Celebrities who married their on-screen romantic counterparts

You remember "The Oranges" right? That 2011 Hugh Laurie/Catherine Keener movie about the older married guy who falls for his friends' daughter? The one that bombed at the box office when released? No? Well, good news: No one remembers that movie outside of stars Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, who played members of neighboring families whose moms knew they'd make a perfect match. A romance between the two rising stars was confirmed in 2013 with their engagement, followed up with a wedding the following year. One year after that, their daughter, Arlo, was born. Orange you glad they made it work? 

John Travolta is no stranger to meeting romantic partners on set, as he met his first wife, Diana Hyland, on the set of "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble." He stayed with her until her passing due to breast cancer in 1977. In 1989 he was cast in "The Experts," a goofy comedy where Russians are trying to recreate an idyllic American town and end up kidnapping two actual Americans to "test it out." In a scene where Travolta's character is at a club and can't help but note how bad everyone is dancing, in walks Kelly Preston to show him what's what and — it is a steamy little number, with their chemistry radiating off the screen. While the movie is basically forgotten in the sands of time, their love has endured, marrying in 1991 (in two ceremonies), and staying married until Preston's death in 2020.

Why is it that for so many of these stories of actors finding true love in their on-screen partner, they're almost all associated with utterly unremarkable movies? For the Topher Grace-lead 2011 film "Take Me Home Tonight," about a video store clerk who pretends to be an investment banker at a party to win over a girl from his past, not many people saw it and not many critics cared for it. But expert comedy actress Anna Faris and rising comic talent Chris Pratt were actually an on-screen item, his proposal to her being a point of contention in the flick. The film was actually held by the studio for years due to its dour box office prospects, as Faris and Pratt met at the table read in 2007 and got married two years later. While the couple did have a son together, their breakup in 2017 broke hearts around the world. The two have both moved on to different partners since then. 

For actors as serious and revered as both Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, it only makes sense that while they did meet on set and they did play romantic partners, the circumstances were a little different. They were both cast in the Spike Jonze dramatic comedy "Her," but they were playing a couple finalizing their divorce, which in turn spurs Phoenix's character to start a voice-only relationship with his computer's AI. While the 2013 film went on to win an Academy Award for its screenplay, Phoenix and Mara didn't confirm they were dating until 2016. In 2019, they confirmed they were engaged. (We can clear room on our schedules if we're invited to the wedding.)

Nothing against Ryan Reynolds at all, but boy does he have a thing for talented starlets. From previously dating Alanis Morissette (who wrote an album about their breakup, 2008's "Flavors of Entanglement") to being married to Scarlett Johansson for two years, Reynolds has certainly had a tabloid-friendly romantic life. Yet after meeting Blake Lively on the set of his notorious superhero flop "The Green Lantern" in 2010, the two would soon share a kinetic connection that far outlasted the reputation of the film. Not only has the couple married, but the two also had three daughters together, with the most recent having been born in 2019. Hey: At least something good came out of "The Green Lantern." 

Warren Beatty and Annette Bening have been married for so long, they're practically a Hollywood institution at this point. Yet the truth of the matter is that it almost didn't happen: The on-the-rise Bening canceled on Beatty when he was looking to cast a role in his comic book adaptation, "Dıck Tracy." Later, when it came to Barry Levinson's "Bugsy," he couldn't stop thinking about the woman who one time said she was too busy for him — so naturally, he gave her a call. Not only did she get the part of Bugsy's love interest, Virginia Hill, but the two also would start dating, married in 1992, and have no less than four kids together. "When I met Annette over lunch for Bugsy, I felt immediately that this was going to change my life," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. "I remember losing interest in the garlic chicken I was eating within 20 seconds. And the garlic chicken had been very good!"

