The nepo baby discourse has reached fever point in recent years, with many turning on stars who have used their parent’s name to get ahead in their own careers.
So it’s somewhat refreshing to see this isn’t the case for Jude Crook – the 21-year-old son of BAFTA-winning The Office and Pirates Of The Caribbean star Mackenzie Crook.
Many were shocked this week when Jude – named after the Thomas Hardy novel – made his red carpet debut at the UK premiere of Johnny Depp’s Jeanne Du Barry, towering over his 5ft 9inch father.
Like his dad, Jude doesn’t court the limelight, yet has been quietly working away behind the scenes on a career in the movie industry.
So dedicated is he to the cause that he – along with three friends and fellow London Film Academy graduates – launched production company Jacco Macacco Films in 2022 and has been creating and starring in small indie projects.
Jude Crook – the 21-year-old son of BAFTA-winning star Mackenzie Crook – has quietly launched a filmmaking career without hanging on his father’s career coattails
Many were shocked this week when Jude made his red carpet debut at the UK premiere of Johnny Depp ‘s Jeanne Du Barry, towering over his 5ft 9inch father
Like his dad, Jude doesn’t court the limelight, yet has been quietly working away behind the scenes (pictured with sister Scout and mum Lindsay in 2005)
More impressing, is that all this has been done away from the spotlight.
Jude’s Instagram is private and has just 163 followers, while he has given no interviews mentioning his famous name.
While he’s determined not to get ahead by hanging on his father’s coattails, it’s hardly surprising that Jude has pursued a career in acting, given his upbringing.
At just three weeks old he was flown out to St Vincent, where his father was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl alongside the likes of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.
His childhood was spent toddling around movie sets as he and mother Lindsay Cook – Mackenzie’s wife since 2001 – jetted to the Caribbean while the franchise was filming.
He learnt about the movie magic of prosthetics and special effects from a young age, with Mackenzie noting at the time: ‘He knows everyone and he understands exactly what we are doing.
‘He’s watched the movies – he’s only four, but he doesn’t get freaked out by it at all because he’s had lunch with all the pirates and the cannibals.’
Jude also quickly formed a bond with the film’s lead Johnny Depp, with Mackenzie recalling: ‘Jude was a toddler and he was on set with me. Then he just wanders off and knocks on Johnny Depp’s trailer door.
‘After 15 minutes I go off to find him and there he is sitting with Johnny watching TV. It was a lovely moment, but not surprising at all. Johnny is a really cool, relaxed sort of guy.
‘What was funny was that Jude wasn’t starstruck at all because for him he was off to see Captain Jack Sparrow not Johnny Depp.
‘He had a stunt double who looked just like him and my son was just as happy being with either.’
At just three weeks old Jude was flown out to St Vincent, where his father was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl alongside the likes of Johnny Depp
Jude’s childhood was spent toddling around movie sets and meeting A-Listers (Mackenzie pictured with Johnny, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom)
Despite growing up around Hollywood A-listers and enjoying lavish trips to the Caribbean, Jude had a down to earth upbringing and spend his childhood outside exploring along with younger sister Scout – named after To Kill A Mockingbird.
A keen conservationist, Mackenzie owns an an eight-acre wood in Essex, full of hornbeam, oak and sweet chestnut, where Jude would spend weekends with him.
Mackenzie previously explained: ‘The woodland is a retreat, to instill in my kids a love for the countryside.
‘My son suddenly got into the idea of managing it, so we’ve started going regularly to do a bit of coppicing.’
The Detectorist star also passed on his ‘niche and detailed’ passions to Jude, who wanted tools to build things on his birthday rather than money and modern gadgets.
At age nine Jude landed his first movie by accident, a voice role in the 2012 BAFTA-nominated stop motion film, I Am Tom Moody.
Mackenzie had been cast in the short film, which told the story of a musician battling his inner child, when writer Ainslie Henderson suggested Jude work alongside him.
Ainslie confessed: ‘When I went to record it with him [Mackenzie], I knew I still didn’t have anyone to be the son and I kind of sheepishly suggested, because I felt bad asking Jude to do it, and I didn’t know if he could do it, as I hadn’t seen Jude in a few years.’
Thankfully, Jude had inherited his father’s talents.
A keen conservationist, Mackenzie owns an an eight-acre wood in Essex, full of hornbeam, oak and sweet chestnut, where Jude would spend weekends with him (pictured 2004)
At age nine Jude landed his first movie by accident, a voice role in the 2012 BAFTA-nominated stop motion film, I Am Tom Moody alongside his father
Ainslie continued: ‘We just decided to do it. Jude absolutely amazed me so natural. Innocent but intense.
‘The voice recording bit was done in Mackenzie’s spare room, because I didn’t want to take Jude to a recording studio as I thought that make him uncomfortable.
‘We just did it in the room in his house, and we made this little recording booth out of mattresses and duvets, like a den and we crawled inside with this one microphone and the two of them crowded around it and whispered into it.
‘They recorded maybe three times, and each take was just lovely.’
Jude stumbling into the industry follows a vein similar to his father.
Mackenzie has confessed he had no desire to pursue a career in acting until the age of 15 when he was handed a flyer for a youth theatre and decided to check it out on a whim.
He previously said of the incident: ‘That moment was defining – I went along and met friends I still have today. The seeds of my career were planted at that moment.’
Jude also clearly caught the acting bug with his voice work experience, yet put his head down and finished his school work before going on to study at London Film Academy, regarded as one of the best filmmaking schools in UK.
It was there he befriended Oscar Hewitt, Gus Herbert-Müller and Sara Beshiri – with the group going on to found Jacco Macacco Films in 2022.
The following year they released A Van Called Muriel, an independent film about four aspiring musicians on a chaotic road trip to their first-ever gig, with Jude co-writing and starring in the film.
In 2022 Jude’s production company released A Van Called Muriel, an independent film about four aspiring musicians on a chaotic road trip to their first-ever gig, with Jude co-writing and starring in the film
Despite promoting the film on social media and in local interviews, Mackenzie’s name or Jude’s link to the star was not mentioned in order to garner press.
A second project is already in the pipeline, short comedy heist, Saving Penelope about friends on the hunt for a stolen Tamagotchi.
Jude does not feature in front of the camera for this project but is the sole writer and composer.
Mackenzie also has work in post-production as he has just finished filming for fantasy series The Wayfinders.
With a gap in his busy working schedule it remains to be seen if he will ever lend his star power to one of Jude’s projects, and indeed, if his son would want him to.