There’s been a lot of talk around Hollywood about nepo babies.
Nepo baby, short for nepotism baby, are the children of celebrities who have succeeded in careers similar to those of their parents. The implication is that because their parents already had connections to an industry, the child could use those connections to build a career in that industry.
Nepo babies bristle at this notion, of course, preferring to believe that they earned their success through talent and hard work, but when your mother is Melanie Griffith and your father is Don Johnson, it’s not hard to see how someone like Dakota Johnson got a leg up on the competition.
Through this examination of familial ties across stage and screen, it was discovered that many Hollywood stars have parents who also worked in the entertainment industry, making it much more insular, less meritorious, and less talent-driven than once thought.
Of course, this is nothing new. Nepo babies have existed outside Hollywood forever, too. If a child starts working in Mommy or Daddy’s company and eventually takes over the helm, that person is also a nepo baby. It’s not to say that they didn’t work hard, but their position in the company was decidedly less earned than someone who entered a company or organization knowing no one and working their way up the ladder.
When you start with Mommy or Daddy at the top of the ladder, it’s not surprising that you eventually find yourself there, too.
It’s fine, though. Good for them. Nepo babies were simply lucky enough to have parents working hard and clearing a path for them. I know it doesn’t sit well with some who prefer to think of themselves as bootstrapping, self-made business people, but it’s too bad.
Don’t work in your parents’ company if you want to work your way up a ladder and be considered self-made.
Enjoy your good fortune, and if you have a modicum of self-respect and decency, acknowledge that good fortune whenever possible.
All of this leads us to Adam Driver, who I heard interviewed this week.
Following high school, Driver’s career path went something like this:
Applied to and rejected by Juilliard
Worked as a telemarketer for a basement waterproofing company
Sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door
Enlisted in the Marine Corps following the 9/11 attacks
Served as a United States Marine for almost three years
Broke his sternum and was medically discharged
Enrolled full-time at the University of Indianapolis
Worked full-time at a Target distribution center while in college
Reapplied to Julliard and was accepted
Launched his acting career
His mother was a paralegal, and his stepfather was a minister.
I thought Adam Driver was a fine actor before learning about his journey to Hollywood, but I never thought of Driver as someone I would enjoy spending time with. Based only on his onscreen performances, he struck me as sober and brooding.
After learning about his life – the opposite of a nepo baby in every regard – I would love to spend time getting to know Adam Driver if the opportunity presented itself.
I also like to think that the angry, self-righteous nepo babies of the world whose success is not viewed entirely through the lens of talent and hard work find the mere existence of someone like Adam Driver annoying.
How dare he climb his way to the top of the entertainment world without any family member opening a door for him.
