'X Factor': Emblem 3's Surprising Hollywood Connections

4:06 PM PDT 10/31/2012 by Michele Amabile Angermiller

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The California surfer dudes have some juice in film and television.

Jeff Lipsky / FOX

Ever since the Huntington Beach trio Emblem 3 performed their first audition song, "Sunset Blvd.," on X Factor, the group has presented itself as a couple of surfer dudes from a "small California town."

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While the surfing part is definitely true, the group -- comprised of the forever shirtless Drew Chadwick and brothers Wesley and Keaton Stromberg -- has not yet revealed their surprising Hollywood connections. Namely, their father William Stromberg, a Grammy-nominated composer who has worked on A-list television shows like Lost, and their uncle Robert Stromberg, who has won Academy Awards for his work as a production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.

In addition to his work in art direction, Robert Stromberg is currently directing Angelina Jolie in her forthcoming film, Maleficent. His other credits on IMDb Pro include The Hunger Games, Water for Elephants, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Shutter Island, 2012, Tropic Thunder and The Good Shephard.

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William Stromberg had success as a conductor in the '90s with credits for the films Kate and Leopold, Legally Blonde, Election, and The Cider House Rules.

The X Factor competitors come from quite a musical gene pool on both sides of the family. Their mother, Laraine Claire, is reportedly a composer and jazz harpist with a degree from the University of Southern California.

Emblem 3 are hardly the first X Factor contestants with Hollywood ties. Earlier this season, Gene Simmons' daughter Sophie Tweed Simmons impressed the judges at her San Francisco audition, but was later cut during the boot camp round.

Despite the fact that their group consists of three young male performers, Emblem 3 has continually stated that they are not boy band, but musicians. X Factor goes live on FOX Wednesday night.

Watch the group's first audition below: