45 celebrities you had no idea were related
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You likely already know about the Olsen twins and their younger sister Elizabeth, as well as Dave and James Franco or Luke and Owen Wilson. And you've already learned about all the celebrity pairs that are best friends, but there are quite a few famous faces that you probably didn't know were all in the same family.
Keep reading to see the 43 celebrities you probably never knew were related.
Amy Daire contributed to a previous version of this article.
Singers Ray J and Brandy are siblings, but they are also cousins to rapper Snoop Dogg.
Singers and siblings Brandy and Ray J have made their typical brother-sister relationship pretty public. Like most siblings, they post pictures of one another to their social media accounts, walk the red carpets together, and sometimes they even talk or argue over Twitter.
Meanwhile, the pair are also close with their cousin Snoop Dogg. Snoop has collaborated with Brandy and used her in a music video, and he had Ray J as a guest on his YouTube show where he introduced him as "my cousin, my family, my familia."
Singer Lily and "Game of Thrones" actor Alfie Allen are brother and sister.
Talent clearly runs in the family seeing as she's a famous singer and he's made waves as Theon Greyjoy on "Game of Thrones." Like most siblings, they seem to have a love-hate relationship.
The singer once wrote a song about her brother needing to get a job and several years later slammed "Game of Thrones" during a Reddit AMA saying that she was offered a incestuous cameo to play his sister on screen. Alfie then denied that fact.
"The only thing I'm going to say on that is that it's not true," he said to Vulture. "And also that Gemma Whalen was always their first choice for the part. And she's fantastic. And that's the one thing I'm going to say about that."
Since then he's "banned" her from discussing the show at all.
Jason Momoa is the stepfather of Zoë Kravitz.
Momoa has been with Kravitz's mother, Lisa Bonet, for 12 years. The happy couple got married in a quiet ceremony this October, making Momoa the official stepfather of Kravitz. The new family members have shared sweet Instagram photos of themselves together, including one where Kravitz called Momoa "papa bear."
Momoa and Bonet also have two other children together -- Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa and Lola Iolani Momoa.
Speaking of the Kravitz family, TV personality Al Roker and singer Lenny Kravitz are distant cousins.
On an episode of "Today," Roker and Kravitz discussed that they both have the Roker genes in them. This led Roker to do some investigating, and he later revealed that their grandfathers were actually cousins. They have quite a few people between them a far as the family tree goes, but blood is blood.
"All I know is I'm going with it," Roker said on the show. "Kids think it's cool."
The Coppolas and Schwartzmans are all related to Nicolas Cage.
This is one famous family. Francis Ford Coppola, who directed "The Godfather" among other films, is the uncle of the Schwartzmans. Jason Schwartzman earned his fame in movies like "Rushmore" and "Moonrise Kingdom," but his younger brother is also recognizable. Robert Schwartzman was in "The Princess Diaries," though he's given up acting since.
Francis is also the father to Sofia Coppola, who directed "Lost in Translation" and "The Bling Ring."
All of these people are also related to actor Nicolas Cage, who changed his name from Coppola to avoid any nepotism in the industry. Francis is Nic's uncle, making the Schwartzmans are his cousins.
Jenny and Melissa McCarthy are cousins.
The famous actresses may share a last name, but many never made the connection. Jenny has even shared a throwback picture of the two of them when they were children.
The actresses might be in the same business, but their careers haven't overlapped and the two don't seem to be very close. Melissa, for example, didn't attend Jenny's wedding back in 2014. That might have something to do with a report claiming that Jenny thought her cousin needed to lose weight to make it in Hollywood, even though Jenny firmly denies it.
"There is a crazy story going around that I once told my cousin, Melissa, that she would have to lose weight in order to get into show business. Nothing could be further from the truth," Jenny told PEOPLE.
Joan and John Cusack are siblings.
John and Joan Cusack have both made names for themselves in the movie industry and have been in 10 movies together. Yet many don't realize that they're brother and sister.
Joan gives credit to her brother for encouraging her throughout her career in the hectic industry.
"I think it helps to know another person in the business, because everything is such an illusion, so it's great to be able to go, 'Oh, my God! This is how it really is!' or 'This is how it happens there!'" she told AV Club. "You know, 'cause nobody knows any of it. People know more now in general, I think. So I think it was helpful to have each other."
