Many celebrities have built their wealth from the ground up, but some were born into luxury.
Among these wealthy families are celebrities like Anderson Cooper, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Nick Kroll, who have had access to vast wealth and opportunities from an early age.
These stars were set up for success before stepping into the spotlight, which, in some cases, shaped their path to fame and fortune.
Here are 15 celebrities who were raised in wealthy families before they became famous.
1. Nick Kroll
Kroll is an actor, comedian, writer, and producer known for Comedy Central’s “The Kroll Show” and for creating and starring in Netflix’s “Big Mouth” and “Human Resources,” among other hit shows, but he’s not the only success story in his family.
His father, Jules Kroll, founded a corporate investigation company, Kroll Inc., which he sold in 2004 for almost $2 billion, Forbes reported in 2014.
Nick Kroll grew up in Westchester County, New York. In 2009, he told The New Yorker that he and his siblings had a relatively normal childhood. He also said that although he was grateful that his father made time for him despite his job, he felt embarrassed when Jules would arrive at his Little League games in a limousine.
2. Anderson Cooper
Journalist and commentator Anderson Cooper is a direct descendant of the Vanderbilts.
His great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Vanderbilt, built his fortune primarily through investing in steamships and railroads.
“He had more money than the US Treasury,” Cooper told CBS in 2021.
Cooper’s mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, grew up an American socialite because of her family’s status. She later became an artist, actor, designer, and author. She died in 2019.
His father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, was Vanderbilt’s fourth husband. Before he died at the age of 50, he worked as an author and an actor.
3. Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow comes from a family of entertainment-industry natives. She spent her childhood at prestigious private schools in Los Angeles and New York City before dropping out of college to act.
Bruce Paltrow, her father, was a nine-time Emmy-nominated director and producer. His most notable titles include “St. Elsewhere” and “White Shadow.” Meanwhile, her mother is Emmy- and Tony-winning actor Blythe Danner of “Meet the Parents,” “Meet the Fockers,” and “The Last Kiss.”
Despite her parents’ success, Paltrow refers to herself as “completely self-made.”
“People think, ‘She’s just a rich kid.’ Until I was 18, I was. Then I was broke. I’ve never taken a dime off my parents. I’m completely self-made,” she told Glamour in 2016.
4. Cara Delevingne
Supermodel and actor Cara Delevingne is the daughter of Charles Delevingne, a successful real-estate developer, and Pandora Delevingne, a socialite. Her paternal grandmother was a socialite, and her paternal grandfather was a notable lawyer and politician.
But that’s not where it ends. According to Vogue, Cara’s maternal grandfather, Sir Jocelyn Stevens, owned Queen magazine, which is now Harper’s Bazaar. Further, her maternal grandmother, Janie Sheffield, was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
5. Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the great-great-granddaughter of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, who founded the Louis Dreyfus Company, a merchant firm that deals primarily with agriculture, food, and shipping.
Her father, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus, eventually became chairman of the company. In 2006, about 10 years before his death, Forbes estimated his net worth at $3.4 billion and ranked him the 200th-richest billionaire in the world.
In 2018, the “Seinfeld” star told The New Yorker that her father’s wealth is overestimated by the press and that she finds the term “billionaire heiress” to be “heinous.”
6. Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Their father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is an Emmy-winning director who has worked on films such as “Paris Trout,” “Homegrown,” and “A Dangerous Woman.” Their mother, Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal, is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-winning screenwriter whose most notable film is “Running On Empty.”
The Gyllenhaal siblings, Maggie and Jake, have had prolific careers since their costarring breakout roles in “Donnie Darko” in 2001.
In 2010, Jake told The Guardian, “My mother would say that there are people who have so much money who don’t give any of it away, and there are other people who have much less money, who give more than the richest people in the world. It should all be about giving something back.”
7. King Princess
Pop artist King Princess — or Mikaela Mullaney Straus — is the great-great-grandchild of Isidor and Ida Straus.
Before the couple fell victim to the Titanic’s sinking, Isidor served in the United States Congress and co-owned Macy’s with his brother. Isidor and Ida Straus have been depicted in multiple movies and have a memorial garden in New York City.
In 2019, King Princess told Rolling Stone that she didn’t inherit their money.
“They were very rich and Jewish, [but] I didn’t inherit any of this money. It was a little frustrating, but whatever,” she said.
The pop star’s father, Oliver Straus, is also successful. He owns a recording studio in Brooklyn called Mission Sound, where world-famous bands like the Arctic Monkeys have recorded music.
