Actresses Sydney Sweeney and Marilyn Monroe are distant relatives, according to new genealogical research released by MyHeritage.

The study found that Sweeney and Monroe are ninth cousins once removed, with their family trees connecting through Ezra Perry, an early settler in Sandwich, Massachusetts, who lived from approximately 1625 to 1689.

The connection runs through the actresses’ paternal family lines. Sweeney is connected through her father, Steven Sweeney, while Monroe’s branch comes through her biological father, Charles Stanley Gifford.

The discovery is notable because Sweeney has frequently been compared with Monroe, particularly because of their blonde appearance and Sweeney’s repeated use of Old Hollywood-inspired fashion.

Sweeney has also deliberately paid tribute to Monroe through several red-carpet appearances. In February, she wore a vintage-style white Cecil Chapman gown at the Santa Barbara Film Festival that closely resembled the dress Monroe wore on the cover of Life magazine in 1952.

Sweeney also appeared at the Los Angeles premiere of The Housemaid in December 2025 wearing a white Galia Lahav gown that evoked Monroe’s famous dress from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.

Roi Mandel, MyHeritage’s director of research, said the longstanding comparisons between the two actresses prompted researchers to investigate whether they were actually related.

The resulting research found that the resemblance in their Hollywood images is accompanied by a genuine, although extremely distant, genealogical relationship.