These Modern A-Listers Are The Children Of Old Hollywood Royalty

The following references substance use.

Hollywood is a small town. Sometimes opportunities come knocking based on the people you know and the rooms you can manage to get into. Fabulous schmoozing skills, undeniable talent, and a good personality are great perks, but a famous parent in your corner is even better. It's no secret that nepotism is rampant in Hollywood. The conversation surrounding it has been brewing for a while now, with the new wave of nepo babies coming into their own (with some help from mommy and daddy, naturally). New York Magazine's nepo baby cover story in 2022 was destined to go viral with its title: "She has her mother's eyes. And agent." It plastered Ben Platt, Dakota Johnson, Maya Hawke, and others on the cover.

Nepotism in Tinseltown isn't some new fad or craze. Some of the most beloved A-list actors are nepo babies, and the nepotism goes back generations. There are a handful of actors who come from a long line of Old Hollywood royalty, with a knack for entertainment spreading throughout their family tree. Many argue that nepo babies have it easy. It certainly helps, but what helps even more is pure, passed-down, generational talent.

Kiefer Sutherland rose to fame in the 1980s. For his screen debut, he acted alongside his father, Donald Sutherland, in the film "Max Dugan Returns." Donald, of course, was a renowned actor by this time, having starred in "M*A*S*H," "Animal House," and "Ordinary People," to name a few. Donald and his son Kiefer's careers would only grow from 1980 onward. A few years later, Kiefer was cast in the iconic Rob Reiner-directed film "Stand by Me." Donald went down in history, appearing in over 200 screen roles and rounding off his career as President Snow in the "Hunger Games" series.

Donald sadly passed away at age 88 in 2024. Kiefer took to Instagram, writing, "I personally think [he's] one of the most important actors in the history of film." While Kiefer and Donald seemed to have a great relationship up until the end, things were different when Kiefer was younger. "Growing up, I didn't have much contact with my father," he reminisced to the Big Issue in 2019. For a moment, Kiefer wasn't even aware of how much his father contributed to the acting world. "I called him up and I actually cried on the phone, I was so embarrassed I didn't know what an important actor he was," he recalled. It's obvious that Kiefer learned a lot from his father, not just about acting, but about life. "A lot of young actors, when they become successful, they think they're supposed to act a certain way," he said. "But the truth is you're not, you're just supposed to carry on being yourself. And I knew that because of my dad."

"Law and Order: SVU" would be difficult to imagine without Mariska Hargitay. The actor's pivotal role on the crime series has earned her three Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe. However, many might not know her foot was halfway through the Hollywood door from the moment she was born. Hargitay's mother was none other than the legendary Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield tragically passed at age 34 in a car accident and accomplished a lot in the span of her shortened career. Known as the reigning blonde bombshell, Mansfield quickly worked her way up to sex symbol status in the '50s and '60s after becoming a Playboy Playmate.

In 2025, Hargitay directed the documentary "My Mom Jayne." Hargitay was only 3 years old at the time of her mother's death. The film is an exploration for both the audience and its director, diving deep into Mansfield's private life. "One of the things that I grew up hearing is how smart she was, how determined she was, and what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful sense of humor she had," Hargitay told NPR when discussing the film. The project also exposed Hargitay's true father — Brazilian singer and actor Nelson Sardelli. Growing up, Hargitay always believed her biological father to be Mickey Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder. Mariska learned this shocking fact in her twenties. Since then, she's formed a relationship with her real biological father, telling People, "It's an extraordinarily deep relationship and complex, but nothing has been left unsaid and so it feels clear and clean."

Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't shy away from the fact that she's one of Hollywood's OG nepo babies. In fact, it's something she embraces and even jokes about. "I got my SAG card when I was 19 years old, when I signed a seven-year contract to Universal Studios and starred in an ABC TV series called the "Operation Petticoat," which was based on the movie that my father, Tony Curtis — nepo baby! — starred in," she joked at the 2023 SAG Awards (via People). If anyone's allowed to name drop, it's Jamie Lee Curtis. Tony Curtis was a mega-star in the '50s and '60s, starring in several classics, including alongside Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot."

For Jamie, the nepotism doesn't stop there. Her mother was actor Janet Leigh, who, in a way, might have had even more of an impact on Jamie's career than her father. Leigh was known as one of the original Hollywood "scream queens," — a beautiful woman howling a blood-curdling scream in horror movies. Who can forget Leigh's screams in the iconic scene from "Psycho"? One of Jamie's most well-known roles was in the 1978 horror flick "Halloween." It seems that Jamie's affinity for horror might be somewhat genetic.

Drew Barrymore has been famous for most of her life, and in a way, she was destined for it. She began acting as a child, with many remembering her in Steven Spielberg's "E.T." She then went on to portray several iconic roles, from rom-coms to dramas. These days, she's focusing on her talk show, "The Drew Barrymore Show," where she connects with celebrities in her own unique way. Drew doesn't just have one famous parent, but rather an entire family tree of well-known actors.

The Barrymore family has been in the acting business since the mid-19th century, beginning on stage in the U.K. before making their way onto the silver screen as the years rolled on. Drew is actually part of the fifth generation of the Barrymore acting family. Drew's father, John Drew Barrymore, started his film career in the 1950s, and her mother, Jaid Barrymore, was also an actor. Drew's granduncle Lionel Barrymore played the evil Mr. Potter in the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life." Her long line of acting champs might have also led her down a darker path of substance use that she began dealing with in childhood. "I think, for me, stopping drinking is one of the most honoring things I can do to the Barrymore name because we have all been such hedonists," she reflected in an interview with People. Drew also had a strained relationship with her parents.

Drew's full name is a direct combination of the two acting lineages that make up her family. The Drew family married into the Barrymore family in 1876, which formed an entertainment alliance unlike any other.

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