Jessica Biel Says She Won’t Hand Her Son Acting Roles Just ‘Because You’re Part of This Family’: ‘We’re Not Doing That’

With parents like Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, it might not be entirely possible to avoid being labeled a nepo baby in totality — but that isn’t stopping Biel from making it explicitly clear to her son that he “can’t just take a part” from someone because of who his parents are.

On a recent episode of the “Great Chat Show” podcast, Biel told host Josh Smith that she’s been discussing the business of acting with her oldest son, 11-year-old Silas, who recently made an appearance in “Matchbox: The Movie,” in which Biel starred.

“He’s a DJ, he’s incredible [at] music, he’s doing such cool things with music — he just has that, right? He just has that innately and is interested in that,” she said. “And also has this comedy streak and this theatrical kind of funny, silly quality. And he’s been talking to us about, yeah, wanting to be an actor. So, this is coming up a lot.”

She explained that when Silas’ name came up for the role in “Matchbox,” she was initially unsure of moving forward, given that she and Timberlake try to keep their kids “away from all of this.” But, she said, “you don’t want to squash their dreams, even though I kind of want to squash this one. I’m like, ‘Please don’t do this! Anything but this! It’s really hard!’”

Biel continued: “Because the other thing I was talking to him, Silas, about is, there are kids who work really hard, and they go to acting class, and they’re in theater class, and they’re doing all the work,” Biel explained. “You can’t just take a part from that person just because you’re my son. Like, that’s not cool. We’re not doing that. So this is a special opportunity because it’s really teeny tiny. And, if you had a big monologue, I wouldn’t let him do it… You would have to earn that part because we’re not starting that. We’re not starting, ‘Oh, you just get handed a bunch of opportunities because you’re part of this family.’ Mm-mm, we’re not doing that.”

Biel first broke into Hollywood as Mary Camden on the long-running family drama “7th Heaven.” She’s currently a producer on a reboot of the show, which she said will “modernize it” and focus on “the things that are happening for teenagers and families that have teenagers all the way down to the youngest child — technology-based issues, school stuff, bullying stuff, drugs, alcohol.”

She is also set to star in the forthcoming Searchlight film “Playmates” as Hugh Hefner’s wife.