Monsters Star Ella Beatty Shares Advice from Famous Hollywood Parents

Ella Beatty Steps Into the Spotlight With Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Netflix debuted the eight-episode fourth installment of its Monster anthology, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, on Thursday, September 17, placing 26-year-old Ella Beatty at the center of the macabre historical drama. The Los Angeles-born actress portrays Lizzie Borden, the figure at the heart of the infamous 1892 axe murders, marking her most prominent leading role to date. Beatty arrives at this breakthrough moment with a pedigree that reads like a Hollywood hall of fame: her father is Warren Beatty, 89, the Oscar-winning writer, director, and star of classics including Bonnie and Clyde, Reds, and Dick Tracy; her mother is Annette Bening, 68, a four-time Oscar nominee celebrated for American Beauty, Being Julia, and the recent Nyad; and her aunt is Shirley MacLaine, an Academy Award winner for Terms of Endearment. Yet Beatty’s resume already stands on its own, featuring a turn in Ryan Murphy’s Hulu series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and a role in the A24 film If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

Co-Star Sarah Paulson: ‘I Was Assessing You Entirely on Your Own Merit’

During a joint interview with Interview Magazine last year, American Horror Story veteran Sarah Paulson — who appears alongside Beatty in the new season — disclosed she had “no idea” of Beatty’s lineage while they worked together. Paulson’s candid assessment underscores the younger actress’s ability to hold the screen independent of her surname. “My interest in you, my estimation of you as a performer, had nothing to do with that,” Paulson told Beatty. “Your father was a great movie star, but in terms of the current knowledge that some young people have today, your name might not be synonymous immediately with one of the most important actors and directors to ever walk the planet… I didn’t know you came from these formidable performers and I was assessing you entirely on your own merit.”

Juilliard Training and a Lifetime of ‘Playing Pretend’

Beatty traces her acting impulse to childhood, describing how she “contextualised the world” around her by “playing pretend.” She delayed professional work until after graduating from Juilliard, the prestigious performing arts conservatory. “I didn’t work professionally at all until I graduated from acting school, but I knew that that was who I was before I knew it was going to be my profession,” the former Juilliard student said. That disciplined foundation, combined with an upbringing steeped in cinematic craft, has shaped an approach she characterizes as curious and observant rather than self-centered.

Parental Wisdom: ‘Get Interested Rather Than Be Interesting’

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, who met on the set of the 1991 crime drama Bugsy and share four children, offered their youngest daughter concise, practical guidance as she launched her career. Speaking to E! News, Beatty revealed the core lesson: “As an actor in a scene — always being more curious about what the other person is doing. Get interested rather than be interesting, but also to listen and observe and watch more generally. You never want to be the smartest person in the room. Just really listening is what I learned most from them.” She describes both parents as “incredible artists” and calls her mother her “favourite actress in the world, hero and best friend.”

Why This Matters: Legacy, Merit, and the ‘Nepo Baby’ Conversation

Beatty’s emergence coincides with an industry-wide scrutiny of nepotism, a dialogue she addressed directly in a 2024 Vogue interview. “I totally acknowledge that there is an inherent privilege and exposure that comes from having well-known actors as parents,” she said. “And I really hope that I can offer something meaningful.” Her casting as the first female lead in the Monster franchise — which previously centered on male figures such as Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez brothers — adds a fresh dimension to the anthology’s exploration of notoriety. “Even by nature of her being the first female monster, I felt the difference there,” Beatty noted. “I was so excited by that opportunity to interrogate that theme.” For Netflix, the series represents a continued bet on high-profile true-crime storytelling; for Beatty, it is a test of whether early critical goodwill translates into lasting leading-lady status.