People Are Talking About Young Actors Who Are Not The Product Of Nepotism, And It's Honestly Eye-Opening

Barry Keoghan spent most of his childhood in 13 different foster homes.

Although nepotism exists in every industry, Hollywood is pretty notorious when it comes to powerful and famous people giving a leg up to their children and/or relatives so they can more easily succeed in the biz.

NBC / Via scrawlers.tumblr.com

And while many popular actors working today have found success due to nepotism, there are actually still a number who got to where they are without favoritism from influential family members. So when Reddit user u/PM_me_Thor_nudes posed the question, "Which currently popular actor/actress is NOT a product of being well connected and/or rich?" to the r/Movies community, they came back with some really strong examples. Here are the top-voted responses:

1. Elijah Wood

Santiago Felipe / Getty Images

"Elijah Woods' parents ran a restaurant in Iowa City and weren’t particularly wealthy."

—u/DigitalFireStorm

According to the Los Angeles Times, when he was 8, Wood had been "modeling in Cedar Rapids and came to Los Angeles for a convention." A talent manager spotted him at said convention, asked if he was interested in acting (obviously the answer was yes), and then he and his family packed up and moved out to LA permanently one week later.

2. Daniel Kaluuya

ABC / ABC via Getty Images

"He grew up on a council estate."

—u/Kagomefog

According to the New York Times, "Born to Ugandan parents, Mr. Kaluuya grew up with his mother and an older sister on a council estate, the British equivalent of a housing project, in north London. (His father lived in Uganda, he said, and he didn’t connect with that side of his family until he was 15.) Although his mother wasn’t particularly interested in the arts, a primary schoolteacher noted that he was a 'very busy' child and recommended acting as an outlet.'"

3. Dev Patel

Dave J Hogan / Dave J Hogan / Getty Images

"Dev Patel grew up literally around the corner from me, definitely just your average family from northwest London."

—u/Yeahokitsme

Patel's father, Raju, is an IT consultant, and his mother, Anita, a healthcare worker. And according to the New York Times, "Patel was a hyperactive child, and his parents signed him up for years of martial-arts classes to channel that excess energy. Still, he always had something more to give, and when his mother saw a casting advertisement for Skins, a teen drama that would supercharge the careers of young actors like Nicholas Hoult and Daniel Kaluuya, she prodded him to audition for the role of sex-crazy Anwar."

4. Jessica Chastain

Amanda Edwards / Getty Images

"Grew up in a low-income family and could only make it through Juilliard thanks to a scholarship (actually awarded by a foundation led by Robin Williams, if I'm not mistaken)."

—u/thefrayedfiles

Chastain's mother is a vegan chef, and her father is a firefighter. After being awarded the scholarship to Juilliard, she became the first person in her family to go to college. According to the Independent, "At a Juilliard showcase, she was signed to a 12-month holding deal by TV super-producer John Wells, which led to her first screen credit, a small role in an episode of ER."

5. Channing Tatum

Taylor Hill / WireImage

"Grew up in Alabama and Mississippi; he basically only got into showbiz by being signed as a dancer, and he was only a dancer because he used to be a stripper."

—u/Ihateregistering6

According to a 2009 article from Elle, "The Tatum family [was] based on a farm in Alabama, but his parents, Kay and Glenn (she worked for an airline, he in construction), moved Tatum and older sister Paige to Tampa, Florida [...] He got a football scholarship to Glenville State College in West Virginia but dropped out and found himself ­doing everything from framing houses to working as a mortgage broker. He moved to Miami and was discovered on the street by a model scout, leading him to videos and commercials."

6. Awkwafina

Amy Sussman / WireImage

"She grew up in my hometown in Queens and went to school with my sisters. Seemed she had a tough home life and used to eat my little sisters' bento when the group hung out. Nice person, though, but definitely self-made. We’re really happy to see that she made it, for a lot of reasons!"

—u/fatchamy

According to the Guardian, "Born Nora Lum in 1988, to a Chinese American father and South Korean immigrant mother, she grew up in Flushing, Queens. Her early years were marked by tragedy. Her mother was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension shortly after Lum’s birth. 'It was a very slow illness and she lived for four more years.' [...] After majoring in journalism and women’s studies, she went to China to study Mandarin, then worked at a video rental store, an air-conditioning company and finally a publishing company."

7. Adam Driver

Samir Hussein / Samir Hussein / WireImage

"I have a lot of respect for Adam Driver. He was the only main actor on Girls who didn't come from privilege or didn't have a parent who was already in the industry. Not surprisingly, he was the most successful actor after Girls ended."