For a cast as star-filled and lovely as 2007's "Evening," it's almost a surprise that more real-life couples didn't emerge from the romantic drama. Yet in the film, Claire Danes' Ann feels like Dancy's Buddy has been in love with her for so long, building up their chemistry until, in a shocking twist, Buddy is discovered to be having feelings for another man. The actors' roles required a deep friendship and real chemistry to pull off, but it's that very chemistry that they generated translated off-screen as well, as the "Hannibal" actor and "Homeland" star soon started dating shortly after filming wrapped. They married in a secret ceremony in 2009 and now have two kids together — along with a lifetime full of lovely evenings. 

You know how it is: You're a vampire in love but have to break it off when your maker demands you return to her control. It happens all the time. At least, that's what goes on between Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse, who were played on the HBO television series "True Blood" by Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin, respectively. Dating since filming the pilot back in 2007 and marrying in 2010, the two now have a son and daughter who are fraternal twins. They no doubt had a lot to pull on for their on-screen chemistry, especially given that by the time the show hit its fifth season, it was Bill who was the villain (who eventually merges with his maker Lilith to, of course, form a creation referred to as "Billith").

Way back in 1990, Tom Cruise was cast as a hot young NASCAR driver in the Tony Scott-helmed "Days of Thunder," with his doctor — and later romantic interest — played by Nicole Kidman. The rising stars started dating and then married the same year the film came out, soon leading to a decade-long romance where they were a true Hollywood power couple. The two would end up adopting children and would later star together in the final film by Stanley Kubrick, 1999's erotic thriller "Eyes Wide Shut." But that film's shoot lasted a staggering 400 days, which would put a strain on anyone, much less a married couple who are in the lead roles. In 2001, it was announced that the two would separate, with Cruise later marrying (and then divorcing) actress Katie Holmes, and Kidman making things permanent with country singer Keith Urban. 

"Stage Beauty" is an interesting little movie from 2004 about a 17th-century stage actor who is renowned for his portrayal of female characters, as women aren't allowed to perform female roles. Billy Crudup had the lead role, while Claire Danes ended up playing his dresser with both a secret crush on him and a secret desire to perform on stage despite women not being allowed to. The actor's on-screen chemistry soon turned into something real, but there was a problem: Crudup was already in a relationship with Mary-Louise Parker. When Crudup infamously ended the relationship with her to be with Danes, Parker was already seven months pregnant with their son. This caused quite the scandal when the story broke, and to her credit, Parker largely has stayed out of saying too much about it in the press.

In 1988's "D.O.A.", Dennis Quaid plays a college professor who is poisoned with only 36 hours left to live. He has his suspects, one of then being a doting young student who clearly has a thing for him — and also just might have it in for him! As it turns out, this was actually Ryan and Quaid's second film together, as just a year prior, Joe Dante's "Innerspace" also had them in prominent roles. They married in 1991 and their love lasted for a full decade, later divorcing in 2001 after having a child together. They've each moved on since then, having gone from "Innerspace" to "needs their space." 

The film was called "The Long, Hot Summer," and just like looking at the summer night sky, all you could see was stars. The 1958 drama starred Paul Newman, Orson Welles, Angela Lansbury and none other than Joanne Woodward, one of the most heralded actresses of her generation. Newman and Woodward's characters were designed to be pulled in opposing directions, but by the film's end, Woodward's character confesses her love — which incidentally was something that was happening off-screen too, with the actors marrying the same year the film was released to cinemas. So hot their pairing was, their studio kept wanting them together into new vehicles, with "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!" coming out later that same year. From then on it was "Paris Blues," "A New Kind of Love" and then Newman's debut directorial project, 1968's "Rachel, Rachel," which had Woodward cast in the lead role and ended up netting her an Academy Award nomination. The couple remained together up until Newman's passing in 2008. 

When Chrissy Teigen signed up to be in the music video for "Stereo" by rising R&B star John Legend, she knew what the gig was: Get in some skimpy costume and look extremely sensual while making Legend look desirable. The song wasn't one of Legend's hits, but it absolutely was the moment that the two found a rather playful kinship with each other. They dated for four years before becoming engaged in 2011, getting married two years later. They've since had two children and remain one of the most beloved couples in the social media era, with Teigen proving to be a next-level jokester and prankster and Legend actually going along with a lot of it, up to and including his recreation of the famed "Arthur fist" meme during a commercial they filmed together. As if that wasn't enough, they've been in movies together and even filmed a Christmas special — because of course they did. 

