Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Related

Sabrina Carpenter’s aunt is Simpsons voice actress Nancy Cartwright

Don’t have a cow, man — even if you’re surprised by this cool connection.

“Espresso” hitmaker Sabrina Carpenter is the niece of Nancy Cartwright, the voice actress behind Bart Simpson (among other Simpsons characters).

Cartwright confirmed the connection in a video shared on Instagram on July 9, 2024, adding, “She’s pretty amazing.”

Ashley Tisdale and Austin Butler are 10th cousins

Ashley Tisdale found out about her family link to Austin Butler on a 2022 episode of Ancestry’s 2 Lies & A Leaf series.

Surprisingly, the High School Musical actress and Elvis star — who both starred in 2009’s Aliens in the Attic and 2011’s Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure — are 10th cousins once removed.

“No wonder we have such a connection!” Tisdale said when she heard the news. “We’ve always said we were brother and sister! That is insane. I literally am going to cry.”

Yellowstone actress Michelle Randolph and Bachelor alum Cassie Randolph are sisters

Former Bachelor contestant Cassie Randolph’s sister is Michelle Randolph, the blonde beauty who plays Elizabeth “Liz” Strafford on the Yellowstone prequel 1923. The siblings even shared a Los Angeles apartment together before Cassie moved out in 2021.

“The last 2 years (and our entire lives for that matter) we have been pretty much attached at the hip,” Cassie captioned a photo of the twosome on Instagram. “We’ve shared an apartment, the same friends, joint custody of our kitties, closets, food, starting a company — you name it.”

Brother-sister duo Ray J and Brandy are Snoop Dogg’s first cousins

Triple the musical talent! Siblings Brandy and Ray J are first cousins with rapper Snoop Dogg, who spoke about their family ties — and desire to succeed on their own terms — in a since-deleted 2006 interview with MTV.

“Brandy’s my first cousin. We never really told the world because we weren’t trippin’ off of that, but that’s my family,” Snoop said at the time.

Gabrielle Union is second cousins with rapper Saweetie

“Best Friend” rapper Saweetie is second cousins with actress and producer Gabrielle Union.

Union spilled the tea on X (formerly Twitter) in 2018, telling a fan, “Her father and I are 1st cousins. Her grandma is my aunt Joanne Glass who I based Eva from Deliver Us From Eva on.”

Though the two are super supportive of each other on social media, Saweetie said she didn’t want to use her connections to “make it” in Hollywood.

In a 2020 interview on Showtime’s Desus & Mero, Saweetie explained, “I believe in being self-made and trying to figure things out on my own … I appreciate the support, but for me, I’ve always been self-motivated. So instead of asking for help, I just wanted to see if I could do it on my own.”

Lance Bass and Britney Spears are sixth cousins once removed

Former pop star Lance Bass and Britney Spears once shared the Super Bowl stage in 2001, and the *NSYNC member later found out he and his old friend share a family tree on a 2021 episode of the 2 Lies & A Leaf series.

“Look, I wanted to be related to the Queen,” he said. “Well, now I’m related to the queen of pop!”

Calling Spears his “little sister,” Bass said he always “felt like we looked like family.”

Plus, “she is like family to me,” he added, “so the fact that we are blood-related is amazing.”

Jason Sudeikis is the nephew of Cheers star George Wendt

It’s not hard to go where everybody knows Jason Sudeikis’ uncle’s name: George Wendt played barfly Norm on the hit sitcom Cheers.

In 2021, Sudeikis told GQ that his uncle “made finding a career in the arts, in acting or whatever, seem plausible.”

Wendt is “very proud” of his nephew and godson, sharing on an episode of the podcast Still Here Hollywood with Steve Kmetko in 2024 that the Ted Lasso star is “so sharp.”

“He’s such a great kid,” Wendt continued. “Very proud. Proud especially, you know, not only of the success, but he’s solid. Have you read profiles and stuff? I mean, he is such a mesh, so smart, so thoughtful. I mean, it all comes out in the show. Right?”

