Inside the Arquette Acting Dynasty—the Untold Stories Behind the Legendary Hollywood Family
From Cliff to Rosanna, Patricia and David, how the Arquettes shaped movie history
The Arquettes are one of Hollywood’s most famous families, and there’s more to them than just Rosanna, Patricia and David. The A-listers and their lesser-known but still noteworthy siblings, Richmond and Alexis, have captivated audiences for decades, but you may not have realized that their dad and grandpa were also famous actors. The Arquette acting lineage goes back to the mid-20th century, when their grandfather, Cliff Arquette, was a popular TV presence and his son, Lewis Arquette, later became a prolific character actor.
Even though the Arquette siblings came from a well-known family, that didn’t mean they had it easy, as they spent their childhoods in a cabin on a commune with no bathroom, running water or electricity, and the family of seven slept in a single room. On top of that, Lewis battled drug addiction while his wife was physically abusive. As Rosanna put it, “There was a lot of drama in the house.”
The Arquette siblings have faced their share of struggles and weathered family tragedies, but there’s no denying their talent and charisma. Read on to learn all about the five Arquette siblings and the earlier generation that started a dynasty.
Cliff Arquette: The grandpa and ‘Hollywood Squares’ staple
Cliff Arquette, the famous grandfather of the Arquette family, was born in 1905. The actor and comedian, who got his start in vaudeville and radio and worked with the likes of Fred Astaire and Jack Benny, was best known for portraying Charley Weaver, a character he introduced during ’50s TV appearances and would be associated with for the rest of his career.
The character of Charley was a folksy, bespectacled old man who became a staple on the early talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar. In the ’60s and ’70s, Charley was a panelist on Hollywood Squares, where he answered questions about American history and made goofy and grandfatherly jokes. Cliff appeared on over 1,000 episodes before he died of a heart attack at age 68 in 1974.
Outside of playing Charley, Cliff was credited with inventing the modern rubber theatrical prosthetic mask and in the ’50s, he opened the Charley Weaver Museum of the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Lewis Arquette: The TV mainstay and dad of 5 stars
Lewis Arquette was the only child of Cliff Arquette and Mildred Nesbitt Le May. He was born in 1935 and had a decades-long acting career. From 1978 to 1981, he had a recurring role on the popular historical drama The Waltons, and he was in the cast of the sitcom Rocky Road from 1985 to 1986. He also did voiceover work for many TV shows and appeared in films like The China Syndrome (1979), Tango & Cash (1989) and Waiting for Guffman (1996).
Lewis and his wife, Brenda, had five children, Rosanna, Patricia, David, Alexis and Richmond Arquette, all of whom went on to become actors. Lewis frequently shared the screen with his famous kids, and appeared opposite Rosanna in The Linguini Incident (1991), David in Scream 2 (1997) and Patricia in Little Nicky (2000), among other family collaborations.
Lewis died of heart failure at age 65 in 2001. Even though Lewis and his father were actors, he didn’t initially want his kids to get into the entertainment industry, and Patricia said, “My parents didn’t want me acting when I was a kid. They really didn’t want me or any of us acting at all. It’s a hard business.”
Rosanna Arquette: The first Arquette sibling to become a star
Rosanna Arquette, the oldest of the five Arquette siblings, was born in 1959. She began acting in the late ’70s and had her breakout role starring opposite Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). Roles in a quirky variety of films ,including After Hours (1985), Pulp Fiction (1994), Crash (1996), Buffalo ’66 (1998) and The Whole Nine Yards (2000) followed. From 2006 to 2007, she starred in the sitcom What About Brian, and she made her directorial debut with the documentary Searching for Debra Winger (2002).
In recent years, Rosanna has shown up in episodes of Ratched (2020), The L Word: Generation Q (2021), Big Sky (2022 to 2023), Florida Man (2023), Presumed Innocent (2024) and other shows, and she’s continued to stay busy with movies, with three feature credits in 2024 alone and multiple projects in post-production.
Rosanna dated musicians like Toto’s Steve Porcaro (inspiring the band’s 1982 hit “Rosanna”) and Peter Gabriel, and has been married four times: to director Tony Greco, film composer James Newton Howard, restaurateur John Sidel (with whom she has a daughter, Zoë) and investment banker Todd Morgan.
When asked if she ever experienced professional competition within her famous family, Rosanna revealed, “My dad had a kind of weird competitiveness with me that I never felt was super-supportive. Everybody would say: ‘Your dad is so proud of you!’ And I’d say: ‘Oh, he is? Well, that’s nice!’ But he was a struggling actor who never really made it and then his kids all became, you know, stars.”
