Maya Hawke is completely fine with being called a “nepo baby,” the Times of London reported.
Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke’s daughter told the publication that she believes who her parents are is part of why she was cast in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as one of Charles Manson’s followers Flower Child.
“I’ve been wildly made fun of for this clip when I said, on the carpet, that I auditioned,” she said of the movie.
“I never meant to imply that I didn’t get the part of nepotistic reasons — I think I totally did,” Hawke admitted.
The Confessions of a Nepo Baby
The actress got her break when she played Robin Buckley in the Netflix hit series Stranger Things, which will premiere its fifth and final season next year. Her other credits include last year’s Asteroid City and Maestro and 2022’s Do Revenge.
When she was asked whether she deserves the opportunities she’s been given, she said, “‘Deserves is a complicated word… there are so many people who deserve to have this kind of life who don’t, but I think I’m comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway. And I know that my not doing it wouldn’t help anyone. I saw two paths when I was first starting, and one of them was: change your name, get a nose job and go to open casting roles.”
Hawke chose to just embrace the concept, even if she’s judged for it.
“It’s OK to be made fun of when you’re in rarefied air. It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it,” she explained.
The actress spoke about the topic again when she was promoting the Flannery O’Connor biopic Wildcat, directed by her father Ethan.
“I had moments of insecurity about it while we were shooting the movie,” she told Variety.
“But the internet doesn’t have a lot of nuances. My dad has been a massive teacher for me, and we want to work together. We like being with each other,” Hawke explained.
“If someone wants to criticize us for working together, that’s totally fair. You have to let people have their opinion. You just have to try to do a good job when you’re onstage,” Ethan added.
Maya will next be heard in Disney Pixar’s Inside Out 2 as the voice of Anxiety. She’ll next be seen in Stephen Frears’ Wilder & Me with Jon Hamm and Christoph Waltz and reuniting her father for Revolver.
Hollywood and its deep nepotistic ties
I think Maya Hawke has a refreshing attitude towards this whole nepo baby business. She can’t help who her parents are and what they do for a living. There’s nothing wrong with using one’s connection to get ahead — most people who have said connections use them anyway. The sticking point is whether they’re actually good at it.
Nepo babies aren’t rare in Hollywood, far from it. In fact, Vulture has an all but definitive list on some of showbiz’s newest nepo offsprings including where they graduated. Hawke is from St. Ann’s.
Hawke made it as one of the eight nepos on the list to appear in Tarantino’s film. So did two out of the three members of SNL’s Please Don’t Destroy crew: Martin Herlihy and John Higgins whose fathers were SNL producers. In the skit, they’re joined by fellow nepo baby Dakota Johnson. They even had their nepo truce chant, “A foot in the door and so much more.”
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