Now, you most likely know him as the kind of creepy younger brother you can’t help but feel a bit sorry for from season three of The White Lotus, but Sam Nivola has been in Hollywood much longer than you might think.
The 21-year-old actor has skyrocketed to fame after starring as Lochlan Ratliff in the latest season of HBO’s hit show but he’s no stranger to the glitz and glamour of a TV set.
With two famous parents, Sam was born to live the life of a star.
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Sam’s parents are Emily Mortimer, known for her roles in projects including The Newsroom, Match Point and Lars and the Real Girl, and Alessandro Nivola, known for his work on The Many Saints of Newark and American Hustle.
The couple met on the set of 2000 film Love’s Labour’s Lost, marrying in January 2003 and welcoming their first child, Sam, in September that same year.
Sam grew up in Brooklyn, New York attending Saint Ann’s School and later going on to study philosophy and political science at Columbia University.
“My parents had always been really adamant about us not getting into that industry,” the young actor revealed in a 2022 interview with The New Yorker.
But as a young kid, Sam would sometimes tag along to his parents’ sets and end up with a role in the project, simply because “they needed someone’s kid to be in it”.
He scored his first role back in 2013 where he appeared in his mum’s comedy series Doll & Em, and in 2021, he and his younger sister May appeared as on-screen siblings an episode of Mortimer’s show The Pursuit of Love.
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Having grown up with two actors as parents, being on set for like more of a chore to Sam with all the excitement drowned out by the idea of spending a day at work with his parents.
“I sort of hated going to their sets growing up,” he admitted in a 2024 interview with Women’s Wear Daily.
“Because first of all, if you’re 10 years old you just want to be either playing video games or hanging out with your friends.”
But as he grew older, Sam developed a passion for film, so when he heard about a project in the works called White Noise, written and directed by Noah Baumbach, he filmed and sent in an audition tape.
The actor said his parents “were kind of pissed off” when they first found out, but after learning Baumbach was involved – noting to their son that he is, in fact, “a legend” – Mortimer and Nivola decided to let their son take on the opportunity.
Sam landed the lead role of Heinrich, with May once again appearing beside him as his on-screen sister.
It was his first major project not associated with his parents, and it kicked off what is currently looking to be a very promising Hollywood career.
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He went on to appear as Bradley Cooper’s son in the movie Maestro, before landing the role of Will Winbury in 2024 Netflix hit The Perfect Couple.
“I got an email from my agent to tape for it, and I saw that it had this star-studded cast and was directed by Susanne Bier, who’s just like – I don’t claim to know a lot about TV, I’m more of a movie guy, but she is a legend when it comes to TV,” Sam told Women’s Wear Daily of being cast in the show.
“I was just like, ‘Of course I would do this.'”
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With Sam’s success has of course come criticisms of who his parents are, with many online using the term ‘nepo baby’ to describe him.
But while that title bother’s most in Sam’s position, he doesn’t seem too bothered by it.
“I totally take advantage of my parents’ being actors,” he told The New Yorker.
“Because I just try to learn as much as I can from them.”
There’s also some comfort surely found in the fact Sam is not the only one in his inner circle with two famous parents.
Nivola has found himself surrounded by others with a similar background, his on-screen brother in The White Lotus is portrayed by Patrick Schwarzenegger – the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver – and his girlfriend Iris Apatow is the daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann.
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The internet isn’t entirely sure on how or when Sam and Iris first met, with romance rumours only beginning to swirl in April 2024 when Iris appeared in some behind-the-scenes snaps during filming of The White Lotus in Thailand.
Their relationship was all but confirmed just one month later when Iris shared a black and white snap of the two snuggled up in what looked to be a restaurant.
Since then, the couple have shared several loved-up snaps to their social media, making things red carpet official in October 2024 at the reopening of Burberry’s East 57th Street flagship store in New York City.
But despite his newfound fame, Sam hasn’t forgotten why his parents never wanted him to follow in their footsteps.
“They have always told me, ‘Don’t be an actor.’ I don’t want to be all ‘woe is me,’ but it is a difficult life no matter how successful you are,” He told Women’s Wear Daily.
“Because it is hard to maintain relationships when you have to travel a lot, and there are things that are very difficult about it. So I always was sort of wary of it growing up.”
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