Eva Amurri

Being raised by Oscar-winning celebrities may have their advantages when one aspires for Hollywood stardom, but Eva Amurri, daughter of veteran actress Susan Sarandon and stepdaughter of actor-director Tim Robbins, has slowly come into her own as a bona fide film actress and up-and-coming television thespian. A Manhattanite, Eva spent half her life as a youngster in Italy and half in America, specifically New York. During much of her childhood, she would tag along to film sets as her mom and stepdad worked. It wasn't a surprise then that the adorable Eva, as a child, would be cast in her parents' films.

In 1992, Robbins gave the seven-year-old Amurri a minor role as a child in a hospital in Bob Roberts, a film he wrote, directed, and starred in. It was also Tim's idea to have Eva portray the nine-year-old version of her mom's character, Helen Prejean, in the critically-acclaimed drama Dead Man Walking (1995), which won Sarandon her first Academy Award after four previous Best Lead Actress nominations. As a teen, Eva continued to appear in her mother's films such as Earthly Possessions (1999), Anywhere But Here (1999), and The Banger Sisters (2002). After finishing high school at Saint Ann's in New York City, she landed her breakout role as Cassandra, the rebellious Jewish teen in Saved!, co-starring Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, and Jena Malone.

When she began attending college at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, Eva's acting career took a back seat as she focused on completing her degree in Italian studies. And unlike most actors, Amurri didn't participate in the school's theater program and also passed up on taking acting courses. In 2007, before her senior year in Brown, Eva played Evan Rachel Wood's exuberant girlfriend in the suspense drama The Life Before Her Eyes, which was filmed in New Haven, Connecticut. After graduating from college, Eva returned to acting and also got involved with United Nations' programs for kids. In 2009, Amurri was tapped to play a writing course student of Hank Moody (David Duchovny) in the third season of Showtime's Californication.