—u/PotentMiracleTonic

According to Vulture, Driver "Grew up in Mishawaka, a town in northern Indiana, where he landed lead roles in school plays, though his mother, a paralegal, pulled him if he didn’t make honor roll. After high school, unsure what to do, he sold vacuums and was a telemarketer for a waterproofing company. Acting seemed more appealing, so in 2001 he tossed his possessions into his Lincoln Town Car and set off for the City of Angels, but he was broke inside a week." Driver continued and said, “I got a brochure for the Marine Corps and threw it in the trash. In the heat of an argument, my stepdad said, ‘I want you in the Marine Corps. And I was like, ‘No — uh, maybe.’' He continued, "I figured if I was going to go into the military, I might as well choose the toughest path.”

8. Simu Liu

Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images

"He was an accountant for a brief amount of time before becoming an actor. I'm sure he didn't get rich being an entry-level auditor."

—u/Impressive-Potato

Liu was raised in Erin Mills, Mississauga, Ontario, after immigrating to Canada from Harbin, China, at the age of 5 with his parents. According to Mississauga.com, "He studied accounting at University of Western Ontario and worked on Bay Street after graduating. But, he said, his heart wasn’t in it and, when he was laid off, he decided to explore his passion for film and television. A posting on Craigslist led him to extra work in the Guillermo del Toro movie Pacific Rim being filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios."

9. Richard Madden

Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage

"The UK actor thing is very real and kind of crazy when you look into it. But there are some exceptions. Richard Madden’s parents were a schoolteacher and a firefighter, for instance."

—u/Arkeolog

According to the Guardian, "The middle child of three, with an older and a younger sister, he grew up in a small town in the west of Scotland. His father was a firefighter, his mother stayed home until Madden was 11, when she got a job as a teacher in his old primary school. [...] He got into acting aged 11, when he joined a class to help with his shyness. One of his first jobs was a TV adaptation of Iain Banks’s novel Complicity."

10. Jonathan Majors

Steve Granitz / WireImage

"Son of a pastor mom and Air Force father."

—u/Kagomefog

According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Born in Lompoc, California, to Texan parents, Majors spent his early years growing up with his older sister, Monica, and younger brother, Cameron, on the Vandenberg military base, where his father was in the Air Force. And then his world turned upside down. 'Our father, who loved us dearly, just kind of disappeared one day,' Majors says. 'And he resurfaced 17 years later.' His mother moved him and his siblings back to Dallas, and raised them while putting herself through divinity school (she is now a pastor)." Through a troubled youth that involved getting caught for shoplifting, suspension from school, being thrown out of his home, and living in his car while working two restaurant jobs, Majors was able to stick with acting in theater and eventually attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and then the Yale School of Drama.

11. Taron Egerton

Tolga Akmen / AFP via Getty Images

"Taron Egerton's mother worked in social services and I think raised him as a single mother."

—u/letmeusemyname

According to the Hollywood Reporter, "Egerton grew up in a working-class family. His father ran a bed-and-breakfast near Liverpool, his mom worked in social services. When they split, Taron moved with his mom to Wales. 'Growing up, we never had space, we never owned places. We always rented.' For his audition to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he sang Elton John’s 'Your Song.' Not long after he graduated with honors in 2012, he was landing gigs on British TV, doing small roles on a detective show called Lewis and, later, on a firefighter drama called The Smoke."

12. Olivia Cooke

Arnold Jerocki / GC Images

"Olivia Cooke is from the same town as me (Oldham, Lancashire), and it is a really poor, miserable place, so you are spot-on with her. I was genuinely shocked that she could be from there and become so successful, but that just shows you how talented she is."

—u/sailorellie85

In Interview magazine, Cooke said, "My dad’s an ex-policeman and my mum is a sales representative, and they haven’t got the acting bug. Bless them. I did ballet and gymnastics, and then I started acting when I was 8 — just doing amateur theater at a place called Oldham Theatre Workshop in my hometown. My first big role was when I was 17, and I got the part playing Maria in West Side Story in my school production. That was my major one. Then, at Oldham Theatre Workshop, they finally realized that I could be of use, and then instead of the ensemble, they cast me as the lead in this remake of Cinderella called Prom: The Musical. That was my first and last main part there because then I left to do TV work after that."

13. Anna Kendrick

Rob Kim / Getty Images

"Anna Kendrick is one of the prominent ones I can think of. No showbiz parents, got her start in theater as a kid."

