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People are only just realising Rooney and Kate Mara's family founded two iconic sports teams
Featured Image Credit: Image Press Agency/Alamy Stock Photo/The MMQB

People are only just realising Rooney and Kate Mara's family founded two iconic sports teams

Rooney Mara and Kate Mara aren't the only famous faces in the family

People are only just realising that sisters Rooney and Kate Mara aren’t the only famous faces in their family – which also founded two iconic sports teams.

Rooney Mara is, of course, an American actor best known for playing Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, with other notable roles including The Social Network, Tanner Hall, Her and Carol.

The 37-year-old also shares a son with Joaquin Phoenix, with whom she has been in a relationship since 2016.

Rooney Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.
Sony Pictures

Kate Mara, 39, meanwhile, is known for starring in the likes of House of Cards, 24, American Horror Story, Pose, along with movies such as Brokeback Mountain and The Martian.

The eldest sister is also married to Billy Elliott star Jamie Bell, having starred alongside one another in Fantastic Four.

But the siblings aren’t the only famous names within the Mara family – a revelation that cropped up on Twitter earlier this week.

Someone posted an infographic of the two Maras, with a description underneath reading: “Their mother’s and father’s families founded the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants, respectively.”

Rooney and Kate Mara.
Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

“I’m sorry WHAT??” they said.

It turned out they weren’t alone in being late to the party, with the tweet racking up more than 70,000 likes.

Another commented: “WHAT...”

Someone else wrote: “DAMN.”

The graphic was taken from a Vulture piece about ‘nepo-babies’ in Hollywood, which is currently a huge topic of debate on social media.

Indeed, the Maras are an Irish-American family known for owning the NFL’s New York Giants – which they owned outright until 1991.

It all stems from Tim Mara, born in 1887 in New York City, who was awarded the franchise in 1925 before transferring ownership to his two sons, Jack and Wellington.

One of Wellington’s kids, Chris Mara, ended up being the Giants’ senior vice president of player personnel.

More importantly, however, he also went on to marry Kathleen Rooney – part of the family who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers.

They are now the parents of Kate and Rooney, the latter of whom was actually born as Patricia Rooney Mara.

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres back in 2020, Kate admitted Sundays in their household used to be slightly stressful.

“Yeah well it’s complicated, if everyone’s winning then it’s really happy,” she said.

“It’s a stressful situation constantly, but it’s also really amazing because someone’s most likely going to win, one of the teams is going to win.”

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Sport