“The more you practice acting and putting yourself in different headspaces, the more you can put yourself in the mind of whatever stories you might come up with.”

Joe Anders

The 22-year-old son of Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes is carving out a film career on his own terms, with a Netflix screenplay under his belt and a new role alongside Amy Adams and Javier Bardem

By Maggie Turner

Seven years ago, Joe Anders made his feature-film debut in the colossal war film 1917. Only his name didn’t appear in the credits as such. At the time, the then 15-year-old went by his given name, Joe Mendes. But working in Hollywood with the same last name as his father, Sam Mendes—the film’s director, known for everything from American Beauty to Skyfall—quickly began to plague him with all the trials of nepo baby–dom.

At 18, Anders landed his first leading role under his new alias, and things began to feel more comfortable. “Once I got my first job on my own terms and off my own back, then I didn’t really have to think too much about outside perspectives,” he says.