Sam Nivola might be the breakout star of HBO’s The White Lotus Season 3, but his roots in Hollywood run deep. At just 21, Nivola has become a rising talent in the entertainment industry thanks to his performance as Lochlan Ratliff, the quietly intense and slightly unsettling younger brother in the show’s most recent installment. But for Nivola, acting was always part of the family tradition.
Hollywood Legacy
Sam Nivola is the son of acclaimed actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola. His mother is best known for her roles in The Newsroom, Match Point, and Lars and the Real Girl, while his father boasts credits including The Many Saints of Newark and American Hustle. The pair met on the set of Kenneth Branagh’s 2000 film Love’s Labour’s Lost and married in 2003, the same year Sam was born.
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Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nivola attended the prestigious Saint Ann’s School before enrolling at Columbia University, where he studied philosophy and political science. Despite his parents’ warnings about the difficulties of a career in acting, Nivola couldn’t resist the allure of the craft.
First Steps on Set
Though discouraged from entering show business too young, Sam often accompanied his parents to set and occasionally landed minor roles by default. “They needed someone’s kid to be in it,” he joked in an interview with The New Yorker. His first credited appearance came in 2013 in his mother’s comedy series Doll & Em. In 2021, he and his younger sister May played on-screen siblings in The Pursuit of Love, a series also created by their mother.
A Reluctant Start
Despite these early appearances, Sam initially disliked being on set. “If you’re 10 years old, you just want to be either playing video games or hanging out with your friends,” he told Women’s Wear Daily in a 2024 interview. But his feelings shifted as he matured, and his love for film eventually grew strong enough to spark a real pursuit of acting.
His Big Break: White Noise
Sam’s first major role came when he independently auditioned for the 2022 film White Noise, written and directed by Noah Baumbach. He landed the lead role of Heinrich, opposite Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig, with sister May again joining the cast. “My parents were kind of pissed off when I first auditioned,” he said, “but when they found out Baumbach was involved, they changed their tune. They said, ‘He’s a legend.’”
The performance marked his emergence as a talent in his own right, separate from his family. It also solidified a career path that was increasingly looking inevitable.
A Star on the Rise
Following White Noise, Nivola landed the role of Bradley Cooper’s son in Maestro and portrayed Will Winbury in Netflix’s 2024 drama The Perfect Couple. With each project, his visibility and acclaim have only grown.
His role as Lochlan in The White Lotus Season 3 took things to another level. Playing the brooding son of a wealthy, crumbling family, Nivola balanced vulnerability and menace in a way that captivated viewers and critics alike.
Famous Friends and Inner Circle
Nivola isn’t the only Hollywood heir in his circle. His White Lotus on-screen brother is played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. In real life, he’s dating Iris Apatow, daughter of filmmaker Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann.
The couple made their relationship Instagram official in mid-2024 and debuted on the red carpet together that October at the reopening of Burberry’s East 57th Street store in New York City. Romance rumors had swirled since Iris was spotted visiting the White Lotus set in Thailand.
On the ‘Nepo Baby’ Label
As with many children of celebrities, Nivola has faced scrutiny under the “nepo baby” label. But unlike others who bristle at the term, he’s unbothered. “I totally take advantage of my parents being actors,” he said candidly. “I just try to learn as much as I can from them.”
Still, he acknowledges the hardships of the profession. “They’ve always told me, ‘Don’t be an actor.’ I don’t want to be all ‘woe is me,’ but it’s a difficult life no matter how successful you are,” he explained. “It’s hard to maintain relationships when you travel a lot, and there are things that are very difficult about it. So I was always sort of wary of it growing up.”
A Promising Future
With charisma, talent, and a head start from two well-connected parents, Sam Nivola’s star is undoubtedly on the rise. His nuanced performances and thoughtful approach to his career suggest a future filled with prestige projects and further acclaim.
Though he’s only just entered the spotlight, Nivola is quickly carving a name for himself that stands on its own — not as the son of Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola, but as an actor of considerable talent and promise.
In an industry that often eats its young, Nivola’s grounded approach and early accomplishments hint at a career that may outshine even those of the famous parents who once tried to talk him out of it.
