As we enter into a new year, one of the trendiest terms is nepo baby, as 2022 was declared the “year of the nepo baby” with so many famous offspring making a name for themselves in movies, TV, and the modeling world.
Nepotism in the entertainment business is nothing new. After all, we’re all aware of the great acting dynasties like the Arquettes, Baldwins, and Barrymores.
Not to mention Steven Tyler’s daughters, Liv and Mia, who both became famous in their own right while living in the shadow of their legendary father.
So what makes this year different, so much so that nepo baby is becoming both a badge of honor and an insult simultaneously? The saturation of celebrity offspring over the past few years and even more markedly over this past year has entertainment junkies talking.
Everywhere you look, in hit television shows, movies, music videos, and on the runways, you can’t miss these familiar faces, some of them even looking like carbon copies of their insanely successful parents.
And while we’re not knocking their talent because some of them have clearly earned the right to their own success, these up-and-comers had an assist in getting into the business because of their parental connections and the fact that they grew up rubbing elbows with Hollywood elite.
With the term “nepo baby” trending so hard that it’s sure to buzz straight into 2023, let’s take a look at the top celebrity offspring worth watching over the upcoming year as they continue to make a path for themselves carved out of the shadows of their mostly A-list parents.
1. Amelia Gray
Amelia Gray Hamlin is the model offspring of Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin. At just 21 years old, she’s already walked many iconic runways in Paris, New York, London, and Milan.
While Amelia had an assist in getting into the business, she’s already proven that she’s a talented model, turning heads everywhere she goes. Not only that, but she’s built for the gig, standing at a lithe 5-feet-9-inches tall.
And when it comes to all this talk about nepo babies, Amelia knows she’s been very fortunate to have been born into a celebrity family, making it much easier to make her childhood modeling dreams come true.
“The way I grew up was an asset,” Amelia told W magazine. “I can’t sit here and deny that. No situation is solely positive or negative, but I do know that I’m really lucky.”
2. Kaia Gerber
While Amelia Gray’s parents are actors, and she set out on a modeling path, Kaia Gerber did exactly the opposite. The celebrity daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and businessman and former model Rande Gerber, Kaia is making a name for herself in the acting world.
While she did get her start in modeling, Kaia broke into acting in 2016 when she played 13-year-old Carolina in a TV movie called Sister Cities. However, she nailed it in American Horror Story: Double Feature and then again in the spinoff, American Horror Stories, where she played Ruby.
Get ready to see even more of Kaia Gerber in 2023 when she stars in the queer comedy Bottoms.
3. Hailey Bieber
Hailey may be a Bieber now, but she was born a Baldwin. And while she’s not broken into the acting business, Hailey made a name for herself in modeling, having hit her first runway in 2014 and then making her way into the pages of Vogue the following year.
Mrs. Bieber has since quit runway modeling but occasionally pops up in ads, including a few seriously sexy Victoria’s Secret campaigns. However, Hailey’s attention has mostly turned to the business side of things now with her newly-launched skincare company, Rhode.
Hailey started the new business in 2022, and it looks like a screaming success. She can’t seem to keep her products in stock because they’re so popular among celebrities and everyone else. Her Peptide Lip Treatment won Allure’s Best of Beauty 2022 for Best Lip Balm (untinted).
4. O’Shea Jackson Jr.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. made his Hollywood debut in 2015 while playing his famous father in Straight Outta Compton. Despite (or probably because of) the familial connection, there was no one fit to do a better job.
In fact, his version of Ice Cube was so good that it earned him several awards nominations and even a win for the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.
Playing his dad was just the start because now O’Shea has 14 acting roles to his credit, with three more coming up in 2023, including the highly-anticipated film Cocaine Bear.
5. Lori Harvey
Lori Harvey is the famous daughter of Steve Harvey, and she’s also known for dating and breaking up with Michael B. Jordan. She broke into acting, playing herself in the Steve Harvey television series that loosely told this life story and ran from 2014 to 2017.
