Busy Philipps’ Child Birdie and More Celeb Kids Following Their Parents’ Acting Footsteps

Credit: Shutterstock (3)

Busy Philipps' Child Birdie and More Celeb Kids Following Their Parents' Acting Footsteps

It’s in their genes! Busy Philipps and more celebrity parents’ kids are into acting, just like their moms and dads. News broke in July 2021 that the Dawson’s Creek alum’s eldest child, Birdie, had been cast in a non-binary role in Gloria Calderón Kellett's With Love. “This just made me cry,” the former Busy Tonight host tweeted at the time, reposting Kellett’s announcement. The casting came six months after the Illinois native revealed that her child had come out and chosen to use they/them pronouns. “Birdie told us at 10 years old and we immediately … I mean, obviously, I knew that Birdie knew,” the Cougar Town alum said in a January 2021 episode of her “Busy Philipps Is Doing Her Best” podcast. “Birdie said that they would like their pronouns to be they them, and I haven’t been doing it. I have this public persona and I want Birdie to be in control of their own narrative and not have to answer to anybody outside of our friends and family if they don’t want to. Bird was like, ‘I don’t give a f–k. You can talk about how I’m gay and out. You can talk about my pronouns. That would be cool with me. That’s great.’ So I said, ‘OK, I can talk about it on the podcast.’” [jwplayer vHi7IYKe-zhNYySv2] Milla Jovovich’s eldest daughter, Ever, is the same age as Birdie and started her acting career in 2020 when she nabbed a role in Black Widow. The teenager played Scarlett Johansson’s character Natasha Romanoff's younger self. "On the one hand, I'm terrified because I know how difficult this industry is,” Jovovich told Entertainment Tonight at the time. "And on the other hand, I'm overjoyed because I feel like my child has found their passion, and she has been very focused on it since she was 5.” The Resident Evil star, who also shares daughters Dashiel and Osian with Paul W. S. Anderson, added, "She's grown up on sets with her dad and it seems like that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We call her Baby Widow. She's such a fan of the Marvel movies and Ever is just such an incredible talent. She's just a real natural and it was so wonderful to watch her on set. I mean, literally, she had everybody crying during one of her scenes! She's amazing. I think people are going to be really, really impressed when they see the movie next year.” Ever appeared on the cover of Flaunt that same year, telling the magazine that she likes the feeling of “being someone else” in front of the camera. "Growing up on my parents' sets and watching the way films get made has always excited me,” she said. "I have always found it cool that my parents work in a world of make-believe. The challenging part is having to prove myself. I feel like when your mom is an actress and your dad is a director, those are some pretty big shoes to fill." Keep scrolling to see more celebrity parents whose kids are following in their footsteps, from Leslie Mann to Johnny Depp. [podcast_block]

Credit: Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock

Thandiwe Newton

The Westworld alum's daughter Nico Parker, who she shares with Ol Parker, made her big screen debut in 2019's live-action Dumbo when she was 14 years old. The following year, she starred in the HBO limited series The Third Day before working alongside her mom in the 2021 feature Reminiscence. Nico returned to HBO in 2023 for the highly-anticipated video game adaptation of The Last of Us.

Credit: Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Charlie Hall, the Veep alum’s youngest son with husband Brad Hall, followed in his mom’s acting footsteps in 2019. Charlie later landed the role of Andrew on HBO Max’s Sex Lives of College Girls ahead of its second season premiere in 2022. 

“It means that my children now really respect what I do for a living,” Louis-Dreyfus gushed to Entertainment Tonight that September. “He’s really digging being an actor and he’s really good. Good on him.”

Credit: David Fisher/Shutterstock

David Tennant

The Doctor Who alum's son Ty Tennant joined HBO's House of the Dragon as the teenage version of Aegon Targaryen II in September 2022. When David left Who in 2010, Matt Smith (who stars as Daemon Targaryen) took his place. Ty's mom is Georgia Tennant (née Moffett), who is also an actor, appearing in Who as well as Merlin.

Credit: Faye Sadou/AdMedia/Splash News

Tim Allen

Elizabeth Allen-Dick scored a role as her dad's daughter in Disney+'s The Santa Clauses series. "It's difficult to believe, but it had very little to do with me," Allen told Entertainment Weekly in September 2022. "I wanted to put my youngest daughter as an elf, just so she'd see herself in a movie. But as she was reading for that, she read so well that they said, ''We'd like to read her for more of a part.' I said, 'Whatever you want to do. I want nothing to do with it. I don't want to pitch my daughter for a part in the movie.' But she ended up moving to the high ranks. They loved how she read, loved it so much, because she's playing a 13-year-old girl and she is 13. They ended up casting her as Santa's daughter. It was a surprise but it became the most amazing experience."

Credit: Courtesy of Ryan Phillippe/Instagram

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe

The Cruel Intentions stars' son, Deacon Phillippe, scored his first acting role on Netflix's Never Have I Ever season 3. The August 2022 project was created by Mindy Kaling, who worked with pal Witherspoon on A Wrinkle in Time, The Morning Show and more.

Credit: Mark Baker/AP/Shutterstock

Chris Hemsworth

During an interview with reporter Kevin McCarthy in June 2022, Hemsworth confirmed that his sons appeared in Thor: Love and Thunder.

"It was really cool. They really wanted to be in it. Taika [Waititi] had his children in there. Christian Bale had his. Natalie [Portman] had her kids, as well," said the Marvel actor, who shares his twin sons, Tristan and Sasha, with wife Elsa Pataky.

At the time, Hemsworth hinted that his daughter, India, will make a cameo as well, adding, "She plays the character of Love."

