Marisa Tomei Learns Julianne Moore Is Her Cousin

It would seem that Marisa Tomei and Julianne Moore have more in common than owning property in New York. On January 29, the former Greenwich homeowner, Tomei, discovered a familial connection to Moore, a Montauk homeowner, on the PBS show Finding Your Roots.

In the episode, the show’s host Henry Louis Gates Jr. reveals that Tomei and Moore are cousins, as shown by a shared strand of DNA on their X chromosome. And that’s not the only thing they’ve shared. Entertainment Tonight writes that Tomei and Moore attended Boston University together and co-starred in the 2011 film, Crazy, Stupid, Love.

On January 30, Tomei announced the news in an Instagram post captioned, “What an incredible gift to find out about my family’s roots with @HenryLouisGates! Eternally grateful for this generation and generations to come…. and the big surprise — discovering my friend is my REAL cousin! Hey cuz @juliannemoore!!!! Love”

Tomei’s post, featuring a video clip from Finding Your Roots shows her shock and joy at the reveal. “Julianne? Julianne! Julie? You know we went to school together?” she says, adding, “Jules! Oh, I can’t wait to tell her.”

The Instagram shoutout seemed to work, because on January 30, Moore posted the same clip with the caption,  “I KNEW WE WERE ALIKE! @marisatomei is my COUSIN!! OMG I’m so excited, thank you @henrylouisgates for letting us know we have identical segments of DNA – #FindingYourRoots #twinning”

Interestingly, the minds behind Finding Your Roots couldn’t fully explain how all of Tomei’s discovered relatives have a strong genetic tie to Italy and yet Moore has no known Italian ancestry. A mystery to be sure, but the relation is written in the chromosomes. Now that they’re cousins, perhaps Tomei will find a home in the Hamptons and become an honorary East Ender?