Amanda Peet is receiving renewed attention for her head-turning role in the new Apple TV+ black comedy-drama Your Friends and Neighbors as Mel Cooper.
She plays the ex-wife of series lead Jon Hamm plus the best friend of Olivia Munn, who has a complicated on-and-off sexual relationship with Jon’s character Andrew “Coop” Cooper.
Complex family dynamics, in fact, play a big part in the show, which debuted on April 11 and has already received positive reviews. And Amanda herself comes from quite a prominent household.
Read on to learn more about the star’s famous family members…
Since 2006, Amanda has been married to screenwriter, novelist and producer David Benioff. The 54-year-old has several major credits to his name, although none more popular than Game of Thrones.
Born David Friedman, he collaborated with D.B. Weiss to co-create the beloved HBO adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s series of books for the screen, winning six Primetime Emmy Awards for his work.
His first published novel came in 2001, The 25th Hour, later adapted into a film by Spike Lee. He was also a writer for the movies Troy (2004), The Kite Runner (2007) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), plus the co-creator and co-writer for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem (2024).
Amanda and David share three children, whom they keep away from the public eye: 18-year-old Frances, 15-year-old Molly, and 10-year-old Henry.
David is the son of American economist Stephen Friedman, now 87. His father was the former chairman of the U.S. President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and, most notably, Goldman Sachs.
He also has two buildings named after him at his alma mater, Cornell University. His wife, Barbara Benioff, is the chairwoman of the board of governors of Hebrew Union College.
David also happens to be second cousins with Marc Benioff, the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, one of the most profitable cloud software companies in San Francisco, as well as the co-owner of Time since 2018.
Amanda is also the descendant of two prominent figures of the early 20th century, both being her maternal great-grandfathers.
The first is Samuel Lionel “Roxy” Rothafel, a theatrical impresario and entrepreneur born in 1882, responsible for the popularization of cinema and the art of silent movies in the 1910s and 1920s, particularly in New York City.
He established several “movie palaces” in the city and was noted for innovative techniques such as synchronizing orchestras to silent productions. Some of his establishments include the Roxy Theatre and Radio City Music Hall.
Her other great-grandfather is Samuel Levy, born in 1876, a lawyer, businessman and public official who briefly served on the New York Board of Education before being elected President of Manhattan Borough.