She took to Instagram to mark the occasion, thanking her family for supporting her while she obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
“YOU WOULDN’T LAST AN HOUR IN THE ASYLUM (@juilliardschool) WHERE THEY RAISED ME (No, like, really),” she wrote in the post, referencing the lyrics to a Taylor Swift song.
“Yesterday I got my BFA in Acting from Juilliard. I couldn’t be happier to be done or prouder to have survived or more grateful to my family for the unwavering support that got me there and through.
“I have a degree in playing pretend!!! Yay!!!”
Ella has already made appearances on screen, including an uncredited role in her father’s 2014 film, Night At The Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
Stiller has previously opened up about a tough conversation he’d had with his daughter, telling Esquire in 2022 that she’d called him out for “not being there” enough for her when she was growing up.
“She’s pretty articulate about it, and sometimes it’s stuff that I don’t want to hear. It’s hard to hear,” he told the publication.
“Because it’s me not being there in the ways that I saw my parents not being there. And I had always thought, ‘Well I won’t do that’. But then it’s that thing that, like, I was trying to navigate my own desire to fulfil the hopes and dreams I had, too. And that doesn’t feel great, but it’s important to acknowledge.”
Stiller added: “What I’ve learned is that your kids are not keeping score on your career. It would be solipsistic to think that my kids actually care about that.
“They just want a parent who’s emotionally present and supportive of them. That’s probably what they want more than for me to be going off and pushing the bounds of my creativity.”
Stiller and Taylor met in 1999, were married a year later, and went on to have two children together: Ella and her brother, Quinlin, now 19.
The couple split in 2017, but quietly reunited in 2022, much to fans’ delight.