Of all the movies on this list, it can be argued that there was no bigger true "hit" than the action-comedy "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" from 2005, where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie played a married couple who kept their day jobs hidden from each other — not knowing both of them are international assassins. While on set, Pitt was going through divorce proceedings with Jennifer Aniston, so for a period of time, some tabloids thought that he and Jolie were engaged in an affair. He claims it was all above board, and the two ended up dating for close to a decade before finally tying the knot in 2014, with the pair also adopting several children over the years. Yet two years later, the couple broke up over "irreconcilable differences." While Pitt has become sober in recent years, Jolie has custody of all six of their children. A happy Hollywood ending this is not. 

Well — do you know how to whistle? So iconic is the scene between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall from the 1944 Hemingway adaptation "To Have and Have Not," it shouldn't be of any surprise that the pair of talented actors, having just met on set, had a scintillating chemistry. Of course, this isn't to say that the two didn't have their share of controversy with their courtship: She was 19 at the time, and Bogart was 44 — and also married. He filed for divorce from his then-wife May Methot and then married Bacall in 1945 -- a mere 10 days after his divorce was finalized. "Bogie and Bacall" became a lasting, celebrated item up until Bogart died in 1957. 

Back in the day, "Family Ties" was quite the hit show, addressing politics in a shifting America with a light, humorous flair in its seven-season run. In its fourth season, Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox) gets involved with a girl named Ellen Reed, played by Tracy Pollan, and their relationship was tracked throughout the whole season. While Pollan didn't return to "Ties" following her character's run (save for two episodes late in the fifth season), she and Fox ended up becoming quite smitten with each other, working together on 1988's "Bright Lights, Big City" and marrying that same year. Not only did they have four children together, but they also remain inseparable to this day.

1969's "The Lost Man" stars the great Sidney Poitier as a black militant who pulls off a heist to get funds for his imprisoned brothers, thereby leaving a social worker (played by Canadian actress Joanna Shimkus) to try and help cover for him. While the film didn't garner any major critical notices upon release, one element that was praised was how matter-of-fact the duo's interracial relationship was portrayed. Although they had clear chemistry, this didn't translate into marriage until 1976. It might be a long time to wait, but the wait was worth it, as the couple remains together to this day. 

And one day, the tale goes, Snow White finally found her Prince Charming. For the fairy tale television drama "Once Upon a Time," this scene was played out (and given wild variants) time and time again, with actors Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas feeling like a real couple with real chemistry. Yet fairy tales do come true sometimes, because Goodwin and Dallas, so frequently on set and in romantic scenes together, ended up dating in real life, getting engaged in 2013 and then marrying the following year. As if it couldn't get any more magical, they ended up having two sons born almost exactly two years apart. Quite the storybook ending, no?

Director Jim Sheridan has had a wild career, careening from Oscar-nominated drama "In America" to the attempted 50 Cent biopic "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." While the "is he crazy or not?" psychological thriller "Dream House" didn't make that many waves in 2011, Sheridan was smart in bringing together Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, who had been friends for years and had immediate chemistry. Yet maybe it was something about playing a married couple that ignited a spark between them, because the year of the film's release, the two actors ended up tying the knot. They each had a child from a previous relationship, and in 2018 it was revealed that the two had a daughter together. While the movie they shot wasn't something they were happy with (the studio allegedly interfered with the cut quite a bit), at the very least, Weisz and Craig got to build their own dream house together. 