Actors Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are siblings as well.
These actors don't share a last name because Shirley uses her middle name MacLaine. The two also don't share any movie credits and MacLaine recently noted that they likely never will.
"Oh, I don't think we'd be a good team," she once told Closer at the TMA Heller Awards.
As for Beatty? He doesn't think so poorly of the idea.
"Not a bad idea," he said on "CBS Sunday Morning," with one exception: "I think we shouldn't play man and wife."
"Grey's Anatomy" actress Jessica Capshaw is director Steven Spielberg's stepdaughter.
Jessica Capshaw (left) and Steven Spielberg (right) in 2012.Michael Buckner/Getty Images
The "Grey's Anatomy" actress didn't exactly grow up with Steven Spielberg, but since her mother married him in 1991, they've gotten close. With such a big name in the industry, you'd think that he was to thank for her start, but according to her, it wasn't so easy.
"In a lot of ways it was actually not helpful to have famous parents because there is definitely a very human feeling of, 'Well, when you come from all that, who wants to see that girl succeed.' You want to see the underdog succeed, the girl who spent her last two dollars on the bus ticket," she said in an interview with USA Today.
Actors Hallie and Jesse Eisenberg are brother and sister.
Hallie Eisenberg had one of the most recognizable faces in the world in the late '90s. She was practically the face of Pepsi, not to mention she landed leading roles in movies like "Bicentennial Man" and "The Miracle Worker."
She's taken a leave from acting since then, but her older brother is still making the family name known in Hollywood. He's Oscar-nominated and famous for roles in several movies, including "Batman v Superman" and "The Social Network."
Jesse recently revealed on "The Tonight Show" that they're living together. Jimmy Fallon asked him about his sister's boyfriend Owen Danoff, who was fighting for fame on season 11 of "The Voice," and Jesse told him that they're all roommates.
"He is my sister's boyfriend, but also my roommates, 'cause, I mean, they live with me," he explained. "We have separate rooms but essentially he's a roommate."
Actor Martin Sheen is father to actors Charlie Sheen and Emilio Esteves.
It's known pretty far and wide that Charlie Sheen is Martin Sheen's son. After all, they share both a name and a striking resemblance to one another. However, many people might not known that Martin Sheen has another famous son, Emilio Esteves.
The trio of Sheens have had their ups and downs. Many speculate that it's a battle between brothers, but their dad is proud of them both.
"This morning, as I watched him alone, reveal his deepest, darkest secret, I couldn't believe the level of courage I was witnessing, and that it was my son," he said after Charlie revealed that was HIV-positive to Matt Lauer. "I left him a message, and I said that if I had that much courage, I would change the world."
He also worked side-by-side with Emilio on 2012's "The Way," and claims that there's no one better to work with,
"From my point of view there's nothing better," he said in an interview with The Guardian. "I'd work with him for the rest of my life, frankly."
Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård is father to Bill and Alexander Skarsgård.
Stellan Skarsgård has several credits under his belt. He's been in "Good Will Hunting" and "Mamma Mia!" as well as Marvel's "Thor" and "Avengers" films. His son Alexander is stealthy competition though. He hit fame with his steamy role in "True Blood" and has starred in "The Giver" and HBO's "Big Little Lies."
Stellan and Alexander went head-to-head on Fourth of July weekend in 2016 when Stellan's movie "Our Kind of Traitor" opened against Alexander's "The Legend of Tarzan." According to Los Angeles Daily News, Stellan was pretty thrilled about the competition.
"I think he's got more backing and more screens," he said in the interview. "Still, it's fun."
In the end, Alexander got the bragging rights.
Then Alexander's younger brother, Bill, had a breakout role in 2017's reboot of "It" where he played Pennywise the Clown. The movie became one of the highest grossing horror films of all time.
Actresses Blake and Robyn Lively are half-sisters.
Serena van der Woodsen and the Teen Witch herself are truly sister goals. They're often seen together at award shows and fashion shows, and Robyn is the godmother to Blake's kids.
Robyn and Blake even joke about whose kids are whose.
"She has my children and I have her children, [and] we're like, 'No, those are my children!' She's like, 'No, your children are my children.' We always argue about it. She's the best," she recently said to ET.
"Fantastic Beasts" actress Katherine Waterston is the daughter of actor Sam Waterston.
