12 Celebrity Relatives Most People Never Connect, Like Ewan McGregor’s Uncle Who Flew an X-Wing

Joseph Fiennes is the younger brother of Ralph Fiennes, and both are distant cousins of the polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Joseph is Ran’s third cousin, once removed, and the two had barely met before National Geographic sent them along the Nile together in 2019 to retrace Ran’s 1969 expedition.

Before that trip, Joseph had seen his cousin only once, at a family gathering about 20 years earlier.

Scottish actor Denis Lawson played Wedge Antilles, one of the X-wing pilots who fly with Luke Skywalker, in the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy. His nephew Ewan McGregor later played young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the three prequels, from 1999 to 2005.

By 2001, The Herald wrote, Lawson was “more famous as Ewan McGregor’s uncle.” He had directed his nephew on stage, and when asked whether he had influenced Ewan’s choice of career, he said, “Well of course I did.”

When genealogists at the University of Leicester traced the living relatives of King Richard III, one of the names on the list was Benedict Cumberbatch. In March 2015, Channel 4 described the actor as “a third cousin, 16 times removed of King Richard III.”

A year later, Cumberbatch played the king in ‘The Hollow Crown,’ the BBC’s series of Shakespeare’s history plays.

Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt played co-workers in a 2006 comedy about a fashion magazine. At the premiere, he met her sister Felicity, a literary agent, and they met again at Emily’s 2010 wedding to John Krasinski. Tucci and Felicity Blunt married in 2012.

On April 30, 2026, Tucci and Emily Blunt got stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the same ceremony. The next day, he posted this:

“It is an honour to have a star on the @hwdwalkoffame, and to be surrounded by the Blunt sisters”

Talia Shire was born Talia Rose Coppola in 1946, the younger sister of director Francis Ford Coppola. She played Connie Corleone in her brother’s ‘Godfather’ films and Adrian, the shy pet-shop clerk who falls for Rocky Balboa, in ‘Rocky.’ Both roles earned her Oscar nominations.

Her son Jason Schwartzman is an actor too, which makes him a first cousin of director Sofia Coppola.

Sigourney Weaver’s father, Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, joined NBC in 1949 to run its young television network and later became its president. The Television Academy credits him with creating ‘Today’ and ‘Tonight,’ the morning and late-night shows that are still on the air.

Photographer Alan Light caught father and daughter together in March 1989, ten years after ‘Alien’ made her a star.

Meg Tilly was nominated for best supporting actress at the 1986 Oscars. Nine years later, her older sister, Jennifer, was nominated in the same category for ‘Bullets Over Broadway.’

Meg later turned to writing novels, and Jennifer kept acting. In September 2026, Jennifer posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram with the words “It’s good to have sisters.”

Elizabeth Olsen is the younger sister of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who were TV stars before they could walk. As a child, she worried about being linked to them and, as she told W magazine in 2021, thought: “I’m going to be Elizabeth Chase when I become an actress.” Chase is her middle name.

She kept Olsen after all and went on to play the Scarlet Witch in a string of superhero movies.

Actress sisters Kate and Rooney Mara grew up in two football families at once: their great-grandfathers founded the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tim Mara started the Giants in 1925, Art Rooney started the Steelers in 1933, and both teams are still run by the two families.

Kate told The Independent in 2014: “I enjoy going to games and sitting in the family box with all my cousins but I always had my own dreams.”

Zooey Deschanel, the star of ‘New Girl,’ is the younger sister of Emily Deschanel, who played Dr. Temperance Brennan on ‘Bones’ for 12 seasons. Their father, Caleb Deschanel, is a cinematographer, and in March 2026 Zooey posted a photo of the two sisters with this caption:

“Sisters 📸 Caleb Deschanel”

Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal played sister and brother in ‘Donnie Darko’ in 2001 and then went 25 years without making another movie together. In 2026, Maggie directed Jake for the first time, in ‘The Bride!’, her second film as a director, where he plays a 1930s movie idol.

Movies run in the family: their father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, is a director, and their mother, Naomi Foner, is a screenwriter.

Vera Farmiga was born in 1973 and her sister Taissa in 1994. In 2011, Vera directed her first film, ‘Higher Ground,’ and cast Taissa as the younger version of her own character. IndieWire noted that the lead was played “by both Farmiga and her younger sister, 16-year old Taissa,” and added: “Their resemblance is striking.”

It was Taissa’s first acting role.