Pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon related?

They are childhood buddies in real life but genealogy experts have found out that Hollywood actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are also 10th cousins.

The stars 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", TMZ.com reported.

However, a latest research by the New England Historic Genealogical Society has turned back the clock and studied the duo's ancestry to uncover 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 US presidents.