Ben Platt on being ‘nepo baby’ ahead of Palace Theatre residency

Ben Platt is currently performing at the Palace Theatre, Broadway. And after years of being included in the discourse around nepotism in the entertainment industry, Ben Platt has finally acknowledged he’s “an absolute nepo baby”.

The Parade star has recently launched a limited concert residency at the Palace Theatre, Broadway in advance of the release of his upcoming third album, Honeymind. 

Despite landing the residency at the renovated Palace Theatre, and starring in the 2021 film adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen – which was produced by his father Marc Platt – the actor said his “nepo baby” status has mainly given him a foot in the door in terms of understanding the “business” part of show business.   

“Of course, I acknowledge I’m an absolute nepo baby through and through by definition,” the Pitch Perfect actor told Elle Magazine in a recent interview. “My dad is a producer. I did grow up with an understanding of the business and an access to it. I will say that was the benefit, more so than it has been getting individual jobs as an adult.”

He continued: “I think it really helped me to give me the tools and the foundation to build my career. Now that I have started to build it and really show what I can do…I do think it’s become much more a journey that I am the sort of autonomous leader of.

“I absolutely acknowledge the privilege and the access, and the leg up that I have by being a nepo baby and have really tried throughout my whole career to do good on that opportunity by working hard to meet the opportunity and make the most of it, and just to lead by example and treat people with respect and be somebody that people want to work with because of me, not because of who my pop is.”

Of course, fans will remember that he was featured on the infamous 2022 New York Magazine cover, which saw him and several other actors superimposed on the bodies of babies with the headline: “She has her mother’s eyes. And agent.”

Platt was asked about how he feels about being called the term in an interview with Rolling Stone last year, to which he responded by saying he would prefer to “skip right over” the question.

Addressing the viral moment, Platt told Elle Magazine that he feels “sensitivity to conversation that can sometimes be about invalidating work, or belittling art”.

He said: “I do regret just giving that [question] too much power…I think that’s why I maybe felt such a knee-jerk kind of defensive reaction [in the Rolling Stone interview].”

Ben Platt: Live at the Palace runs until June 15 at the Palace Theatre, Broadway.