Liev Schrieber says his child walking a runway at Paris Fashion Week doesn't mean there's a new Hollywood nepo baby on the block.

We got the "Ray Donovan" star at the new Planet Hollywood in New York City and our photog asked him about his kid, Kai, making her runway debut at the Valentino show.

Liev isn't buying the notion that Kai is riding her father's famous coattails and getting top modeling gigs because of her parents.

Kai's mother is Naomi Watts, but Liev says Kai didn't have a choice when it came to her parents or their professions ... so it's unfair to label 16-year-old Kai's success a product of nepotism.

Liev says the focus here should be on Kai having the courage to follow a dream, regardless of who her parents are and what they do ... and he tells us why he's a proud father.