Amy Stiller Talks Challenges Watching Ben Stiller Rise in Hollywood

Ben Stiller’s older sister, Amy Stiller, had a difficult time watching her brother’s rise to fame.

“I just remember when I did the Nurse [in] Romeo and Juliet, I just remember I want to do this,” Amy, 64, said to Ben, 59, in the AppleTV documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, which premiered on Friday, October 17. “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 rose to fame in the late ‘90s after starring in countless comedies, including There’s Something About Mary, Meet the Parents, Zoolander and more. Amy, for her part, also had a desire to act but didn’t have the same experience as her younger brother.

Amy opened up about the pressure she felt growing up with famous parents. Amy and Ben are the children of the late comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Jerry was also best known for playing Jason Alexander’s father on Seinfeld. (Meara died in May 2015 at age 85, while Jerry passed away in May 2020 at age 92.)

“Dad had an overprotectiveness that would stifle me, and I felt, like, paralyzed,” she explained. “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.”

Amy added that being the eldest daughter also contributed to her struggles.

“I just felt intimidated because I was the oldest,” she continued. “Like, I had all these expectations. And it was a really tough time for women.”

Ben acknowledged that because their parents were in the spotlight, neither one of them had the chance to “fail anonymously.”

“I had a lot of opportunities, and I just didn’t know what to do with them,” Amy recalled of growing up with her parents and their connections in Hollywood. “I didn’t know who I was, and I look back on it and it was so painful.”

The documentary also showed home footage that included Amy in the background, expressing her frustration.

“I’m just sick of it. I’m sick of Dad. I’m sick of everything,” she said in the old clip. “These tend to be negative.”

Amy did eventually get to pursue her dreams as she’s made appearances in Ben’s projects, including Zoolander, Dodgeball, Tropic Thunder, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and more. She’s also had roles in The King of Queens, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and others.

In Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, Ben gave an inside look at his parents’ life and how their family dynamic was when he and Amy were young. Ahead of the release, Ben spoke to The Sunday Times about how his parents’ busy careers and constant traveling had an effect on him and Amy during their upbringing.

“It totally affected us. I just remember missing them terribly,” he told the outlet in October. “And when they would come back, my sister and I would act out Jesus Christ Superstar or something in the lounge.”