'High Desert' Star Harlow Jane 'Rebelled Against' Parents Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane's Path (Exclusive)

The Apple TV+ actress exclusively tells PEOPLE that even though she didn't intend to follow in her parents' Hollywood footsteps, "I couldn't help but secretly love it"

High Desert star Harlow Jane now embraces following in her famous parents Patricia Arquette and Thomas Jane's footsteps — but it wasn't always the path she envisioned for herself.

“I definitely rebelled against it for as long as I could,” Harlow, 20, tells PEOPLE. “I remember in first or second grade, we had a career person come to school and I told them that I wanted to be a lawyer.”

But everything changed for Harlow when she began attending a “very arts-heavy” boarding school as a teen and it became clear that acting was simply in her blood.

“That's when I decided, ‘Yeah, I don't know if I can not do this anymore for the rest of my life,’” she recalls. “I can't live a lie of wanting to be anything else.”

Related: A Guide to Hollywood's Famous Acting Families, from the Hemsworths to the Hudsons

It's no surprise Harlow couldn't resist emulating her parents given their range and accomplishments — her mother, 55, has earned an Oscar and multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for her turns in Boyhood, True Romance, Bringing Out the Dead, Medium, The Act and Severance. And her father, 54, made a name for himself — and racked up his own three Golden Globe nominations — for his work on projects including Hung, The Punisher, The Mist and The Expanse.

That said, Harlow admits that the day-to-day experience of life in the business wasn't exactly thrilling to her when she was younger.

“Being on set, part of me was bored, because whatever your parent does ... it's not exciting — especially when you're a teenager,” Harlow says. “You're going through life stages. You don't see the value in what your parents are doing.”

Related: Patricia Arquette Recalls Failed 'Jerry Maguire' Audition with Tom Cruise: 'I Blew It'

“But,” she adds, “I loved going with my mom into the makeup trailer, and I loved watching on the screens. I loved watching the director work. And I never wanted to admit it because I was like, ‘It's lame.’”

“I did not want to become another actor,” she continues. “But I couldn't help but secretly love it.”

Related: Timothée Chalamet Dreams of Landing an Apple TV+ Role in Funny New Ad: 'Hey, Apple — Call Me'

Now Jane is taking her mother's inspiration to a new level in High Desert, turning in an angst-ridden performance as the younger version of Arquette's character Peggy, an addict who attempts to turn her life around by becoming a private investigator.

Looking back now, the actress says she feels “lucky” to have been surrounded by “eccentric” characters and creativity from a young age thanks to her family of actors.

“I think people who are artists and creative, we're pretty prone to our big emotions,” she shares. “But also, it was beautiful. It was great. I'm lucky to have grown up around so much art and creation and creativity. It was a general spirit of playfulness, even today.”

Plus, Harlow adds that her father is pretty “thrilled” that she's taking a cue from him professionally.

“He would never admit it, but he is very, very excited,” the High Desert star says. “He's thrilled because his whole side of the family, they're all scientists. They're really, really intelligent people, but they're not so much into the arts. And so I think for him, having a daughter that has the same interests as his, he gets so happy.”

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All episodes of High Desert are available to stream now on Apple TV+.

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