Top 10 Celebrity Kids Who Acted in Their Parents' Movies

While both of Judd Apatow’s daughters have gone on to act in other people’s projects, they both got their start in three of their father’s films. It started with 2007’s “Knocked Up,” in which they played Sadie and Charlotte, the children of Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann. Mann, for those who didn’t know, is also their mother IRL. The girls again played on-screen daughters of their real-life mother in “Funny People” and reprised their Sadie and Charlotte roles in the “Knocked Up” spin-off, “This Is 40.” Since those early beginnings the girls have worked with their father individually as well. Maude appeared in her dad’s film “The King of Staten Island” and Judd directed Iris in an episode of “Love” and the movie “The Bubble.”

In 2005 Kevin Bacon made his big screen directorial debut with the film “Loverboy.” And when it came to casting three of the roles he didn’t have to look any further than his dinner table - assuming he and his wife and kids ate their dinners together. Besides casting his talented wife Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin also gave his son Travis and his daughter Sosie roles in the film. In fact, Sosie played the 10-year-old version of her mother’s character in the movie. And while Travis hasn’t acted again, Sosie used that role as a jumping off point to many more roles since, including “13 Reasons Why” and “Mare of Easttown.”

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#8: Jason Reitman
Multiple Films

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Not only has Jason Reitman had small parts in a number of his father’s films, every feature film Jason has been in was directed by his father, Ivan Reitman. This began with his first acting gig in 1988 in “Twins” all the way through his last big screen appearance in “Father’s Day” in 1997. Since then the younger Reitman has made a name for himself as the Oscar-nominated director of “Juno” and “Up in the Air.” He also directed “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” the sequel to the original “Ghostbuster” movies, both of which were directed by his father, and yes, Jason did appear in the second one.

Maybe you know her by her musician stage name Buzzy Lee or as the actress who played “Young Israeli Woman Watching TV” in the Oscar-nominated film, “Munich.” Or maybe you just know her as Sasha Speilberg, the first child of actress Kate Capshaw and master movie director Steven Spielberg. Besides “Munich” her dad also gave her little parts in “The Terminal” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” And she played “Woman with Package” in 2017’s “The Post” also directed by her dad. In addition to acting, Sasha has explored her musical side in several projects.

Gwyneth’s father Bruce Paltrow spent most of his career in television as a producer and director, but he did direct two films for the big screen. The second,“Duets,” takes place in the world of karaoke competitions and features an impressive cast, including his daughter. And as she said of the experience, “It's really not something you get to do very often, work with people you love, so it's been wonderful.” And we can imagine it probably meant even more to have had that opportunity, when just a couple years later her father sadly lost his battle with oral cancer.

Like Jason Reitman, Sofia Coppola has made her name in Hollywood primarily as a filmmaker. As for her acting career, she has said that it was never really something she wanted to do and only did it when her father, Francis Ford Coppola, asked her to help out. That was the case in her most famous, and criticized, role as Michael Corleone's daughter in “The Godfather Part III.” A role she took when Winona Ryder dropped out at the last minute. While she had small parts in a number of other movies her father directed, it was her performance as Mary Corleone that some people actually blame for the film’s poor performance at the box office.

Lucas and Peter Hedges have worked together on two films. Lucas made his debut with a small role in his dad’s movie, “Dan in Real Life” as an unnamed character credited as “Lilly's Dance Partner.” That was in 2007. Over the decade that followed Lucas continued working on his craft and eventually broke out with his Oscar-nominated supporting role in 2016’s “Manchester by the Sea.” Then in 2018 he again worked with his dad, but this time his character didn’t just have a name, he had a starring role opposite Julia Roberts in “Ben Is Back.”

While Clint Eastwood has refused to confirm the amount of children he has fathered, we do know it’s at least eight. We also know he’s given several of them parts in a number of his movies. The most well-known of his kids is probably Scott Eastwood who made his debut in “Flags of Our Fathers” and also had roles in two other films directed by his dad, “Gran Torino” and “Invictus.” As for a couple of Scott’s half-siblings, Francesca Eastwood had roles in “True Crime” and “Jersey Boys” while Alison Eastwood can be seen in three of Clint’s movies, including “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

While her role in “The Village” was the one that really got her started on the path to stardom, Bryce Dallas Howard had appeared in five films prior to that one. Four of those were directed by her father Ron Howard. However, although they were big movies, her roles in them were not. In fact they were so small that her parts in “A Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13” are listed as “uncredited” and IMDb lists her role of ‘Redheaded Audience Girl’ in “Parenthood” as “unconfirmed.” Since then, however, Bryce has gone from bit parts to big budgets and we’re sure her dad is super proud.

Anjelica Huston’s screen debut was also her first time working with her father, John Huston. And it didn’t go well. Anjelica had been up for a role in another film, but her father removed her from consideration to cast her in his film, “A Walk with Love and Death.” The younger Huston didn’t think she was right for the part and the father/daughter tension grew throughout the making of the movie. Thankfully her next two times working with her legendary dad went much better. In 1985 John directed his daughter in “Prizzi's Honor” for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. And two years later she starred in her father’s final film, “The Dead,” for which they both won Independent Spirit Awards.