A new generation of Jewish nepo babies is on the rise. Milo Manheim has more than 3 million followers on Instagram and starred in a Sabrina Carpenter music video. Sadie and Sunny Sandler really entered the spotlight with their dad’s (Adam Sandler) Netflix movie “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.” And now, Ella Stiller is joining their ranks.
Here are 18 things to know about her.
1. Ella was born April 9, 2002 to actors Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor.
2. She’s an Aries!
3. Her paternal grandparents are legendary Jewish comedians Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Ella has said that she feels connected to and proud of her grandparents and how they have come to represent New York Jewishness.
Here they are together circa 2005:
4. The musical “Wicked” made Ella want to be an actress.
“My mom started me on it when I was 3, maybe younger,” she said in an interview. “Like in the car listening to it — I grew up, until I was 8, in LA, so a lot of car rides with a lot of musical theater songs and singing at all times. My parents are big musical theater fans.”
She added, “It will always be that thing of, wow, look at that awesome, badass woman flying and she’s me. I was like, she is me. And that is when it all began for me.”
5. She made her acting debut in the 2010 movie “Megamind” as the voice of a school child.
6. She also got her start in acting through the French Woods Performing Arts Festival where she played Annie in “Annie.” She also participated in productions at her high school, The Calhoun School. There she played Rizzo in “Grease,” Irina in Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” Velma Kelly in “Chicago” and more.
7. Ella and her brother Quinlin had uncredited roles in their dad’s 2014 movie “Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.” They even ended up in the trailer for the movie:
8. But that’s not the only time she’s worked with her dad! In 2019, Ella had a small role in an episode of the mini-series “Escape from Dannemora.” Here’s what her dad/the director had to say about working with her:
9. She graduated from Juilliard in 2024, where she received a BFA in acting.
10. Ella has spoken about the experience of going to college and not being around other Jews for the first time in her life.
“I was the only Jewish person in my class at Juilliard,” Ella said in a podcast. “I’ve known more Jews than not in my life. Which now, feels so lucky to have that experience because the second I started Juilliard, which is only seven blocks from where I grew up, I felt like I was in this complete new world where I couldn’t even fathom the fact that there were so few Jews.”
11. She participated in the Festival of New Jewish Plays in 2024, reading Shira Gore’s “Yom Kippur Abortion” and “The Last Yiddish Speaker” by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Ella described them both being by and about strong Jewish women.
“Both plays are exactly the kind of art I want to be apart of for the rest of my life. Both characters are the kind of young women whose stories I feel so inclined and anxious to tell,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “I have never been prouder to be pro-abortion, a woman and a Jew.”
12. After working at the Festival, Ella spoke about how cathartic it was to play a specifically Jewish role.
“As a Jewish woman, I feel real responsibility right now in this moment in time to represent Jews everywhere and especially Jewish women or young Jewish women,” Ella said on the “Call Time” podcast.
13. According to her resume, some of Ella’s skills include: horseback riding, swimming, tennis, ukulele, collaging, improvisation, basic dance training and stilts!
Literally what can’t she do?
14. Her dad talked about why he loved being a girl dad on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, alongside fellow Jewish dads Andy Cohen and Doug Emhoff. “My daughter’s 22 and a half, is a feminist, incredibly strong,” he said in a video. “And has really just inspired me in so many ways. I love her.”
15. She directed a short film called “Cherry Condoms.”
16. She will make her off-Broadway debut in June 2025 in a play called “Dilaria.” Ella will be playing the titular role!
Per Teen Vogue, the synopsis of the play is as follows: “Her parents are loaded. Her schedule is empty. Her bestie’s up for anything, and her boy’s down bad. What more could a girl want? But when Becca Schwartz dies and starts racking up likes, Dilaria starts to wonder… is dying the ultimate glow-up? Overflowing with caustic humor, Julia Randall’s play plunges into the ecstasy and ennui of a generation raised on true crime, reality TV and social media.”
17. Ella will be in season three of “And Just Like That…” Kristin Davis and Ella’s mom Christine revealed the news on an episode of the “Are You a Charlotte?” podcast.
“You have raised an incredible human, but also so incredibly talented,” Kristin said to Christine. To which Ella’s mom responded, “She’s more grown up, more mature, more self-assured and self-aware than I still am.” She also added that it was “a dream role” for Ella.
18. She’s slated to play Dakota in the upcoming comedy movie “Driver’s Ed,” alongside Kumail Nanjiani, Molly Shannon and Sam Nivola.
