Marilyn Monroe and Dakota Johnson are related, genealogy service reveals

To mark what would have been Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday, the Venice Film Festival will premiere a short film called "Flesh Impact." Maggie Gyllenhaal wrote and directed the project, which features two versions of Monroe. Ellen Burstyn plays a Monroe the world never got to see, while Dakota Johnson appears as Monroe at the height of her fame. A promotional image of Johnson dressed as Monroe has drawn attention for its resemblance, and a new statement from MyHeritage suggests one possible reason: the two women are distant relatives.

According to the genealogy company, Johnson is Monroe's ninth cousin three times removed. The connection goes back to Richard and Charity Tydings, English settlers in Maryland in the 17th century. Monroe is said to descend from their daughter Pretitia, while Johnson and her father Don Johnson are said to descend from Pretitia's younger sister Mary.

The announcement adds to a long history of unexpected Hollywood family ties. Kit Harington, who played Robert Catesby in the 2017 BBC series "Gunpowder," is reportedly Catesby's sixth cousin 11 times removed, according to the website Famouskin. Harington's family tree also includes King James I, meaning he is related both to the would-be assassin and to the king Catesby's plot targeted.

Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Richard III in 2016, was revealed to be the king's second cousin 16 times removed. Genealogy research has also connected him to Arthur Conan Doyle and Alan Turing, as well as to an ancestor, Abraham, who owned a sugar plantation in Barbados.

Taylor Swift has been linked to poet Emily Dickinson as a sixth cousin three times removed and to King Louis XIV as an eighth cousin 11 times removed. Emma Watson, known for playing a witch in the Harry Potter films, was found to be related to Joan Playle, a woman convicted of witchcraft in 1592 and excommunicated from the church. Robert Pattinson, who played a vampire in "Twilight," is reportedly a distant relative of Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler, whose other descendants include Prince William, Prince Harry and George W. Bush.