Quiz: Celebrity family trees
Test your knowledge of some red carpet favorites and their distant relations.
Q. Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence is related to another Oscar-nominated actor. Who?
A. Greg Kinnear (top)
B. Clive Owen (middle)
C. Jeremy Renner (bottom)
Click to the next page for the answer.
Jeremy Renner
Answer:
People magazine reported that Jennifer Lawrence and Jeremy Renner -- costars in the film "American Hustle" -- are 5th cousins, once removed. Their common ancestor was a Kentucky farmer, Robert Tague, who was Lawrence's 5th great-grandfather, and Renner's 4th great-grandfather.
Robert Pattinson
Q. To which famous figure from history is "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson related?
A. Scientist Daniel Fahrenheit (second from left)
B. Philosopher Friedrich Schiller (second from right)
C. Romanian Count Vlad the Impaler (far right)
Vlad the Impaler
Answer:
According to ancestry.com, the actor best known for playing a vampire is, ironically, related to the infamous Romanian count Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker to create the bloodthirsty Dracula.
Ellen DeGeneres
Q. Talk show host-dancer Ellen DeGeneres is related to what singer-dancer?
A. Madonna (center)
B. Pink (second from right)
C. Ann Reinking (right)
Madonna
Answer:
Frenchman Martin Aucoin, who settled in Nova Scotia in the 17th century, is the 10th great-grandfather of both Ellen DeGeneres and Madonna Louise Ciccone, as discovered by researchers at ancestry.com.
Justine Bieber
Q. To which fellow Canadian performer is pop singer Justin Bieber related?
A. Celine Dion (bottom left)
B. Ryan Gosling (bottom right)
C. Avril Lavigne (top left)
All of them
Answer:
All three!
Bieber is related to both Gosling and Lavigne by way of the Mathurin Roy-Marguerite Biré line, which took root in Quebec in the 1600s. Bieber is Gosling's 11th cousin, once removed, and Lavigne's 12th cousin.
Dion's connection to Bieber comes via French natives Jacques Vezina and Marie Boisdon, who emigrated to Quebec in the 1600s. The "Titanic" singer is 10th cousin, three times removed, from the singer of "Sorry." (The two here pose for a picture posted by Bieber on Twitter in 2009.)
Kate
Q. The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is an 11th cousin of:
A. Author Jane Austen (top left)
B. Silent screen star Pola Negri (middle)
C. Stage actress Ellen Terry (bottom left)
Jane Austen
Answer:
Henry Percy, the 2nd Earl of Northumberland, was Jane Austen's 10th great-grandfather, and Kate Middleton's 16th great-grandfather, making the "Pride and Prejudice" author and the future Queen 11th cousins, six times removed, as discovered by ancestry.com.
Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt
Q. Ben Affleck (left) and Brad Pitt are both related to the same U.S. President. Is it:
A. George W. Bush
B. Calvin Coolidge
C. Barack Obama
President Barack Obama
Answer: President Barack Obama
Ben Affleck is a distant relation -- an 11th cousin -- to President Obama through ties with the Hinckley family of Cape Cod.
The New England Genealogical Society also discovered that Brad Pitt and Mr. Obama are ninth cousins, thanks to a shared ancestor, Edwin Hickman of Virginia, who died in 1769.
Abraham Lincoln
Q. This Oscar-winning actor revealed his family ties to President Abraham Lincoln. Is it:
A. Tom Hanks (top)
B. Tommy Lee Jones (middle)
C. Billy Bob Thornton (bottom)
Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks' great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, John Hanks of Richmond County, Va. (c. 1690-c.1740), was the great-grandfather of Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lincoln, making the "Saving Private Ryan" star a third cousin, four times removed, of the 16th President of the United States.