Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia Threapleton has hit back at claims she is a ‘nepo baby’ and was given a helping hand in the industry because of her actress mother.

Mia, 24, whose first major role was opposite Kate in I Am Ruth, has weighed into the discourse about celebrity offspring benefitting from nepotism.

The actress has claimed there is a ‘misconception’ about her because of her mother that she was submerged in the acting world from an early age.

She said: ‘I feel like it’s a misconception about me, considering who my mother is, that I grew up going to set or that I would know anything about this world because of her and what she does.’

Mia, whose father is film director Jim Threapleton, added: ‘That is not the case at all. I genuinely can count on not even two hands the amount of times I went to set as a kid. There were never scripts lying around the house.’

Earlier this year, Mia scooped the Breakout Artist Award during the Newport Beach Film Festival UK & IE Honours 2025 in London. 

Kate Winslet ‘s daughter Mia Threapleton has hit back at claims she is a ‘ nepo baby ‘ and was given a helping hand in the industry because of her actress mother (pictured at the 2023 BAFTA Awards)

Earlier this year, Mia scooped the Breakout Artist Award during the Newport Beach Film Festival UK & IE Honours 2025 in London (pictured)

Mia took to the stage to accept the prize in February, bearing more than a pᴀssing likeness to her mother, who was the same age when she received her first Best Actress Oscar nod for тιтantic.

She made her own acting debut in 2014’s A Little Chaos, in which her mother starred, followed by a role in 2020 thriller drama, Shadows.

She then made waves with her performance in the BAFTA-winning Channel 4 drama I Am Ruth, alongside her famous mum in 2022 and is currently starring in the Apple TV+ adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Buccaneers.

It appears history is repeating itself, as her famous mother Kate currently boasts a staggering six Oscar nominations, with her winning in 2008 for her performance in The Reader.

The Sense and Sensibility star shared the screen with Mia for the first time in hard-hitting drama I Am Ruth, where they played mother and daughter.

Kate played concerned mum Ruth, who tries to help her teenage daughter Freya, played by Mia, overcome a mental health crisis after becoming consumed by the pressures of social media.

And she shared a sweet tribute to Mia as she accepted the BAFTA for Leading Actress for the role in 2023, saying: ‘If I could break [the award] in half, I would give the other half to my daughter Mia Threapleton. We did this together, kiddo!’

Speaking about working with Mia, Kate admitted that she was ‘blown away’ by her daughter’s courage on set.

She then made waves with her performance in the BAFTA-winning Channel 4 drama I Am Ruth, alongside her famous mum in 2022 and is currently starring in the Apple TV+ adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Buccaneers (pictured with Kate in 2023)

It appears history is repeating itself, as her famous mother Kate currently boasts a staggering six Oscar nominations, with her winning in 2008 for her performance in The Reader (pictured)

The film industry veteran insisted Mia didn’t need her advice and would even tell her to ‘shut up’ and proudly gushed that her daughter has a ‘power’ that she herself never had as a young actress.

Appearing on Lorraine, she explained: ‘As far as performance, she didn’t need me at all. There are even moments where she’d look at me and go, “Shut up Mum, let me do it!”

‘It was really amazing working alongside her and actually being blown away by her courage… she’s very, very powerful. 

‘I think this young generation of actors, I have to say there is a naturalism to their acting and they’re just braver’.

Despite getting to call the legendary actress her mother, Mia has previously explained she didn’t get to spend much time learning acting skills by watching her mother at work as a child. 

Speaking to Variety, she admitted: ‘I never actually spent much time around sets that my mum was working on. It was always a special treat.

‘It’s a very different experience when it is happening to you, and not just something I was getting to observe from time to time. 

‘I really understand why my mum has always impressed on us how hard the work is. She is right! And I loved every second of it.’ 

The Sense and Sensibility star shared the screen with Mia for the first time in hard-hitting drama I Am Ruth, where they played mother and daughter (pictured)

And she shared a sweet tribute to Mia as she accepted the BAFTA for Leading Actress for the role in 2023, saying: ‘If I could break [the award] in half, I would give the other half to my daughter Mia Threapleton. We did this together, kiddo!’ (pictured at BAFTAS)

And while Mia has been regarded as one of the biggest new nepo babies, Kate has been insistent that her daughter’s success is down to her own talent.

She’s previously said: ‘What’s great for her is she has a different surname so she slipped under the radar and the people who cast her didn’t know she was my daughter and that was important for her self-esteem, of course’. 

Kate met Mia’s father Jim on the set of Hideous Kinky in 1998 where he was ᴀssistant director and they tied the knot the same year.

The couple went on to welcome Mia in 2000, but then divorced just a year later. 

Kate has also insisted she was not the brains behind Mia’s I Am Ruth casting, as she said the idea came from Dominic Savage, the show’s creator, and said she told him: ‘You have to audition her, and that has to be separate to me.’

Speaking of her casting in the show, Mia said: ‘I had just finished school, was free of exam hell, and felt excited, nervous and ready to start auditioning for things, and hoping that the opportunities to audition would come my way…

‘I just hoped I would get the chance to do what I had wanted to do for so long!’

While the show’s producer Krish Majumdar, also confirmed in a radio interview that Mia had auditioned separately to her mother.

He said: ‘Mia was there completely on merit and her performance was terrific.’