Ben Stiller comes from a line of comedians, but the actor’s 2025 documentary, Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, peeled back the curtain on his relationship with his sister, Amy Stiller.
Amy and Ben were born to dad Jerry Stiller and mom Anne Meara in 1961 and 1965, respectively. While Ben’s acting career got off to a hot start in the late ‘80s and ‘90s — following in the footsteps of his famous parents — Amy admitted in the documentary she went through a difficult time trying to replicate her family’s success.
“I had a lot of opportunities, and I just didn’t know what to do with them,” she said. “I didn’t know who I was, and I look back on it and it was so painful.”
Eventually, she was able to break through those moments of doubt, and has since earned more than 50 credits to her name in show business.
Scroll below for more on Ben’s sister and her entertainment career.
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Who Is Amy Stiller?
Amy is the eldest child of Jerry and Meara. She and Ben were born and raised in New York City by their famous parents, who gained stardom through standup as a comedic duo before going on to do their own respective projects. Jerry was best known for roles in Seinfeld and The King of Queens while Meara gained notoriety for Rhoda and The Other Woman. (Meara died in 2015 at age 85, and Jerry died in 2020 at age 92.)
The Stiller kids got a taste of the life of an entertainer at an early age when Jerry and Meara took them on a talk show in 1974. During the TV appearance, Amy and Ben played their violins in front of the camera as their parents laughed.
“They just wanted to fill that segment, choose a skit,” Ben told The Sunday Times in October 2025 of the moment. “They thought that it would be cute and I never felt they were trying to exploit us. They were just trying to be entertaining.”
While things often seemed peachy for the family in the public eye, Ben confessed it was hard on him and Amy to have their parents working all the time.
“I just remember missing them terribly,” Ben said. “And when they would come back, my sister and I would act out Jesus Christ Superstar or something in the lounge.”
Amy Stiller and Ben Stiller Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for FLC
Amy Stiller Found It Difficult to Get Her Big Break
Ben briefly worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live in the years before his big break in 1998’s There’s Something About Mary. More comedic roles followed, thrusting Ben further into the spotlight while Amy worked as a waitress.
“I just remember when I did the Nurse [in] Romeo and Juliet, I just remember I want to do this,” she said in the documentary. “That’s why all those years when I was waitressing and you were getting famous, do you know how f***ing hard that was for me? Some of it was character building, but to a point.”
Ben agreed that his sister had a “tough road” and faced “ups and downs” during that period of time. In particular, Amy recalled her relationship with Jerry and how it held her back from pursuing some of the opportunities she dreamed of doing.
“Dad had an overprotectiveness that would stifle me, and I felt, like, paralyzed,” Amy reflected. “The thing is, you had something you could sink your teeth into. I don’t remember, for me, anything that I felt that way about.”
She further explained that being the eldest child of two Hollywood legends was a lot to live up to.
“I just felt intimidated because I was the oldest,” Amy said. “Like, I had all these expectations. And it was a really tough time for women.”
Ben shared the sentiment that being the children of famous parents made it impossible to “fail anonymously,” as much of their lives were being broadcast for the world to see.
Amy Stiller Became an Actress
Amy’s road to stardom may not have been easy, but now, she’s living the dream. Like her parents and brother, Amy is an actress whose credits include Highway to Hell, Law & Order, Friends and Freaks and Geeks. She has appeared in several of Ben’s projects, including Meet the Parents, Zoolander, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Little Fockers and Zoolander 2.
Amy appeared on an episode of Ben’s critically acclaimed Apple TV+ sensation, Severance, in 2022. More recently, she acted in the 2025 short Fire at Will. She also earned notoriety for her one woman show about her unconventional life, Just Trust.
Amy Is an Aunt
Amy earned another title — aunt — when Ben welcomed his first child, daughter Ella, with wife Christine Taylor in 2002. Their family expanded again in 2005 when Christine gave birth to son Quinlin.
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost is out in select theaters now and will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on October 24.
