All in the FAMILY
These actresses all have one thing in common – their parents are household names and they’re trying their best to carry on the tradition
Sosie Bacon (Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick)
Sosie Bacon – daughter of Kevin Bacon, 63, and Kyra Sedgwick, 56 – made her acting debut at the age of 11 in a movie directed by her dad. “I was sort of a little bit resistant to it,” the 30-year-old Mare of Easttown star says of acting. But “I realised that it’s just what I love.” Kyra, meanwhile, has voiced concerns about her daughter being in the industry, sharing, “The hurt, the rejection, the insecurity… I don’t want that for my kids.”
Dylan Penn (Sean Penn and Robin Wright)
“I told my parents I wanted to direct eventually,” says Dylan Penn, 30. “Both of them told me that I should know what it’s like to be an actor before I direct.” Dylan’s first movie was the horror film Condemned and last year she co-starred with her dad in the movie Flag Day, which he also directed.
Mia Threapleton (Kate Winslet)
“I think I knew it was coming, I always suspected,” says Kate Winslet, 46, of her daughter Mia picking up the acting baton. “And then a few years ago, she turned around and said, ‘I’d like to give it a go.’ What’s great for her is she has a different surname, so she slipped under the radar and the people who cast her didn’t know she was my daughter.” Mia, 21, made her acting debut in the 2020 thriller Shadows. Says Mia, “I really understand why Mum has always impressed on us how hard the work is. She is right! I loved every second of it.”
Rumer Willis (Demi Moore and Bruce Willis)
Rumer, 33, is the eldest daughter of Demi Moore, 59, and Bruce Willis, 67, and says, “I wanted to act as soon as I got on a movie set. I kind of grew up on them, so being able to do so myself has been really amazing.” Among Rumer’s credits is a recurring role in the TV series Empire.
Mamie Gummer (Meryl Streep)
“Her priority was being our mother, not being a celebrity,” actress Mamie Gummer, 38, says of growing up with her iconic mum Meryl Streep, 72. “Mum wanted us to know that being famous isn’t the most important thing in life.” Regardless, Mamie has followed in her mother’s footsteps. In addition to appearing in movies including Cake with Jennifer Aniston, she had a recurring role in the legal drama The Good Wife and its spin-off The Good Fight. Greer Grammer, 30, appeared in the MTV series Awkward and Netflix film Deadly Illusions, and confesses she’d love to be cast in the recently-announced reboot of Frasier – the show that made her father Kelsey Grammer, 67, world-famous. It’s not likely, though. “My dad was always like, ‘You need to work to get your own jobs,’” she says.
Maya Hawke (Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke)
She’s the daughter of Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman, 51, and Juliet, Naked actor Ethan Hawke, 51, but Maya Hawke, 23, says her parents didn’t push her into the business. “They didn’t cart me along every red carpet or have me do bit-parts in their movies,” she says. “Once I was old enough and it was clear they were my choices, they were very supportive.” Maya starred in season three of Netflix’s Stranger Things and also appears in season four, due for release in May.
Ella Travolta (John Travolta)
Last year John Travolta, 68, and his daughter Ella, 22, hilariously hand-jived for a Super Bowl advertisement with John later saying, “It was magical, there’s no one else in the world I’d rather dance with than my daughter Ella.” The pair, who’ve appeared in two movies together, have been close since John’s wife and Ella’s mum Kelly Preston died of breast cancer in 2020, aged 57. Ella recently wrapped filming her latest movie Get Lost – a modern-day reimagining of Alice in Wonderland.