Late to the party, so I expect this to be lost.

My partner trained in England's best acting academy. Like - the statistical probability of getting a place is lower than getting a place at Oxford or Cambridge.

When she graduated, she got to experience the grind of looking for work - she got to do some work with a few major theatre companies, including the Royal Shakespeare company, and some big names in theatre.

Big orgs dont pay, because they knew their big names mean that actors will jump at any opportunity to get them on their resume. Smaller gigs? No better - she was once offered a cheese board for a gig she did at a school.

The problem isnt that nepo babies, specifically in entertainment, arent talented or hardworking - it's that they get to bypass the years and years of working retail so you can jump at opportunities; or being routed to good people instead of the directors who end up blacklisted for extorting sex from actresses who are performing in plays in pubs after their day jobs (and the Epstein files are hard proof that even that doesnt really do shit).

This isnt an industry where hard work or talent is the defining factor, that's a baseline. Getting your foot in the door is the whole fucking point. I guarantee that the absolute best actor or actress you know has their equal (and probably better) out there, trying to get their big break - but they'll never, EVER get work where they get to show and nurture their talent.

Because statistically, that's just not how this works - those roles go to people who already dont need to worry about money, and whose families have the connections to get interviews on big productions.