Jeff Bridges' 3 Siblings: All About His Brothers and Sister

Jeff Bridges is known to legions of The Big Lebowski fans as “The Dude,” but to his family, he's known as “little brother” and “big brother.” Jeff is the middle child of three: older brother Beau Bridges is an actor, and younger sister Lucinda Bridges is an artist.

As children, they grew up in the exclusive Beverly Hills-adjacent neighborhood of Holmby Hills, California. Father Lloyd Bridges was a storied actor, and mother Dorothy Bridges was a homemaker, who loved writing and eventually published a collection of her work. The couple was married in 1938 and remained together until Lloyd’s death in 1998.

The Bridges moved from New York to California just in time for the birth of their first son, Lloyd “Beau," who was born Dec. 9, 1941. The couple welcomed son Garrett Bridges on June 14, 1948, but he died just a few months later of pneumonia. Son Jeff was born on Dec. 4, 1949, followed by daughter Lucinda “Cindy” on Oct. 18, 1953.

Inspired by their upbringing, all the Bridges siblings have large families of their own. Beau has five children — two with ex Julie Bridges and three with Wendy Treece — and six grandchildren. Cindy has three sons, and Jeff has three daughters and two grandkids with wife Susan.

“My mom was wonderful at bringing the family together," Beau told PEOPLE, adding that he and Jeff live about an hour and a half away from each other and try to get together once a month. "And now my wife Wendy does the same."

Here's everything to know about Jeff Bridges' siblings.

They were born into an artistic Hollywood family and pursued creative careers

Both Lloyd and Dorothy studied acting in college. Lloyd pursued it as a career immediately after graduating, moving to New York and struggling for years before being cast in a Broadway show, and then subsequently signed to a studio contract with Columbia Pictures.

It wasn’t long before Lloyd started including his family in his projects. On his breakthrough hit Sea Hunt, Lloyd brought his children and wife on the series, and they all appeared on The Lloyd Bridges Show from 1962-1963. Both Beau and Jeff followed in their father's footsteps. Beau has appeared on shows like The Fugitive and Bonanza, and in movies like Norma Rae and The Hotel New Hampshire. Jeff rose to prominence in films like The Last Picture Show, Tron and Starman. Cindy became a visual artist, graduating from UC Santa Barbara with degrees in art and creative writing, according to her LinkedIn.

The family would have “salon night” at home

When the kids were young, Lloyd and Dorothy would host creative friends for “salon night” for an evening of parlor games and performances. Regular guests would be Jeff’s godparents Larry Parks (star of The Jolson Story) and Betty Garrett (of All in the Family). Cindy recalled during one such gathering that composer Meredith Willson played songs from a show he was working on at the time, which would become The Music Man.

“Mom would orchestrate the evenings, encouraging those who were unfamiliar or timid with ‘on the spot’ fun,” Cindy told The Worcester Telegram and Gazette in May 2023. “Midst it all, she would clean up, have us in bed, often with a song or a story, and off to school the next morning with a favorite sack lunch. This was her performance art. She was the hub of our family wheel.”

Beau and Jeff have acted together

In 1989, the brothers appeared as the eponymous duo in the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys, about brothers who have a tired jazz band and hire a singer (Michelle Pfeiffer) to liven up the act.

The movie has a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the “critics consensus” on the film being, "Its story is nothing special, but The Fabulous Baker Boys glows beneath luminous performances from its perfectly cast stars.”

They’ve also worked with their dad throughout the years

Jeff and Lloyd appeared together in the 1994 film Blown Away. "I remember when he came on the set, in a genuine way he was just joyful — it was contagious,” Jeff told PEOPLE in 2014 of working on that movie. “It would go through the community. With joy comes relaxation about the way things are, and with that comes getting out of your own way. And you end up with some good work."

Beau and Lloyd starred in the series Hearts of the West from 1993 to 1994. “I really loved making that series. My dad and I had a lot of scenes together,” he told PEOPLE. “He was a regular in it with me. And so for that reason, it was really wonderful to work with my teacher, my mentor.”

Though Dorothy only acted sporadically, she did appear in The Thanksgiving Promise and Secret Sins of the Father, both directed by Beau, and in See You in the Morning with Jeff.

Cindy followed in her mother’s footsteps

Despite Lloyd encouraging Cindy to continue acting, she decided not to pursue it as a career.

“I loved acting and we did it as play at home,” she told The Worcester Telegram and Gazette. “My dad would throw me in stuff. And I had fun. I did summer theater back east. But it just never bit me like a bug … I too much wanted to be a homemaker. I really loved it. I love to cook. I love raising kids. I love animals.”

"My mother was my example,” she continued. “So ever since I was a very little girl, I knew what I wanted more than anything was to have a family and to have children.”

Beau still follows his father’s example, decades after his death

Speaking to PEOPLE in August 2023, Beau reflected on the lessons he learned from his father, who died in 1998, and how he follows that advice to this day. "The word we heard a lot growing up was respect,” he said. “You need to respect all the people that you’re working with, everybody that’s involved in making the film. You need to respect yourself. You need to respect your fellow man."

He went on to describe how his dad lived with humility. “We weren’t really a ‘Hollywood' family,” Beau said. “My dad was a successful actor, but I don’t think he would’ve said that about himself. And it frustrated me. But he wanted us to really live a life of service. He had friends from all walks of life. He and my mom appreciated diversity of all kinds, and that inspired us."

Jeff says he wouldn’t be an actor without his father’s guidance

When Jeff received the Critics Choice Lifetime Achievement Award, the ceremony was on Jan. 15, 2023 — which would have been his late father’s 110th birthday. To mark the occasion, Jeff said in his speech, he was wearing his father’s cufflinks to honor him.

“He's the reason that I'm up here,” Jeff said in his speech. “I can remember him loving showbiz so much, loving acting so much, and as a kid I said, 'You know, Dad, I'm not sure I wanna be an actor.' He goes, 'What are you talkin' about?' I said, 'I wanna do painting maybe, music.' He said, 'Jeff, don't be ridiculous. Being an actor, they're gonna call on you to do all of those things you're interested in. And besides that, you're gonna get to tell all these wonderful stories from all these different perspectives of people that are alive. This is a wonderful profession.' "

Cindy encouraged their mother to fulfill a lifelong dream

Every year on Valentine’s Day, Dorothy wrote a love poem to her husband, a tradition she continued after his passing. At Cindy’s encouragement, Dorothy collected them into a book, You Caught Me Kissing: A Love Story, published in 2005.

All three siblings contributed to the book, with Cindy writing the foreword. “If I would draw my mother, the line would be in charcoal – the enduring bold mark of her strength and ability to blend, underscored by the initial ember of her warmth and random tongue of wit and fire,” she wrote in the book, according to The Worcester Telegram and Gazette. “Dorothy Louise Simpson Bridges nurtured our family that became a garden. She tended us as unique souls and set us free in a landscape of unconditional love."