Why J.K. Simmons and Wife Michelle Didn’t Want Their Daughter to Become a Child Actor (Exclusive)

The Oscar winner and Michelle Schumacher, a writer-director, worked with their now-adult children, Olivia and Joe, on a new movie

J.K. Simmons and Michelle Schumacher’s daughter Olivia has followed her parents into show business, but it wasn’t something they encouraged when she was younger.

“Growing up in L.A. she had classmates, kids who were embarking on careers when they're 12 or 5 or whatever,” Simmons, 69, tells PEOPLE. “Michelle and I both knew that it just wasn't our vibe to be taking her out on professional auditions when she was in seventh grade.”

Nevertheless, Olivia, 22 — who stars with her Oscar-winning dad, 69, in the new movie You Can’t Run Forever, which is co-written and directed by Schumacher, 57 — was interested in moviemaking.

“I grew up visiting them both on sets and stuff, and I always was so excited whenever I got to do that,” recalls Olivia, who became seriously interested when she was in middle school.

Related: J.K. Simmons and His Family 'Laughed a Lot' While Making a Movie Together — About a Serial Killer (Exclusive)

“When she announced it as a serious life goal of hers, it was sort of coincidental with all of the attention I was getting for Whiplash,” says Simmons, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2015 for playing an abusive music teacher in the drama starring Miles Teller.

“We were a little concerned that she thought being an actor meant being on a red carpet and somebody handing you a trophy all the time,” he continues.

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Olivia remembers their hesitation. “They actually didn't want me to be an actor for a while because they both know how hard it is, and they didn't want me to think that it would just be this automatic easy thing,” she says.

Simmons says his daughter has the “gene” for acting, but also encouraged her to make sure she’s doing what she loves.

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The job of an actor “is attention-seeking,” says Olivia. “So that's something that you kind of have to combat, and you have to know that you're doing it for the right reasons and not doing it for fame or for attention, and just doing it because you love it so much.”

She’s not the only child pursuing her passion. The couple’s son, Joe, 25, is a musician and composer who did the music for You Can’t Run Forever, a thriller about a man (Simmons) who snaps and goes on a killing spree.

He started playing piano when he was 6 and eventually became proficient on other instruments, like the electric bass.

The New York University graduate began writing music as a teenager, and his mom took notice. When she was making the 2017 movie I’m Not Here (also featuring Simmons and, in a minor role, Olivia), she enlisted him to write a piano piece that’s featured in the movie.

“He was still in high school,” recalls Schumacher. “Overnight he wrote the piece. He’s like, ‘Okay, here. I got to do my homework.’ ”

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For Joe, it was an eye-opening moment: “I was like, ‘Oh, this is fun. I love writing music. And I could get paid.’ ”

You Can't Run Forever is in select theaters and available on demand now.

For more on J.K. Simmons and his family, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.

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