Milo Gibson Grace Van Dien India Oxenberg Ben Hogestyn Delilah Hamlin The Next Generation These five young adults may have famous parents, but are forging their own way. FALL 2015 | 47 GRACE VAN DIEN DELILAH HAMLIN BY MELONIE MAGRUDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROXANNE Mc CANN BY MELONIE MAGRUDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROXANNE Mc CANN aroline Dorothy Grace Van Dien—Grace profession- Grace said. “He’s an actor, so he really understands how to hen Delilah Belle Hamlin was still a young teen- of her daughter’s modeling career, feeling it was more ally, and just “Gracie” to her friends and family— talk to an actor. He’s been in it for so long; he just knew the ager, she told her parents, actors Lisa Rinna and important to focus on school. Cthought she’d take a gap year after graduating from Malibu right things to say at the right moment.” WHarry Hamlin, that she wanted to be a model. They were “But she’s ready now,” Lisa said. “I was blown away High School in 2014. She had a lot to think about. She had The professional admiration was mutual. supportive—as long as she waited until she was at least by her beauty and confidence in her first photo shoot. grown up on film sets—her parents Casper Van Dien and “Working with Gracie and her sisters was a blast,” 17 years old before she started pursuing a career profes- When you wait for the right time, it can all open up. stepmother Catherine Casper said. “They were the sionally. She’s like a rosebud now.” Oxenberg are successful best part of the film. And even “I was a little confused Delilah is aware of the actors and filmed a reality with no real experience, Gra- when Mom and Dad said pitfalls of the business, TV show based on their cie was an absolute pro. She they wanted me to wait to particularly when it comes family, “I Married a Prin- didn’t drop lines once.” do this,” Delilah said. “But to the impact advertis- cess,” alongside her step- Casper described one dif- maybe it’s that they were ing has on young women’s sister India Oxenberg, ficult scene that had to be shot concerned that the indus- body image. that made being in front six times for reasons as varied try is not really respected. “Everyone has differ- of a camera as natural to as an uncooperative smoke They wanted to protect ent body types and that’s her as eating breakfast. machine to a curious castle me.” OK,” she said. “The main But the blonde teen proprietor who wandered into Well, that horse is now body type [seen in adver- with the luminous aqua- the shot. out of the barn. Delilah tising] is not the only one marine eyes had always “Gracie didn’t lose track celebrated her 17th birth- out there. I have recently thought she would be a once,” he said. “She was always day in June, and after her seen some campaigns writer. on top of her character. It was first photo shoot, photog- featuring models with a “I’m a big fan of those a great educational experience rapher Roxanne McCann thicker build and I think dystopian young adult for her.” said, “the camera loves that’s great! I think many novels like ‘Divergence,’” The horizon has broad- her.” different body types should Grace said. ened considerably for Grace It’s not like Delilah be advertised, as long as One day, her father now. When asked where she doesn’t have options. She they are healthy.” suggested she play the saw her career going, she had already appeared with Though proud of her lead in a retelling of the surprisingly talked about her parents on a real- debut, it’s not like Lisa old fairy tale “Sleeping television. ity television series that and Harry are pushing the Beauty” that he was di- “I want to do movies, but profiled their family and, fledgling out of the nest. recting. (There have been TV has gotten so interesting,” according to her mother, “It’s bittersweet,” Lisa at least four iterations she said. “I just saw this show she grew up doing musi- admitted. “Our job is just of the Grimm brothers’ called ‘Z Nation’ on Syfy that’s cal theater. (Delilah has to prepare them to fly. story in the past decade, like ‘The Walking Dead.’ It’s a been described as having We’re lucky enough to be including “Maleficent” in zombie apocalypse thing but a “power house voice” in their parents, but they’re 2014 starring Angelina I loved the character develop- performance reviews at not ours. We only get to Jolie.) ment. They really draw you in her private girls’ school.) borrow them for a while. A family venture that also starred her stepmother and and you can create something. It’s totally crazy.” Even with modeling aspirations, Delilah is not box- I see Delilah doing a lot that she doesn’t even know she two of her siblings, this “Sleeping Beauty” featured mas- She takes her craft very seriously. She has studied ing herself into a future. She wants to attend college can do.” sive CGI-generated effects and sinister castles (the film at Paul Kampf Studios and with Douglas Kaback at the after she graduates high school in 2017, but doesn’t Delilah’s in no hurry. With a preternatural patience, was shot in Bulgaria—“It was very dark,” Grace said). And Edgemar Center for the Arts. She doesn’t give herself a lot know if she wants to “stay in California.” She might she’ll take life as it comes. something clicked for her. of spare time for the typical surfing, shopping and partying study psychology, though she doesn’t necessarily want “I’m just going to wait and see what the world “Working with my dad was the best experience,” life of a summer-bound Malibu teenager. to practice. Delilah just “likes to study,” she said. brings,” Delilah said. “I usually will spend time looking up auditions of ac- How much growing up in a household with celebrity tors I like and study their technique,” she said. parents affected her career choices is open to specula- “” Even with the bleak odds of success facing any young ac- tion. “” tor, Grace said her parents support her venture into “the biz.” “I never really thought about my parents’ celeb- “I usually will spend time looking up “I think it’s a natural for her,” Casper said. “I would rity,” Delilah said. “It’s never like it was an overwhelm- “I’m just going to auditions of actors I like and study like to see her really go places, but it’s her journey, her ing thing. They were just always there. But they never path. You gotta let your kids do their own thing and hope pushed me in any particular direction.” wait and see what the their technique.” that you prepared them right.” Lisa is happy with their call on delaying the start world brings.” 48 | MALIBU TIMES MAGAZINE | #MALIBUTIMESMAG FALL 2015 | 49 BEN HOGESTYN INDIA OXENBERG BY MELONIE MAGRUDER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROXANNE Mc CANN BY LAURIE HARTT | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT LYNDEN en Hogestyn has experienced more than his share of He likes acting and being part of a production, but soon ind the things that you love in the world, and do Bperforming success, following in the footsteps of his found the pull of leather craft deeply satisfying, relishing “Fthem.” It is with this sage and self-taught advice “I am really moved by making the father Drake Hogestyn, a longtime star of daytime soap the creative process—from design to manufacture—and that India Oxenberg, daughter of Catherine Oxenberg and world a better place, and I believe it operas. Ben broke some ground in his own share of soaps, the multitude of manufacturing options presented in stepdaughter of Casper Van Dien (and stepsister to Grace including a stint on “General Hospital,” where he played building bespoke handbags. Van Dien), is changing the future one child at a time. all starts with education ... ” the first gay, male, core character in soap opera history. “I only do custom [items],” Ben said. “So that means Growing up in Malibu and Topanga’s west side, India But he became acutely aware of the ephemeral nature I can negotiate only the best materials, tracking the best spent her childhood on set with her parents. of the acting business and began to look for something to sourcing and working to find the best supply chains.” “When I was five, I thought my mom lived in a trailer,” “” do when not on set. It also means operating India said with a laugh. system that uses early “When there’s downtime, in a way that is environmen- Traveling to myriad exposure to cultures and you look to fill it,” Ben said. tally and morally account- countries and locations, languages to help children “As an artist, you have a need able. All of the animal hides she worked and lived develop and learn while to create, even if it’s during he uses—from cattle to with a range of extraor- raising them as citizens the hiatus. For me, it was ostrich to alligator—are by- dinary artists and actors. of the world. The process painting and sculpting and products of the food industry. “I got to see my builds a rich structure of welding.” And then he got into They are hides that would parents doing what they thinking that will accom- leather.