Troy Garity

Troy Garity knows he has something to prove. He is, after all, the only child of Jane Fonda and former California state senator Tom Hayden--who surnamed their baby boy after his paternal grandmother in order to nurture his own identity.

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"It's natural to try and assume their shoes," he says of his parents, who neither encouraged nor discouraged him to follow in their footsteps. "It's even natural to try and outdo them."

With his biggest role yet, playing a wannabe stuntman in this months Barry Levinson-directed robbery comedy Bandits, starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett, Garity may finally be on his way. He won the part after an arduous auditioning process--"the normal way a struggling actor acquires work," he's quick to note.

At 28, he's hardly young to be landing his first big movie, especially as the child of an Oscar-winning actress--and the scion of a Hollywood dynasty. So, why is Garity just making his way out of obscurity? He's been busy honing his craft at Manhattan's American Academy of Dramatic Arts and paying his dues in smaller roles: he played a bartender in a made-for-TV movie starring Sinbad, an intern in Conspiracy Theory, and, oddly enough, a young Tom Hayden protesting the Vietnam War in last year's Abbie Hoffman biopic Steal This Movie!

Like his father, Garity has a passion for politics, which includes being the founder of Peace Process Network, a worldwide gang-violence prevention coalition. And, like his mother, he makes every effort to keep his career in perspective: "Acting should be used as a vehicle to learn more and explore more," he says. "It isn't an end-all."

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Tasha Nita McNeil