Jessica Biel Says She Won’t Let Her Son “Just Get Handed” Acting Opportunities Because of His Famous Family: “You Have to Earn That”

Jessica Biel is making it clear that if her son, Silas Timberlake, wants to make it in the entertainment industry, she wants him to make a name for himself separate from his parents.

The actress shares two children with her husband Justin Timberlake, and her son Silas just made his feature debut in Matchbox: The Movie, which Biel stars in. She recounted how the opportunity came about during an appearance on the Great Chat Show, explaining that her eldest child has a natural interest in music and acting.

When asked by host Josh Smith if her family has discussed how to navigate “this crazy world” of Hollywood, Biel said, “Yes, we’ve talked about it a lot. It’s a constantly evolving conversation.”

“Our son Silas, who’s 11 now, who’s in the [Matchbox] movie at the end, he’s a DJ. He has incredible music. He just has that innately and is interested in that and also has this like comedy streak and this theatrical kind of funny, silly kind of quality. And he’s been talking to us about, yeah, wanting to be an actor. So this is coming up a lot,” she said, explaining that producer Jules Daly asked if her son would be interested in a role in Matchbox.

“She came to me, and she goes, ‘There’s this little part. Do you think Silas would want to do something like this?'” Biel said she wasn’t sure at first, partly because “we try not to keep [our children] in the sort of eye like this, we keep them away from all of this. And then, we thought, ‘Oh, you know, he’s coming to Budapest and he’s going to be with me for seven weeks, like, what a nice thing to look forward to, because he’s been talking about maybe being interested [in acting].’”

The Emmy nominee said although she does want her child to pursue a different dream, “what made Justin and I feel okay about it” was Daly being involved as a producer, and the fact that Silas’ role “was not a big speaking part.”

“The other thing I was talking to him, Silas, about is, you know, there are kids who work really hard and they go to acting class and they’re in theater class and they’re doing all the work. You can’t just take a part from that person just because you’re my son. Like, that’s not cool. We’re not doing that,” Biel said. “So this is a special opportunity because it’s really teeny tiny. And if [he] had a big monologue, I wouldn’t let him do it. You would have to earn that part because we’re not starting that.”

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre actress continued, “We’re not starting like, oh, you just get handed a bunch of opportunities because you’re part of this family.” Biel said her son’s first day on set turned into a learning lesson that she was very grateful for.

“The first day he was on set, he didn’t work at all. And he was so upset about it. He was like, ‘I just don’t understand! I’ve been here all day.’ He got really mad about it, and I was like, ‘This is what it is. Welcome. They will call you in, and you will sit for 12 hours. Do you still want to be an actor?’ And it was the best lesson,” she recalled. “And the next day he came, and he worked. And it was sweet. It was cool.”

Biel and Timberlake married in 2012, and welcomed their first son, Silas, in 2015. They had their second child, Phineas, in 2020.