Natalia Bryant has spent much of her young adulthood building an identity beyond one of the most famous surnames in sports.
But after the 23-year-old stepped out for the 2026 US Open, fans could not help looking back at where she came from.
The eldest daughter of Vanessa Bryant and late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant made a stylish appearance at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City on September 8…. Continue Reading ⬇️
Natalia stopped for photographs on the tournament’s signature blue carpet before heading inside, offering fans another glimpse of just how much she has changed since the little girl once photographed beside her famous father.
Her outfit was understated but polished.
Natalia wore a pale-yellow belted jacket over a coordinating top, pairing the look with wide-leg blue jeans, delicate strappy sandals and a gold-toned shoulder bag.
Layered necklaces completed the ensemble.
But it was Natalia herself — particularly her height, confident walk and resemblance to members of her famous family — that quickly became the bigger conversation online.
One viewer thought she had inherited features from both parents.
“She got taller & slim Down omg look just like her Dad 🙏🏽but then she also favor the mom,” the commenter wrote.
Others noticed something more specific.
It was not necessarily Natalia’s face that reminded them of Kobe.
It was the way she moved.
“Simply Beautiful walking like her DAD💔,” one fan wrote.
“She walks just like her dad,” another agreed.
Someone else affectionately added, “Walking like papa 😌😌🥹”
For longtime fans of Kobe, those comments carried an emotional undertone.
Natalia was only 17 when her father and younger sister Gianna died in January 2020. Seeing her now as an accomplished 23-year-old inevitably reminds people how much time has passed — and how many milestones have arrived since then.
Not everybody looking at Natalia saw Kobe, however.
A few commenters made an unexpected comparison to Ivanka Trump.
“Now hear me out.. she looks like a black Ivanka Trump. Beautiful!” one person wrote.
Another agreed, saying, “Really, she looks like Ivanka Trump.”
Her height generated almost as much attention.
“She super tall. Runway material 😍😍😍😍😍😍,” one fan declared.
Another person watching footage from the event thought Natalia looked every bit the professional model.
“Sooo pretty,” the commenter wrote, adding, “Looking like. A model [sic].”
That description is particularly fitting because modeling is no longer simply an interest for Natalia.
It has become a serious part of her professional life.
She was only 18 when she signed with IMG Models in 2021.
At the time, Natalia explained that fashion had fascinated her from childhood.
“I have always been interested in fashion since a very young age,” she said.
“I have a love for the industry, and ever since I can remember, I wanted to model.”
She acknowledged that she still had plenty to learn but viewed modeling as an opportunity to develop creatively and express another side of herself.
IMG Models senior vice president Maja Chiesi praised Natalia’s potential at the time, pointing to her beauty, talent and drive and predicting a bright future.
Several years later, that prediction has increasingly taken shape.
Natalia’s fashion career has taken her into major international fashion circles, with work connected to Paris, Milan and New York.
Her résumé has included campaigns for Bulgari and Victoria’s Secret Pink, along with appearances at prominent fashion events.
One of her biggest moments arrived in September 2023.
Natalia made her runway debut for Versace during Milan Fashion Week.
Wearing a structured black dress with angular shoulders, silver chrome ballet flats and a classic black leather purse, she walked the runway while Vanessa proudly watched from the front row.
For Natalia, it was the realization of something she had dreamed about for years.
“VERSACE!! Grazie Mille!!” she wrote afterward.
“It still feels like a dream. I am beyond honored and grateful.”
Vanessa was just as excited.
“I’m so proud of you, baby! Congratulations!!!” she wrote.
She later celebrated again with, “You did it, mama!!!!”
Yet fashion represents only one part of Natalia’s ambitions.
While developing her modeling career, she was also pursuing another passion that carried a particularly meaningful connection to her father: filmmaking.
Natalia attended the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in film in spring 2025.
Her interest has extended beyond studying the craft.
She has already begun applying that education professionally.
Among her projects was work on a Kobe sneaker commercial featuring New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson.
She also served as a producer on a Los Angeles Lakers hype video featuring baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani.
The combination has given Natalia an increasingly unusual career path.
She is not choosing between fashion and filmmaking.
She is attempting to build a place for herself in both.
