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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Darrara · 04/05/2026 15:57

Spanglemum02 · 04/05/2026 15:41

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

Cillian Murphy. His dad was a school inspector and his mother is a retired teacher. Siobhan McSweeney grew up on a small farm. Brendan Gleeson worked as a teacher for years when he was starting out as an actor. He was in his mid-30s before he got his first film role. Paul Mescal’s dad was a garda who did a bit of acting.

Original poster
mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 15:57

JustSawJohnny · 04/05/2026 15:52

My fave unexpected celeb relationship!

As for romantic - gotta be Pat Butcher & Hyacinth Bouquet!

Although they never publicly confirmed it, as far as I'm aware.

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Oh wow, now that is interesting!

I did know that pam st Clement is gay - my icon

OP posts:
DrWhosJazzyScarf · 04/05/2026 15:58

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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Jamie Demetriou is Steve Coogan’s son in law too!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/05/2026 16:00

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/05/2026 15:55

That's not nepotism, though. That's groups of people or pairs of people who can all act and/or write and are all on the same wavelength, so work well together.

See also: League of Gentlemen, Fry & Laurie, Not the Nine O'Clock News, The Young Ones, the group behind Horrible Histories and Ghosts ...

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Oh, and a huge favourite of mine - Beyond the Fringe. What a group. Jonathan Miller, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore. Not a showbiz connection between them as far as I know.

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mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:00

Darrara · 04/05/2026 15:57

Cillian Murphy. His dad was a school inspector and his mother is a retired teacher. Siobhan McSweeney grew up on a small farm. Brendan Gleeson worked as a teacher for years when he was starting out as an actor. He was in his mid-30s before he got his first film role. Paul Mescal’s dad was a garda who did a bit of acting.

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Hmm

I wonder whether we're getting the full truth there though 🤔

OP posts:
BethBynnag86 · 04/05/2026 16:00

mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 15:09

I knew about Emilia fox - i think she's good tbh, as is the younger brother who was in Cheaters

The less said about Lawrence the better

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Richard Ayoade is married to Laurence Fox's sister,Lydia.

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mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:01

Darrara · 04/05/2026 15:45

It makes it easier if you’re connected, sure, but it’s not the norm for most novelists I know. The best most people are going to do is get an agent recommendation from their creative writing teacher, and even that’s only a matter of avoiding the slushpile — they won’t necessarily sign you.

The ‘celebrity who also writes novels on the side’ like Graham Norton, Tom Hanks, Richard Osman, David Williams etc is a different matter. They already have an agent and a readymade, interested audience, which makes them appealing to publishers..

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Do they use ghostwriters, do you think? 👀

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Original poster
mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:01

BethBynnag86 · 04/05/2026 16:00

Richard Ayoade is married to Laurence Fox's sister,Lydia.

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I knew that

Not a fan of his though, he seems incredibly elitist

OP posts:
TellingBone · 04/05/2026 16:03

treeposer2 · 04/05/2026 15:20

Big Mo and Sirius Black are siblings. Wild.

Big Mo's stage name, Laila Morse, was suggested to her by Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Ingrid Bergman, who was dating her brother Gary Oldman at the time. It's an anagram of 'Mia Sorella' - my sister.

Tutorpuzzle · 04/05/2026 16:03

QueenOfHiraeth · 04/05/2026 15:45

It's bad enough that acting, TV, etc is such a closed shop but now we are supposed to believe they are all incredibly talented novelists or children's authors in their spare time!
I wonder if an ordinary person wrote any of the celeb books that top the charts, would they even get published?

Celeb books are written by ordinary people!😜

Sourisblanche · 04/05/2026 16:05

Daniel Craig <clutches straw> I haven’t looked it up but I don’t think he was connected…

Crikeyalmighty · 04/05/2026 16:05

susiedaisy1912 · 04/05/2026 15:35

Nepotism at its finest 😁

talking of nepotistic —Jack Whitehalls dad is one of the biggest entertainment agents out there

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mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:06

Crikeyalmighty · 04/05/2026 16:05

talking of nepotistic —Jack Whitehalls dad is one of the biggest entertainment agents out there

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That nepotism is the most shameless I have ever seen 😄😄😄

I kind of have to respect it, its honest if nothing else

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Recklessismymiddlename · 04/05/2026 16:06

Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are siblings

igelkott2026 · 04/05/2026 16:08

I didn't know until recently that Carol Drinkwater who was Helen in the original series of All Creatures Great and Small is the sister of Linda Regan who was in Hi di Hi, it was when Brian Murphy died last year that I saw.

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mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:08

What about the Skins lot?

But they benefit from having graduated together i suppose

like the Stath let's flats group mentioned above

OP posts:
GenialHarrietGrouty · 04/05/2026 16:09

StephensLass1977 · 04/05/2026 15:44

Yes, it's called being well-connected, aka nepotism.

Edited

Or could it be that certain talents like ability to act run in families?

Arsewype · 04/05/2026 16:10

I remeber reading that Jonah Hill’s dad was some bigwig entertainment accountant/ manager to the stars…which made sense as he’s an untalented gobshite, so I often wondered how he got a break.

HotChocolateBubbleBath · 04/05/2026 16:11

Not just the actors. Look up Ridley Scott and his 3 children.

BleedinglyObvious · 04/05/2026 16:11

mumofoneAloneandwell · 04/05/2026 16:06

That nepotism is the most shameless I have ever seen 😄😄😄

I kind of have to respect it, its honest if nothing else

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It's not nepotism.

Nepotism is if they're giving jobs to relatives or fiends.

An agent helps you find work not gives you work.

Recklessismymiddlename · 04/05/2026 16:12

David tennant is Peter Davisons son in law

CoffeeCantata · 04/05/2026 16:12

That Emerald Fennel woman who recently made an unforgivable travesty of Wuthering Heights. A crime against literature.

I then read that she played Camilla in The Crown - and I thought she was awful in that. It may not have been her fault, it may have been as she was directed, but someone got Camilla very, very wrong.

She's the daughter of the jewellery designer Theo Fennel. I be doors were opened for her.

OldGothsFadeToGrey · 04/05/2026 16:12

Newsenmum · 04/05/2026 15:50

Who is dan radcliffe connected to?

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His mum is a casting agent - he got his first role through one of his mum’s friends.

His dad is friends with David Heyman, who produced Harry Potter. Heyman’s family bumped into the Radcliffe family at a theatre and that led to DR auditioning for Harry Potter. Heyman convinced DR’s parents to let him audition for Harry Potter following that meeting.

BleedinglyObvious · 04/05/2026 16:13

Recklessismymiddlename · 04/05/2026 16:12

David tennant is Peter Davisons son in law

He wasn't when he started. Georgia Moffatt had two well-known actor parents.

Arsewype · 04/05/2026 16:13

IcedPurple · 04/05/2026 15:46

Andrew Scott isn't from a 'dynasty' but attended one of the most expensive private schools in Dublin. So kind of the Irish equivalent of the public school gang - Hiddleston, Cumberbatch, Lewis et al - who are so prevalent in British acting elites.

Paul Mescal is from a pretty ordinary background as far as I know.

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Similar to Colin Farrell then, who went to some posho private school in Clontarf.

I had to laugh when he was made out to be some hardcore guy because he drank and smoked - he went to fancy school with the sons of politicians, so not exactly from the mean streets of Dublin.

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