There are some professions that seem to be passed down through generations, like being a doctor or a musician. Sometimes it’s a choice that the younger generation makes by themselves and it just is in their blood. But there are cases when they are forced to continue the family tradition.
In cases when children choose or are forced to choose a career path similar to their parents, it can be easier for them to get a better paying job through connections as their parents or grandparents surely have them.
It may seem unfair, but it happens more than you would think. However, others really appreciate and respect when someone comes from a background that didn’t help them pave their own career path. Reddit user PM_me_Thor_nudes was worried that most big actors are a product of nepotism, but actually, other redditors proved them wrong, listing all the actors they know who didn’t have an advantage of knowing someone in the family who was already in the industry.
Do you think that actors who came from nothing deserve more respect than the ones who came from families having a background in the entertainment industry? Also, let us know if you know any more names that you think need to be mentioned in the list!
More info: Reddit
#1 Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis used to work at the store her mom worked at even while she was staring on that 70s show to not let it go to her head.
Image credits: Snake_Plissken224
#2 The Olsen Twins
The Olsen Twins. They literally supported their families financially by working their entire lives and then people have the audacity to belittle them and act like everything was handed to them on a silver platter. They literally didn’t have a childhood and have always been working. They don’t get the respect they deserve. They’re now still massively successful with their fashion lines and have earned the privacy to stay out of the spotlight.Their sister on the other hand definitely benefited from the pathway they paved. But I just think about all the child stars who were literally the sole support of their family and they had no control over it. People make jokes about child stars going down bad pathways, but that’s more on the environment and the industry than it is on the kids. Imagine blaming kids for being introduced to things at a young age they shouldn’t have been introduced to. Drew Barrymore’s talks about the things she was exposed to as a kid being part of a family dynasty are so disturbing and the media blames the kids and not the industry that cultivated that environment.
End of rant.
Image credits: svargs01
#3 Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi was a firefighter before making it as an actor, but I think that's common knowledge by now.
Image credits: Cats-over-People
#4 Donald Glover
Donald Glover. Dad was a postal worker and his mom was a daycare provider. Went on to be an insanely talented musician, producer, actor, etc.
Image credits: SPOOKESVILLE
#5 Elijah Woods
Elijah woods parents ran a restaurant in Iowa city and weren’t particularly wealthy
Image credits: DigitalFireStorm
#6 Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum. Grew up in Alabama and Mississippi, he basically only got into showbiz by being signed as a dancer, and he was only a Dancer because he used to be a stripper.
Image credits: Ihateregistering6
#7 Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence is def one. She's such a good actress and comes from a normal background. Grew up in Kentucky and her parents run a summer camp for kids.
Image credits: dancersniper
#8 Milla Jovovich
If you still count her, there is Milla Jovovich who was the daughter of a single mother from Ukraine. She's a nice lady who is still very down-to-earth. I've heard many good things about her.
Image credits: nosmelc
#9 Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo is definitely not from a wealthy or well connected family. His family actually owns a pizza place in Kenosha, WI.
Image credits: staffsargent
#10 Anna Kendrick
Anna Kendrick is one of the prominent ones I can think of. No show biz parents, got her start in theater as a kid.
Image credits: puppeteer23
#11 Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds had a pretty humble background. I used to rent movies to his brother, back when rental stores were a thing.
Image credits: givemethebat1
#12 Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt. Was working as the El Pollo Loco chicken on the corner of Sunset and La Brea while trying to make it in Hollywood.
Image credits: revocer
#13 Rachel Mcadams
Rachel McAdams“born on November 17, 1978, in London, Ontario, Canada, to nurse Sandra (née Gale) and truck driver Lance McAdams
Image credits: hamer1234
#14 Selena Gomez
selena gomez. she literally came from nothing and worked as a child to support her family.
Image credits: sel017
#15 Jessica Chastain
Jessica Chastain. Grew up in a low income family and could only make it through Julliard thanks to a scholarship (actually awarded by a foundation led by Robin Williams, if I'm not mistaken).
Image credits: thefrayedfiles
#16 Adam Driver
I have a lot of respect for Adam Driver. He was the only main actor on Girls who didn't come from privilege or didn't have a parent who was already in the industry. Not surprisingly, he was the most successful actor after Girls ended.
Image credits: PotentMiracleTonic
#17 Harrison Ford
Wasn't Harrison Ford a carpenter or something first?Edit: he pretty much was always an actor, but he wasn't satisfied with the roles he was getting early on, so he became a carpenter until he was discovered by George Lucas.
Image credits: TortureSteak
#18 Sandra Oh
Sandra Oh. Her parents were middle-class South Korean immigrants and she paid out of pocket for her drama education at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. Her mom was a biochemist and her dad was a businessman.
Image credits: InsomniaticAlien
#19 Matthew Mcconaughey And Forest Whitaker
Matthew Mcconaughey and Forest Whitaker both came from Longview, TX. Both from modest families.
Image credits: zetabur
#20 Chris Evans
Chris Evans? Isn't his dad just a plain old dentist?
Image credits: blackrock55
#21 Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel was raised by a single mother and was doing community theater and independent projects which got him discovered for saving private ryan.Finn Wolfhard: His father was a history researcher his mother was an assistant and designer.
