Jamie Lee Curtis: Does Being A Nepo – Baby REALLY Get You The Boost In Your Career Or Is It All Just A Lie? (Advice From The OG Nepo – Baby And More)

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post inspired by Joey King’s interview with Taylor Zakhar Perez on Actors On Actors. It was such an intimate interview; it didn’t even feel like an interview, but rather a conversation between two friends. And it was. It was just a conversation between two best friends talking about life, love, friendship, and work. It was beautiful and mesmerizing. King and Zakhar Perez have been friends since they first started together in the second installment of ‘The Kissing Booth’ franchise.

The Actors On Actors interview with King and Zakhar Perez really showcased just how humble Joey King is. She’s young, she’s vibrant, she’s kind, she’s funny. She works hard, and yet stays humble through it all. She’s not a nepotism baby, so there’s no reason to hold her success against anything. She’s gotten everything that she ever deserved – nothing less and nothing more. Her role in ‘The Kissing Booth’ franchise might not have been anything special, but you can be assured that her filmography is worthy.

And speaking of nepotism babies, one nepotism baby is none other than Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s been making headlines in recent months as she filmed the sequel to ‘Freaky Friday’, titled ‘Freakier Friday’, with Lindsay Lohan this summer. The movie is scheduled to be released in theatres in 2025, and it’s already making waves with its promotion. Us millennials are super excited to see the film. She also has a new movie out, ‘The Last Showgirl’, which premiered on September 6th at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). My husband and I had the privilege of attending the premiere and getting to witness Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as the rest of the cast, speak of the film.

Curtis is the daughter of legendary actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Tony Curtis famously starred in 1959’s ‘Some Like It Hot’ alongside Marilyn Monroe. Leigh famously starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, ‘Psycho’. Jamie Lee Curtis reenacted her mother’s legendary shower scene in the film when she starred in Ryan Murphy’s ‘Scream Queens’ wth Lea Michele, Emma Roberts, and Billie Lourd.

And speaking of Billie Lourd, she’s also a nepotism baby. Her mother is Carrie Fisher. Her grandmother is Debbie Reynolds. When she was on stage for the Q & A following the the very first showing of ‘The Last Showgirl’ at TIFF, which was also attended by Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as Pamela Anderson and the rest of the main cast, Lourd opened up about how being a part of the movie made her feel closer to her own mom. She said, ‘I was just sobbing backstage so excuse me in advance. This movie was deeply meaningful to me. When I met with Gia, I spoke about my mom and grandma’s relationship. Getting to play this character was extremely cathartic for me because it felt like [Anderson’s character] Shelley was my grandma and I got to be my mom. I got to understand my mom on a deeper level than I ever had and it was a beautiful experience.’

I always thought Billie Lourd was soft spoken. Even though she comes from privilege and fame, she never seemed like she took that privilege for granted. She didn’t allow it to redefine who she really is as a person. Getting to witness her say these words in person was truly touching as well. You could feel those emotions in your veins. I’m very fortunate to have witnessed it with my own eyes and ears.

But it was even more so moving to hear Jamie Lee Curtis speak so fondly of the little movie she was a part of. It was astounding to witness someone of her status be so modest and down-to-earth when it comes to her work. It was surprising to see someone of her status be a part of a such a low-budget movie. She’s been working since the 1970’s, and has been around the industry since she was in the womb. She could’ve been in any high-scale movie, but she chose ‘The Last Showgirl’. This isn’t the first time Curtis appears in a low-budget film. She also starred in 2022’s ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu. That role earned Curtis her first ever Oscar win.

I wanted to include some Jamie Lee Curtis quotes; ones that we can all take away from. So here they are…

‘If I can challenge old ideas about aging, I will feel more and more invigorated. I want to represent this new way. I want to be a new version of the 70-year-old woman. Vital, strong, very physical, very agile. I think that the older I get, the more yoga I’m going to do.’

‘I’ve been in showbusiness all my life, but as an actress I have never been overly driven.’

‘I’m not a prophet. I’m not a teacher. I have no degrees. My degree is from the University of Life.’

‘I believe that life is hard. That we all are going to walk through things that are hard and challenging, and yet advertising wants us to believe that it’s all easy.’

‘Getting sober just exploded my life. Now I have a much clearer sense of myself and what I can and can’t do. I am more successful than I have ever been. I feel very positive where I never did before, and I think that’s all a direct result of getting sober.’

‘I think happiness comes from self-acceptance. We all try different things, and we find some comfortable sense of who we are. We look at our parents and learn and grow and move on. We change.’

And so it goes…

We could all learn a thing or two from Jamie Lee Curtis. We could all take her life advice and implement it into our own lives no matter what stage you are in your life. I was surprised at how humble Curtis was in her recent public appearances, starting from her Oscar win for ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ to her promoting ‘Freakier Friday’ with Lindsay Lohan to her appearance at TIFF. I mentioned fellow actresses like Joey King and Billie Lourd being as humble and as down-to-earth as they are, but someone of Jamie Lee Curtis’ age and status is rare to find.

