sally Field when Peter was roughly six years old — the future novelist spent much of his childhood on a commune.

"The bulk of the time I lived with him, when she'd be working a lot, was just a real wild time in his life," Peter Craig told the Los Angeles Times about his and younger sibling Eli Craig's slightly chaotic experiences with their father. "We'd be barefoot and covered with mud, and every now and then my mom would send a car over to pick us up, and all the kids would come running over to it and look at it like the apes at the beginning of '2001.' They'd paw this limousine that drove up. My brother and I would be mortified because we knew we were going to be beaten up."

Even from a young age, Craig recognized the disparity between his parents' surroundings. "The class dynamic in my family was so crazy, between one place where nobody had any money and they were anti-materialistic, and then a limo coming over to pick us up," he recalled. In his teen years, the screenwriter attended Palisades High School, before quitting his education altogether at age 16.

Sally Field certainly isn't the only creative talent in her family. Eldest son Peter Craig has twice appeared on the big screen, firstly in 1978 action caper "Hopper" and then 10 years later in dramedy "Satisfaction." But he's since become better known for putting pen to paper.

Craig has enjoyed success as a novelist with titles such as "The Martini Shot" and "Hot Plastic," having also graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. And he's adapted others' works into films, too, including Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games, Mockingjay," Doug Stanton's "Horse Soldiers" ("12 Strong"), and Chuck Hogan's "Prince of Thieves" ("The Town"). In the early 2010s, he also got the opportunity to do the same with his own book, "Blood Father," a crime thriller starring Mel Gibson.

Furthermore, Craig has contributed to several entirely original screenplays, most notably "The Batman," "Gladiator II," and "Top Gun: Maverick," picking up his first Oscar nomination for the latter. And in 2026, he served as a producer on one of his mother's films, "Remarkably Bright Creatures." "I didn't get to see him as much as I would've liked," Sally Field told Elle about her time on their shared project. "I was still able to use him a lot and call him and say, 'How about this? Do you like ...' Talking about changing when I felt something, a monologue or something needed to be fine-tuned. He was a good sounding board ..."

"I was a bit of a reckless guy until I had a little girl and suddenly I wanted to change everything in my life," Peter Craig admitted to Los Angeles Times about how fatherhood turned his life around. The screenwriter first became a dad in 1998 with the birth of daughter Isabel before he and his first wife, poet Amy Scattergood, welcomed Sophie into the world three years later.

"I felt that parental love was such an amazingly significant thing ... that if somebody really commits to being a good parent, it's even redemptive," Craig said, going on to acknowledge how his real-life experiences had informed his third novel, "Blood Father." "I wanted to experience how far a father can go and still reclaim his daughter's love," he added. "Genuinely, not just the person she's idealized. And how far can a daughter go and still have a father step in and save her?"

And Craig's mom Sally Field had nothing but positive things to say about his relationship with his daughters, whom he gained full custody of. In a 2008 interview with chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, Field said, "My oldest son is this miraculously loving parent to his two little girls. When I watch him with them, I think, 'Boy, I would have liked to have had comfort like that.'" The Oscar-nominated screenwriter added to his family unit when his second wife Jennifer DeFrancisco gave birth to their son.

Just like his mother Sally Field, who, besides being married twice, had a complicated four-year relationship with Hollywood legend Burt Reynolds – Peter Craig has had quite the eventful love life. In 1995, the screenwriter walked down the aisle for the first, but certainly not the last time, saying "I do" to poet and Los Angeles Times food journalist Amy Scattergood. Three years after their 2004 split, he got hitched again, this time to Jennifer DeFrancisco. But they also headed for the divorce courts in 2017. So could it be third time lucky?

In 2023, Craig tied the knot with teacher Cristina Esposito at a glamorous ceremony that he later showed off on Instagram. And they certainly appear to be living in style, too. Soon after becoming husband and wife, the newlyweds purchased a Spanish Colonial Revival-inspired property in the exclusive Los Angeles community of Silver Lake for $4.3 million. The property, which was previously owned by indie movie favorite Robert Schwartzmann and his partner Zooey, boasts a space of more than 9,000 square feet, its own wine cellar, and a glorious view of the Hollywood skyline.

