Family ties

Emma Roberts holds her own in the teen sleuth film “Nancy Drew,” which debuted over the weekend. But it’s likely there were whispers in theaters that the cute, young star got the plum role because her aunt is Julia Roberts, not because of her acting chops.

The young Roberts is the latest princess in a long line of Hollywood royalty, and her rise shows that the Tinseltown tradition of protecting and promoting your own is alive and well, as it has been for years.

Examples of such nepotism are abundant. Jane Fonda recently starred in the dramedy “Georgia Rule.” She is the daughter of screen legend Henry Fonda, the sister of actor Peter Fonda and the aunt of actress Bridget Fonda.

Drew Barrymore’s showbiz pedigree goes back nearly a century. Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage is the nephew of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola, who also happens to be the father of Oscar-winning writer/director Sofia Coppola.

Director/actor Rob Reiner is the son of director/actor Carl Reiner. Angelina Jolie is the daughter of Jon Voight. Actor Lloyd Bridges spawned both Jeff and Beau Bridges.

And those are just the obvious ones. Actresses Zooey (“Surf’s Up”) and Emily Deschanel (TV’s “Bones”) are the daughters of acclaimed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Brother-sister act Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal came from screenwriter Naomi Foner (“Bee Season”) and director Stephen Gyllenhaal (“The Shield,” “Everwood”).

In a sense, there’s a quaintness to all this, a down-home, family-first attitude. To illustrate, a father can pass his hardware business to his eldest, a close-knit clan can keep the family farm for generations, and Bryce Dallas Howard can be in “Spider-Man 3” perhaps partly because her father, director/producer/former actor Ron Howard, is one of the most powerful people in Tinseltown.

In all fairness, the younger Howard has to be able to deliver the goods on-screen or she’ll quickly be relegated to Paris Hilton status. And not surprisingly, a lot of these Hollywood heirs, Howard included, are perfectly capable of carrying on the family business. It’s in their blood.

But there is hope for the rest of us. His name is Brad Pitt.

Pitt is one of the biggest stars in the world, and he comes from Nowheresville (or Missouri). Ditto with Tom Hanks. And, for that matter, Eric and Julia Roberts.

There’s no disputing that royalty matters in Hollywood. The difference is, lowly peasants still can storm the gates of the castle and fight their way to the throne. So the dream lives on, regardless of the nepotism.

But it helps, of course, if you look like Brad Pitt.