She went on to become an Instagram influencer, and despite not being model-tall, at just 5-feet-3-inches tall, she has walked runways for Louis Vuitton and Burberry.
6. Lily Collins
Lily Collins has been one of the most outspoken since nepo baby became 2022’s hottest celebrity term. She found major success as the star of Emily in Paris, a Netflix hit series that follows Lily as Emily, an American marketing executive who relocates to Paris for her job.
When it comes to her newfound fame, Lily credits her hard work, not her legendary father, Phil Collins, for the leading role.
“It was out of the question that people would think that I use a free pass thanks to my name,” Lily told Vogue France. “I’m proud of my dad, but I wanted to be me, not just his daughter. For that, I was ready to wait to break through.”
7. Leni Klum
Leni Klum is among the next generation of top models, and she owes her runway-ready genes to her famous mom, Heidi Klum.
Now that Leni is all grown up, at the ripe “old” age of 18, she and her model mom are doing some campaigns together. Recently they set hearts on fire when they posed together in lingerie for the Italian label Intimissimi.
Much like Lily Collins, Leni Klum acknowledges that she comes from a famous family but insists that her success in modeling is due to her hard work.
“It’s just a fact. My parents are famous,” Leni told PEOPLE.
“I did get help starting off, and I know that people would dream to start off with what I had. I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to take what was gifted to me by my mom. But I am doing the work and putting in the time. Now I’m working on my own, traveling alone, going to school. My mom and I just have the same love for the same thing.”
8. Maya Hawke
Maya Hawke is the celebrity offspring of the uber-talented Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, easily making her Hollywood royalty and putting her dead center in the trending nepo baby talks.
While Maya has been acting since 2017, when she scored a role in the Little Women TV series, it wasn’t until Stranger Things that she became a household name. Maya plays Robin Buckley in the Netflix superhit, the latest in a whopping 24 acting credits over the past six years.
She’s showing no signs of slowing down either, with five projects coming up, including Asteroid City, which is due in 2023.
9. Jake Bongiovi
Jake Bongiovi is the son of 80s hairband frontman Jon Bon Jovi, and he’s inherited his dad’s good looks and charm. So much so that he charmed Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown through Instagram, and now, the pair often share photos together, loved-up on their many vacations and even at home just hanging out.
And while the 20-year-old isn’t following in his famous father’s footsteps, it does look like he got bit by the acting bug. Jake landed a role in Sweethearts, a comedy due out in 2023 starring Kiernan Shipka, and it’ll be his first role.
Meanwhile, he attends Syracuse University, having begun his college career in 2020 with plans to earn a doctorate, though he hasn’t disclosed his major.
10. Lily-Rose Depp
Last but definitely not least, on this list of 10 nepo babies to keep your eye on in 2023 would be Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis’ daughter, Lily-Rose Depp. Despite being the child of world-famous actors, Lily doesn’t think she’s a nepo baby.
“It’s weird to me to reduce somebody to the idea that they’re only there because it’s a generational thing. It just doesn’t make any sense. If somebody’s mom or dad is a doctor, and then the kid becomes a doctor, you’re not going to be like, ‘Well, you’re only a doctor because your parent is a doctor.’ It’s like, ‘No, I went to medical school and trained,” Lily-Rose explained to Elle as she rejected the idea that she is a nepo baby.
Lily-Rose’s rejection of the idea that she had an easier time breaking into the business because her father is THE Johnny Depp definitely earned her the ire of several hard-working models. And it’s not the first time she’s been called out for it, too — after all, Lily-Rose is only 5-feet-3-inches tall, which is nearly unheard of for a runway model.
The sudden drama surrounding the nepo baby trend hasn’t stopped Lily-Rose from her rise to stardom in her own right, though, as she’s the next model-turned-actress as she has an upcoming HBO series called The Idol where she stars alongside The Weeknd, and it’s sure to make her even more famous than she already is.