During her studies, Natalia became particularly interested in filmmakers including Sofia Coppola and Greta Gerwig, whose work has often explored girlhood, identity and coming-of-age experiences.
That interest in storytelling offers another side to someone the public may primarily recognize from red carpets and fashion campaigns.
Vanessa has spoken proudly about her eldest daughter’s determination.
“Natalia has always been able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to,” she said.
“I’m so proud of everything she’s achieved and impressed by the kind, smart, and beautiful young woman I’ve seen her become.”
Natalia has also maintained a connection to her family’s legacy.
She serves on the board of the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, the organization honoring Kobe and Gianna’s legacies by creating opportunities for young athletes.
And some of Natalia’s most emotional public moments have brought her directly back into the world associated with her father.
In September 2023, she threw the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Lakers Night honoring Kobe.
It was one of those occasions where Natalia’s own adulthood and Kobe’s legacy seemed to meet in the same moment.
Her transformation has also been visible simply by looking at photographs through the years.
In 2003, Natalia was a baby in Vanessa’s arms as the family watched the Lakers at Staples Center.
A photograph from 2004 showed her dressed in pink with a sparkling tiara at an event for The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
By 2007, she was appearing beside Kobe and Vanessa at the Disneyland premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.
Then came one of the family photographs basketball fans may remember particularly well.
In 2010, after the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics in Game Seven of the NBA Finals, Natalia and Gianna joined their father during his postgame celebration.
The girls were still children.
Kobe was at the height of his basketball career.
Nobody looking at those photographs could have imagined how differently the family’s story would eventually unfold.
As Natalia grew older, she continued accompanying her parents and siblings to public events.
The family attended the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Sports Awards in 2016.
In 2017, they appeared together at the Tribeca Film Festival as Kobe moved deeper into storytelling and filmmaking after basketball.
A year later, the family attended the premiere of Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time.
Then Natalia began emerging publicly on her own.
By 2021, she was stepping onto one of fashion’s most recognizable red carpets for the Met Gala.
In 2022, she stood beside Vanessa at the Baby2Baby Gala in a dramatic pink gown.
She also attended the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, where her increasingly sophisticated red-carpet style became evident.
More major appearances followed in 2023.
By then, Natalia was no longer simply accompanying famous parents to events.
She had become the person photographers were waiting to capture.
Her changing hairstyles also became part of that evolution.
For a period, Natalia was recognizable for a sleek black bob that framed her face and stopped near her neck.
Later, she appeared with dramatically longer black hair, including a half-up style at Revolve Festival.
That look was paired with a denim mini skirt, a tucked-in sweater bearing the word “GIRL,” black ankle boots, white socks and layered jewelry.
The transition from youthful appearances beside Kobe and Vanessa to runway shows and major fashion events has happened gradually.
But placing the photographs side by side makes the change striking.
By 2025, Natalia was posing confidently at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in a sophisticated black dress.
And now, in 2026, the 23-year-old arriving at the US Open appears completely comfortable in front of the cameras.
That may explain why her latest appearance generated such an immediate reaction.
Some people saw a model.
Some saw Vanessa.
Others made the surprising Ivanka Trump comparison.
But for many longtime fans, one person was impossible not to remember.
Kobe.
Interestingly, several commenters did not need Natalia to look exactly like him to recognize the connection.
They saw it in her walk.
There is something particularly poignant about that observation.
Facial features can change as children grow into adults. Hairstyles change. Fashion changes. Careers take unexpected turns.
But sometimes the smallest mannerism can suddenly bring someone back.
For fans who spent years watching Kobe walk through arenas, press conferences and championship celebrations, Natalia’s confident stride was enough to trigger that memory.
Yet Natalia’s story at 23 is increasingly about more than resemblance.
She carries an extraordinary family legacy, but she is also assembling a résumé that belongs specifically to her.
She has graduated from USC.
She has worked behind the camera.
She has produced creative projects.
She has modeled internationally.
She has walked for Versace.
She has represented major brands.
And she continues supporting the foundation bearing Kobe and Gianna’s legacy.
The little girl once photographed in her mother’s arms at Lakers games is now walking major fashion carpets on her own.
Fans may continue debating whether she looks more like Kobe or Vanessa.
But perhaps the most noticeable transformation is simpler than that.
Natalia Bryant has grown into someone increasingly recognizable in her own right.