How often do you hear that the new generation of celebrities has to thank their career to a family member; a dad, mom or sibling that got them their job? Is it really that simple to start a career in Hollywood? Why would a hack without any talent be able to start a successful career?

If you check industry websites quite regularly you encounter a lot of articles about Hannah Montana, currently the biggest show on the Disney Channel. Most of these articles introduce Miley Cyrus, the star of the show, as the daughter of country-singer Billy Ray Cyrus (the Achey, Breaky Heart guy). Of course you can’t get around this fact but there are also articles that suggest she got started in the business because of her father, that his name helped her. Even though the producers knew who they were casting I don’t think it mattered to them that Miley’s dad is famous, he still had to audition for the part of her father.

Hannah Montana is the top rated cable show in the tween market; show me one tween that watches the show because of Billy Ray Cyrus or that even really knew who he was before the show? I doubt you’ll find any. Not to mention that the soundtrack for Hannah Montana featuring eight songs by Miley easily outsold her father’s album that was released the same year. If anything; it’s Billy Ray Cyrus that’s benefiting from a new younger audience. If it weren’t for his part on his daughter’s show he probably wouldn’t be in the public eye as much right now. To the viewers of the show Miley isn’t Billy-Ray’s daughter, but he’s Miley’s father.

Billy Ray Cyrus’ daughter and Haley Joel Osment’s sister on Hannah Montana

On the same show we can find another example; Emily Osment, younger sister of Haley Joel Osment. Easy to say that her last name got her into the business, her brother might have inspired her to get into acting but the name probably didn’t do that much for her. Director Robert Rodriguez even stated that he was surprised to find out that she was Haley’s little sister when he cast her for Spy Kids 2. Her last name might have gotten her into talks with casting agents a little easier but she herself got cast, not her brother.

There are even examples of people where you would think that family relations would hurt any chance of a career for someone. Best example of that probably is Thora Birch, best known for her role in American Beauty. Both her parents used to work in the movie industry which normally wouldn’t be a disadvantage. Only problem is that it was the adult movie industry, they actually met on a porn set. Not really a good reference to enter the mainstream movie industry with, still she made it.

And then there is Emma Roberts; with four Hollywood actors in her family she can be easily accused of using family relations. The biggest name in her family probably is that of her aunt Julia Roberts. In all honesty I had no clue they were related until I read it on imdb.com. I doubt the majority of the Nickelodeon viewers knows this (the network she pretty much got started on); it’s not really the audience the movies of her famous aunt are aiming at.

Looking at the younger teen demographic there’s another Nickelodeon star you have to take into consideration. Jamie Lynn Spears is the star of Zoey 101; I don’t know whether any Britney Spears fans watch the show, if she has any left. But the main difference between Jamie Lynn and her sister is that she’s at the early stage of an acting career, something Britney never succeeded in. On an interesting note; Miley, Emma and Jamie Lynn were all nominated in the same category for the Nick Kids Choice Awards. Disney’s Miley beat her Nickelodeon opposition.

There are many more examples I could name but I don’t want this getting too long. And there are many more examples we can look forward to in the future (celebrities procreate too and they also have younger siblings in a lot of cases), one good example of that could be Aliana Lohan, Lindsay’s younger sister who’s trying to get a singing and acting career started. Though I personally think a Christmas album isn’t the best way to start.

Lindsay with her sister Aliana; the next sister of?

And not only younger people are getting into the industry following in the footsteps of older relatives. Vanessa Johansson, Scarlett’s older sister is trying to establish herself as an actress. As of yet she has difficulty matching her younger sister but it’s always hard to match a successful career. Someone else who’s having a hard time getting out of the shadow of a younger sibling is Hilary Duff’s sister Haylie, who started in the industry around the same time as Hilary, but hasn’t come close to the success of her sister yet.

Having a relative that’s big name in the movie or recording industry might open doors slightly, but if someone doesn’t have any talent they just won’t make it (though there are always exceptions of course, a good media buzz can do a lot for a person). In the end the public doesn’t care who your relatives are, they want to watch movies and TV shows they like. Or listen to songs they love not just because there’s a big name connected to it. In a lot of cases the public they’re aiming at doesn’t even match that of their famous relatives.

Am I saying that in the whole history of Hollywood nobody got a job because of family relations? Of course not, as they say; exceptions confirm the rule. In general you just can’t succeed without any talent. In my eyes all these relatives of other celebrities have at least some talent.

And even if people got their jobs because of family relations; what if you yourself wanted a singing or acting career? Wouldn’t you use every single advantage you can get? I know I would.

written by: bvang

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 10:27 am and is filed under Editorials, Emily Osment, Emma Roberts, Hilary Duff, Jamie Lynn Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.