In 1972, Sally Field and her first husband, Steven Craig, became parents for a second time with the birth of Eli Craig. Like his brother Peter Craig, the future Hollywood director spent much of his childhood toing and froing between his divorced parents' respective — and wildly different homes — in Los Angeles and Oregon. And he, too, also appeared to be something of a wild child, judging by an interview his mom gave to Oprah Winfrey.

Indeed, in 2008, Sally was asked by the chat show queen how her three sons would describe her parenting style. "You mean if they were going to be honest?," she clarified. "Eli would say that I've been a good and loving mom, but that I haven't done a lot of things well. It's true; when he was grown, he told me that I didn't discipline him enough. Can you believe it? I said, 'I'd like you to try to discipline the kind of boy you were. You were absolutely uncontainable!'"

Eli might not have entirely approved of his mother's approach to raising children. But Sally has nothing but love for how he looks after his own: "I now see him parenting his own son, and watching your kids become parents tells you what kind of parent you might have been. You know that at least something you gave them gives them the ability to care for their own children."

Like his brother Peter Craig, Eli Craig also began his Hollywood career in front of the camera, appearing in the likes of romantic comedy "Deal of a Lifetime," NASA adventure "Space Cowboys," and bloodthirsty sequel "The Rage: Carrie 2" before pivoting to directing. But whereas his sibling has tackled numerous genres as a screenwriter, he's proudly stayed in one lane.

Eli has developed a reputation as a master of the low-budget horror thanks to the likes of "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil," "Little Evil," and "Clown in a Cornfield." And he's next directing Nick Jonas, Kathryn Newton, and KJ Apa in a festive scarefest titled "White Elephant." So what attracted the second son of Hollywood veteran Sally Field to pursue a career in horror? Well, in an interview with Rue Morgue, he admitted that he simply enjoys keeping audiences on their toes.

"I love playing with horror tropes because you're kind of allowed to give people their warm cozy blanket, and they're like, 'Oh, I understand what's going to happen,'" Eli explained. "And you get very relaxed and think, 'I know this'. Not that it wouldn't be a bad thing if it just went exactly the way everybody expected. There's something nice about that comfort food, but then I kind of want to rip the comfort food away, and suddenly, you're eating spicy candy, and you're surprised that you're laughing."

Eli Craig lived out many a '90s kid fantasy in 2004 when he married a Power Ranger. The horror director said "I do" to Sasha Williams, a Canadian actor who played Kelsey Winslow, aka the Yellow Lightspeed Power Ranger, on TV and voice acted in one of the video games. The star, now known as Sasha Craig, is obviously still proud of her time in the famous yellow suit, regularly appearing on the Comic Con circuit to meet and greet fans.

The talented couple, who also have two sons together, aren't afraid to combine their personal and professional lives, either. Indeed, Eli has directed Sasha on numerous occasions including, his short film debut "The Tao of Pong." You may also have spotted his other half popping up as a news reporter on "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil" and as a mom at a waterpark in "Little Evil."

And Sasha isn't afraid to express her support for her other half in public, either. She showed up to the premiere of "Clown in a Cornfield," for example. And following the announcement that Eli would be helming Christmas scarefest, "White Elephant," she took to Instagram to post, "So proud of my partner in all things, so excited to watch this happen with our amazing crew. Now let's grind!!!" 

So what does the oft-tragic Sally Field, who's not exactly renowned for her love of horror, make of having a son who's built his entire career in the genre? Well, in a 2011 interview with IndieWire, Eli Craig revealed that, much to his own amazement, she's fully on board.

"I do run things by her because she has so much expertise in film and she's one of the people that's been around so long," Craig explained. "I was pleasantly surprised that she loved 'Tucker and Dale.' I was terrified she was going to think, 'What did her son do?!'" The filmmaker even expressed a desire to direct his super-famous mom. "I look forward to some day working with her, but it's probably further along in my career. It's very important for me to have my own film identity in the film industry."

15 years on, sadly, we've yet to see Field playing a scream queen. But as Craig discussed in a chat with Forbes, she's still been a notable influence on his work, particularly for affording him the freedom to stick it to the man. "Because I grew up in it, I just feel like making fun of everything and film gives me a way to satirize the business and also satirize the human condition in America, specifically right now. So, I think mom gets a kick out of my films, even if she doesn't fully understand my style."

