Hollywood star Ben Stiller is one of many “nepo babies” who have made it big in the film and television industry. The son of late actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, Stiller became a comedy icon early on in his career, and though he has built a strong legacy for himself, the label has always been there. Now, Stiller has talked about being a son of famous parents and shares his unique take on the controversial term that numerous Hollywood stars are associated with.
The actor recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where he addressed being labeled a nepo baby. The Tropic Thunder star comes from a line of actors, as his parents were both in the entertainment industry from a young age. Stiller was raised on movie and TV sets, where he learned the basics of the business, and ultimately became an actor/director himself.
Stiller mentioned his first audition for 1986’s play The House of Blue Leaves. He says he got the job “as a favor,” but the casting director didn’t actually want him for the play. Nevertheless, he said, “I felt like, doing that audition, I knew that I had done what I needed to get the part. If you have the passion, you need to do it. You need to go for it.” The actor highlighted that growing up in the industry also gives him an early look at the “dark underside,” but he ultimately decided to go into movies anyway:
“I think it’s kind of like that Brat Pack thing, right? New York Magazine, they coined a phrase, and then it just became a thing. But it’s always been what it is, in humanity and life. It’s like, you buy a violin, a Stradivarius, it’s been in the family for hundreds of years. That’s a selling point.
“But I also understand there are other arguments to be made about access and all those things. My feeling is, if it’s in your blood, if it’s your passion, and you grew up around it — for me, I think growing up around it, talking about all these things that I saw with my parents, you, actually as a kid, see the dark underside of it, the stress, the effects it has on relationships. You see that up close as a kid, and then you still want to go into it.”
Ben Stiller Is Just One in a Sea of Nepo Babies
It is not exactly a secret that Hollywood is an industry where having a good contact works better in order to get a chance at stardom. While it is a controversial talking point, sharing a surname with a major star will make heads turn, at least in the audition stage (this applies across the numerous sectors of the industry, and not only to actors).
Stiller, Quaid, Depp, and Smith are among the many surnames held by famous parents and their offspring. While not all of them have become major stars (and not all of them are as talented as their parents), they have entered the spotlight more easily than their peers who don’t come from a prominent family. It may be a debatable label, but it is undeniable that the power and reach of nepo babies is a reality that is quite present in today’s Hollywood landscape.
- Birthname
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Benjamin Edward Stiller
- Birthdate
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November 30, 1965
- Birthplace
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New York City, New York, USA