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For example:
Stella Adler trained several generations of actors who include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. Does who in this example refer to actors or generations?
Stella Adler trained several generations of actors whose ranks include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. Does who in this example refer to actors or generations?
If I understand the question correctly, the question is which word is the head of the NP which "who" refers to.
In this case it's easy to resolve any ambiguity. You can train actors but you can't train a generation. The only way to understand the first sentence entails treating "several generations of" as a quantifier. As such, "generations" can't be that head. This implies that that head must be "actors".
Compare:
Stella Adler trained a large number of actors who include Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro.
In this variant, the head of the NP referred to be "who" can't be "number".
The referent of a pronoun is a semantic unit and need not map one-to-one on a given word. In this case who is coreferent with the noun phrase (NP) several generations of actors.
