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Original poster

Which actor/actress were you surprised to discover is hugely connected?

458 replies

mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 15:00

Kate Hudson - my god i had no idea her mum is Goldie Hawn

Just finished season 2 of Running Point (really good)

OP posts:
ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 05/05/2026 22:02

CoffeeCantata · 04/05/2026 16:51

I've never got my head round the fact that Shirley McLaine and Warren Beatty are siblings.

Can't for the life of me see any resemblance.

And Gary Oldman and that actress from Eastenders....er, sorry - can't remember her name (duh).

Shirley said that she was the only actress in LA, who hadn’t slept with Warren!

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 05/05/2026 22:04

Dinosaurhearmeroar · 05/05/2026 19:16

Julia Dreyfus - billionaire’s daughter and knows everyone.

She is a great comic actress though, to be fair.

Partickthistle · 05/05/2026 22:57

Bellasmellsofwee · 04/05/2026 18:41

I don’t mean that. I was a writer/comedian for years. But I got nowhere as I was always blocked as I wasn’t part of any of the cliques. “What I were you at?” Was always the first question.

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"What I were you at"???

AncientGleek · 05/05/2026 23:30

BleedinglyObvious · 05/05/2026 00:39

Michele Dotrice's husband was Edward Woodward.

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Michele and Karen's parents were both actors too Roy Dotrice and Kay Newman.

Then you have the Cusack family - father Cyril has 6 children, 4 daughters who are all actresses (Sinead, Sorcha, Niamh and Catherine) and a son Pádraig who is a theatre producer. Sinead is married to Jeremy Irons and their son Max is also an actor, Niamh is married to Finbar Lynch and their son Calam played Theo in Bridgerton, AJ in Sweetpea and Max in What It Feels Like For A Girl.

WaryHiker · 06/05/2026 01:17

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 05/05/2026 22:02

Shirley said that she was the only actress in LA, who hadn’t slept with Warren!

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Was Annette Bening already famous when she married Warren Beatty?

WaryHiker · 06/05/2026 01:19

Tabitha005 · 05/05/2026 19:03

I was delighted when I found out that the actors who played Roger Sterling and Moira in ‘Mad Men’ were actually a couple in real life - they’re SO cool!

Mona Stirling's actress used to be married to George Clooney!

GarlicMind · 06/05/2026 01:32

Bellasmellsofwee · 04/05/2026 15:28

One Example - Stath Lets Flats. most of the group who act/created that were all at uni together in the uni drama society.

See also the fast show.

Going all the way back to Monty python.

Same with Emma Thompson and that gang in the early 80s, French and Saunders etc.

It’s very much closed little groups of people.

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I think it's pretty reasonable that 20-year-olds who were in bands, drama clubs, etc, will go on together to build a career from where they started.

It does seem to help if you were at Cambridge or St Martin's, though ...

pompomtiddly · 06/05/2026 03:05

SALaw · 04/05/2026 23:46

Alexander Armstrong’s wife is the sister of Giles Coren’s wife, and Giles Coren’s sister is Victoria Coren Mitchell, married to David Mitchell.

Ànd Victoria Coren Mitchell’s dad was Alan Coren–a țeam captain on Call My Bluff…

MarmaladeorJam · 06/05/2026 03:45

Daisy Goodwin (producer Victoria) daughter of Richard Goodwin (A passage to India etc).

Saoirse Ronan - both parents working actors.

Gyllenhaal's - father is a TV producer - Twin Peaks. Mother is a script writer who has Oscar nominated actions for her work.

Stellen Skarsgard and his son, Alexander.

It is not just the front of house people, by that I mean the famous ones. It is also producers, directors, casting agents and so on.

It used to be frowned upon in polite society - being in the entertainment business. Now though, the money is so big it is very attractive for people who have been raised rich. It is a way for them to earn their own rich! I'm thinking in particular of the disproportionate representation of Eton types.

asdbaybeeee · 06/05/2026 04:06

CollaterlieSistersSister · 05/05/2026 11:57

I recall reading somewhere that, when he is involved in casting, Stephen Graham tries to make sure that as much of the cast as possible are non-nepo and from non-privileged backgrounds.

