Jessica Biel Draws a Hard Line on Son Silas’s Acting Future

By Tom Whitfield

Jessica Biel says her 11-year-old son, Silas, cannot receive acting work simply because he is her son, even after appearing in Matchbox: The Movie, in which she also starred.

Speaking on a recent episode of the “Great Chat Show” podcast, Biel told host Josh Smith that she and Justin Timberlake try to keep their children “away from all of this.” The family’s celebrity raises the “nepo baby” question. Her rule draws a line around what the family name can do: by her account, it does not replace training, effort or a casting decision.

Biel described Silas as “a DJ” who is “incredible [at] music” and “doing such cool things with music.” She said he has “that innately.” She also noted “this comedy streak and this theatrical kind of funny, silly quality.”

Those qualities have made acting a frequent subject at home. “He’s been talking to us about, yeah, wanting to be an actor,” Biel said. “So, this is coming up a lot.”

Biel said she was initially unsure about moving forward when Silas’s name came up for the role in Matchbox. Her reluctance did not become a veto. “You don’t want to squash their dreams, even though I kind of want to squash this one,” she told Smith. “I’m like, ‘Please don’t do this! Anything but this! It’s really hard!’”

What does the Matchbox appearance change for Silas?

It gives him an appearance in a film starring his mother and makes acting a subject of sustained family discussion. It does not, on Biel’s account, create a standing advantage for the roles that follow. For a bigger role, she said, “You would have to earn that part.”

Biel set that condition against what she described as other children’s work. “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,” she explained.

“You can’t just take a part from that person just because you’re my son,” Biel said. “Like, that’s not cool. We’re not doing that. So this is a special opportunity because it’s really teeny tiny.”

She then set a limit for larger work: “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.”

That is a firm family policy, but not a casting guarantee. Biel’s remarks did not specify the podcast’s air date, explain how Silas entered Matchbox, detail his part beyond calling it “special” and “really teeny tiny,” or show how the production selected him. Her statement limits the nepotism she is willing to acknowledge; it does not establish that the casting process was independent.

Biel first broke into Hollywood as Mary Camden in the long-running family drama 7th Heaven. She is currently a producer on a reboot of the show, which she said will “modernize it.” She said the reboot will focus on “the things that are happening for teenagers and families that have teenagers all the way down to the youngest child,” including:

• technology-based issues;
• school stuff;
• bullying stuff;
• drugs; and
• alcohol.

The project brings Biel back to family drama as a producer after beginning her Hollywood career in the original series. It also places her production work with teenagers and families, the same territory at the center of her son’s proposed acting career.

Biel is also set to star in the forthcoming Searchlight film Playmates as Hugh Hefner’s wife. The two projects extend her work behind and in front of the camera while she sets a narrower path for Silas.

For Silas, the next test is whether that rule holds beyond the “really teeny tiny” opportunity. Any larger acting role would have to clear the line Biel drew: “You would have to earn that part.”