Richmond Arquette: A less familiar Arquette who still acts regularly
Richmond Arquette, the second-oldest Arquette sibling, was born in 1963. While he’s not a household name like Rosanna, Patricia and David, he’s had small roles in many notable movies over the years, and has worked frequently with acclaimed director David Fincher, appearing in his films Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999), Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Mank (2020).
Richmond had a bit part opposite his brother, David, in Scream 3 (2000) and appeared in a 2006 episode of Medium, which starred his sister, Patricia. Richmond didn’t initially want to act, but started to pursue it after an ex-girlfriend joked about how successful his siblings were. He admitted, “I’m more of an introvert,” but said that once he took acting classes, “I started hearing there was a way to do acting that I could relate to. There was a way to put yourself in that situation so you’re working on connecting something in yourself.”
Patricia Arquette: From classic ’90s movies to wowing audiences on TV
Patricia Arquette, the middle Arquette sibling, was born in 1968. She rose to fame in the ’90s, starring in classics of the decade like True Romance (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Flirting With Disaster (1996), Lost Highway (1997), Stigmata (1999) and Bringing Out the Dead (1999). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a single mom in the innovative coming-of-age film Boyhood, which was shot over a period of 11 years before being released in 2014.
Patricia has also had an impressive TV career and starred in the supernatural drama Medium from 2005 to 2011. She was then in the shows Boardwalk Empire (2013 to 2014), CSI: Cyber (2015 to 2016), Escape at Dannemora (2018), The Act (2019) and High Desert (2023). Most recently, she’s won acclaim for her role on the trippy sci-fi series Severance, which was just renewed for its third season.
Patricia has a son, Enzo, from her relationship with musician Paul Rossi. She was married to actor Nicolas Cage from 1995 to 2001 and Thomas Jane from 2006 to 2011. She and Jane have a daughter, Harlow. Following her second divorce, she was in a relationship with painter Eric White.
Looking back at her unique background, Patricia said, “I’m a fourth-generation actor, so I grew up with it, and it was part of the way that we communicated as a family and something we really valued.”
Alexis Arquette: An actress and activist who was gone too soon
Alexis Arquette, the second-youngest of the Arquette siblings, was born in 1969. She had small parts in Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), Of Mice and Men (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Wedding Singer (1998) and Bride of Chucky (1998) and appeared in episodes of Roseanne (1995), Friends (2000 to 2001) and Xena: Warrior Princess (2001). In 2006, she was part of the reality series The Surreal Life.
In the ’00s, Alexis made headlines when she came out as transgender, becoming one of the first celebrities to do so. Her gender transition was the subject of the 2007 documentary Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.
Alexis was a fierce advocate for transgender rights up until 2016, when she tragically died from HIV-related cardiac arrest at just 47 years old. Alexis’ untimely death had a major impact on her siblings, and Rosanna, Patricia, David and Richmond released an emotional statement saying, “As Alexis transitioned into being a woman, she taught us tolerance and acceptance. As she moved through her process, she became our sister, teaching us what real love is. We learned what real bravery is through watching her journey of living as a trans woman. We came to discover the one truth—that love is everything.”
David Arquette: The youngest Arquette and a horror franchise fixture
The youngest of the Arquette siblings, David Arquette, was born in 1971. He got his start in the cast of the short-lived shows The Outsiders (1990) and Parenthood (1990 to 1991) and became a star with his role as the bumbling police deputy in Scream (1996). He came back for four sequels, and after being killed off in the fifth installment, he’ll be returning for the highly-anticipated seventh film next year.
Outside of the popular horror franchise, David has been in Never Been Kissed (1999), Eight Legged Freaks (2002), Hamlet 2 (2008) and Bone Tomahawk (2015). He also starred in the shows In Case of Emergency (2007) and Cleaners (2013 to 2014) and provided voiceover work for the animated series Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011 to 2016).
In 2000, when he starred in the wrestling-themed film Ready to Rumble, David briefly became a professional wrestler, but he was widely criticized for this move, and his time in the ring negatively impacted his career. His later attempt at a wrestling comeback was the subject of the 2020 documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette.
David married his Scream co-star Courteney Cox in 1999. They had a daughter, Coco, before divorcing in 2013. Since 2015, he’s been married to producer Christina McLarty and they have two sons, Charlie and Augustus.
David has been candid about his struggles with addiction over the years and is now sober. Reflecting on growing up in a family of actors, he said, “We had a turbulent childhood, but also a childhood filled with love.”
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