Edited

Love Stephen Graham. He helped Jodie Comer climb the ladder

FrippEnos · 06/05/2026 05:30

mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 15:22

Oh i knew that one - love her

Also the mother and daughter who died close to eachother - Debbie something 🥺

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Debbie Reynolds daughter Carrie fisher, married to Bryan Lourd, Daughter Billie Lourd

Donsyb · 06/05/2026 07:15

WaryHiker · 06/05/2026 01:17

Was Annette Bening already famous when she married Warren Beatty?

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Yes she was, they got together when they started in a film together

MrsShawnHatosy · 06/05/2026 07:48

Spanglemum02 · 04/05/2026 15:41

A lot of the Irish actors aren't from dynasties, Paul Mescal, Andrew Scott etc

Neither are the Welsh ones, Burton, Hopkins, Ioan Gruffudd, Matthew Rhys and more.

anon666 · 06/05/2026 08:08

DisplayPurposesOnly · 04/05/2026 15:01

You must be young 😂

Look up Drew Barrymore.

No way!!! Such a huge dynasty. Had no idea.

anon666 · 06/05/2026 08:11

Darrara · 04/05/2026 15:06

Well, look up Gwyneth Paltrow, Maya Hawke, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola etc.

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No way!! Had no idea Nicholas Cage was related to the Coppolas. Or the size of that dynasty. I presumed the Coppola clan were Italian.

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 06/05/2026 08:16

pompomtiddly · 06/05/2026 03:05

Ànd Victoria Coren Mitchell’s dad was Alan Coren–a țeam captain on Call My Bluff…

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Alan was lovely. His children - not so much.

Neither of them have their Dad’s eaeasy going charm.

VCM’s ‘jokes’ on OC…man alive, they’re bad. 😬

Clawdy · 06/05/2026 08:20

Ruby Ashbourne Serkis
Phoebe Dynevor
Ruby Bentall

ConnieHeart · 06/05/2026 08:23

How about Rita Simons being the niece of Alan Sugar?!

Also pretty obviously Barney Walsh who's been in Casualty is the son of Bradley

Ginmonkeyagain · 06/05/2026 08:36

Not read the whole thread but Olivia Wilde is insanely well connected. Among many fsmous relatives, her step grandmother is Jean Ross, the inspiration for Sally Bowles in Caberet.

YesTonightJosephine · 06/05/2026 10:33

Laila Morse on Woman's Hour.

Laila Morse when asked if she was not working as an actor what would she be doing now ...

'I'd probably still be working in betting shops and driving around"!

Woman's Hour - Laila Morse on being Gary Oldman's sister - BBC Sounds

Laila Morse has played wheeler-dealer Mo Harris in EastEnders for the past 12 years. She might not have graced our TV screens if it wasn’t for her brother, the actor Gary Oldman who pushed her into acting at the age of 50. He cast her in his award winning film Nil by Mouth, a story about a family in South London burdened by violence and addiction. Laila tells Jenni Murray if she hadn't been cast in Nil By Mouth, she'd probably still be "working in betting shops and driving around".

Woman's Hour - Laila Morse on being Gary Oldman's sister - BBC Sounds

Laila Morse explains how her brother Gary Oldman helped her become an actress at 50.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p014rfmc

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 06/05/2026 10:35

I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, but she can’t act for toffee.

pompomtiddly · 06/05/2026 14:11

ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews · 06/05/2026 08:16

Alan was lovely. His children - not so much.

Neither of them have their Dad’s eaeasy going charm.

VCM’s ‘jokes’ on OC…man alive, they’re bad. 😬

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We always fast forward through VCM’s introduction and switch off before her closing remarks on only Connect, they really are dire!

Snakebite61 · 06/05/2026 16:11

mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 15:00

Kate Hudson - my god i had no idea her mum is Goldie Hawn

Just finished season 2 of Running Point (really good)

I've known this since Kate Hudson first appeared.

TamarindCottage · 06/05/2026 16:20

asdbaybeeee · 04/05/2026 21:50

Claudia winkleman and actress Sophie Winkleman are sisters

Claudia Winkleman’s mother is Eve Pollard, Sophie Winkleman’s dad is Barry Winkleman, EP’s first husband: ie, Claudia and Sophie are half sisters through their father