RuPaul and Sen. Cory Booker are cousins

The RuPaul’s Drag Race host invited his cousin Cory Booker (the two found out they were related on an episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots) to make a cameo on the show’s season 13 finale.

Matthew Perry was the stepson of Dateline anchor Keith Morrison

The late Matthew Perry got by with a little help from his Friends, but he had another popular TV personality for a stepdad.

The mom of the Friends star married Dateline anchor Keith Morrison in 1981 when Perry was 10, and they maintained a close relationship.

In 2017, Morrison told Andy Cohen Perry gave him a Porsche 911, “and I still drive it around!”

After Perry’s death at age 54 on Oct. 28, 2023, Morrison opened up about his grief on Hoda Kotb’s Making Space podcast, saying, “As other people have told me hundreds of times, it doesn’t go away. It’s with you every day. It’s with you all the time, and there’s some new aspect of it that assaults your brain.”

“It’s not easy. Especially for his mom,” he added of his wife and Perry’s mother, Suzanne. “Toward the end of his life, they were closer than I’ve seen them for decades.”

Tom Hanks and Fred Rogers are distant cousins

An Ancestry.com deep dive found that Hanks and Rogers are, in fact, sixth cousins.

The records illustrated a link between the two figures through a shared five-times great-grandfather, a German immigrant named Johannes Mefford, who was born in 1732. More digging into their backgrounds showed that Hanks and Rogers also descended from two brothers who fought for American independence in the Revolutionary War.

Podcaster Joe Rogan and singer Gerard Way are distant cousins

Joe Rogan confirmed on his podcast, as reported by NME in 2019, that he and My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way are distant cousins — though “I don’t know him,” the actor and former Fear Factor host said.

Jonah Hill is Beanie Feldstein’s older brother

Oscar-nominated actor Jonah Hill is Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein’s older brother. Hill admires his younger sister so much that he has called her his “personal hero” and even has a tattoo dedicated to her that reads, “Hello, Beanie!”

Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Melissa Gorga and The Karate Kid star Ralph Macchio are cousins

Ralph Macchio and Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member Melissa Gorga are cousins. Macchio shot to fame early on in his career, playing the role of Daniel in 1984’s The Karate Kid.

Ashlee Simpson is the daughter-in-law of legend Diana Ross

Ashlee Simpson’s husband, Evan Ross, happens to be the son of music icon Diana Ross.

Ludacris and late comedian Richard Pryor are cousins

Ludacris — born Chris Bridges — has serious comedic chops, just like his legendary comedian cousin, Richard Pryor.

“I never got a chance to meet him. But I’m a big fan of his,” the star told PEOPLE in 2015.

Sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning are Kate Middleton’s distant cousins

Actresses Elle Fanning and Dakota Fanning are distant cousins of Kate Middleton.

“It’s so weird … it’s crazy,” Elle told E! News in 2014 of finding out the news. “I’ve always wanted to do the Ancestry.com thing because I think it would be really cool. But someone did it for me, which I think is great.”

Game of Thrones alum Alfie Allen and singer-actress Lily Allen are siblings

Lily Allen’s brother, Alfie Allen, played Theon Greyjoy (who we loved, hated and pitied) on the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Amy Schumer and Sen. Chuck Schumer are cousins

Amy Schumer has teamed up with her high-profile family member in the past. The funny lady previously joined her cousin, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, to support gun reform.

Today Show weatherman Al Roker and musician Lenny Kravitz are second cousins

Today Show anchor and weatherman Al Roker and rocker Lenny Kravitz happen to share the same great-great-grandfather — their grandfathers were cousins.

Halle Berry and politician Sarah Palin are distant relatives

“You want to know who I’m related to? Sarah Palin!” Halle Berry told Extra in 2012. “[In] some twisted way. Somebody sent me this information that she was my distant [relative].”

Jenny McCarthy and Melissa McCarthy are cousins

Turns out SiriusXM radio host Jenny McCarthy gave her famous cousin, Melissa McCarthy, her first TV spot.

