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Actors' on-screen chemistry with their characters may become their partners in real life. For instance,Kristen BellandDaxShepardare not only a real-life married couple, but they also played a married couple in movies as well. InHit and Run(2012), the two stars played a couple who might not actually know that much about each other, whereas, inCHiPs(2017), they played a divorced couple.
ActorsGinnifer GoodwinandJosh Dallas, for instance, tied the knot after meeting on the set of a TV series where they played two fairytale characters that promised to always find each other. Naturally, not every story features the same ending for some memorable on-screen pairs: even though these actors' characters shared complex and touching relationships, that does not mean they got their “happy ending” in real life as well.
Updated on June 21, 2025, by Daniela Gama:
Margot RobbieandRyan Goslingare one of the most promising movie pairs of recent times. After the enormous success ofBarbie, in which the two played Barbie and Ken, global audiences can not wait to see more of this dynamic duo. The good news is that an excitingOcean’s Elevenremakeof the glamorous 1960 film of the same name starring both actors is on the way. What’s more? The two will get their chance to properly put their promising romantic chemistry to the test.
10Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie
Although Gosling and Robbie’s comedic couple inBarbieis definitely not the main attraction ofGretaGerwig’s incredibly successful summer blockbuster (it rather sends out the message that Ken does not need Barbie to feel complete and vice versa), there is no denying that these two share a very believable and fun dynamic.
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What is all the more thrilling is the fact that the pair of A-listers will reunite in theupcomingOcean’s Elevenrebootset in 1960s Monte Carlo, which has reportedly started filming at the end of June. Given how promising this epic heist sounds, we are sure the two co-stars will do an incredible job, even if slightly less comical and more dramatic.
9Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell
They acted first as lovers, then as a faked married couple, and finally as the “parents” of Christmas. In 1984,Goldie Hawnstarred as Kay Walsh inSwing Shift. Set in the 1940s,Kay’s husband enlisted in the Navy, and Kay along with other women started working in factories at an assembly line. Musician Lucky Lockhart (Kurt Russell) was attracted to Kay.
While Russell had the leading role as Santa Claus inThe Christmas Chronicles(2018),Hawn’s character, Mrs. Claus, didn’t appear until toward the end of the movie. InThe Christmas Chronicles: Part Two(2020), Mrs. Claus had a more prominent role.
8Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler
Adam Sandlerstarred alongsideJennifer Anistonin movies where they were both married and pretended to be married. InJust Go With It(2011), Danny’s technique for dating was convincing women to sympathize with how he was poorly treated in his marriage. When he met Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), he wanted to be truthful with her, but his lie caught up to him. To explain his lie, Katherine (Aniston), Danny’s assistant, posed as his soon-to-be ex-wife.
In 2019, the actors were reunited for the Netflix original,Murder Mystery,but this time as an actual married couple for 15 years. On their flight to Europe, Audrey (Aniston) and Nick (Sandler) Spitz met Charles (Luke Evans) who invited them to join him and the rest of the guests on a cruise. While spending a night on the luxurious yacht, Audrey and Nick woke up to a scream and found one of the passengers murdered. Furthermore, Aniston and Sandler returned to a sequel ofthe hilarious whodunit film, which came out this year.
7Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler
A wedding, an accident, and a blind date gone wrong broughtDrew Barrymoreand Sandler’scharacters closer together. These two actors starred in three movies together:The Wedding Singer(1998),50 First Dates(2004), andBlended(2014). InThe Wedding Singer, which is regarded as one ofAdam Sandler’s best movies, the star’s character knew how to get every guest on the dance floor. Julia Sullivan (Barrymore) was a waitress at the weddings that he performed at.
These two actors might have great on-screen chemistry, but their characters inBlendedshowed no signs of even wanting to be in the same room together. In theFrank Coracimovie, single parents Jim (Sandler) and Lauren’s (Barrymore) first date was off to a rocky start and just kept going downhill from there. They surprisingly booked the same vacation to Africa with their kids.
6Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks
Tom HanksandMeg Ryanhave a total of four movieswhere they appeared together:Joe Versus The Volcano(1990),Sleepless in Seattle(1993),You’ve Got Mail(1998), andIthaca(2015). InJoe Versus The Volcano, Hanks portrayed ordinary Joe, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He suggested that he can sacrifice himself to a volcano on an island, and he travels on a boat, owned by Patricia (Ryan), to the island.