—u/puppeteer23

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, "Her parents, while not technically gifted (her father was a history teacher before joining her mother in finance), heavily promoted the arts within the family pile in Portland, Maine. A career in accounting evidently wasn't on the cards.” Kendrick started her career on Broadway, landing a supporting role in the musical High Society at the age of 12.

14. Jodie Comer

Arturo Holmes / Getty Images

"Her Scouser accent threw me for a loop the first time I hear it. I'd only seen her in Killing Eve; I'd assumed she'd have the same Oxbridge accent as everyone else in British showbiz!"

—u/Porrick

"Her dad is a massage therapist at Everton Football Club, and her mum works at a travel agency. Yep, she's a good fit for this thread!"

—u/AllG0nePeteT0ng

According to the Mirror, "Jodie grew up in the Childwall suburb of Liverpool with mum Donna, dad Jimmy – who is a masseur at Everton FC – and her younger brother Charlie. Her first paid job was a Radio 4 play. Then she had bit parts in Holby City and Waterloo Road."

15. Kelly Marie Tran

Future Publishing / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

"She was a 'nobody' whose parents were Vietnam refugees. She did CollegeHumor videos before Rian Johnson cast her in Star Wars."

—u/shrinkcylamen

Tran explained in an interview with BuzzFeed News, "My dad was a street kid for seven years — he was homeless. [...] I could have had this life,” Tran said, [...] “and now I have this one, and it’s purely because my parents dropped everything and moved to a country where they didn’t know the language [and] didn’t have any opportunities. I very much have felt this whole time that I’ve been living for multiple generations of life.”

16. Leslie Grace

David Livingston / Getty Images for Fashion Media

"Leslie Grace (In the Heights, the new Batgirl) is the daughter of a hair salon owner."

—u/Kagomefog

Grace was born and raised in the Bronx and then relocated with her family at age 10 to South Florida, where her mother ran a salon. In an interview with ABC News, Grace said, "She [her mother] doesn’t run a salon anymore, but she has been a real-life salon lady all her life." And according to Ocean Drive, at 14 "she recorded a Christian CD that her father would keep in his car to hand out to anyone he could. Two years later, he got it in the hands of a big music producer who had the connections she needed for professional success. Her career quickly took off in 2013 when a bilingual cover of 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' from her self-titled album reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical and Latin Airplay charts."

17. Barry Keoghan

Karwai Tang / WireImage

"Fantastic Irish actor known for Killing of a Sacred Deer, ‘Druig’ in Eternals, Green Knight, Dunkirk."

—u/Archfey_Tazlia

According to the Irish Independent, "Barry's childhood in Dublin's north inner-city has been well documented. His mother died of a heroin overdose when he was small, and after a period in foster care (13 different foster homes to be exact), Keoghan was taken in and raised in Summerhill by his maternal grandmother, and his aunt. At 18 he made his professional debut in Fair City, and the same year made a memorably twitchy appearance in Mark O'Connor's inner-city crime drama Between the Canals."

18. Mila Kunis

Neilson Barnard / Getty Images

"Mila Kunis used to work at the store her mom worked at even while she was starring on That '70s Show to not let it go to her head."

—u/Snake_Plissken224

Kunis and her parents emigrated from Ukraine to the US when she was just 7 years old. Speaking with Yahoo in 2012, she explained, "It was a new life for all of us, but being in America was a dream for my parents, and being Jewish is very hard in Russia. They wanted to make a new life for all of us, and they’ve worked very hard to give us a good life. My dad still drives a cab in LA, and my mom runs a pharmacy. They’re both hard workers and I’m very close to them. I see them every week, and I only live a short drive away." And according to the Independent, "Her father enrolled her in an acting class when she was nine, and she started acting professionally three years later."

19. Michael B. Jordan

Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

"Michael B. Jordan is the son of a caterer and a teacher."

—u/Kagomefog

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Jordan said, "My mom and my dad, they had a home-catering business [when I was] growing up. So as soon as I was old enough to see over the counter, they had me [at] work just prepping and helping and stuff like that." And he was not initially interested in acting as a kid. He explained to Blackfilm.com, "I started off modeling. I was modeling for local companies like Model’s and little department stores here and there. My manager asked me if I wanted to try something new, like acting. I said, 'Sure, why not?' I was around 10 or 11 at the time. I went on a couple of auditions. I went for about a year and a half with no callbacks, no jobs, not anything. 'Maybe I’m just not cut out for this,' I said to my mom. I thought about sticking with modeling and working. On the last audition I had, I got a callback and went on another audition and got the job."

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.