Genealogy experts have discovered movie pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are 10th cousins.

The actors are childhood friends from the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts and found fame together starring alongside each other in a number of movies, and winning an Oscar each for their 1997 screenplay Good Will Hunting.

New research from the New England Historic Genealogical Society has delved back through their ancestry and uncovered a common 10th great-grandfather, William Knowlton, a bricklayer who hailed from 17th century Ipswich, England.

The society also claims to have linked Affleck to Barack Obama and Damon to six or seven American presidents, reports TMZ.com. (IG/WNWCZM/MT)

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