Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell are some of the most famous musicians in the world right now, between their hit-making albums, two Oscar wins (for No Time To Die and Barbie), and massive world tours. But did you know their parents are actors? The siblings grew up in Los Angeles while both of their parents earned numerous credits in movies and TV shows, and tons of people are finding this out via a viral Friends clip.
Recently, a clip went viral of Billie and Finneas’ mom Maggie Baird making an appearance in a Season 6 episode of Friends alongside Matt LeBlanc’s Joey. Check it out below:
In the Instagram video, Baird plays a casting director in “The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance” who instructs Joey to pick up a bag of Purina One dog food during an audition. Baird has a very small role in the episode, and yet the viral video led to comments like this:
- “So Billie may in fact be an industry plant” - @cadenconnelly27
- “So Billie is a Nepo Baby?” - @slapperstic
- “It’s always the people who have already connection to Hollywood! There is nothing called 'LUCK”'in Hollywood.” - @lunachan007
While both Maggie Baird and husband Patrick O’Connell have seen their share of acting gigs in high-profile projects, neither of them ever became a recognizable name in the movie and TV industry quite like how their children became stars in the music industry. Baird had one episode stints on famous shows like Six Feet Under, The X-Files, and Bones, while O’Connell has credits in Iron Man, Supergirl, and General Hospital, but neither of them have led any major projects or would be recognizable if it wasn’t for their famous kids! Finneas took to the comment section to defend his sister with these words:
Ah yes, the classic, 1 day of work on 1 episode of friends to make someone rich and famous- the whole gag of this video is none of you had any idea at all who she was.
Created By: David Crane & Marta Kauffman
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc
Seasons: 10 (1994 - 2004)
Where To Stream: Max subscription
To be fair, there are a lot of musicians and actors with famous parents out there, but it’s quite the stretch to call Billie Eilish a nepo baby. Now, someone like Willow Smith, who has two very famous parents in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, can be considered a nepo baby.
Sure, it does certainly help that Billie’s family lived in Los Angeles, which is a major hub for entertainment, and even had some famous friends, including Jennifer Coolidge attending the O’Connell’s wedding back in the 1990s. But connections like those do not make people into stars… talent does! Aside from that, it’s a mix of opportunity and luck, right?
You can certainly learn more about Billie Eilish’s family life in her AppleTV+ documentary The World’s A Little Blurry, which came out back in 2021.
