Steven Spielberg‘s hit Hollywood films have dominated the box office for decades, but his biggest achievement may be raising a blended family of seven children.
Despite his family life rarely making headlines, the famed director’s then 24 year-old-daughter, Mikaela Spielberg, announced in February 2020 that she was working as a porn star.
One month later, she was arrested over a domestic violence incident with her fiancé, who is 26 years her senior.
Until these developments had thrust her into the public eye, Mikaela appeared to eschew the public attention. Meanwhile, her other siblings have all sought to make a name for themselves in Hollywood — and beyond.
Here’s a closer look at each of the Spielberg kids.
Jessica Capshaw
Jessica Capshaw, who was born in 1976, is Kate Capshaw’s eldest child from her first marriage with ex Robert Capshaw. When Kate married Steven in 1991, Jessica became the director’s stepdaughter at 15 years old.
In 1998, Jessica received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Brown University. Like her mother, however, Kate’s daughter soon showed interest in acting.
She is best known for her role as Arizona Robbins in “Grey’s Anatomy,” a part she played from 2005 to 2018.
Jessica is married to entrepreneur Christopher Gavigan, who co-founded The Honest Company alongside Jessica Alba. The couple share four children.
Max Samuel Spielberg
Max Spielberg is Steven’s first biological child with his former wife, Amy Irving. The couple welcomed Max in 1985, but they split four years later.
Max has followed in his father’s footsteps in the film industry. According to IMDB, Max has credits working in the art department for films like “Assassin’s Creed: Unity” and “Jurassic Park: Trespasser,” not to mention a directing credit in the 2002 short film, “Snap Shot.”
He is married to beauty blogger Valerie Spielberg.
Theo Spielberg
Kate adopted Theo Spielberg prior to marrying Steven in 1991. The director then adopted Theo, who was born in 1988, after the couple wed.
Like his other siblings, Theo also has pursued a career in the entertainment field with talent associate credits for shows like “Saturday Night Live” and Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” documentary, according to IMDB.
He also formed the indie folk-rock band, Wardell, with Sasha Spielberg, Steven’s first biological child with Kate. The duo played at South by Southwest in 2013.
“I wrote a song that needed backup vocals, and I asked Sasha to do it,” Theo told Vanity Fair in 2016 of how they combined forces.
“I was embarrassed because her voice was so much better than mine. At that point, I thought, ‘There’s something to this.’”
Sasha Spielberg
Sasha Spielberg is Steven and Kate’s first biological child together. She also goes by the stage name Buzzy Lee.
She has had roles in several of Steven’s films, including “The Post,” “The Terminal” and “Indiana Jones.”
“If you see my IMDb, it’s pretty obvious that a lot of them are my dad’s movies, and he would always just find these little parts for me, and be like, ‘Hey, I need a favor, do you want to be in this little role where you punch Shia LaBeouf?'” she said of her acting career during a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone.
“They were so little — I’d take a day off from high school or middle school to shoot, and I felt so cool,” she continued. “It was just a cute, endearing bonding experience. It’s a very specific father-daughter–bonding thing.”
Sasha is also a singer and musician, who posts videos of herself playing the piano on Instagram. As previously mentioned, she is part of Wardell, an indie-folk duo with her brother Theo.
Sasha married artist and designer Harry McNally, who is the son of restaurateur Keith McNally, in May 2022.
Sawyer Spielberg
Sawyer Spielberg is Steven and Kate’s second biological child together. He was born in 1992.
He is an actor who made his first big-screen debut in a feature film in 2020. Sawyer was featured in “Honeydew,” a horror movie that also stars Malin Barr and Barbara Kingsley.
According to IMDB, he also had a minor role as a “plaza protestor” in his father’s 2017 film “The Post.”
Although Sawyer didn’t always aspire to be an actor, he revealed on The Drew Barrymore Show in April 2021 that his famous father often treated their household as a movie set — preparing him for his future career.
“When I was a teenager, I had a hard time getting up for school,” he explained. “One morning, he came in and he said, ‘OK, I’m a director, you’re an actor. I’m going to barge into your room and you have to get up, brush your teeth, get dressed and head down for breakfast.'”
“Sure enough, he came in, he said ‘action,’ and I got up, brushed my teeth, came downstairs for breakfast and it worked. His directing skills have worked in both the cinema and at home.”
Sawyer studied acting at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York and wed Raye Levine Spielberg in October 2018.
Mikaela Spielberg
Mikaela George Spielberg is Steven and Kate’s second adopted child, but the first child they adopted together. The couple adopted her right after she was born in 1996.
In March 2020, she revealed she wanted to do porn — particularly solo sex videos. She told the US Sun at the time that her parents have “always known that whatever I wanted to do in life I probably was going to do it whether they liked it or not.”
“It kind of felt like a little bit of a relief,” she added. “It was like they were preparing themselves to get the news for this and they’re not sad for me and my choice of career.”
Sources later told The Post that while Steven and Kate were supportive of Mikaela, they were a bit concerned behind closed doors.
“Outwardly, Steven and Kate — who are the most evolved parents in the world and love their kids beyond all measure — have always been supportive of Mikaela and try to understand her,” a family friend said. “Obviously, though, they’re embarrassed by her sudden public admission of entry into the sex worker world.”
In February of that year, Mikaela was arrested in Nashville after she allegedly became violent with her then 50-year-old fiancé, Chuck Pankow. However, Mikaela’s lawyer told the US Sun that he was “confident” they could “ultimately get the case dismissed and expunged” — which they did in September 2020.
Mikaela has claimed in the past that she was groomed and abused by “predators” who were not in her family or their circle of friends. She has also struggled with alcoholism, borderline personality disorder, low self-esteem and body image issues.
She claimed that her new career path was a way for her to feel confident in herself and her body after years of battling her mental health.
“My safety has always been a number one priority for them,” she told the US Sun of her parents. “I’m doing this, not out of an urge to hurt anybody or be spiteful about it, I’m doing this because I want to honor my body in a way that’s lucrative.”
Destry Allyn Spielberg
Destry Allyn Spielberg is Steven and Kate’s youngest child, and their third biological child together. She and Mikaela are less than 10 months apart in age.
She is a model who is signed to DT Model Management and has chalked up a runway walk for Dolce & Gabbana in 2017. According to IMDB, Destry has also worked as an actress in films such as “Mass Hysteria” and the short “Rosie.”
Destry found herself in the middle of the nepotism conversation in 2021 after she was called out on Twitter for writing and directing a short film starring several other children of Hollywood stars.
“I am just a young aspiring female filmmaker who admires the art of cinema,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “People can argue nepotism, but I know deep down that I worked hard to get where I am and it wasn’t easy.”
While Destry acknowledged that she was “born with privilege,” she argued that writing her own stories would only help people who were born into other less favorable positions.
“I own that through and through! I make it my mission to bring new talent into the industry & give opportunities to artists of all backgrounds. No one should be left out because of the connections they don’t have.”
The London-based beauty got engaged to Swiss actor Genc Legrand in July 2020, but they seemingly broke up about a year later.
