The phrase ‘nepo baby’ may have never been uttered until that infamous Lily-Rose Depp interview with Elle in 2022, but we all knew what she meant; the idea of the child of a famous or successful person getting a leg-up via their parent’s ‘connections’ is hardly a new development.
That said, we’ve written in defence of nepo babies in the past, and how they’re not always a bad thing; for example, the next generation of Wainwrights (Rufus and Martha) are valiantly bearing the torch of their parents, while actors like Alexander Skarsgard, Zoe Kravitz and Lily Collins have made their mark in their chosen field. On some occasions, the child in question has even managed to usurp their famous parent and vanquish the dreaded label altogether.
Here are five Irish nepo babies who’ve shaken off the unwieldy marker and done well on their own merit. Sure aren’t they all great, all the same?
EVE HEWSON
When your dad is the frontman of the most famous Irish rock band of all time, it may be expected that you take a certain path; Inhaler frontman Elijah Hewson is certainly following in her dad’s footsteps. Eve Hewson did actually have a childhood band called Ten Past Two with her schoolfriend Sorcha Richardson (who went on to make marvellous music under her own name, of course), but the bright lights of Hollywood proved more persuasive. The 34-year-old has made quite a name for herself over the last 15 years since making her film debut opposite Sean Penn in Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be the Place – an auspicious beginning, for sure. Hewson has since gone on to win acclaim for her roles in series like The Knick, Bad Sisters and Netflix thriller Behind Her Eyes, as well as films like Steven Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies and Flora & Son, while she also features in Spielberg’s forthcoming UFO thriller Disclosure Day. She even proved that she can sing in Flora & Son, but how’s Bono’s acting, you ask? We may never know.
Domhnall Gleeson
DOMHNALL GLEESON
It says a lot about Domhnall Gleeson that he is rarely mentioned in ‘nepo baby’ conversations; it’s simply accepted that he is an excellent actor whose father also happens to be a bona fide Irish legend. It’s been 25 years since Domhnall made his debut in the TV miniseries Rebel Heart, and he has since gone on to work with some of the most notable directors working today (The Coen Brothers in True Grit, Darren Aronofsky in Mother!, Richard Curtis in About Time) and on some timeless franchises (Star Wars). He has also worked with his dad on several occasions, in Martin McDonagh’s Oscar-winning short Six Shooter, in John Michael McDonagh’s feature film Calvary and on stage in Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce, which also featured his brother Brian. Time for another family reunion?
Agnes O’Casey
AGNES O’CASEY
As you might guess by the name, Agnes O’Casey comes from Irish theatre royalty. The actress’s birth name is Agnes Kenig, so she has leveraged her family roots for clout; if you trod the boards for a living and were related to Sean O’Casey, you’d probably do the same. The London-born actress, who is the iconic playwright’s great-great granddaughter, returned to her ancestral homeland to study at Dublin’s Lir Academy and she began her professional career on stage in Druid’s production of The Seagull in 2021. Since then, she’s notched up several IFTA nominations for roles in films like Lies We Tell, and also had a role in Tim Mielant’s Small Things Like These and the BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. On stage, she has featured opposite Rory Keenan in the West End production of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and is set to star in Legacy of Spies, another John le Carré adaptation for the BBC. You can currently see her in Apple TV’s new sci-fi drama Star City, a spin-off of For All Mankind.
Callam Lynch (Pic: Getty)
CALAM LYNCH
Is there such a thing as a double nepo-baby? If so, Calam Lynch fits the bill – although he wears it lightly. Not only is Lynch part of the Cusack Irish acting dynasty thanks to his mother Niamh Cusack, but his father Finbar Lynch is also in the thespian trade and is a stalwart of film and TV. Young Calam, who was encouraged to start acting by his cousin Max (son of Jeremy) Irons, may be set to eclipse both of his parents, though. He already has roles in Bridgerton (as Theo Sharpe in Season 2), The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Derry Girls under his belt, led the Abbey Theatre’s production of Ibsen’s Ghosts and played a young Cary Grant in TV series Archie. He can next be seen in the forthcoming Prime Video series Ride or Die with Octavia Spencer and Bill Nighy.
Cecelia Ahern
CECELIA AHERN
It seemed a little odd to some that the daughter of a former Taoiseach would pursue a career as a writer of popular fiction; indeed, many naysayers might have snickered at the notion of Cecelia Ahern mining her own upbringing for inspiration. 22 years after publishing her debut novel P.S. I Love You, the Dublin daughter of Bertie is laughing the loudest. Ahern has established herself as one of the most successful novelists of her generation, selling over 25 million copies of her 22 novels, being published in over fifty countries and several adaptations of her work hitting both the big (P.S. I Love You, Where Rainbows End – which became Love, Rosie) and small screens (Apple TV’s Roar) over the years. That astonishing level of success in publishing certainly doesn’t come via someone’s political connections.