Emily Mortimer’s children Sam, 18, and May Nivola, 12, take on major roles in White Noise

The son and daughter of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola, are starring in the apocalyptic black comedy film White Noise. 

Sam, 18, and May Nivola, 12, take on major roles in the adaptation of the 1985 novel by Don DeLillo, which served as the curtain-raiser at this years Venice Film Festival. 

The siblings were previously seen in The Pursuit Of Love, which mother Emily directed for the BBC last year.

White Noise’s director Noah Baumbach said: ‘I have known Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola for years, and admired them tremendously. 

‘We were looking for kids and went through audition after audition, and all the callbacks, and these two Nivola kids kept on coming up to the surface. They were just so wonderful.’ 

Sam stars as Heinrich whilst May plays Steffie, their father and the film’s leading character, Prof. Jack Gladney, is played by Adam Driver. 

Family affair: The siblings were previously seen in The Pursuit Of Love, which mother Emily directed for the BBC last year

White Noise sees Adam starring alongside Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle and Jodie, in director Noah’s screen adaptation of the critically acclaimed postmodernist novel about an ‘Airborne Toxic Event’ and its impact on a small American town. 

White Noise will be released in cinemas in the UK in November and stream on Netflix from December.

Emily and Alessandro tied the knot in 2003, and live in Brooklyn, New York with their two children. 

Praise: White Noise’s director Noah Baumbach said: ‘I have known Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola for years, and admired them tremendously’

Premiere: Sam stars as Heinrich whilst May plays Steffie, their father and the film’s leading character, Prof. Jack Gladney, is played by Adam Driver

They previously starred in the  BBC drama The Pursuit Of Love which their mother wrote, directed and acted in. 

The three-part series was based on Nancy Mitford’s classic novel and tells the tale of the Radletts, a family loosely based on Mitford’s with her six aristocratic siblings.

It includes such famously colourful characters as the many-times-married Bolter, played by Emily, and Uncle Matthew, who hunts his children across the Oxfordshire countryside with bloodhounds.

Family: Emily and Alessandro Nivola tied the knot in 2003, and live in Brooklyn, New York with their two children (pictured in 2021)

In an interview, she admitted that casting her own children could be seen as ‘total nepotism and much frowned upon’ but countered that they were both ‘good actors’ who had been cast in a major Hollywood film. 

Charles Collier, founder of the production company behind the drama, Open Book, said: ‘You have to reserve the right as an artist to be inspired by the people you know and the people who are the inspiration in your life. 

‘You can’t just suddenly box-tick and say well, none of that matters. It’s not in any way removing opportunity from others.

Career: The siblings previously starred in the BBC drama The Pursuit Of Love which their mother wrote, directed and acted in

‘Emily’s children Sam and May were at the top of her list but had to go through the same rigorous casting process.

‘Their mum would not have asked us to see them and we as producers would have said “On your bike” had they not been any good. It really is a creative community. 

‘It’s absolutely the way in which theatre, film and TV has always worked. It’s not jobs for mates, it’s because they’re right for the role. It’s totally normal to get creative communities that naturally come together.’

Commendable: In an interview, Emily admitted that casting her own children could be seen as ‘total nepotism and much frowned upon’ but countered that they were both ‘good actors’