In 1987, when her first two children Eli and Peter were approaching adulthood, Sally Field had to get used to changing nappies again when she and second husband Alan Greisman welcomed their first and only child together into the world. Sam Greisman reports being highly connected to his mother through childhood and beyond.

"I've always been a momma's boy — painfully, occasionally ashamedly so," Sam freely admitted in a personal essay he wrote for People about their close relationship in 2023. "Perhaps too obsessed with her. Maybe it's because I'm the youngest, by sixteen years. Maybe it's because I was a shy little kid and my mom was a safe space; a hip I was attached to. Maybe it's because gay men feel a certain undeniable affection for award-winning actresses. Who knows!"

Sam went on to recall that after a nightmare in which he was left abandoned at school, he became even more dependent on her presence: "For the next few years I had to consistently call out 'goodnight' from my bedroom at different intervals as I fell asleep, afraid that when she turned the lights off she would disappear somehow. I needed to know she was still there."

In 2019, Sam Greisman publicly pledged his support for the Human Rights Campaign's Americans for the Equality Act, an initiative which helped to boost protections for the queer community and various other marginalized sections of society. "If I or any other LGBTQ person got in their car and drove from L.A., where I am now, to D.C., their rights could change depending on whatever state they drove through," he said in a video with his mother (via YouTube) about why he felt compelled to partake in such activism.

Greisman, who came out of the closet in his early twenties, was also joined in the fight by the likes of Jane Lynch, Jamie Lee Curtis, and his mother Sally Field. "As long as I am upright, I will fight for this to be that Sam and everyone's children and grandchildren and sisters and brothers will be protected in every state of the United States," explained the Field. The actor is one of many stars who have offpsring in the LGTBQ+ community, but Field's heartfelt support is particularly noteworthy. 

Greisman, who four years later would pay tribute to his mom in a personal essay for People, has always been supported by Field in his political endeavors. In fact, in 2012, he presented her with the Human Rights Campaign's Ally for Equality Award, telling the audience at the Human Rights Campaign 6th Annual National Dinner (via YouTube), "There are a lot of young gay men out there who would kill to have her as a mom, and a lot of parents of gay children who could learn a lot from her."

Sally Field's Hollywood dynasty gained another member in 2014 when her youngest son bagged his first official film credit. Sam Greisman, whose older brothers Peter and Eli Craig briefly forged acting careers before establishing themselves behind the cameras, wrote "River Rats," a short film about a teenager who catches his dad in a compromising situation.

Since then, the Columbia University film school graduate has also co-produced "Playing Men," a short about two Texan boys whose friendship becomes complicated; wrote and directed "Dinner with Jeffery," a 13-minute coming out story about a teenager taken under the wing of his gay uncle; and pulled double duty on "After School," a short about a youngster who develops feelings for his BFF.

According to his IMDb page, Greisman is also helping to bring Will Taylor's LGBTQ novel "The Language of Seabirds" to the screen in his capacity as a writer. The source material has much in common with the nepo baby's previous work, centering on a child of divorce who, during a summer vacation in Oregon, finds himself building a friendship with a runner that evolves from platonic to romantic.

In 2018, Sam Greisman took to X to reveal that he was crushing hard on an Olympian without naming any names, adding that his mother Sally Field had advised him on how to make his fantasy a reality. Uploading a conversation they'd had on the matter via text, the only clue was the "Soapdish" star declaring, "Sam ... he's insanely pretty. Find a way."

But the guessing games didn't last long. Within a few hours, Field chose to retweet Greisman's confession to the object of his affections himself, figure skater Adam Rippon, inevitably sending the internet into overdrive. "Sally! So brazen," came the response (via W) from the sportsman, who'd just picked up a bronze medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. So did Sally Field (who by the way isn't shy about naming her worst on-screen kiss — and her meddling have the desired effect? Well, kinda.

Indeed, just a month later, Greisman tweeted a snap taken at a Human Rights Campaign event staged in Los Angeles that was captioned, "Thanks, mom." The film director was expressing his gratitude for the fact that the man posing right next to him was the one and only Rippon. Unfortunately, the skater appeared to friendzone him, later telling Entertainment Tonight, "I think there were some friendship feels," before revealing that he was still looking for the love of his life.