"Cause I'm on display, display, display," Melissa Gorga not-so-famously opined in her debut single on "The Real Housewives of New Jesey," but it looks like the aspiring singer has actually been connected to Hollywood for some time. The reality show star is actually the distant cousin of Ralph Macchio -- yes, the same Ralph Macchio of 1984's "Karate Kid" fame. Which would make the 50-year-old, Italian-American Macchio also the cousin-in-law of Melissa's sister-in-law Teresa Giudice… oh, well, you get it. In Jersey, it's somehow all relative anyway.
But Gorga also made it clear she wouldn't be inviting Macchio for dinner anytime soon. "We are like really distant cousins. Never even met him," Gorga told The Huffington Post. "We always said it when we were little. It's like through marriage, my aunt Rosile."
Gorga initially confirmed the connection to a Twitter follower Monday in preparation for her "Watch What Happens Live" appearance on July 19, with host Andy Cohen.
Launch our gallery below to see more surprising Hollywood relatives.
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BROTHER SISTER
Alfie Allen, the "Game of Thrones" actor, is the brother of UK pop sensation Lily Allen. Not that he's typecast or anything -- Alfie was also in British period dramas "The Other Boleyn Girl," "Atonement," and "Elizabeth."
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BROTHERS
If you squint your eyes, Dave Franco ("21 Jump Street") could almost pass for his more famous older brother James. With cleaner hair.
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COUSINS
By now, we all know that actress Kyra Sedgwick was the cousin once removed of Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol's muse and Factory girl who met a tragic early death at age 28. The Sedgwicks came from a long line of distinguished people, which included Judge Theodore Sedgwick and Ellery Sedgwick, owner and editor of <em>The Atlantic Monthly</em>.
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COUSINS
Tom Cruise and cousin William Mapother not only share a last name -- Cruise was born Thomas Cruise Mapother IV -- but also even kind of look a like. The TV actor ("Lost," "The Mentalist") <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544611/bio" target="_hplink">has said</a> about his famous "Mission Impossible" first cousin: "I never really worried about it. As I've amassed a body of work, the questions about Tom have gone away. I figured that if I did good work, I'd be seen for what I am."
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COUSINS
Yes, they share the last name, but with McCarthy a fairly common surname it still came as a surprise when former Playboy Playmate <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/true_false_new_emmy_winner_melissa/264653#ixzz1YQVm3lpL" target="_hplink">Jenny tweeted</a> at the hilarious "Bridesmaids" star: "Congrats to my cousin melissa mccarthy on her Emmy win!!" Apparently the funny bone runs in this family: Jenny was previously together with comedian Jim Carrey for five years.
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BROTHERS IN LAW
Jake Gyllenhaal pals around with a number of his co-stars, but he's extra friendly with fellow actor Peter Sarsgaard, who married sister Maggie in May 2009. The Gyllenhaal siblings -- who got their big break starring in 2001's "Donnie Darko" together -- are themselves no stranger to keeping it all in the family: father Stephen is a film director and mother Naomi is a film producer and screenwriter.
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COUSINS
And now in your dose of high-brow news: highly-celebrated American composer Philip Glass is the first cousin once removed of highly-celebrated American radio journalist Ira Glass. Philip has even composed a song or two for Ira's "This American Life" program. Meanwhile, both share a love for glasses and smart jackets.
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COUSINS
It's a mob mentality worthy of "The Godfather:" Director Francis Ford Coppola's only daughter, "Lost In Tranlation" director Sofia, is cousins with actors Jason Schwartzman and Nicholas Cage (née Nicholas Coppola). Meanwhile, Sofia's older brother Roman is also a director; grandfather Carmine was a well-known composer who scored the soundtrack to Francis's films like "Apocalypse Now."
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FATHER AND SON
Fans of "True Blood" who feel like Alexander Skarsgard arrived with the sudden fright of his fanged character and glamoured the heck out of them may be surprised to know that father Stellan was already well-established in Hollywood. The elder Skarsgard played the tough-loving teacher in "Good Will Hunting" and one of Meryl Streep's courters in "Mamma Mia!". Most recently, father and son appeared together in fellow Scandinavian Lars Van Trier's "Meloncholia."
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COUSINS
Actors Rip Torn and Sissy Spacek are first cousins; the former helped the latter get her start into the film biz by helping her enroll in Strasberg's Actors Studio in New York.
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GODFATHER
The Barrymores need no introduction in Hollywood, but among the famous faces Drew Barrymore, now 36, can count among her upbringing is director Steven Spielberg, who, along with Sophia Loren, was deigned her Godparent. Steven Spielberg later went on to cast seven-year-old Drew in 1982's "E.T." The two remained close, with Drew pointing to the famed director as a constant stabilizing force in her publicly traumatic childhood. "He's been a very important mentor. He was the first stable male figure in my life. The best attribute a parent can have is consistency," <a href="http://www.readersdigest.com.au/interview-drew-barrymore?page=2" target="_hplink">she told <em>Reader's Digest </em></a>in 2009.
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BROTHER AND SISTER
Yes, they're brother and sister: Warren Beatty was reportedly inspired to start acting after witnessing his older sister Shirley MacLaine's success in the biz. Now the brother and sister, who originally hail from Richmond, Virginia, are both famed Hollywood legends. Isn't that nice.
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FATHER AND DAUGHTER
Twenty-two-year-old fashion model Daisy Lowe reportedly had no idea Bush singer Gavin Rossdale was her father until 2004, after a paternity test revealed that the rocker (and then-Godfather) was her biological parent. Though Rossdale initially refused to take the paternity test, it was later revealed that he and Daisy's mother Pearl had had a one-night stand. In the summer of 2011, Daisy appeared on the front cover of <em>Playboy</em>, in which she said of her father: "My whole life I thought my father was someone different... But Gavin and Gwen [Stefani] are really good people, and I value so much the time we get together."
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FATHER AND SONS
Perhaps one of the best-known familial relations in the list, "Apocalypse Now" actor Martin Sheen's two sons Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez both went on to have successful careers in Hollywood, with one more vocally "winning" than the other. Estevez is the proper family surname; Martin adopted "Sheen" as his stage name, which Charlie then took on as well. The Hollywood connection doesn't stop there: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0261724/" target="_hplink">Martin's younger brother Joe Estevez</a> is also an actor.
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Posted: 07/17/2012 4:35 pm Updated: 07/18/2012 10:42 am