In Hollywood, it’s all about connections. And if you have parents already established in the business, why not use them? Well, over the past few years, there has been a backlash against so-called “nepo babies.” And while we tend to associate it with children of still-active celebrities (like, say, Lily-Rose Depp, Sadie Sandler and Emma Roberts), Hollywood has a long history of them that goes back to its origins. For some, it’s not a negative at all – in fact, it’s a bonus. Take Ben Stiller, the son of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, the legendary comedy team who did extremely well both together and as separate draws – now here’s a guy who who has no problem at all being lumped into the nepo baby debate.
Ben Stiller recently appeared on The Howard Stern Show, where the nepo baby topic was brought up. As Stiller put it, “But it’s always been what it is, in humanity and life. It’s like, you buy a violin, a Stradivarius or whatever, it’s been in the family for hundreds of years. That’s a selling point.”
Ben Stiller defended his stance on nepo babies by saying growing up in such a household is more likely to make you catch the bug. “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 wanna go into it.”
He went on to confirm that he got his first-ever gig – an off-Broadway production of The House of Blue Leaves – because his mother called in a favor. Of note, Ben Stiller also got some nepo baby help from father Jerry to get a spot in his first movie, 1987’s Hot Pursuit. Soon enough, Stiller had one of the shortest-ever runs on Saturday Night Live, with the actor lasting just four episodes…two less than another comedian with some premiere connections, Peter Aykroyd.
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