He continued: "It felt sort of like a one-off, fun family experience. I don't want them to be child stars and actors. It was just a special experience we all had."

Credit: Courtesy of Candice Accola/Instagram

Candice Accola

The Texas native was joined by her daughter Florence, whom she shares with Joe King, for the Legacies finale in June 2022.

"You grew in mommy’s belly while I filmed scenes in front of that fire place… you were a little baby visiting mommy at work learning to crawl in front of that fireplace," Accola wrote via Instagram. "What a truly epic day when we got to stand side by side in a scene together in front of that fireplace.

Credit: Matt Baron/Shutterstock

Rob Lowe

The West Wing alum and his son John Lowe have worked together on many projects over the years, including The Lowe Files, The Grinder and 9-1-1: Lone Star. News broke in April 2022 that the father-son pair will costar in Netflix’s Unstable.

Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock

Laura Dern

The Jurassic Park star is "making" her daughter, Jaya, wait to pursue an acting career, she told Ellen DeGeneres in March 2022, explaining, "I started very young at 11 and am so happy she’s waiting and wanting to go to school [even though] she knows in her heart she wants to act. … I saw the consequences of not being in school, just doing my thing."

Credit: Courtesy of Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

Uma Thurman

The Kill Bill star was “anxious” when her daughter, Maya Hawke, began acting, she told Access in February 2022. “It’s a complicated career. She’s a sensitive person,” Thurman said of the Stranger Things and Good Lord Bird star. “She’s, in the end, such a brilliant actress. Obviously, there’s nothing else that she would have ever done. Her talent was so big. It’s what she had to do.”

Credit: Courtesy of Joseph Baena/Instagram

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Joseph Baena, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mildred Baena, exclusively told Us Weekly about the acting tips his father gave him for breaking into the industry.

“The biggest thing that my father has taught me is to just do the reps, and what do I mean by that is practice, practice, practice,” he told Us in February 2022 at the Revolve x H. Wood Group “Homecoming Weekend” party. “Preparation is key, so learning how to say the lines and read the lines [so] that I can be interrupted and distracted in any way, and I can still regurgitate the lines no matter what.”

Credit: Courtesy of Mohegan Sun; Paul A Hebert/Shutterstock

Mario Lopez

The Saved By the Bell alum’s daughter, Gia, joined him in Holiday in Santa Fe in 2021. "She did a really good job,” Lopez exclusively told Us in October at Mohegan Sun's 25th Anniversary Celebration. “We worked together, but she gave me more tips probably. She's pretty good and talented so we'll see [where that goes]. I'm not discouraging her. I'm just supporting whatever she wants to do."

Credit: Courtesy of MBB Images/BEI/Shutterstock

Kate Beckinsale

"I think it's really important to her to have her own thing and blaze her own trail and do her own stuff,” Beckinsale told Entertainment Tonight in October 2021 of her and Michael Sheen’s daughter Lily's acting career. "So as much as it's quite difficult not to be poking into her business all the time, I really do respect that and admire how much she wants to be independent from us. … It's onerous enough to sort of look like me and her having the same [last] name. She's been asked since she was about 3 months old, like, 'Oh, are you going to be an actress like your mother?'"

Credit: AFF-USA/Shutterstock

Tim McGraw

McGraw and wife Faith Hill’s youngest daughter, Audrey, made her acting debut in his “7500 OBO” music video in August 2021. “Couldn’t be more thrilled to have my youngest daughter, Audrey, play the lead role in the music video for #7500OBO!!!” the country crooner, who is also an actor, wrote via Instagram. “So proud of all our girls. Was real special to work together on this one.”

Credit: Courtesy of John Travolta/Instagram

John Travolta

"Here’s my daughter Ella starring in a live action re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland!” the Grease star captioned a July 2021 Instagram post of the 21-year-old in a blue dress on set. “Called Get Lost. I’m a very proud dad!”

Credit: Mediapunch/Shutterstock

Busy Philipps

"I first met Birdie when they were a baby,” Kellett tweeted. "It is thrilling that I now get to have them on my little show."

Credit: NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Milla Jovovich

"I want to work hard and make my own path so that people don't only see me as their daughter, but also as someone who has worked for it, and that I really know what I'm doing and it wasn't just all handed to me,” Ever went on to tell Flaunt.

Credit: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Angelina Jolie

Vivienne appeared alongside her mom in Maleficent in 2014.

Credit: Eric Charbonneau/Shutterstock

Will Smith

The actor and his son Jaden Smith have acted alongside each other in The Pursuit of Happyness, After Earth and more.

Credit: POOL MONACO/SIPA/Shutterstock; Laurent VU/SIPA/Shutterstock

Johnny Depp

After a small role in Tusk in 2014, the Pirates of the Caribbeans star’s daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, has since starred in three period dramas and more movies.

Credit: Sara Jaye Weiss/Shutterstock

Leslie Mann

The This Is 40 star’s daughter Maude started her acting career in her mom and dad Judd Apatow’s movies and now plays Lexi Howard in HBO’s Euphoria.

Credit: Jim Smeal/Shutterstock

Carrie Fisher

The late Star Wars star’s daughter, Billie Lourd, played Lieutenant Connix in her mom’s sequel trilogy. She is also a regular in the American Horror Story series.

Credit: Jim Smeal/Shutterstock

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon

The “Fantasy” singer revealed in December 2022 that she may have passed down her musical talent to twins Moroccan and Monroe.

"Rocky is a technical genius," she told E! News. "He could do anything he wanted, and I will support him. He and Roe are both such creative geniuses! Honestly, their tone when they sing is so beautiful, and I'm so thankful that they inherited that from me."

She added, "I can't wait to see what and who they grow up to be!"