Arts & Entertainment

Tom Hanks Discovers He's Mister Rogers' Distant Cousin

The two actors have been hailed as the nicest guys in entertainment. As it turns out, it's in their DNA.

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Can decency be a genetic trait? It turns out the nicest guy on TV and the nicest guy in movies are distant cousins. Thanks to Ancestry.com, Tom Hanks recently discovered Fred Rogers, who he plays in the upcoming film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is his sixth cousin.

That’s right: Mister Rogers and Tom Hanks are cousins. Hanks didn’t know about the connection when he got the part, making the casting seem almost kismet.

"Fred Rogers and Tom Hanks are sixth cousins sharing the same 5x great-grandfather ... who immigrated from Germany to America in the 18th century," Ancestry spokeswoman Keri Madonna told CNN Tuesday.

Access Hollywood shared the news with Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson, catching them completely off guard.

“No, impossible! You're pulling our leg," Wilson responded.

“It all just comes together, you see,” added Hanks.

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired nationally from 1968 until 2001, just two years before Rogers' death. The show was known for conveying a message of positivity to generations of American children, and Hanks’ new film explores the nexus between the show and the philosophy of kindness that Rogers held dear.

Google “Tom Hanks” and “nice” and countless headlines will pop up outlining his spontaneous acts of kindness from forming a selfie line in order to help a girl scout sell cookies to halting filming in order to escort a bride who was late to her own wedding through the throngs of spectators.

A recent New York Times profile makes the case that the Forest Gump star really is as nice as everyone says he is, noting Steven “Spielberg once said about him, ‘If Norman Rockwell were alive today, he would paint a portrait of Tom.’”

Barack Obama agrees, saying in 2014, “People have said that Tom is Hollywood’s Everyman; that he’s this generation’s Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper. But he’s just Tom Hanks. And that’s enough. That’s more than enough.”

Maybe, but now he's also Mister Rogers’ sixth cousin.

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