The Hidden Link You Missed Between Thomas Brodie-Sangster And Hugh Grant

Two of Britain's most loved actors are actually related to each. Yep, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Hugh Grant, stars of 2003 Christmas romcom Love Actually, are second cousins. "His grandmother and my great-grandmother are sisters," Brodie-Sangster has revealed (via Time of India). But it wasn't until Brodie-Sangster told Grant during the filming of Love Actually that Grant realized. 

"He didn't know," said Brodie-Sangster, "I said, 'Apparently, you are my uncle or my cousin or something'. Then he kind of remembered my mum and uncle. So for the rest of the shoot he went round saying: 'Hello cousin'. That felt quite cool," he added. Quite cool, indeed. Especially for 13-year-old, which is how old Brodie-Sangster was when the filmed the hit movie. Since this breakout role, he's grown up on screen, starring in films like Bright Star, Nowhere Boy, and Maze Runner, and TV shows such as Game of Thrones and Godless (via IMDb). But it's his most recent role in The Queen's Gambit that has people talking. 

Speaking about his Queen's Gambit role as chess champion Benny, Thomas Brodie-Sangster admitted he got the gig after working with director Scott Frank in Godless. "He called me up and said that he had this general idea about a world of chess, and how he had this character he was working on that he'd like me to attempt," he told Augustman. "That got me excited, and I trusted him, so I read the script. It was really interesting, but the telling of the story as a whole was challenging as well, so I decided to go for it." Good call!

So, where can you expect to see him next? According to Deadline, Brodie-Sangster is set for even bigger things, scoring one the leading roles in the "audio movie event" Unsinkable alongside The New Pope's John Malkovich and Succession's Brian Cox. "I don't think I've ever done anything on this scale before, the script and the story is such a high level," the actor said of the role.