Arnold Schwarzenegger and Patrick Schwarzenegger have discussed the trials that come with having a recognisable last name.

Terminator icon Arnold, 77, admits he was blown away by his son Patrick's acting - admitting he did not recognise his son when he took on the role of Saxon Ratliff in The White Lotus.

However, the Hollywood legend also could not understand why there could be a backlash over his son seemingly walking straight into the spotlight.

Explaining nepotism to his father, Patrick, 31, said during a conversation with Variety, "(White Lotus creator) Mike White said that (the Schwarzenegger name) comes with baggage, the idea that when you have successful parents like I do with you and Mom, there's an added level of what other people think.

"Mike was worried about, if he cast me, what other people would think. Which they did - they did care about that; people said I got the role because of you and Mom."

The rising actor, whose mother is Maria Shriver, a niece of President John F. Kennedy, continued, "There were times earlier in my career where I was wondering, does it make sense to go under an alias?

"It took a while for me to get to a point where I was less worried about living in your shadow versus wanting to do it the way I thought I should do it."

Proud dad Arnold then said, "I'm glad you kept the name, because now I can take credit."

He added, "You joined a very short list of people: You know, Jamie Lee Curtis (the daughter of Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) - I think she's one of the greatest actors in history. If you show you have the substance, you can get rid of the whole idea of nepotism."