United Kingdom, Aug. 8 -- Sam Nivola is "proud" he's never relied on his famous parents for help with his career.

The White Lotus star is the son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola and the pair banned him from auditioning for roles before he turned 18, but a year before then, his high school drama teacher helped him land an audition for White Noise and he sent in a self-tape in secret.

Once he made it through to the next round to play the son of Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig's characters, he confessed to his parents and they said: "Holy f****** s***, it's a Noah Baumbach movie?! You have to do the callback!"

And asked about being a "nepo baby", he laughed to Variety: "Other tha my genes, I don't think I can attribute much of...