There’s been a lot of talk about nepotism in Hollywood. Specifically whether or not nepotism babies deserve their success. Curtis, who calls herself the OG nepotism baby, chimed in to the conversation. In August, she told People, ‘Nepo babies is an easy way for people to tell you [that] you don’t deserve your success. And I have been aware of that my whole life. I have not shied away from it. I am not under any delusion that hasn’t had an effect and an impact. But at the end of the day, none of that helps you when they say rolling and action. It’s at that moment that the art takes over. And I didn’t know I was an artist originally, but I know I’m a creative person. I’m an ideas girl, and I’ve been an ideas girl from the beginning. I’m a marketing whiz. … I’ve written books for children, I’ve written screenplays, I have directed. I am producing. I am now an artist with a capital ‘A’ that I didn’t know I was. And so my legacy is less acute now because my art has surpassed that. And yet I’m in a place of great historical significance and my daughter is here with me. The legacy is that I’m a mother and a friend and a collaborator.’

This wasn’t the first time she opened up about being a nepo baby. She first opened the door to the conversation in 2022 in an Instagram post. Curtis wrote , ‘I have been a professional actress since I was 19 years old so that makes me an OG Nepo Baby. I’ve never understood, nor will I, what qualities got me hired that day, but since my first two lines on Quincy as a contract player at Universal Studios to this last spectacular creative year some 44 years later, there’s not a day in my professional life that goes by without my being reminded that I am the daughter of movie stars. The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt. For the record I have navigated 44 years with the advantages my associated and reflected fame brought me, I don’t pretend there aren’t any, that try to tell me that I have no value on my own. There are many of us. Dedicated to our craft. Proud of our lineage. Strong in our belief in our right to exist.’

And I have to…

I can’t help but agree with her. And it’s not just in Hollywood that I find Jamie Lee Curtis’ testimony relevant. Emma Roberts, who starred with Jamie Lee Curtis and Billie Lourd on ‘Scream Queens’, and whose father is Eric Roberts and aunt is Julia Roberts, recently made an interesting point about nepotism and the fact that it’s sexist. During her appearance on the ‘Table For Two’ iHeart Podcast, Roberts said, ‘I always joke, ‘Why is no one calling out George Clooney for being a nepo baby? [His aunt] Rosemary Clooney was an icon. I feel like young girls get it harder with the nepo baby thing. Like, I don’t really see people calling out sons of famous actors, not that they should be called out. Everybody loves the kind of overnight-success story. And so if you’re kind of not the girl from the middle of nowhere that broke into Hollywood, there’s kind of an eye roll of like, ‘Well, your dad was this.’ There’s two sides of the coin. People like to say, you know, you have a leg up because you have family in the industry. But then the other side to that is, you have to prove yourself more. Also, if people don’t have good experiences with other people in your family, then you’ll never get a chance.’

It’s true. She has a point. I didn’t even know George Clooney was a nepo baby. I know of his work. I’ve seen a lot of his work. It never occurred to me that he came from privilege. When you look at him, you don’t necessarily think whether he has talent or not. Instead, you think about what a good looking hottie is on the screen. Society is hard on women; too hard on women. There are certain expectations that society has on women. These expectations might not be realistic. Women are supposed to be good at everything, and if if we mess up by even a little bit, the whole world is watching us and we pay the price for it for a very, very long time. George Clooney is in his 60’s, and people are still talking about what a good looking man he is. No one EVER talks about a woman in her 60’s and what a good looking woman she is. Society is very hard on aging women. Before he settled down and domesticated with his wife, Amal, he was in and out of relationships and no one judged him for it. He was somewhat applauded for it. If a woman dates around, she’s judged and punished for it. She’s not taken seriously. And if we compare Clooney and Roberts, then Emma Roberts is completely right. No one ever talks about George Clooney having a famous aunt when speaking of his credentials, and yet even mentioning the fact that Emma Roberts is Julia Roberts’ niece is a never a missed opportunity when speaking of her credentials.

And that’s exactly what ‘The Last Showgirl’ aims to showcase in its short 80 minute run time. It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t matter who your parents are. It doesn’t matter what your financial status, social status, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other. None of that matters. It doesn’t even matter if you’re a Hollywood star or not. Heck, I’m not a Hollywood star by any means, and I’ve seen that favouritism and sexism that Emma Roberts talked about. The younger Roberts said that she’d lost more jobs than she gained because of who her family is, and I believe that. Unlike most of the online commentators, I believe that.

When I was starting out as a professional freelance writer, my first clients were my dad’s business clients. I had to start somewhere. I saw an opportunity and I took it. At the end of the day, no matter what you do and what profession you’re working in or whether you’re a business owner or a 9-5 employee, nothing can be done alone. It’s not about what you know, but rather it’s about who you know. And sometimes the who that you know doesn’t work in your favour because the who that you know has a bad reputation. Or it’s even the fact that the who that you know isn’t the one that’s making decisions when it comes to hiring matters, and they have absolutely no control over it.

All I know for sure is that you should work your butt off. No matter what you do, how long you’ve been doing it, and where you come from, you should work your butt off. We should live our lives – professional and otherwise – the way Jamie Lee Curtis views life. The fact that you might come from privilege doesn’t make you special. It makes you just a tidy bit lucky. It might boost your chances of getting the job, but retaining the job is completely up to you. Jamie Lee Curtis taught me that. But she’s taught us many, many things. Just look back at the quote section earlier in the post.