Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been friends since childhood but people have recently been left shocked after discovering they are actually related. 

Their long-standing friendship goes all the way back to the 1980s when they were introduced as children and bonded over their mutual love of baseball and acting. 

Ben, 52, and Matt, 54, first started acting together as uncredited extras in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams before making it in Hollywood. 

And their ‘bromance’ has stood the test of time after collaborating on the likes of Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel and Air and have supported each other in their careers and personal lives.

According to the New England Genealogical Society, Ben and Matt are actually said to be tenth cousins once removed. 

Researchers at the society have dug up evidence that the actors are both descendants of William Knowlton Jr, an English bricklayer who moved to the US in the 1630s. 

Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have been friends since childhood but people have recently been left shocked after discovering they are actually related

Their long-standing friendship goes all the way back to the 1980s when they were introduced as children and bonded over their mutual love of baseball and acting

Ben is also shockingly related to former US president Barack Obama and Princess Diana.

Instagram page @moviemagick shared the news that the actors are related and left people shocked. 

Taking to the comments, fans wrote: ‘No way Affleck and Damon are related; DAMON AND AFFLECK ARE WHAT???’ 

The account also pointed out a number of other celebrities are related including Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci (sister and brother-in-law) and Elle Fanning and Catherine, Princess of Wales (21st cousins). 

They also shared that Julia Roberts and Emma Roberts are aunt and niece and Ashley Tisdale and Austin Butler are 10th cousins.   

It comes after Ben last month opened up about his longtime friendship with Matt.

But while the actor said he values the ‘beautiful’ friendship he has with his pal and business partner, he also admitted the sad truth that Matt is one of his only pals in Hollywood. 

‘I’m really lucky to have had a friend in Matt,’ he told Business Insider at the SXSW premiere of The Accountant 2, where Matt showed up in support of his friend.

According to the New England Genealogical Society, Ben and Matt are actually said to be tenth cousins once removed and are both descendants of William Knowlton Jr, an English bricklayer who moved to the US in the 1630s

Instagram page @moviemagick shared the news that the actors are related and left people shocked

Ben, 52, and Matt, 54, first started acting together as uncredited extras in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams before making it in Hollywood; pictured 1998

And their ‘bromance’ has stood the test of time after collaborating on the likes of Good Will Hunting, The Last Duel and Air and have supported each other in their careers and personal lives; pictured 1998

Read More Ben Affleck reveals why he doesn’t have any friends in Hollywood besides Matt Damon

Ben – who is critical of Hollywood’s obsession with cancel culture, thinks it’s ‘beautiful’ that he doesn’t have many friends in the industry and that it’s not needed.

‘It’s a beautiful thing,’ he said, but added: ‘You know, I don’t have very many [friends].

‘None of us really have very many friends. You don’t need a million friends,’ added the Gone Girl star — who also shared, at the premiere, his brutal, two-worded response to his 13-year-old son Samuel when he asked him to buy $6K sneakers.

Reasoning why a large friendship circle isn’t exactly a good thing, he added: ‘You need a few. You need good ones.’

Ben has previously been critical of Hollywood life, and last year talked about cancel culture in a joint interview with his pal Matt.  

‘I’m one errant remark away from being cancelled,’ he told ᴅᴇᴀᴅline. ‘Or I’m one movie bomb away from never working again, and I’ve got a family and so forth. Naturally, people seek to do what’s in their best interest.’

The best friends have also won an Oscar together for writing Good Will Hunting in 1998. 

A long way from being struggling actors who used a shared bank account they opened together in high school and used for years to support and ‘help each other,’ they previously told Business Insider in 2023.

It comes after Ben said he values the ‘beautiful’ friendship he has with his pal and business partner Matt, he also admitted the sad truth that he is one of his only pals in Hollywood.

Nowadays, Affleck and Damon also work together at their production company Artists Equity. 

The best friends’ upcoming projects include the theatrical release of Affleck’s The Accountant 2 on April 25.

As for Damon, he will be leading the star-studded cast in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey, which is set to premiere next year in July 2026.

The pair produced The Accountant 2 together through Artists Equity which they co-founded the production company together back in 2022.