You probably recognize Sam from his roles in hit shows like "Law & Order" and "The Newsroom." His daughter became an actor, too, but she's usually seen on the big screen. Most recently she played Tina Goldstein in the "Harry Potter" spin-off "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them."
Despite this huge success, her acting career wasn't as easy as you'd think it would be for the daughter of a famous actor.
"When you are the kid of an actor, it's always a very inviting world," Waterston said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. "Everyone is nice to you, the hair and make-up people braid your hair and play with you, and the costume department makes outfits for your teddy bears. It's really misleading, because then when you actually go to pursue a career in acting, you realize that people aren't so friendly."
In fact, she couldn't even land a role on her dad's "Law & Order," a show that "every actor in New York" can get a credit for.
Superstar Tom Cruise and "Lost" actor William Mapother are cousins.
Tom Cruise is one of the biggest international movie stars, but he's not the only actor in the family. His cousin William Mapother has starred in shows like "The Mentalist" and "Lost." Mapother has also had cameos in three of Cruise's movies and small roles in two others.
Unfortunately, Mapother doesn't discuss his cousin very often.
"I'm not answering any questions about him because I've learned that unfortunately, nearly anything I write/say about him gets taken out of context," he wrote in a Reddit AMA two years ago. "So it's easier and safer to say nothing."
Actor Antonio Banderas used to be actress Dakota Johnson's stepfather.
The "Fifty Shades of Grey" actress is no newbie in the film industry. She grew up with Antonio Banderas after he married her mother actress Melanie Griffith when she was just a child (her dad is none other than actor Don Johnson).
With a family like that, it's almost impossible not to get into acting.
Griffith and Banderas were together until 2015, but despite the split, he has nothing but kind words and admiration for his former stepdaughter and her career.
"Dakota didn't want our help. Every time that she was called for a movie [she said] 'I don't want you guys to be there, I don't want them to know that you are my mother' or who [is] her real father, her biological father Don [Don Johnson]. She didn't want help. She has been very honest in that aspect," he said during a guest appearance on ITV's "Loose Women."
Actor Christian Bale also had a famous stepparent -- he used to be feminist icon Gloria Steinem's stepson.
He's an actor with a rumored anger problem and she's a feminist icon and hero. You probably wouldn't have suspected that their paths had ever crossed, but she's actually his stepmother.
Steinem married Bale's father David when Christian was well into his twenties. They were married for three years before David passed away in 2003.
Steinem still thinks of Christian affectionately though.
"He is a very good person, a great lover of animals, and an immensely talented actor. He's married with two children and lives in California," she said in a piece for Daily Life. "I don't see him that often, but we're in touch from time to time."
Actress Julia Roberts is actress Emma Roberts' aunt.
These leading ladies have been very public about their familial ties. They speak about each other in interviews, post heartwarming pictures of each other, and according to Julia, spend lots of time together.
"She's so lovely," Julia said during an interview with Allure. "We spend a lot of time together. Emma is a remarkable girl."
Even though they spend so much time together, there's one thing Julia will never do: take a part in or watch Emma on "American Horror Story."
"I can't even get though the commercials," Julia once said to E! News. "I am the most fitful scaredy cat."
Actress Bryce Dallas Howard is filmmaker Ron Howard's daughter.
Ron's face might not be quite as recognizable as his daughter's these days, but only because he spends his time behind the camera rather than in front of it. After acting in "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days," Ron switched over to directing. His work includes "Apollo 13," the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind," and "The Da Vinci Code."
His daughter stayed in the family business, but took a different route. She's acted in "The Village" and "Jurassic World." But despite their different roles in the industry, he's still an inspiration to her.
"He's a dad, but also this extremely impressive individual. I really look up to him," she said during an interview with UK's Express. "It was a wonderful gift, growing up having a beautiful relationship with my dad."
Actors Liev and Pablo Schreiber are half-brothers.
Pablo Schreiber is easier to place if you imagine him with a big mustache. He plays Mendez on Netflix's "Orange is the New Black" and he's the half-brother of Liev Schreiber, who's starred in "Defiance" and "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
They've only acted in one movie together, but they spend time together off-screen. Liev recently tweeted a picture of one of their family outings.
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Read the original article on INSIDER. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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