All About Ella Beatty, Annette Bening and Warren Beatty’s Youngest Child

Ella Beatty plays lead character Lizzie Borden in Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’

NEED TO KNOW

• Ella Beatty is the youngest of Annette Bening and Warren Beatty’s four children
• She graduated from Juilliard in 2022 and made her Broadway debut in March 2024
• The actress has also appeared on-screen in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans and, most recently, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Annette Bening and Warren Beatty‘s daughter Ella Beatty has turned into a star all her own.

The youngest of their four children, Ella was born in 2000 and knew from a young age that she wanted to follow in her famous parents’ footsteps. “Playing pretend, make-believe, that was the way that I contextualized the world,” she told Sarah Paulson for Interview Magazine in June 2025. “I knew that that was who I was before I knew it was going to be my profession.”

After graduating from The Juilliard School in May 2022, Ella went on to create a career for herself in Hollywood. In March 2024, she made her Broadway debut in Appropriate, and later landed the starring role in Netflix’s crime anthology series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

Though Ella is aware of the privilege that comes with being the daughter of two acclaimed actors — who also share children Stephen, Benjamin and Isabel — she told Vogue in February 2024 that she still hopes to add something new to the conversation.

“I totally acknowledge that there is an inherent privilege and exposure that comes from having well-known actors as parents,” The Feud: Capote vs. The Swans actress said. “And I really hope that I can offer something meaningful.”

From watching her parents on set when she was a child to becoming a star in her own right, here’s everything to know about Annette Bening and Warren Beatty’s daughter, Ella Beatty.

She was born in 2000

Annette and Warren welcomed their fourth child, Ella, on April 8, 2000 — but she made her red carpet debut before she was born.

During a March 2024 appearance on Today, Annette reflected on being nominated for Best Actress at the 1999 Oscars while “extremely pregnant” with her youngest child. “It is exciting and nerve-wracking,” she recalled. “I was just about to give birth, and I know how many years ago it was because that’s my almost 24-year-old.”

“So I remember that night and just the baby was moving so much because of the adrenaline that was coursing through my system. My husband, Warren Beatty, got a big award that night, so that’s one that I’m remembering,” she added.

She grew up accompanying her parents to sets and award shows

Ella may be a burgeoning star herself, but she grew up in her mom’s dressing rooms and on the set of her parents’ projects. She told Vogue that when she was a teenager, she visited her dad while he directed the 2016 rom-com Rules Don’t Apply.

She’s also been by her parents’ side on red carpets throughout her life, starting with the 27th Annual Kennedy Center Honors carpet in 2004 when she was just 4 years old. In 2016, she accompanied her parents to the 20th Century Women screening.

She graduated from The Juilliard School

In May 2022, Ella graduated with a degree in drama from The Juilliard School as one of 18 students in her class. There, she was trained under legendary instructors who taught her that she was a “vessel for a character,” she told Vogue, meaning it was better for people to know less about who she was.

However, the best lesson she learned there was to always be ready, she told Women’s Wear Daily in February 2024.

“My favorite thing that they said to us there was ‘stay ready so you don’t gotta get ready,’ ” she said.

Her parents have given her advice about navigating the acting industry

Growing up with actor parents meant that Ella always had people to turn to for advice as she dove into a career in acting. Most importantly, she told PEOPLE in January 2024 that her mom always told her to “[be] kind, treat people with respect, work hard and be grateful.”

She elaborated on the advice to Vogue, sharing that her mom always emphasized kindness above all, while her dad was strict about being on time.

“Be kind — because there’ll always be someone more beautiful, more charming, more interesting. If you show up and be kind, it goes a long way,” she said of her mom’s input.

Ella said that in addition to their words of wisdom, she also learned much of the art of acting from watching her parents work, down to how they prepared behind the scenes.

“Just watching my mom backstage, watching how hard she works, even something like watching the way she memorizes her lines because that’s how I learn my dialogue now,” she told WWD.

Her first major project was Ryan Murphy’s Feud

Ella put her training to use in her professional debut as Kerry O’Shea, Truman Capote’s surrogate daughter, in Ryan Murphy‘s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.

She told Vogue that while the show was shooting in 2023, she would show up on set even when she wasn’t scheduled to be, just so she could watch and learn from her fellow actors. Ella added that Tom Hollander, who played Capote, took her under his wing and helped her through her first professional gig.

“He came to my dressing room privately — not in front of anybody else. He didn’t want to, I think, embarrass me or make me feel like a newbie,” she said. “He was like, ‘Do you want to run lines? Do you want to talk about the scene? Do you want to talk to each other?’ I think he had been tipped off that I was new, that I was jumping on a moving train.”

She made her Broadway debut in March 2024

In March 2024, just two months after Feud debuted, Ella performed in her first Broadway production, Appropriate. The play, led by Sarah Paulson, centers around three siblings who come back to their late father’s Arkansas home to manage his estate.

The day after her debut, Ella’s family came out in support of her. Her mom gave her a hug and kiss backstage and she posed with Annette and two of her siblings — Isabel and Stephen — in her dressing room.

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