While the character of Pete Campbell is deliberately designed to be one of the most polarizing on the heralded "Mad Men," his arc is at times tragic, and by the time the show got around to its fifth season, Pete is falling in and out of relationships, indulging in a brief fling with one Beth Dawes for all of three episodes. While Vincent Kartheiser was a series regular, "Gilmore Girls" star Alexis Bledel gave her all to her guest role, including being a part of a sexy fantasy sequence. While her time on the set was brief, Bledel and Kartheiser's time in each other's lives was not, as they ended up becoming engaged the year after their season aired and tied the knot the year after that. Now the two have a son together, turning Kartheiser's "Mad Man" into a "Dad Man." (We immediately regret this pun.) 

The marriage between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton — co-stars on the set of one of the most infamous movies of all time, 1963's "Cleopatra" — is nothing short of record-setting. With the shoot going long, the two stars had a lot of time to spend together, and despite each being married to other people, photographs of the two together off-set essentially was ground zero for the modern tabloid movement as we know it today. The Vatican condemned them, U.S. senators demanded they be barred entry into the country, and they continued to make headlines wherever they went, whether they wanted to or not. They got married in 1965, divorced in 1974, then remarried the following year — then divorced yet again. While both would go on to two other marriages following their split, for a brief fleeting moment they truly were the most talked-about celebrities in the world.

According to those that knew her, Carole Lombard, outside of being one of the reigning Hollywood starlets of the 1930s, also happened to be one heckuva prankster too, allegedly showing up at the wrap party for 1932's romancing-the-conman flick "No Man of Her Own" with a surprise, gifting her co-star Clark Gable a ham with his face on it. While the two played romantic leads and had quite the chemistry, there was a problem to any real-life romantic prospects: Lombard was already married to actor William Powell. Once that relationship ended and Gable was able to finalize his divorce in 1939, the two finally got to tie the knot in 1939. Unfortunately, their romance met a tragic end, with Lombard dying in a plane crash in 1942. Although Gable would go on to marry two other times, it was said that he truly was never the same after losing the love of his life. 

For a certain caste of fans, Michael and Jackie's relationship in "That '70s Show" was quite beloved, with each of their quirks making their relationship fresh and unique — while it lasted. Yet while during Ashton Kutcher's divorce from Demi Moore, he and his fellow castmate Mila Kunis started their own kind of fling, one that would eventually lead to her giving birth to their daughter in 2014, getting married the year after that and eventually having a son in 2016. They're all all right. 

Back in 1987, Olivia Manning's novel cycle "Fortunes of War" was transformed into a seven-episode limited series for the BBC. It was an ambitious project, and it made sense to cast smart, articulate actors in the vein of Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as the married couple who has to move from country to country to avoid various political and militaristic upheavals in the early 1940s. While they played paramours on-screen, soon that affection was carried over into real life, with the duo marrying in 1989 and becoming the toast of the British tabloids. They were averse to being photographed or interviewed together, which was a nice break from the usual rut of headline-grabbing celebs in the '90s. However, things ended abruptly in 1995, much to the confusion of their many fans. The real reason for the split was revealed years later: Branagh had an affair with actress Helena Bonham Carter. What scandal.

As any "Game of Thrones" fan will tell you, the relationship between noble lead Jon Snow and the wildling known as Ygritte was anything but typical, with their passions running hot and cold (and sometimes even a bit stabby) throughout both the original novels as well as the blockbuster HBO television adaptation. Yet while they filmed the grueling and sometimes elaborate set pieces together, real sparks started to fly between actors Rose Leslie and Kit Harington. While Ygritte tragically died in Snow's arms, Leslie and Harington embraced in a different fashion in 2018 when they had their first kiss during their wedding ceremony in Scotland. Snow may know nothing, but Leslie and Harington knew exactly what they wanted in each other.

Penned by none other than Neil Simon, 1991's "The Marrying Man" was about a playboy who keeps falling in and out of love with the same charming woman, marrying her no less than three times. While it was intended to be a big broad romantic comedy, the production was anything but fun for the cast and crew, as stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger basically fell in love with each other the moment they met. That, in turn, led to them canoodling instead of being on set, which in turn lead to ego clashes, a ballooning budget and even a Razzie nomination. The lovebirds ended up marrying in 1993, gave birth to daughter Ireland in 1995 and then separated by the time 2000 rolled around, finalizing their divorce two years later. While they were a hot item at the time, the years since their separation can only be described as a "fallout," with tabloids running wild with Baldwin's numerous controversies regarding custody of his daughter. 

