Chris Pine
Chris Pine’s acting talent can mostly be credited to his extensive study of his craft. As a young person, he became a member of the UC Berkeley Theater Department, completed a Williamstown Theatre Festival residency and even studied at the American Conservatory Theater.
However, it probably helps that he is a third-generation actor: the son of Robert Pine, of CHiP’s fame, and Gwynne Gilford, who starred in numerous sitcoms throughout the 1970s and 80s. Even his maternal grandmother, Anne Gwynne, is credited as being one of the first-ever scream queens and one of the most popular pin-ups in 1940s America. What a legacy!
Daisy Ridley
To say that Daisy Ridley’s family tree is studded with high fliers would be an understatement. Though not all of her forebears went into entertainment, she can count amongst her relatives the head of international communications at a major bank and the chief of the Engineering Secretariat at the BBC, with some literal landed gentry thrown in for good measure.
Most famously though, when Daisy Ridley’s paternal great-uncle Arnold Ridley was done fighting for his country during both World War I and World War II, he returned to a career as an actor and playwright, even starring as Private Godfrey in Dad’s Army.
Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Chalamet is another contemporary superstar with an incredibly talented family. Not only is his father, Marc Chalamet, a former editor for UNICEF and New York correspondent for Le Parisien, but his aunt and uncle are Rodman Flender and Amy Lippman, a husband and wife duo of established filmmakers and producers.
However, Timothée Chalamet actually has an entertainment connection even closer to home, as his mother worked as a dancer on Broadway before becoming a high-powered real estate broker. Clearly, the Chalamet family can do anything they set their mind to!
Jennifer Aniston
In Friends, Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel Green is obsessed with the show Days of Our Lives, so much so that in an alternate universe where she never leaves her partner Barry at the altar, she initiates an affair with Joey Tribbiani just because he is on the show.
What makes this funny on a meta-level is the fact that Jennifer Aniston’s father John Aniston is best known for his own time on the show, as he spent 37 non-consecutive years playing Victor Kiriakis. That’s not the only connection between father and daughter either, as both are lucky enough to have been awarded an Emmy over the course of their careers!
Joss Whedon
It’s fairly common for a kid to become a doctor because their parent and their parent’s parent were doctors, and a similar thing can be seen playing out in the entertainment world too. However, while there are many examples of third-generation actors, dancers and even musicians, third-generation writers are much rarer!
Nevertheless, Joss Whedon learned that he wanted to write hit shows and films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Cabin in the Woods by watching his father, Tom Whedon, work on shows like Golden Girls. Not only that, but his father was in turn inspired by watching Joss’ grandad John Whedon work on The Donna Reed Show and the Dick Van Dyke Show. They’re practically a TV writer dynasty!
Jake Gyllenhaal
Anyone under the age of 40 would be forgiven for forgetting that Jake Gyllenhaal actually started out as a child star, spending the 90s appearing in movies like City Slickers, A Dangerous Woman and Homegrown. However, what’s even easier to forget is that two out of three of those movies were actually directed by his father, Stephen Gyllenhaal.
In addition to having a Golden Globe and Emmy nominated director for a father, Jake Gyllenhaal is also lucky enough to have an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for a mother: Naomi Foner. Forner and Stephen Gyllenhaal were married for 32 years, from 1977 to 2009.
Lily Collins
Lots of children want to emulate their parents, whether they work as nurses, firefighters, teachers or stay-at-home mums and dads. However, celebrity or not, while plenty of kids will grow up to follow exactly in their parent’s footsteps, many others will end up in adjacent professions instead, which is exactly what happened with Lily Collins.
The star of Love, Rosie, and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones has been a successful actress for a decade now, but her father really needs no introduction. Lily Collins is the daughter of Phil Collins, legendary songwriter and frontman of Genesis, plus the guy indirectly responsible for the Cadburys In the Air Tonight advert!
Dakota Johnson
Though many people might only know her as the woman responsible for bringing Anastasia Steele to the silver screen in the Fifty Shades of Grey series, Dakota Johnson has tackled nearly every genre in her acting career, from horror with Suspiria (2018) to thrillers, with Bad Times at the El Royale, to coming of age comedies with The Peanut Butter Falcon.
Her talent and versatility are unsurprising given that she is the daughter of two actors: Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths, with Griffiths in turn being the daughter of legendary Hitchcock actress Tippi Hedren. Don and Melanie married for the first time when the former was 25 and the latter was 17, but Dakota Johnson was the product of their second marriage in the 80s.
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is one of the most iconic final girls in horror movie history thanks to her portrayal of Michael Myers foil Laurie Strode, and it could be said that such a status is actually her birthright. Why? Well, her mother is Janet Leigh, the legendary scream queen responsible for bringing to life Marion Crane from Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ father was just as prolific as her mother: Tony Curtis acted consistently for over six decades and appeared in over 100 movies in that time, including Some Like it Hot and The Defiant Ones. With parents like that, Jamie Lee Curtis must have gotten a lot of acting tips over the dinner table!
Emma Roberts
Just because two actors share the same last name, doesn’t mean they’re automatically related. After all, Mandy Moore and Demi Moore aren’t having family dinners together, and Mario and Jennifer Lopez aren’t getting together to play Monopoly. With that in mind, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that Emma Roberts is actually the niece of Julia Roberts!
Though Julia Roberts’ career has been somewhat less horror-focused than Emma’s, both actresses have racked up lots of accolades over the course of their careers. But Emma Roberts has some catching up to do if she wants to compete with her aunt’s four Academy Award nominations.
