Maya Rudolph understands the privileges she's been given due to nepotism, but she doesn't believe it had any influence in breaking into comedy.
For those who don't know, Maya's mother is legendary singer Minnie Riperton, who was best known for her 1974 song "Lovin' You."
Her father is famed songwriter and producer Richard Rudolph. Richard cowrote "Lovin' You" with Minnie and collaborated with some of music's biggest names like Stevie Wonder, 2Pac, Teena Marie, Michael McDonald, Chaka Khan, The Temptations, New Edition, and more.
During a recent interview on the Armchair Expert podcast, Maya explained why she doesn't think having famous parents helped boost her acting and comedy career.
“They were musicians. They weren’t actors,” Maya said. “My trajectory was, I wanted to go to New York, and I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live. I understand that drive to be somewhere else — forage in a new city and create my own path."
"But that’s a huge undertaking. I wasn’t like, ‘Oh my dad writes songs, that’s gonna make me a comedian.’ There was no direct line. I knew I had to get there myself.”
Maya, who currently stars on the hit Apple TV+ series Loot, went on to reflect on her mother's legacy and how many of her friends weren't even aware that they were related.
“It’s interesting because my mom was a singer that not all my friends were that aware of at the time. Everybody that knows who I am now knows that’s my mom, but growing up, I didn’t feel like she was a household name."
Despite feeling like those around her didn't truly know who her mother was, Maya couldn't help but gush over how "special" she was.
To learn more about Maya, be sure to check out her full Armchair Expert podcast interview here.
