Which actor/actress were you surprised to discover is hugely connected?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

Kate Hudson - my god i had no idea her mum is Goldie Hawn

Just finished season 2 of Running Point (really good)

But surely he is finding his son work using his connections

And he is always on tv with him

You really think the ability to pretend to be someone else is genetic?

The reality is that for every actor who lands a great role, there are any number of others who could have played that role equally well. Being well connected and/or from a wealthy background gives you a massive edge in a highly competitive field.

Love this

Yes, but what they all have in common is the privilege of being able to go to good universities, have the time to be in the societies and make connections.

My path was different and those sort of closed groups pushed me out. I didn’t have the privilege of doing that - I had to work two jobs from the age of 16. That’s what I mean.

Looked his wife up, she has a successful photography business so combined with his minor TV / radio appearances and the comedy, probably enough to be comfortable. Maybe both from money too.

He was wildly successful before that though, so it doesn't count in quite the same way. In fact he was famously turned down for roles in Taggart - every Scottish actor was in Taggart at some point ;)

You can call it nepotism or you can call it a fairly natural development. If you grow up in a world where your parents and lots of family members and friends all do the same thing, you learn a lot about it from a very early age. It's natural that many youngsters give the family business a go, and some of them make a go of it.

Worked pretty well for Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Going back to acting, Sir John Gielgud came from a theatrical family.

Daisy Ridley is the great-niece of Arnold Ridley, Private Godfrey in Dad's Army but also a well-known playwright.

A bit like Tom Hardy. He often plays 'hard man' roles but came from an arty background and was privately educated.

Vincent Cassel is a French equivalent. He made his name playing 'lower class' characters but he came from a very wealthy Parisian background, the son of a very famous French actor.

RIchard Osman, that’s another - his brother is in Suede. Not sure how much influence that had on his career.

Is it any different though if you follow your parent into the medical/lawyer/banking professions?

Another of Meryl Streep’s daughters Is in The Gilded Age.

Toby Stephens
Daniel Radcliffe
Sabrina Carpenter
Tilda Swindon
Phoebe Waller B

The list goes on, and on

Steve Coogan's elder brother Martin is/was the lead singer of The Mock Turtles. Can you dig it? 😉

And her daughter- Gaia Wise

I think it is. While it's true that these professions often run in families, in order to become a doctor or lawyer, you have to go through years of rigorous training and pass difficult assessments. If you don't pass your exams, you won't make the cut no matter who your parents are.

With acting, modelling or other similar professions, it's much less structured. Like I said above, for every successful actor, there are many others, equally talented, who will never get a role. Having a parent in the industry gives you a huge advantage.

I agree that's harder now, but most of the people you're talking about had the same good fortune I did - we were in the tiny minority of our generations to go to university at a time when the Local Education Authority paid the fees and we got grants for maintenance. If your parents' earnings were low enough, you got a full grant and if they were a bit higher you got less, but most parents (mine included) made up the difference and no repayment was required or expected. It was perfectly feasible when I was a student to work hard enough to get a decent degree and also do a lot of interesting stuff on the side. The benefits system was quite different then too. You could claim supplementary benefit (not much, but easy to get hold of) in the summer vacations or after graduating and nobody was pushing the claimant to keep applying for unsuitable jobs. A huge amount of creative stuff from the UK was made possible by the talent having enough money to get by and unlimited time thanks to student grants and the benefits system.

It's not just connections. It's having the money to fail. You can afford to live in London while auditioning. You're not tired from working a day job and having a small part in a play. You can get to auditions without asking for time off. You can eat and heat a flat. You can have a flat to yourself.

Honestly having money is easier if you're just starting out.

Lets go right back to Hayley Mills daughter of the late great John Mills

Louisa Jacobson, who plays Marion in The Gilded Age, is Meryl Streep’s daughter. And Hattie Morahan, who plays Lady Sarah, is the daughter of Anna Carteret of Juliet Bravo fame.

Oliver Hudson is her brother, also an actor, although I admit this one surprised me a few years ago!

Wow! I had no idea! Very few get in through sheer talent aline , sadly.

I’m nearly 50.

so some of that was still around. But I still had to leave school and work to keep a roof over my head, I was alone in the world.

Not everyone could make use of grants or just stay on the dole.

At least most of these have some talent. The ones who don't become models, no matter what they look like.

And her son, Crispian mills, of Kula Shaker.

Haven't RTFT so apologies if a repeat:

Shirley Maclaine and Warren Beatty. Siblings.

Yes. They all do, but some rely on them more and some rely on them less. If you saw the amount of editing that has to be done for celebrity memoirs; even if they attempt to write it themselves, they have no formal training, and the editing will practically rewrite it. Non-fiction books by comedians have a tiny bit more authenticity usually, but not that much. Source: have been a small-scale ghostwriter but I know some VERY big ones. What I’ve been told: Janet Evanovich - fake. Nora Roberts - real. And even that might be a load of old shite. You can’t say for sure about anybody. Some celebrity writers will be more or less involved in the process, depending on how interested they are, but you can guarantee that anyone famous who suddenly publishes a bestseller had help, though only the people who attended the writing meetings knows how much and it’s supposed to stay that way. If the pay is good enough and the NDA is strong enough, ghostwriters tend to keep their mouths shut or they don’t get re-hired in the industry.