Everyone loves a good “rags to riches” story and stars like Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are prime examples of why there’s always hope that even those born into terrible circumstances can make it out.
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However, there’s no denying that for every “rags to riches” story in Hollywood, there are many more “riches to even more riches” tales too and no one exemplifies that more than the people on this list.
In recent years, there has been a lot of chatter about “nepo babies” and the stars who have gotten a leg up by having a famous actor, musician or producer in their immediate family.
When it comes to Hollywood, Jamie Lee Curtis has likely benefited from being the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Lily-Rose Depp‘s famous dad Johnny Depp helped her get her start and Jack Quaid’s famous parents Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan certainly didn’t hurt his career either.
In the music industry, Billy Ray Cyrus helped launch his daughter, Miley Cyrus, to superstardom and Alan Thicke’s son Robin Thicke also followed in his footsteps.
Sometimes, though, a celebrity’s connection to power and status are less obvious — but even more substantial. While many of the richest people in the world fly under the radar with more private lives, some of their kids and grandkids have stepped into the celebrity sphere.
Pursuing a career in the arts can be risky and not always lucrative but when your family is worth over a billion dollars, you can probably try your hand at pretty much everything.
That was certainly the case for stars like actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the other inclusions on this list who were born into some impressively wealthy dynasty families worth north of a billion dollars.
Here are all the stars you may not have known were the children, grandchildren or (in some cases) great-grandchildren of billionaires.
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Nick Kroll
Image Credit: Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images Comedian and actor Nick Kroll is best known for his hilarious characters in his co-created shows The Kroll Show and Big Mouth, and has even branched into more serious works by starring in Don’t Worry Darling and Operation Finale.
The New York native is one of four kids of Jules Kroll, the founder of corporate investigations and risk consulting firm Kroll Inc. His dad has an estimated net worth of $2 billion.
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Anderson Cooper
Image Credit: Steve Eichner/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images On the side of his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, CNN broadcaster Anderson Cooper was born into a family that was once one of the richest dynasty families in the US who once had a net worth equal to $205 billion in current U.S. dollars, according to Hello.
Cooper has maintained that by the time the money got to him, it has been largely squandered by generations of Vanderbilts before him.
“I think they all grew up with this idea that there would always be money there, and there was no need for them to actually work,” he previously told CBS. He also claimed that his mom, who would eventually ask him for a loan later in life, had little knowledge about how to protect her wealth.
“I heard her on the phone saying to a friend of hers, ‘Well, I’ll always be able to make money.’ And I remember stopping and freezing when I heard that and thinking, ‘We are doomed.’”
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Liesel Matthews
Image Credit: Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images Child star Liesel Matthews’ real upbringing isn’t a far cry from the characters she played in A Little Princess and Air Force One.
Born Liesel Pritzker, the former actress is the daughter of Robert Pritzker who co-founded a lucrative conglomerate of manufacturing and industrial service companies with his brother.
With a combined net worth of $32.5 billion, the Pritzker family has remained on Forbes’ list of wealthiest families since the list began in 1982.
Now 39, Matthews had a challenging time accessing the money she was born into and, during her freshman year at Columbia University in 2002, sued her father and cousins claiming they had “looted” $1 billion from her and her brother’s trust funds. According to Vice, the case was ultimately settled out of court, and the siblings received payouts of $500 million each.
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Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images Julia Louis-Dreyfus first became a household name which she starred in Seinfeld against the backdrop of dingy New York apartments but her own upbringing was much different.
The actress is one of the four children of the French billionaire financier, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, whose wealth goes back generations. According to Cosmopolitan, late entrepreneur was reported to be worth $4 billion at the time of his death in 2016.
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Rooney & Kate Mara
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images, John Salangsang/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Actresses Rooney and Kate Mara were born into two sports empires on either side of their family.
Their mother’s family, the Rooneys, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers while their dad’s side, the Mara family, are the founders of the New York Giants. Their family is reportedly worth over $3 billion.
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Balthazar Getty
Image Credit: Andreas Branch/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images Balthazar Getty, who played the lead role in Lord of the Flies, is the great-grandson J. Paul Getty, the founder of Getty Oil who was once one of the richest men in the world.
In 2015, Forbes estimated that the Getty family is worth $5.4 billion.
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Nicola Peltz
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images Bates Motel star and Brooklyn Beckham‘s wife Nicola Peltz is the daughter of Nelson Peltz, a businessman and investor estimated to be worth $1.5 billion.
When marrying the son of soccer star David Beckham and Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, it was reportedly her family who were pushing for an iron-clad prenup to protect their wealth.
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Megan Ellison
Image Credit: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images Megan Ellison’s dad, Larry Ellison, is the fourth richest man in the world, according to Forbes. The Oracle founder is said to be worth a whopping $128.2 billion.
Megan has not followed in her tech giant father’s footsteps but is the founder of Annapurina Productions and has had a hand in producing many award winning movies like Zero Dark Thirty, American Hustle and House of Gucci.
