Newcomers and veterans, these actors have showbiz roots - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

You may not know their names but you know the parents of these seven actors

Michael Gandolfini plays a young Tony Soprano
(Photo illustrations by Gluekit; Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema/Gregory Pace/FilmMagic)
Share via

The expression “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” certainly has long applied in Hollywood. Consider Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, Michael Douglas, Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson, Laura Dern and John David Washington, to name but a few. All have followed in their illustrious parents’ acting footsteps and carved out exceptional, award-winning careers.

This season, there’s an exciting array of both newer and more established performers, all of whom are the children of famous actors, who are collecting Oscar buzz for their onscreen work. So here’s an Envelope-sized shout-out to these talented scions and a wish for good luck as they jump into awards season.

HONOR SWINTON BYRNE

Advertisement

Famous forebear: Daughter of Tilda Swinton

Tilda Swinton and daughter Honor Swinton.
(Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

Screen time: “The Souvenir: Part II”

Byrne, 24, shines once again as Julie, a young filmmaker navigating life and love in 1980s London, in writer-director Joanna Hogg’s well-received sequel to her acclaimed, complex 2019 drama. Byrne’s formidably talented mom returns in this late-October release to play Julie’s protective mother, Rosalind.

Advertisement
Honor Swinton Byrne in "The Souvenir Part II"
(A24)

MICHAEL GANDOLFINI

Famous forebear: Son of James Gandolfini

Screen time: “The Many Saints of Newark”

Advertisement
Michael Gandolfini and Alessandro Nivola stand together in a scene from "The Many Saints of Newark."
Michael Gandolfini as teenage Tony Soprano and Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti in “The Many Saints of Newark.”
(Barry Wetcher/Warner Bros. Entertainment)

Gandolfini, 22, plays a teenage Tony Soprano in this film prequel to the landmark HBO series that made his father a star. The young actor (“The Deuce,” “Cherry”) eerily channels his late dad in this origins crime drama from early October, directed by Alan Taylor from a script by “The Sopranos” creator David Chase and Lawrence Konner.

COOPER HOFFMAN

Famous forebear: Son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Cooper Hoffman in the film "Licorice Pizza" and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cooper Hoffman.
(Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc./James Devaney/FilmMagic)

Screen time: “Licorice Pizza”

Hoffman, 18, makes an auspicious screen debut as an aspiring young actor coming of age and falling in love in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley in 1973. Paul Thomas Anderson, a longtime collaborator of Cooper’s late dad, wrote and directed this nostalgic dramedy titled after the erstwhile Southern California record store chain. Look for its release this Friday.

DAKOTA JOHNSON

Advertisement

Famous forebears: Daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson

Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson and Dakota Johnson in "The Lost Daughter."
(Jim Spellman/WireImage/Yannis Drakouldis/Netflix)

Screen time: “The Lost Daughter”

Johnson, 32, has received career-best reviews as Nina, a young mother vacationing in Greece, in this Dec. 31 suspense drama adapted by director Maggie Gyllenhaal from Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel. Johnson has come a long way — in a short time — since her breakthrough role in the first “Fifty Shades” film.

DYLAN PENN

Famous forebears: Daughter of Sean Penn and Robin Wright

 Robin Wright,Sean Penn  and Dylan Penn.
(Jason Merritt/Getty Images/Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Screen time: “Flag Day”

Penn, 30, goes deep as Jennifer, a young woman struggling to reconcile life with her toxic, con-artist father, played by dad Sean (who also directed). This family affair, released in August, and scripted by brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth from the memoir by Jennifer Vogel, also stars Penn and Wright’s son, Hopper Jack, as Jennifer’s brother.

Advertisement

MARTHA PLIMPTON

Famous forebear: Daughter of Keith Carradine

Dad Keith Carradine and Martha Plimpton in the 2021 drama "Mass."
(Frazer Harrison/Getty Images/Bleecker Street)

Screen time: “Mass”

Veteran performer Plimpton, 51, has acted since childhood and enjoyed success on screens both big (“Parenthood” and, yes, “The Goonies”) and small (“Raising Hope,” “The Real O’Neals”). She delivers the goods as the bereft mother of a school-shooting victim in writer-director Fran Kranz’s lauded chamber piece released in October.

LILY RABE

Famous forebear: Daughter of Jill Clayburgh

Jill Clayburgh and Lily Rabe and Daniel Ranieri in the film "Tender Bar."
(Andy Kropa/Getty Images/Claire Folger/Amazon Content Services)

Screen time: “The Tender Bar”

Rabe (“Miss Stevens,” “American Horror Story”), 39, co-stars with Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan as Dorothy, the struggling single mother of a teenage boy growing up on Long Island in the 1970s and ’80s. George Clooney directed the Dec. 22 release from a script by William Monahan, based on the memoir by former L.A. Times writer J.R. Moehringer.

Advertisement