The White Lotus Star Sam Nivola Has His Say On 'Nepo Baby' Comments
Fabio Lovino/HBO
The White Lotus star Sam Nivola has addressed critics who've called him a 'nepo baby' due to his family's ties to the entertainment industry.
Earlier this year, Sam caused a major stir in the third season of The White Lotus, in which he played the youngest member of the Ratliff family, Lochlan.
As part of Variety's Actors On Actors interview series, the actor recently sat down with Monsters star Cooper Koch, in which he admitted that he's 'constantly' being asked about nepotism in interviews because his mum and dad are also actors, Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola.
'My whole thing was that my parents really didn't want me to be an actor, which I totally get – I don't know if I'd want my kid to be an actor. It's a really mentally tough career to be in,' he explained.
'And even if I had no success, I would want to be doing it. But they really didn't want me to do it.'
Sam went on to say that, initially, he wasn't interested in acting himself, until watching films in the Criterion Collection made him fall 'in love with cinema', and in turn, made him want to be an actor.
Back in March, Sam's on-screen brother Patrick Schwarzenegger – who has also had to contend with accusations of nepotism due to the fact his parents are action star (and former governor of California) Arnold Schwarzenegger and journalist Maria Shriver – revealed that his co-star confided in him that he was worried about being hit with questions about his family in interviews.
'I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know who Sam was or who his family was until like six months into [filming],' Patrick admitted.
'He was, like, 'Oh, I hope they don't call me a nepo baby'. And I was, like, 'Why?'.'
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