Two stars of Love Actually discovered they were related for the first time when they met on set of the hit 2003 Christmas film. Hugh Grant was shocked to find out he is a cousin of younger actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who played lovestruck Sam in the iconic movie.
Thomas, now 34, shared the unlikely connection and said: “His grandmother and my great-grandmother are sisters… [Hugh] didn’t know.
“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.”
During an appearance on ITV’s Lorraine last year, Thomas – who went on to star in huge films like Nanny McPhee, Nowhere Boy and TV shows like The Queen’s Gambit and Game of Thrones – said Hugh would refer to him as ‘little cousin’ after that and would affectionately ‘ruffle my hair’.
In the film, which was Thomas’ big break, he played lovesick boy Sam, whose dad Daniel is played by Liam Neeson. He seeks the help of his dad to tell his schoolgirl crush how he feels in scenes which melted the hearts of millions.
Though the film was a huge hit and catapulted Thomas to fame, he has since said he was bullied for taking on the role. While itallowed Thomas to rub shoulders with the biggest names in British cinema, it seems his school friends at the time were cruel about his early success.
The actor was just 13-years-old when the film was released and had to balance school with his acting work. He says some of his classmates at the time were jealous of his success and made horrible comments, but he said it didn’t put him off wanting to pursue an acting career.
He told the Telegraph: “[The other pupils] would all ask where I’d been, and get a little jealous I got that much time off school. But I always told myself it was good to go back to school to hang around kids my own age.
“People tried to pick on me, but I don’t think I cared enough. They would try to bully me for being in a film. But that was my job! I liked doing that! So what was their point? Eventually I kind of made friends with them and they saw that I was all right.”
Despite the fact Thomas has appeared in other films including The Maze Runner franchise, he said he feels “old” because fans routinely recognise him best for the work he did 20 years ago – including Love Actually and the 2005 film Nanny McPhee.
He explained: “It’s really cool. Mothers or, like, big dudes will come up and say, ‘I loved Nanny McPhee as a kid!’ and now they’re grown-up. It does make you feel a little old, but it’s nice. It’s like Love Actually, everyone loves it, it’s not controversial. It’s an honour, really, to be in movies that have stood the test of time.”
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