Nepo Babies: Celebrities You Didn’t Know Have A-List Parents

Maude Apatow wowed audiences with her performance as Lexi Howard in HBO’s Euphoria. It’s little surprise she is so talented—she’s learnt from the best! The young star’s parents are none other than actress Leslie Mann and director Judd Apatow.

She won her first Oscar at 27 and has starred in a slew of high-profile films, so there is no denying Gwyneth Paltrow is a total powerhouse. But before she was an A-list actress and founder of Goop, Paltrow was living a totally normal life as the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner.

Her character may not have been introduced until season two, but Maya Hawke’s heart-warming performance made Robyn a fast favourite among Stranger Things fans. The young star inherited her acting chops from mum, Uma Thurman and dad, Ethan Hawke.

Hawke has previously opened up about her napo baby status, admitting to Times of London that she believes her familial connection influenced her casting in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Thurman has starred in several Tarantino projects, including Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.

She added that she’s comfortable with the public having opinions on the careers of celebrity children. She said: “It’s OK to be made fun of when you’re in rarefied air. It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it.”

Model and actor Jake Bongiovi might be known as the husband of Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, but that isn’t his only famous familial connection. The Sweethearts actor is the second-youngest child of legendary rocker Jon Bon Jovi.

Margaret Qualley was always destined to be in front of the camera. Her parents, Paul Qualley and actor Andie MacDowell, met on a modelling job and married in 1986. They had three children, of which Margaret is the youngest, before splitting in 1999.

If you didn’t know that Laura Dern was the daughter of actor Paul Dern then you may have missed a sweet detail in Palm Royale. The father-daughter duo co-starred bin the recent Apple TV+ series, during the run of which Laura shared a heartfelt tribute to her dad on Instagram. Alongside a photo of the pair, she wrote, “No one makes me laugh harder with his badass hilariousness. I love running lines in a golf cart with you, Pop.”

Kate Hudson is living all of our dreams—not just because she’s a successful actor and musician, but because her mum is none-other than acting icon Goldie Hawn.

Ben Stiller has established himself as a modern Hollywood heavyweight and accordingly, the public often forget he comes from celebrity lineage. His dad is none-other than comedian and actor Jerry Stiller, who formed a comedy team with his wife (and Ben’s mum) Anne Marea in the 1960s.

Hailey Bieber is such an it-girl in her own right, it’s often easy to forget she comes from celebrity stock. The model and beauty mogul is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, aka the brother of A-lister Alec Baldwin.

Bieber seemingly owns the title, having weighed into the “nepo baby” discourse in January 2023 by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase.

She may now be Madame Webb but Dakota Johnson got her start at 10-years-old with a minor role in Crazy in Alabama—which starred her mother, Melanie Griffith. Her dad also happens to be actor and producer Don Johnson.