Zosia Mamet insists nepotism 'can only get you so far' in Hollywood

Zosia Mamet has insisted being a nepo baby "can only get you so far" in Hollywood.

The Girls star's father, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and director David Mamet, hit headlines in April when he insisted his actress daughters Zosia and Clara were not nepo babies and had "earned" their careers "by merit".

Addressing his comments in a new interview with The Guardian, Zosia acknowledged that she had a head-start in her career by getting cast in her father's 2004 film Spartan when she was 16.

"Did it potentially open some doors for me? Sure. I can't argue that. I think the biggest thing that I felt it did was that growing up surrounded by the industry meant I was going in with open eyes," she said.

However, she noted, "It's not like you're born to a famous family and the red carpet rolls out for you and your career is made. Because also at the end of the day, if you're not walking in and up to the challenge, if you don't have the talent or the ability to back it up, a name can only get you so far."

The Flight Attendant star, whose mother is actress Lindsay Crouse, added that her family's industry connections sometimes made auditions more difficult.

"Oftentimes, I was actually met with more of a challenge. Because people knew I was coming in with a famous name, it meant that I was walking into the room with baggage," she shared, before remembering auditioning for a producer who had had a bad experience with her father.

In April, during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the two-time Oscar nominee insisted "nobody ever gave my kids a job because of who they were related to" before going on to criticise Hollywood's diversity standards.

Zosia, 36, admitted to The Guardian that she has tried to stop "getting annoyed at the things my dad says" but she doesn't think it's "possible".

"My husband (Evan Jonigkeit) is always like: 'Why do you let it affect you?' I'm like, because he's my father! I don't know how to turn that switch off. But I have tried to," she candidly stated. "I guess it's sort of my version of counting to 10 when he says s**t like that - I'm just like: 'OK, take a breath, count to 10 and let it go.'"