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Back in the day when Tinder and other dating apps did not exist, peopleactuallywrote letters to each other. InYou’ve Got Mail,Joe (Hanks) and Kathleen (Ryan) were pen pals under fake names. Joe owned the bookstore, Fox & Sons. What he did not know was that his very own competition, Kathleen, who worked at a children’s bookstore, was actually his writing buddy.
5Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem
Penélope CruzandJavier Bardemfirst starred together in the 1992 movieJamón, Jamón.In her first movie role, Cruz portrayed Silva, a factory worker. She was originally Jose Luis’s love interest. However, Jose’s mother didn’t want Silva to marry Jose, so the mother introduced Silva to Raul (Bardem).
It wasn’t until 2007 that the pair starred together inVicky Cristina Barcelona.In this movie, Juan (Bardem), a painter, invited Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) for a romantic weekend. Juan’s plan took an unexpected turn when Maria (Cruz), his past lover arrived. In addition to playing love interests in movies, Cruz and Bardem are actually married in real life.
4Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo
In their newest movie,The Adam Project(2022),Jennifer Garner’scharacter was Ellie Reed, a widow struggling to raise her 12-year-old son Adam (Walker Scobell). Viewers were told that Adam’s father died in a car accident between 2018 and 2022. It’s not until Adam travels back in time to see his father, Louis Reed (Mark Ruffalo) — which, like one ofMark Ruffalo’s best rolesand popular MCU counterpart, is a professor and scientist — that viewers understood how time travel came to be.
Even though they only shared a few scenes together inThe Adam Project, they previously shared more scenes in the iconic makeover film13 Going on 30(2004). In13 Going on 30, Jenna Rink wished on her 13th birthday to fast-forward to her life as an adult. Her wish came true as she woke up the next day in her apartment as 30 years old (now played by Garner) and a magazine editor. She searched for Matt Flamhaff (Ruffalo), her best friend.
3Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling
In the romantic comedy that highlighted Gosling’s comedic side,Crazy, Stupid, Love(2011)followed the story of Cal (Steve Carell) as he was heartbroken to find that his wife cheated on him and wanted a divorce. To navigate the dating world, Cal met Jacob (Gosling), a confident bachelor who could seduce any woman. However, Hannah (Emma Stone) resisted Jacob’s flirting techniques. Or did she?
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This iconic duo reunited inGangster Squad(2013) andLa La Land(2016). In the musicalLa La Land, Mia (Stone) dreamed of landing an acting role in Los Angeles. Sebastian (Gosling) dreamed of sharing his passion for classical jazz music with people. Both wanted to make a name for themselves.
2Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey
In 2003,Kate HudsonandMatthew McConaugheystarred in the wildly romantic movieHow To Lose a Guy in 10 Days.An aspiring journalist, Andie (Hudson), typically wrote “How To” stories for magazines. Her boss assigned her the story “How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” where Andie is set to make a man fall in love with her and then use different tactics to force him to end the relationship- Advertising Executive Ben (McConaughey) made a bet that he can make any woman fall in love with him, specifically Andie.
Luckily for fans,Fool’s Gold, one ofMcConaughey’s best romantic comedies, reunited the co-stars again. In theAndy Tennantfilm,Finn (McConaughey) and Tess (Hudson) are ready for divorce. They bumped into each other when Tess was serving dinner to Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland) and Finn. Finn convinced Nigel, Nigel’s daughter, and Tess to help him find the lost treasure.
1Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
Leonardo DiCaprioandKate Winsletstarred in two movies together including the disaster-romantic movieTitanic(1997). InTitanic,Winslet portrayed the aristocratic Rose. DiCaprio starred as Jack, an artist. Rose ran from her arranged marriage and stood on the edge of the ship, ready to jump until Jack pulled her back in. Their love was doomed when the Titanic collided with an iceberg.
Revolutionary Road(2008)can be considered one ofWinslet’s must-see performances. The movie depicted an evolving relationship between April (Winslet) and Frank (DiCaprio) in 1955. However, after a while, the two began struggling with monotony in their marriage.
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