It’s not a secret that behind our stories is always our parents’ story, or as they say, behind every great kid there is a couple of people whom we call parents. And this one-in-a-million bond with our parents is celebrated on National Parents’ Day every year on the fourth Sunday of July, following Mother’s Day in May, and Father’s Day in June.

 

Though Mother’s and Father’s Days have been widely celebrated since the beginning of the 20^th century, National Parents’ Day appeared on calendars just 28 years ago after then-President Bill Clinton’s resolution signed in 1994 with the aim of “…uplifting and supporting the role of parents in the rearing of children.”

 

The movie industry is the most obvious arena populated with talents who aspire to follow their parents’ path professionally, both in Tinseltown and globally. Some of them play the “went on my own path” game, while others proudly go along with their well-known last names or are third- or even fourth-generation A-listers.

Just think about the Golden Globe winner Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Golden Globe-winning parents Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli whose 1976 drama A Matter of Time marked the debut of future Golden Globe nominee Isabella Rossellini, the daughter of Golden Globe winner Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. Curiously, then 24-year-old Isabella’s co-stars were her mother and Liza Minelli.

French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg started her film career with a role in the 1986 drama Charlotte for Ever, co-starring her father Serge Gainsbourg, one of the most famous musicians of the 1960s. Gainsbourg’s 2021s directorial debut Jane par Charlotte is dedicated to her mother Jane Birkin, an actress who became a fashion icon of the 1960s and 1970s.

Golden Globe winner Kate Hudson and her half-brother Wyatt Russell are the kids of Golden Globe winner Goldie Hawn and Golden Globe nominee Kurt Russell. Interestingly, Kate Hudson has built a successful career under her father Bill Hudson’s name, making films and running an athletic apparel company.

 

Though Hudson never shared a set with her mother, a few years ago she co-starred alongside her stepfather in Peter Berg’s Deepwater Horizon. And Wyatt Russell will co-star alongside his famous father in Apple TV+ upcoming live-action monster series Godzilla and the Titans.

The star of the recent Jane Austin-inspired romantic comedy Persuasion Dakota Johnson grew up on set. She first appeared on screen when she was ten, co-starring with her Golden Globe-winning mother Melanie Griffith in her stepdad’s (Golden Globe nominee Antonio Banderas) directorial debut, Crazy in Alabama.

 

Before her breakthrough as Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey, Johnson was cast in The Social Network by Golden Globe-winning David Fincher. A granddaughter of actress Tippi Hedren, Golden Globe-winning star of The Birds, Dakota has not yet shared the set with her Golden Globe-winning father Don Johnson.

Zoë Kravitz, the star of The Batman by Matt Reeves, likely inherited her talent from her mother, Ray Donovan star Lisa Bonet, and Grammy Award-winning father Lenny Kravitz (who is also a son of famous parents: Tony-nominated actress Roxie Roker and a filmmaker Sy Kravitz), and her stepfather, the star of Aquaman and Dune, Jason Momoa.

 

In one of her recent interviews, Kravitz admitted that she was incredibly privileged and got an agent easily, saying, “I’m not going to pretend like it didn’t help me get into the room.”

 

Starting her career with a supporting role in the Jodie Foster-led thriller The Brave One in 2007, followed by supporting roles in X-Men: First Class, Californication, and Mad Max: Fury Road, Kravitz got her breakthrough in High Fidelity on Hulu in 2020.

The star of HBO’s Euphoria Maude Apatow, from an early age, appeared in movies like This Is 40 and Knocked Up alongside her actor mom Leslie Mann and directed by her dad Judd Apatow who, as Maude said in one of her interviews, “taught her pretty much everything she knows.”

 

“A fan of the musical Annie,” as she describes herself on her Instagram account (followed by 4.8 million), Maude is making her way to the top of the most promising young actors in Hollywood.

Lily-Rose Depp, The Weeknd’s co-star in one of the most anticipated upcoming HBO TV series, The Idol, from the creators of Euphoria, was born in France to Golden Globe winner Johnny Depp and French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis.

 

Prior to the role in The Idol, Lily-Rose has been Chanel’s brand ambassador, following in her mother’s footsteps in fashion. She played famous ballerina Isadora Duncan in The Dancer and co-starred with Golden Globe winner Natalie Portman in Planetarium.

 

Later, she appeared in Netflix’s drama The King, co-starring Golden Globe nominee Timothée Chalamet, and in The Silent Night alongside Golden Globe nominee Keira Knightley.

 

Interestingly, one of Depp’s first acting gigs was the role in Kevin Smith’s horror Yoga Hosers in 2015, where she co-starred with her parents and Austin Butler who recently starred as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s film.

Speaking of Elvis Presley, his cinematic pedigree continues with his Golden Globe-nominated granddaughter, the star of The Girlfriend Experience and Mad Max: Fury Road, Riley Keough. The daughter of Lisa Marie Presley, Riley is related to two iconic singers who changed music: her granddad Elvis and her stepdad Michael Jackson, although, as she stressed in her interviews, she wants to make it on her own.

 

It should be noted that the 33-year-old has already built quite an impressive career: her directorial debut War Pony won the prestigious Camera d’Or award at Cannes Film Festival this year.

Maya Hawke, who joined the cast of Stranger Things as Robin Buckley, is the daughter of Golden Globe winner Uma Thurman and Golden Globe nominee Ethan Hawke who met on the set of the sci-fi drama Gattaca in 1997. Like her mother and grandmother, Hawke modeled for Vogue at the beginning of her career.

 

After a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood, and The Good Lord Bird, the TV series led by her father, Hawke starred in Mainstream, directed by Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter Gia Coppola.

 

She recently joined Golden Globe nominee Bradley Cooper in his second directorial biopic Maestro. Hawke will play Jamie, granddaughter of Leonard Bernstein (portrayed by Cooper). And later this year, she will release her second album Moss.