The 1985 comedy "Volunteers" was a modest success upon release but was a footnote in the careers of its stars, Tom Hanks, John Candy and the lovely Rita Wilson. While Hanks' and Wilson's characters end up marrying by the film's end, the two actors chemistry can be traced back to an even earlier project: Hanks' sitcom "Bosom Buddies." While Hanks was the lead, Wilson appeared in an episode centered around a video dating service, and between these two projects, it's clear the two had a friendship. Hanks, at the time, was still married to Samantha Lewes, but they eventually separated, leaving Wilson and Hanks to make their public debut as a couple in late 1986. They got married two years later and have two sons together. To this day, they are still together and working and still very much in love and most recently made headlines when they revealed they both had contracted the coronavirus, from which they have recovered. 

The artistic merits of "Step Up" are somewhat arguable, as the plot — of a hustling street dancer (Channing Tatum) paired up with a privileged modern dancer (Jenna Dewan) training each other for a big showcase and falling in love by the end — is a hackneyed concept. Yet what made "Step Up" a sensation was how modern and fresh it felt, with a kickin' soundtrack and, honestly, just some truly impressive dance sequences. A lot of the film's success can be attributed to the easy chemistry of the two flexible leads, and before long, there were "Step Up" sequels, spinoffs, TV series and so much more. Tatum and Dewan ended up getting married in 2009 and gave birth to a daughter in 2013. They appeared on goofy TV shows together and had a playful chemistry — at least until they didn't. Filing for divorce in 2018, the two have since separated and moved on, but if it's any consolation, we can still watch "Step Up" and actually see them fall in love in real time — a sweet memory if nothing else. 

Although pretty much everyone can cite 2003's superhero flick "Daredevil" as one of the worst films of its kind, the blind Daredevil (Ben Affleck) meets his match in the form of Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), a billionaire's daughter who also has quite the affinity for beating up bad guys in style. While the two had a clear rapport having also made 2001's "Pearl Harbor" together, they very much were just friends, as Garner was in a relationship with her "Alias" co-star, Michael Vartan, for a spell. Once that was over, Affleck and Garner fell in love fast, started to date in mid-2004 and married the following year (with Victor Garber as the officiant!). While the power couple had three children together, they announced their separation in 2015, finalizing the divorce in 2018. In truth, there were hints that things were rocky for some time, as evidenced by this line from Affleck's Oscar acceptance speech from 2013: "I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It's good. It is work but it's the best kind of work and there's no one I'd rather work with."

While 2016's "The Light Between Oceans" was a modest box office success, it ended up being quite successful at bringing together two hot young stars on the rise: Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. While the former was an acclaimed actor best known for playing Magneto in the new X-Men movies and the latter would win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2016 for her role in "The Danish Girl," it was the lesser-known "The Light Between Oceans," wherein Fassbender plays a recovering World War I soldier who ends up falling for a local girl (Vikander) only to dither later on, that brought the two together. Married in 2017, the two remain out of most paparazzi camera flashes, settling down in Portugal while each pursues their lucrative film careers. 

"Pontiac Moon" is an odd movie. An eccentric science teacher (Danson) wants to take his son on a roadtrip, his Pontiac odometer clicking over to the mile distance from Earth to the moon at their final destination. The only problem is that his wife (Steenburgen) is recovering from a traumatic accident and hasn't left the house in seven years. The film isn't an especially notable entry in either actor's filmographies, but during filming, Danson and Steenburgen certainly left an impression on each other, marrying in 1995, the same year the movie hit theaters. What's even better than that? As of this writing, they are still together, proving to be one of those rare Hollywood marriages that has managed to endure for decades.