Simu Liu

Simu Liu in Shang-Chi. Disney – Credit: C/O

Born in Harbin, China to parents who overcame significant competition to study engineering at Beijing University, he eventually emigrated with them to Canada, where they worked dishwashing jobs as they studied and eventually became aerospace engineers. In his memoir We Were Dreamers, he describes growing up with “tiger parenting” and the pressure to be “the star child, the studious academic, the obedient son.”

It wasn’t easy: He also recounts physical abuse and belittlement. “I generally think it’s better to bring these moments into the light and talk about them. It wasn’t to make my parents look bad, but it was to say: ‘We were an imperfect family and this is what happened to us. And we’re telling our story in the hope that other families will not make the same mistakes,'” he told The Guardian in May 2022.

Liu, now 35, eventually became an accountant at Deloitte. But after he was laid off, he decided to pursue his dream of a career as a stuntman and actor. Things worked out phenomenally well: He’s one of the most in-demand young actors, and appeared with Margot Robbie in 2023’s biggest film, Barbie.

Brie Larson

Brie Larson in Captain Marvel. Disney – Credit: C/O

Larson, 35, who also broke out in Short Term 12, was raised by her mother after her parents’ divorce when she was 7. They moved to Los Angeles with Larson’s sister, living in a small apartment in Burbank.

“We had a crappy one-room apartment where the bed came out of the wall and we each had three articles of clothing,” Larson told The Guardian in 2013.

Things worked out OK: She became one of the most acclaimed young actors in Hollywood when she won the Best Actress Oscar for 2015’s Room. She became Marvel’s Captain Marvel in 2019, and recently starred in The Marvels.

She’ll next star in Fast X: Part 2.

Sydney Sweeney

Young Actors Who Made It Without Family Connections
Sydney Sweeney, one of the fastest-rising young actors who made it without family connections, on SNL. NBC

Zendaya’s Euphoria co-star Sydney Sweeney (above) has spoken about how her family lost their home and her parents got divorced as she spent her teenage years trying to break into Hollywood. “There were many, many years where I got told ‘No’ endlessly,” she told The Associated Press in 2021 when it named her one of the Breakthrough Entertainers of 2021.

“I got told I wasn’t good enough, I would never make it, I wasn’t pretty enough — all the time. And my parents were like, ‘Are we doing the right thing?’” 

She also earned acclaim for her work on the first season of HBO’s The White Lotus for her recent turn in the very based-on-a-true story HBO film Reality. Her success has only increased, and her upcoming plans include a remake of Barbarella.

Like Robbie, the 27-year-old is among young actors who made it without family connections and then wisely moved into producing: Her film Anyone But You, which she executive produced, was a breakout hit last year.

She was also terrific hosting Saturday Night Live (above).

Zazie Beetz

Zazie Beetz in Deadpool 2. Fox – Credit: C/O

The 33-year-old star of Atlanta and Joker was born to a German cabinet maker who immigrated to the United States in 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, and a New York social worker.

She acted at Muscota New School and in community theaters, and told the Times of London that she spent the year before she landed Atlanta “broke and waiting tables.”

Her thriving career has included roles in Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train, and she’s also in the latest season of Black Mirror.

LaKeith Stanfield

LaKeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah. Warner Bros. – Credit: C/O

Atlanta has been a launchpad for several young stars who made it without family connections, including LaKeith Stanfield.

Born in San Bernardino, outside Los Angeles, Stanfield, 33, told Fast Company in 2014 that he “grew up very poor in a fractured family that was dysfunctional on both sides, but I sort of put up these reflectors to most of the negative things that have occurred in my life.”

His breakout role was in Short Term 12, written and directed by Shang-Chi writer-director Destin Daniel Cretton. It also featured Brie Larson.

He has also earned acclaim for Sorry to Bother You and his co-starring role with Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah. The 32-year-old also appears in the recent The Haunted Mansion.

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence, one of the most successful young stars who made it without family connections, in No Hard Feelings. Sony Pictures Releasing. – Credit: C/O

The Kentucky-born child of a dad who owned a construction company and mom who owned a summer camp, Lawrence has said she never considered acting before a model scout spotted her, at age 14, when she went to New York City on a family vacation.

“Look,” the 34-year-old once told Vogue. “I grew up in Kentucky, I have brothers, we had to do sports, I was a horrible student, and I kept getting grounded every time my report card came out. Acting was never an option. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, well, you got a C in math; you’re grounded. But you can be an actor!’”

She later went on to win the Best Actress Oscar in 2012 for The Silver Linings Playbook and to become the highest-paid female star in the world in 2015 and 2016.

Her most recent release, the comedy No Hard Feelings, establishes her yet again as one of our most versatile young stars who made it without family connections.

Thanks for Reading This List of Young Stars Who Made It Without Family Connections

Shameless New Comedies
Credit: C/O

You may also like this list of Shameless New Comedies That Just Don’t Care If You’re Offended.

Main image: Sydney Sweeney, one of the young actors who made it without family connections, on Saturday Night Live. NBC.

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