The nepo baby set for superstardom as he makes White Lotus debut: From starring alongside his famous mother to his romance with another child star, inside Sam Nivola’s rise to fame

Being the son of English thespian Emily Mortimer and American screen star Alessandro Nivola, Sam Nivola was destined for success. 

Sam, 21, made his acting debut in 2013 at the age of nine on the HBO series Doll & Em, where he played the role of Ariel opposite his mother. 

But thanks to his latest role as one of the leads in the much-anticipated third series of White Lotus, Sam is set for superstardoms. 

And it’s not just his parents who have a connection to Hollywood, as he is dating fellow nepo-baby Iris Apatow, 22.

The pair looked absolutely smitten as they took to the red carpet together at the White Lotus premiere on Monday, and the actress even joined her beau in Thailand while he filmed the HBO series last year. 

Sam moved from Britain to the US when he was young after spending his early childhood in Notting Hill, London before growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

Being the son of English thespian Emily Mortimer and American screen star Alessandro Nivola, Sam Nivola was destined for success (pictured left in White Lotus)

Sam’s parents Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola pictured in 2016

And it’s not just his parents who have a connection to Hollywood, as he is dating fellow nepo-baby Iris Apatow, 22 – the daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann 

There he attended Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, where fees cost between $48,000 and $52,000 per year, before earning a place at the prestigious Columbia University.

In 2021, Sam returned to acting as he and his sister May played siblings in the BBC One romantic series The Pursuit Of Love, starring and adapted by his mother Emily. 

The siblings again played opposite each other in Noah Baumbach’s 2022 film White Noise. 

Sam starred as Heinrich whilst May played Steffie in the adaptation of the 1985 novel by Don DeLillo, which served as the curtain-raiser at the Venice Film Festival that year.

Speaking at the time, White Noise’s director Noah said: ‘I have known Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola for years, and admired them tremendously.

‘We were looking for kids and went through audition after audition, and all the callbacks, and these two Nivola kids kept on coming up to the surface. They were just so wonderful.’

Last year, Sam took a starring role yet again in the Netflix series The Perfect Couple, where he played youngest Winbury brother Will.

And on Sunday, Sam is about to check into the White Lotus in Thailand for the third series of the hugely popular HBO series.

 Sam’s sister May, 14, starred alongside him in the 2022 apocalyptic black comedy film White Noise (pictured L-R Sam, Adam Driver, May, Greta Gerwig, Dean Moore and Raffey Cassidy)

Emily and Alessandro’s children have followed their footsteps into the world of TV and film from an early age after completing his first acting job age 11 (pictured with May in 2018)

The star has found love with Iris and recently revealed that his nepo baby girlfriend joined him in Thailand to keep him company while filming

Iris pictured with her parents Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow in 2023 

The star has found love with another nepo baby, daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Iris.

The pair have been dating for two years but she first appeared on his Instagram in April last year when he shared snaps of her on a yacht with his White Lotus co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger after she flew out to visit him during filming.

‘The pookinator is looking absolutely FIRE tonight,’ he captioned the first picture posted of her.   

In an interview with People, Sam revealed that Iris joined him in Thailand to keep him company while filming.

He said: ‘I brought my girlfriend for a few months, which was amazing.

‘It was so great to have a taste of home because it was 10,000 miles away from home, and it was so nice of her to sacrifice that time to come be with me and I’m incredibly grateful to her.’

But Sam claims he’s not like other nepo babies, as he told Vogue last month: ‘My parents aren’t, like, total celebrities. They don’t get recognised in the street.’

Despite already working with Bradley Cooper in Maestro and Nicole Kidman (pictured) in the Netflix hit The Perfect Couple, it’s his next project that is likely to send him into stardom

In the same chat with Vogue, Sam joked that his cohort of celebrity offspring pals were ‘some secret cabal of nepo kids who hang out in black robes’. 

Speaking to The Face about his upcoming role in The White Lotus back in September, Sam gushed over the show’s creator.

‘Mike White, the writer and director, is just a genius who made me feel so safe and comfortable,’ he said. 

‘It’s the biggest role I’ve ever had and it’s the biggest show I’ve ever done. We shot it in Thailand for seven months, and I was there with no connection to the outside world, which was really scary – but creatively, it was very fulfilling to be able to have a role that’s big enough to really sink your teeth into.’