Hollywood loves a good family tree, but some of the branches are easier to spot than others. We all know the Kardashians share a last name and a group chat, and nobody needs reminding that Will Smith and Jaden Smith are father and son. The trickier connections are the ones hiding in plain sight, where two famous faces turn out to be blood relatives and most people never put it together.
Some of these pairs share a last name that got lost somewhere between a stage name and a stepfather. Others simply never worked the same rooms, so the resemblance in talent never translated into an obvious family resemblance in the tabloids. Here are eight sibling relationships that are a lot closer, and a lot more surprising, than casual fans tend to realize.
1. Kate Mara and Rooney Mara
Kate Mara and Rooney Mara have built entirely separate acting careers, with Kate known for House of Cards and Rooney for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Carol. What most fans miss is the family they were born into off screen. Kate Mara, born in 1983, was the first to break into acting, and her younger sister Rooney followed in her footsteps, taking on background roles in Kate’s early projects before landing her own breakout parts.
The bigger surprise is what their last names actually mean in football circles. The Mara sisters are heiresses to not one but two NFL franchises, the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers, with family ties stretching back to the founding years of the NFL. Tim Mara, founder of the New York Giants in 1925, is their great grandfather on their father’s side, his son Wellington Mara was a legendary team owner and executive, and Wellington’s son Timothy Christopher Mara is Kate and Rooney’s father. On their mother’s side, the connection runs straight to the Rooney family that has owned the Steelers for generations, meaning these two actresses grew up with a genuine claim to two of the NFL’s most storied franchises.
2. Liev Schreiber and Pablo Schreiber
Liev Schreiber built a career on intensity, from his Emmy nominated turn in Ray Donovan to his Tony winning stage work. Pablo Schreiber has followed a similarly acclaimed path through Orange Is the New Black, Halo, and The Perfect Couple. Casual viewers rarely clock that these two are related, partly because they did not grow up in the same household.
Liev Schreiber has a half brother ten years younger than him, Pablo Schreiber, and the two are not only both successful actors, they are also half brothers. They are related through their late father, acting teacher Tell Schreiber. The brothers were raised in different households and, by Pablo’s own account, were not particularly close growing up, which helps explain why so few people outside industry circles ever made the connection between them.
3. The Manning brothers, Peyton, Eli, and Cooper
Everyone knows Peyton Manning and Eli Manning as two of the greatest quarterbacks of their generation, each with two Super Bowl rings and now a hit ESPN broadcast booth together. Fewer casual fans think much about their older brother Cooper Manning, who never played in the NFL but whose football story still shapes the family. Arch Manning’s father is Cooper Manning, the brother of Eli and Peyton, who played football at Ole Miss himself but was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and could not keep playing, so Peyton Manning switched his number to Cooper’s number 18.
That family thread runs straight into the headlines of 2026. Arch Manning, the nephew of former NFL Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli, is widely projected to be a top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, despite attempting fewer than 100 career passes over his first two seasons at Texas. The Manning name has become shorthand for football royalty across three generations, and Cooper’s part of that story is often the one fans forget.
4. Julia Roberts and Eric Roberts
Julia Roberts is one of the most bankable movie stars of the last four decades, but her older brother Eric Roberts was actually the first in the family to break into Hollywood. Eric, ten years older than his movie star younger sister, was the first of the two to enter the entertainment industry, and he credits himself with having been one of her biggest supporters when it was her time to make her film debut, starring as his on screen sister in 1989’s Blood Red. Shortly after, the siblings became estranged for over a decade.
The rift traced back to Eric’s struggles with addiction and a bitter custody battle over his daughter, actress Emma Roberts. The Roberts siblings reunited and reconciled in 2004 when Julia gave birth to twins, with Eric describing it as a pleasant surprise steeped in brotherly and uncle-ly love. These days their relationship is warmer but guarded, with Eric acknowledging he is not really supposed to talk publicly about his sister, even though he often does.
5. Dave Franco and James Franco
James Franco earned an Oscar nomination for 127 Hours and built a reputation as one of the more unpredictable actors of his generation. His younger brother Dave Franco took a different route, leaning into comedy with Neighbors and 21 Jump Street before finding his own directing career with The Rental. The two share a last name that never got hidden, yet plenty of fans still discover the sibling connection years after watching both of them separately.
Part of the confusion comes from how differently their public personas read on screen. James built his early career around darker, more offbeat roles, while Dave became known for lighter, more mainstream comedic work. It is only when their names appear side by side in interviews or family photos that the resemblance, and the relationship, becomes obvious.
6. Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal has spent decades earning acclaim for films like Brokeback Mountain and Nightcrawler, while his older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal built her own respected career with Secretary and The Deuce before moving into directing with The Lost Daughter. Both siblings come from a family already embedded in the industry, since their parents are director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter and producer Naomi Foner. That pedigree gave both Gyllenhaal children an early foothold, though each carved out a distinct creative identity.
What makes their sibling status easy to overlook is how rarely they appear together in interviews or on red carpets as a pair. Maggie has increasingly focused on writing and directing in recent years, while Jake has continued acting steadily across big budget and independent films alike. Their careers rarely intersect publicly, which keeps the family connection from being top of mind for casual audiences.
7. Zooey Deschanel and Emily Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel became a household name through New Girl and her music career with She and Him, cultivating a whimsical, distinct public image. Her older sister Emily Deschanel spent twelve seasons anchoring the procedural drama Bones, a role that built a loyal but very different fan base. The two rarely overlap in interviews or projects, which is likely why so many fans of one show barely register that the other sister exists.
Their father, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, has worked on major films across decades, giving both daughters an early connection to the industry through his work rather than through acting itself. Zooey’s fanbase tends to skew toward comedy and music audiences, while Emily’s built up around crime procedural viewers, two corners of pop culture that do not always cross paths. It is a reminder that shared talent does not always mean shared audiences.
8. Elizabeth Olsen and the Olsen twins
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen became famous as children on Full House and later built a fashion empire, making them recognizable to an entire generation before they turned twenty. Their younger sister Elizabeth Olsen deliberately built a separate identity, breaking out in the indie drama Martha Marcy May Marlene before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Scarlet Witch. For years she avoided leaning on the family name, which is partly why some younger fans discover the connection only after already loving her work.
The age gap between Elizabeth and her older twin sisters is significant, and their career paths rarely overlapped in public view. While Mary-Kate and Ashley moved largely into fashion and business, Elizabeth stayed focused on film and television, becoming one of the most recognizable faces in a major franchise. The contrast between reality television child stardom and prestige film and superhero work makes the sibling link feel almost like two different family stories.
Family trees in Hollywood tend to be more tangled than they first appear, whether through half siblings raised apart, sisters who built entirely different fan bases, or a family name that quietly carries generations of history behind it. Some of these connections only surface through a passing mention in an interview or a red carpet photo years after both siblings became famous on their own terms. The next time two familiar faces share a surname, it might be worth a second look at exactly how close that family tie really runs.
