In today's entertainment landscape, there are a lot of "nepo babies" thriving in Hollywood, with some having notched titles on the 2025 movie calendar. From Nico Parker (daughter of Thandiwe Newton) starring in the new How To Train Your Dragon to The Materialists’ Dakota Johnson (Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson's daughter, some of today’s biggest stars have familial ties to show business. M3GAN 2.0 star Allison Williams just talked about being a nepo baby herself (again), and I think she has a solid perspective on the whole thing.
Allison Williams is the daughter of former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and TV producer Gillan Stoddard. While talking to The Guardian about her career, she had this to say about being a nepo baby:
Aside from all the many layers of privilege, high on the list is the fact that I could pursue a career in acting without being worried that I wasn’t going to be able to feed myself. I had been surrounded by people who did what I wanted to do.
In recent years, there’s been a conversation around Hollywood about whether nepo babies have a leg up on their peers who don't have connections to help them get started. There’s been a range of opinions shared by actors and other industry veterans. When it comes to Allison Williams, she falls in the category of a nepo babies who absolutely aren't afraid to say they're more privileged than other actors who don’t already have famous parents, and I love to hear such candid thoughts.
As Williams shared in the new interview ahead of the release of M3GAN 2.0, there's one major aspect of her journey as an actor that separated her from the pack. She didn’t have the fear that if she didn’t make it in the industry, she wouldn’t be able to have food or a roof over her head. Those are struggle that some actors absolutely go through. As Williams continued:
Having had that experience gives you a leg-up when finally it’s your turn and you have to know how to be on a set and how it all works.
Allison Williams’ path is an interesting one, because she came up as an actress, thanks to having her work on YouTube go so viral that Judd Apatow decided to cast her in HBO’s Girls. On that show, she starred alongside Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver, Alex Karpovsky and Andrew Rannells. The series was a huge hit and, from there Williams has been in movies like Get Out, M3GAN and the latter's sequel, which is a major title on the schedule of upcoming horror movies.
During her interview, the Horizon Line star also pointed out that she had family friends in the form of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who are both, of course, very successful actors. Her relationship with them made her realize her dream of being an actor wasn’t out of reach. Those are the kind of connections that few aspiring performers have at their disposal.
When Allison Williams previously spoke about being a nepo baby in 2022, she said when she was younger she was “concerned” with making sure other people understood she was “a hard worker” despite her privilege. Some nepo babies like Lily-Rose Depp (the daughter of Johnny Depp) have spoken about how being a nepo baby actually means people want to give you less opportunities. In Depp's case, she claimed people were “ready to see [her] fail.”
There's just something novel about the fact that Williams doesn't seek to deny the privilege she has. Plus, it's been great to see her rise in the industry, given the talent she possesses. You can see her put her skills to use in M3GAN 2.0, which she also produced, when it opens in theaters on June 27.
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