When it comes to Bosch star Titus Welliver and his three children, acting is the family business.
After all, Welliver — who is the father of sons Eamonn, 24, and Quinn, 21, with ex-wife Joanna Heimbold and daughter Cora, 17, with his late wife Elizabeth Alexander — has been bringing his kids to work far longer than his role as Harry Bosch on Prime Video’s smash hit Bosch and subsequent spinoff Bosch: Legacy.
“My kids grew up on film and television sets,” Welliver exclusively told The Messenger. “But the thing they were most intrigued by, certainly when they were little, was craft services and being able to access the candy they didn’t have to pay for.”
Despite their proximity to the entertainment industry — and all of its sweet perks — Welliver never attempted to foist his own career path on his children.
“It’s not like I said from the get-go when they were little, ‘Why don’t you try acting? Why don’t you try out for the school play?'” he said. “I always let my kids discover things on their own.”
Ultimately, that’s exactly what happened.
“As they’ve gotten older, they’ve started really actively pursuing it,” Welliver shared. “Both of my sons are doing conservatory-style training. My daughter is getting ready to go off to her first year of college in the fall. She’s into acting and modeling, but she’s also very interested in psychology. So, we’ll see.”
In fact, all three of Welliver’s children have appeared in the Bosch universe, with son Quinn playing a younger version of his father’s character Harry Bosch on Bosch and son Eamonn playing a younger version on Bosch: Legacy.
“My sons are very serious about it,” Welliver said. “When they’ve worked on the show, I’ve been there but have not coached them. They’ve come to me after they’ve learned their lines to be like, ‘Do you mind running the lines with me? Do you have any ideas about anything?'”
He continued, “I’m really trying to be hands-off in that way because I think it’s important for them.”
When daughter Cora appears on the show, however, it’s a bit of a different story.
“My daughter, I’ve actually acted with her on the show,” Welliver noted. “She plays Sam, Bosch’s dog walker. That’s where, as an actor and a dad, I have to be somewhat neutral. In some way, it’s probably more anxiety-provoking for my daughter to act with me than it is somebody else.”
While the idea of growing up in the shadow of Hollywood might sound fancy, Welliver argued it’s actually prepared his kids for a life that’s often anything but.
“They’ve seen the feast and famine of the irresponsible choice to have a career in any art form,” he said. “They’ve seen first-hand it’s not glamorous all the time. It’s not what’s depicted in the gossip magazines. It’s hard work.”
Along the way, Welliver joked that having his kids in tow has also been a convenient way to keep his humility in check.
“My oldest son was asked when he was in first or second grade, ‘What do your parents do?'” Welliver recalled, “and he said, ‘My dad sits in a trailer and waits for people to come ask him to act.’ Which is kind of true, right?”
All seven seasons of Bosch are available to stream on Prime Video, and both seasons of Bosch: Legacy are available on Amazon Freevee.