A family that starts young. Charles Sturridge (centre), the screenwriter and producer most acclaimed for his direction of Brideshead Revisited, was prominent as a teenage actor in Lindsay Anderson's If. His wife, Phoebe Nicholls, unforgettably pert as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead, is the daughter of actors and appeared as a child in films under the name of Sarah. Their son Tom, a star in The Boat That Rocked and in Punk Rockand the partner of Sienna Miller, was 11 when directed by his father in the televised Gulliver's Travels. Matilda, Tom's sister, starred in the musical The Great Gatsby last year. Photograph: Jim Hutchison/Rex Features
A distinctive-looking family on the male side, with long cheeks and quizzical eyebrows. The grandson of the famous dramatist Frederick Lonsdale, Edward Fox has drawled his way elegantly through kings, villains and prime ministers. He is married to Joanna David, who was haunting as the meek heroine in Rebecca, a part later played by her daughter, Emilia, whose brother is the flamboyant Freddie. Edward's brother James, a stage and screen actor, is the father of Laurence, the cerebral sidekick in Lewis, who is married to Billie Piper. Younger brother Robert is a mighty theatrical producer. Photograph: Dan Wooller/Rex Features
A family that included actors, managers and writers. Sarah Siddons (above), the eldest child of itinerant actors Roger and Sarah, triumphed on the stage in 1782 and was regarded as the leading tragic performer of her age. One of her brothers, John Philip Kemble, was the manager of Covent Garden theatre when riots about prices disrupted performances in 1809. He was also an editor and adapter of plays. Charles, his younger brother, retired from the stage to become Examiner of Plays. Charles’s daughter Fanny was an actress, memoirist, writer about the theatre and an anti-slavery campaigner Photograph: Heritage Images/Corbis
The son of actor Lockwood West, Timothy West has flourished in Shakespeare and soaps for 50 years. He is married to Prunella Scales, Fawlty Towers' Sibyl, and the actress who made the Queen riveting on screen long before Helen Mirren (feet planted apart, little dangling handbag). Their son Samuel, a former artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, is one of the best verse speakers of his generation. His resemblance to his father was cleverly exploited when they appeared in A Number (above), Caryl Churchill's play about cloning, and they played younger and older versions of the same character in Richard Eyre's film about Iris Murdoch. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
Every so often an acting family is able to put a version of themselves on the stage. In 1990 in Dublin, their home town, siblings Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh Cusack took on the title roles in Chekhov’s Three Sisters, while their father, Cyril, appeared as the doctor, Chebutykin. This is a family who have excelled on the screen, big and small, as well as on the stage. Cyril Cusack’s mother was a chorus girl. Niamh is married to the actor Finbar Lynch and Sinéad to Jeremy Irons. Their half-sister Catherine, Cyril Cusack’s daughter by his second wife, is also an actress Photograph: Rex Features
Last year marked a breakthrough for Hattie Morahan. She excelled first in Carrie Cracknell's production of A Doll's House, and later under Richard Eyre's direction in The Dark Earth and the Light Sky. Her mother Anna Carteret's accomplished acting career has included nine years at Olivier's National Theatre and a spell on the small screen as Juliet Bravo. Anna's husband, Christopher Morahan, moved from acting to distinction as a director, staging plays by Ibsen, Shaw, Pinter and Frayn. He was deputy director of the National Theatre and head of plays at BBC Television. Hattie's elder sister, Rebecca, is also a theatre director. Photograph: Dan Wooller/Rex Features
Raymond Massey starred alongside James Dean in East of Eden in 1955 and became a permanent television presence in Dr Kildare – as Dr Leonard Gillespie – during the 1960s. His son, Daniel, whose mother was the actress Adrianne Allen, made his film debut as a child in Noël Coward’s In Which We Serve, and later went on to play Coward, who was his godfather, in Star!. In 1961 Raymond and Daniel were cast as father and son in The Queen’s Guards. Daniel’s sister, Anna (above, with her father in 1955), who died in 2011, was a composed actress, acclaimed for the punctilious detail of her characterisation and her calm, rich voice Photograph: Rex Features
Henry Irving (1838-1905) was the first actor to be knighted for services to the theatre. He overcame a stammer and unfortunate surname (Brodribb) to become the most popular actor of his generation and an influential manager at the London Lyceum, where he suspected his business adviser, Bram Stoker, of modelling the cadaverous Dracula on him. Both Irving’s sons struggled with their legacy: Harry became an actor-manager but was often regarded as a pale version of his father; Laurence was principally a dramatist who, among other achievements, toured a one-act play with his dog Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex Features
The silent film star Roy Redgrave started it. Born in 1871, he was the father of actor Michael Redgrave, who with the actress Rachel Kempson (above) had three dazzling children: Vanessa, Corin and Lynn. Vanessa's marriage to the film director Tony Richardson produced two more actresses, Joely, once married to the film producer Tim Bevan, and the late Natasha, who was married to Liam Neeson. When Corin married the actress Kika Markham, daughter of the actor David Markham, the Redgraves joined with another venerable acting dynasty. No surprise that one of Corin and Kika's sons, Arden, is a theatre director. Photograph: Rex Features
Ellen Terry (1847-1928) was one of Britain’s most adored actresses. Bram Stoker said that she “embodied sunshine”. She came from a family of travelling players who put her on to the stage early. She played in Shaw and Ibsen, and opposite Henry Irving triumphed in Shakespeare. She had two children (above) by the avant-garde architect Edward William Godwin. Her daughter, Edith Craig, a pioneer for women’s suffrage, was a director, producer and costume designer. Her son, Edward Gordon Craig, laid down the principles of modern stage design with sculptural sets and dramatic lighting. John Gielgud was her great-nephew Photograph: Frederick Hollyer/Getty
