While the ‘nature vs nurture’ debate continues to rage on, it’s fair to assume that it’s most likely a combination of both genetics and one’s upbringing that shapes an individual and their characteristics. With that being case, it’s not a surprise that all those mentioned in this list below are currently killing it when it comes to acting. All have acting in their blood, and many have been brought up around the industry their entire lives.
While following in your famous parent’s footsteps has been a common trend since the inception of cinema, there’s bound to be cries of nepotism. Sometimes it may be a fair accusation, but often the actor in question can establish themselves and prove to be deserving of respect in their own right by demonstrating their undeniable skills in the art of acting. Below are six actors who have acting in the blood and are currently forging their own unique and successful paths within Hollywood.
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6 Maya Hawke
Netflix
Maya Hawke has shot to fame recently thanks to a prominent role in the uber successful Stranger Things series as Robin Buckley. Hawke, whose full name is Maya Ray Thurman Hawke, has not one but two major acting icons for parents, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. The apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree when it comes to casting chops as Maya received widespread acclaim for her role as Robin Buckley and has got some big things in the pipeline, including a role in the upcoming Wes Anderson movie Asteroid Boy alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood, like Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Jeff Goldblum, and Bryan Cranston, among others. She will also be starring in Maestro directed by Bradley Cooper and produced by Hollywood royalty Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and Todd Phillips.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Scott Eastwood
MGM
The spitting image of his legendary father Clint Eastwood, Scott Eastwood has been making waves in the industry for a while now, getting some of his earliest roles in several movies directed by his father, including Flags of Our Fathers, Invictus, and Gran Torino. He has since stepped well and truly from out of his father’s shadows and found great success in his own right, landing himself roles in a number of huge movies like Suicide Squad, Pacific Rim: Uprising, and Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man. He also joined the Fast and the Furious franchise as ‘Little Nobody,’ first appearing in The Fate of the Furious and is set to reprise the role in the upcoming Fast X.
4 Jack Quaid
3 Wyatt Russell
Marvel Studios
Wyatt Russell is the son of acting legends Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, who first met over 50 years ago and have been happily married for nearly 40 of those years. The elder Russell started a career as a child actor and later became one of Disney’s biggest stars in the 60s and 70s. He later became somewhat of a cult hero in the 80s, appearing in a number of horror and action movies directed by John Carpenter like The Thing, Escape From New York, and Big Trouble in Little China. He is still steadily working to this day and recently starred alongside his wife Hawn, who has also been acting since the 60s, as Mr and Mrs Claus in The Christmas Chronicles 1 & 2. As for the younger Russell, he began to make a name for himself appearing as a supporting actor in numerous films, including Cowboys and Aliens, This is 40, and 22 Jump Street. His profile increased dramatically when he was cast as John Walker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and we expect to see a lot more from this talented individual in the future.
2 Harley Quinn Smith
Freeform
Kevin Smith is arguably one of the most influential directors of recent times. Following the success of his ultra-low budget directorial debut Clerks, Smith became a poster boy along with the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez for the independent movie boom that took place during the early 90s. Aside from his directing duties, he is also quite a prolific actor with over 30 acting credits under his belt, most notably playing Silent Bob, a recurring character across many of his own projects. Harley Quinn Smith, his daughter, named after the beloved DC comic character, seems to be following in those footsteps. Admittedly, most of her acting roles to date have been in her father’s projects, with her taking on increasingly larger and more prominent roles in Tusk, Yoga Hosers, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. She truly came into her own, however, when she was cast in one of the leading roles in the teen drama thriller series Cruel Summer, which achieved an impressive 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
1 Patrick Schwarzenegger
HBO Max
Instantly recognizable by his distinctive last name as being related to one of Hollywood’s biggest stars of all time. But Arnold isn’t Patrick Schwarzenegger’s only famous family member: through his mother Maria Shriver, he is a member of the Kennedy family; he is a grandnephew of United States President John F. Kennedy. Schwarzenegger has had multiple modeling gigs and has appeared in smaller roles in movies like The Benchwarmers and Grown Ups 2. He recently began making slightly bigger waves after receiving acclaim for his performances in last year’s comedy-drama movie Moxie, directed by Amy Poehler, and HBO’s true crime miniseries The Staircase. It seems as though we can expect for his career to take off even further as the success of the roles led him being cast in the upcoming series The Boys Presents: The Varsity, which, if it’s anything like The Boys, of which it is a spin-off, is destined to be a huge worldwide smash hit.