Actors Liev Schreiber and Pablo Schreiber are brothers

You may recognize Liev Schreiber’s brother, Pablo Schreiber, from his Emmy-nominated performance as “Pornstache” on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. Pablo also stars on the Paramount+ series Halo.

Singer Elle King is the daughter of actor Rob Schneider

The father-daughter duo share different surnames since the singer changed hers in order to find fame on her own.

“She [used to] get, ‘You’re Rob Schneider’s kid.’ Now I get, ‘You’re Elle King’s dad,’ ” the actor told PEOPLE of his daughter.

Actors Shirley MacLaine and Warren Beatty are siblings

In case you needed a reminder, Shirley MacLaine is the older sister of Warren Beatty. Both of the actor siblings have won Oscars, though the two have never starred in a film or collaborated on a project together.

“I was lucky to grow up with a feminist mother and a feminist sister. We’re very close,” Beatty once told PEOPLE.

Of Beatty, MacLaine told The Guardian in 2007, “Warren was the beautiful one in the family. That was the given. I didn’t see myself that way.”

Larry David and Sen. Bernie Sanders are ‘third cousins or something’

The resemblance is uncanny.

“I was very happy about that,” Larry David said of his newfound familial connection with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in July 2017. “I thought there must have been some connection.”

Conan O’Brien and Rescue Me star Denis Leary are third cousins

Who knew Emmy-nominated actor Denis Leary and comedian and former late-night host Conan O’Brien would wind up being related?

Actress Bryce Dallas Howard is the daughter of legendary director Ron Howard

Golden Globe-nominated actress Bryce Dallas Howard is the eldest daughter of former child actor and Apollo 13 (1995) director Ron Howard. In addition to 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, Bryce also appeared in the Ron-directed holiday flick How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000).

However, Bryce told PEOPLE in 2024, that her mother, Cheryl Howard, and father weren’t too keen on her acting at a young age.

“I think if I had the chance to act younger, I would’ve taken it. But I wasn’t allowed to,” Bryce said. “My parents were very firm on that boundary, that they were not going to support anyone who wanted to be a child actor.”

She later added, “It’s so wonderful to get to be in an industry with family members, for me at least, because I’m not alone in it.”

Director Sofia Coppola and Nicolas Cage are cousins

Nicolas Cage, born Nicolas Kim Coppola, is the cousin of Sofia Coppola, who won an Academy Award in 2004 for Best Writing, Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation.

Sofia is the daughter of five-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

Back to the Future actress Lea Thompson is the mother of Not Okay star Zoey Deutch

Mother-daughter acting duo Zoey Deutch and Lea Thompson are as close as ever.

Zoey and her sister Madelyn Deutch starred alongside their mom in 2011’s Mayor Cupcake and 2017’s The Year of Spectacular Men, with Thompson telling Parade in 2023 that it “was an incredible experience.”

“My kids couldn’t be cooler. Zoey is an amazing actress,” Thompson said. “It was the first thing I ever created from nothing … I couldn’t be prouder of my children and my life.”

Describing Thompson as her “role model,” Zoey told DuJour, “She’s inspired me in so many ways more than just the obvious thing of following in her footsteps as an actress. She’s a really, really remarkable woman.”

Julia Roberts is the aunt of American Horror Story star Emma Roberts

In 2012, Emma Roberts — daughter of Julia Roberts’ older brother and fellow actor Eric Roberts — paid homage to her aunt’s iconic one-piece getup from the classic 1990 film Pretty Woman, complete with a blonde wig and thigh-high patent leather boots.

“She’s the best,” Emma said during a 2014 interview on The Queen Latifah Show.

Emma later told Bruce Bozzi on his Table for Two podcast in 2024 (via Hello!), “I think I saw very up close what [fame] really looks like with my aunt Julia,” adding, “It’s obviously, you know, it’s fun and it’s great, but there is a part of it that’s really scary.”