8. Armie Hammer
Armand Hammer, Armie Hammer’s great-grandfather, was an oil tycoon who managed Occidental Petroleum Corporation. In 1986, Forbes estimated Armand Hammer’s net worth to be $200 million.
However, Armand Hammer’s biographer, Neil Lyndon, referred to him as “the most satanic man of the second half of the 20th Century” and the “embodiment of sin [and] ruthless ego” in a 2022 docuseries, “House of Hammer.”
Armie Hammer has also been mired in controversy. In 2021, multiple women accused him of sexual and emotional abuse. At the time, Armie said any interactions with his partners were consensual and denied the allegations. The Los Angeles Police Department investigated a claim of sexual assault, but he was not charged. In 2023, he told Air Mail he’d been emotionally abusive to his accusers.
9. Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey, whose given name is Lizzy Grant, is the daughter of Rob Grant, the founder of WebMediaProperties.com. According to Who API, Grant’s company operated 1,600 websites and owned about 800 domain names as of 2012.
A 2012 article in The Guardian by Paul Harris discusses how Lana Del Rey hid her real identity as she rose to stardom.
“People were suspicious of the way Grant’s failed album, and all her social media websites appeared to have been scrubbed from the internet just before Del Rey appeared,” Harris wrote.
The same article also claims that her father backed her career when she was just starting out.
10. Nicola Peltz Beckham
Actor Nicola Peltz Beckham, who has appeared in TV shows like “Bates Motel” and “Welcome to Chippendales” and movies including “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” married Brooklyn Beckham — son of Victoria and David Beckham — in 2022. But even before her wedding day, she was part of a high-profile family known for its influence in business and social circles.
She was born in 1995 to parents Claudia Heffner and Nelson Peltz in Westchester, New York — her father is the founder of the investment firm Trian Fund Management and has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion according to Forbes.
In a 2024 interview with WWD, Peltz Beckham acknowledged that she didn’t have an upbringing like that of her character in “Lola,” in which she starred as a stripper.
“I wanted to write a story from a person’s perspective and another point of view that was not my personal view and not my upbringing. I am an actress and my dream is to get to look at the world from different perspectives,” she said.
11. Stella Lefty
Singer Stella Lefty is the daughter of Eric Lefkofsky, CEO of Tempus AI and founder of Groupon. In Forbes’ 2026 ranking of the 400 wealthiest Americans, Lefkofsky ranked 261st with an estimated net worth of $6.5 billion.
Business Insider’s Callie Alhgrim reported a lot of negative online discourse about Lefty regarding her fame in relation to her father.
“Obviously, there’s going to be this conversation around it, which I totally understand,” Lefty told Vanity Fair in an interview published in August this year.
12. Jessica Pegula
Tennis player Jessica Pegula is the daughter of Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres. Terry Pegula founded the oil and gas company East Resources, which he sold the majority of for $4.7 billion in 2010, according to Forbes.
Terry Pegula ranked 120th in Forbes’ 2026 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans.
Jessica Pegula said in an episode of Netflix’s “Break Point” that “some people get this image that it’s really easy for me because my dad is very wealthy, but that didn’t happen till I was 17 or 18,” adding that “they gave me a great childhood and instilled a lot of work ethic in me.”
13. Kate and Rooney Mara
Actors Kate and Rooney Mara are the daughters of Chris Mara and Kathleen Rooney, who come from NFL royalty.
Chris Mara’s grandfather founded the New York Giants, and Rooney’s grandfather founded the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to People.
In 2015, Forbes estimated the Rooney family’s net worth at $1.2 billion.
14. Emma Navarro
Tennis player Emma Navarro is the daughter of billionaire businessman Ben Navarro.
He cofounded Sherman Financial Group and has an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion, according to the Forbes 2026 World Billionaires list.
In a 2021 interview with Charleston Magazine, Emma Navarro said: “My dad has always been in my corner, getting me the coaching and training, whatever I needed.”
15. Gracie Abrams
Singer Gracie Abrams is the daughter of Katie McGrath and J.J. Abrams.
J.J. Abrams is a filmmaker behind shows like “Lost” and major films, including some in the “Star Wars” series. He is the co-CEO of Bad Robot Productions, which Katie McGrath also leads.
“I had a safety net, and that allowed me the ability to experiment and to concentrate, and I had the gift of time to dedicate to doing this thing I loved,” Abrams said in an episode of The New York Times’ Popcast.
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