I think in the UK something like 80% of the name brand actors come out of a few of the elite preparatory schools. There are a few standouts like John Boyega.
Image credits: TBBT-Joel
#22 Andrew Garfield
Andrew Garfield’s parents were interior designers
Image credits: YomYeYonge
#23 Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen - went to public school, mom is a social worker and dad worked at a non-profit.
Image credits: Fresca_p
#24 Brie Larson, John Gallagher Junior, Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malik, Lakeith Stanfield, Stephanie Beatriz, Destin Cretton
The banger cast of Short Term 12 (2013) were pretty much nobodies.Brie Larson - parents are chiropractors.
John Gallagher Junior - parents were folk musicians in Delaware.
Kaitlyn Dever - father voices barney. Make that what you will, not sure how much a voice actor can get you connections.
Rami Malik - immigrant parents (insurance worker and accounting) from Egypt.
LaKeith Stanfield - no info on his parents. Grew up in dysfunctional family in the middle of nowhere California.
Stephanie Beatriz - Immigrant from Argentina and grew up in Texas.
The director and writer of Short Term 12, Destin Cretton, was born in Hawaii to a hairdressor and firefighter. He is now the director of Marvel's Shang Chi movies.
Image credits: Pancake_muncher
#25 Dev Patel
First thing that came to mind was Dev Patel. Mother was a caregiver, father was an IT guy.
Image credits: amig_135
#26 Awkwafina
Awkwafina (daughter of IT worker dad, mother passed away when she was young), Simu Liu (son of engineers).
Image credits: Kagomefog
#27 Richard Madden
The UK actor thing is very real and kind of crazy when you look into it. But there are some exceptions. Richard Madden’s parents were a school teacher and a firefighter, for instance.
Image credits: Arkeolog
#28 Dicaprio And Toby Maguire
I think DiCaprio and Toby Maguire weren't connected. They were best friends growing up though and came up in the business together.
Image credits: mbattagl
#29 Kelly Marie Tran
kelly marie tran (lead voice actor in raya, rose tico in star wars) was a nobody whose parents were vietnam refugees. she did collegehumor videos before rian johnson casted her in star wars. tbh i think most asian-american actors are a good place to look if u wanna search for talent without nepotist connections because most asian immigrants don’t start off in hollywood.
Image credits: shrinkcylamen
#30 Taylor Lautner
I was suppose to be childhood friends with Taylor Lautner. (His dad would ask my mom for us to hang out together as children and play I guess?) He got the gig because his karate teacher just happened to know the yellow power ranger at the time according to my mom. And his dad was a jerk apparently.
Image credits: Oniketojen
#31 Barry Keoghan
Barry Keoghan, fantastic Irish actor known for Killing of a Sacred Deer, “Druig” in Eternals, Green Knight, Dunkirk. From his Wikipedia:“Keoghan grew up in Summerhill, Dublin, Ireland.[5] Alongside his brother, he spent seven years in foster care, in 13 different foster homes.[6] His mother died of a heroin overdose when he was 12 years old,[5][6] and he was then raised by his maternal grandmother and aunt.[5][7]”
Image credits: Archfey_Tazlia
#32 Simu Liu
I guess Simu Liu from Marvel's Shang Chi counts. He was an accountant for a brief amount of time before becoming an actor. I'm sure he didn't get rich being an entry level auditor. Simu attended a private school in Toronto. He probably didn't make Hollywood connections there but being around affluence is an advantage. Edit: I thought it would be an advantage being brought up around affluence and communicating with the other wealthy people around. Apparently I'm wrong.
Image credits: Impressive-Potato
#33 Olivia Cooke
Olivia Cooke is from the same town as me (Oldham, Lancashire) and it is a really poor, miserable place so you are spot on with her. I was genuinely shocked that she could be from there and become so successful but that just shows you how talented she is
Image credits: sailorellie85
#34 Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo. Grew up in the boonies in Temecula, CA. Her parents are middle class. She worked hard and now is a super star.
Image credits: revocer
#35 Aaron Paul
Chris Pratt. Dude was living in a van, down by a Hawaiian river and was discovered while working as a server at a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant.
Image credits: PandahOG
#36 Aaron Paul
Aaron Paul ? His father was a baptist minister.
Image credits: melonguy1789
#37 Sean William Scott
Sean William Scott was selling churros while doing American Pie
Image credits: aretasdamon
#38 Mckenna Grace
McKenna GraceMost recently in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. She's been in several big movies in small child roles with this one being her biggest so far, I think. As far as I know she's just some girl from Grapevine (Dallas) Texas. An acquaintance of mine is her aunt and moved out to California to help with her Mckenna's career (I think to mooch off her talent).
#39 Mackenzie Foy
Mackenzie Foy.Her family had/has zero connections to the entertainment industry, and yet she wound up succeeding, and given she's still quite young, she's got plenty of years ahead of her to expand. There are others who befit this, but she comes to mind as an example.
#40 Pete Davidson
Pete Davidson kinda. He did work himself up as a comic, which eventually got him into SNL. The connects he gained from there seem invaluable.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3GCdJGs
via Boredpanda
