• MSN
  • Hotmail
  • More
    • Autos
    • My MSN
    • Video
    • Careers & Jobs
    • Personals
    • Weather
    • Delish
    • Quotes
    • White Pages
    • Games
    • Real Estate
    • Wonderwall
    • Horoscopes
    • Shopping
    • Yellow Pages
    • Local Edition
    • Traffic
    • Feedback
    • Maps & Directions
    • Travel
    • Full MSN Index
  • Bing
  • NBCNews.com
  • TODAY
  • Nightly News
  • Rock Center
  • Meet the Press
  • Dateline
  • msnbc
  • Breaking News
  • Newsvine
  • Home
  • US
  • World
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sports
  • Entertainment
  • Health
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Travel
  • Local
  • Weather
Advertise | AdChoices
  • Recommended: Audiences: Movie trailers give too much away, but don't deter attendance
  • Recommended: Seven ways celebrities have come out as gay, from weddings to magazine covers
  • Recommended: 5 fantastic moments from the White House Correspondents' Dinner
  • Recommended: Conan O'Brien gets 'goofy' at White House ahead of Correspondents' Dinner

From breaking news to news you can't use, but enjoy anyway, we offer the hot stories of the day in TV, movies, music and celebrities.

  • ↓ About this blog
  • ↓ Archives
    • Icons Email E-mail updates
    • Icons Twitter Follow on Twitter
    • Icons Feed Subscribe to RSS
  • 1
    Nov
    2012
    7:19am, EDT

    George Clooney is Abraham Lincoln's distant cousin, says Ancestry.com

    Getty Images

    Abraham Lincoln and George Clooney.

    By Zorianna Kit, Reuters

    Aunt Rosemary was not George Clooney's only famous relative. You can add a certain Civil War American president to the Oscar-winning actor's family tree.

    Politics has apparently run in the activist actor's blood for centuries, as website Ancestry.com on Thursday revealed that the "Ocean's 11" star is distantly related to President Abraham Lincoln. 

    According to Ancestry.com, Clooney is the half-first cousin five times removed from Lincoln, the 16th president. The genealogy website breaks down the connection, explaining the "half" means that two of their ancestors were half-siblings -- Lincoln's mother Nancy Hanks was the half-sister of Clooney's 4th great-grandmother Mary Ann Sparrow.

    Hanks and Sparrow shared the same mother, Lucy Hanks, but had different fathers. Lucy Hanks was Lincoln's maternal grandmother as well as the 5th great-grandmother of Clooney. 

    Clooney's aunt was singer and actress Rosemary Clooney, who died in 2002.

    Clooney, long noted for his political activism, is a major Hollywood backer of President Barack Obama. He hosted a Democratic Party fundraiser at his Los Angeles home in March that raised $15 million. 

    Lincoln, a Republican, is considered one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States. He led the country through the Civil War and is credited with the abolition of slavery, which officially became law in 1865 after his assassination. 


    Follow @ TODAY_ent

    He is the subject of an upcoming Steven Spielberg film "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, which is to open in the United States next week. 

    Ancestry.com is offering free access to more than 20,000 documents showcasing Lincoln's life, his family tree and the most pivotal moments of his presidential career. The details can be found at www.ancestry.com/lincoln.

    Related content:

    • George Clooney, Neil Diamond belt out 'Sweet Caroline'
    • Ryan Gosling, Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne are all related

    More in TODAY Entertainment:

    • Evan Rachel Wood marries Jamie Bell
    • Broadway shows should be back in full force Thursday
    • Ryan Gosling makes surprise appearance at Texas School for the Deaf
    • Denzel Washington tops list of actors who should play Jesus
    Show more
    Explore related topics: lincoln, movies, george-clooney, abraham-lincoln, featured

Browse

  • featured,
  • movies,
  • music,
  • reality,
  • tv,
  • celebrities,
  • dancing-with-the-stars,
  • american-idol,
  • late-night,
  • whitney-houston,
  • reviews,
  • election2012,
  • oscars,
  • justin-bieber,
  • best-bets,
  • stephen-colbert,
  • jon-stewart,
  • politics,
  • downton-abbey,
  • biggest-loser,
  • saturday-night-live,
  • teen-mom,
  • babies,
  • lindsay-lohan,
  • walking-dead,
  • colbert-report,
  • box-office,
  • twilight
Also
Advertise | AdChoices

Archives

  • 2013
    • May (22)
    • April (200)
    • March (246)
    • February (201)
    • January (266)
  • 2012
    • December (254)
    • November (232)
    • October (394)
    • September (367)
    • August (298)
    • July (280)
    • June (252)
    • May (295)
    • April (300)
    • March (263)
    • February (262)
    • January (182)
  • 2011
    • December (133)
    • November (108)

Most Commented

    Other blogs

    • The Body Odd
    • Cosmic Log
    • Red Tape Chronicles
    • PhotoBlog
    • US News
    • Open Channel

    NBCNews.com top stories

    3147,10
    © 2013 NBCNews.com
    • Entertainment on NBCNews.com
    • About us
    • Contact
    • Help
    • Site map
    • Careers
    • Closed captioning
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Privacy policy
    • Advertise