These On-Screen Family Members Are Actually Related In Real Life
It's an actors job to pretend. They spend their whole lives pretending to be somebody's mother or father or sibling or spouse. Most actors are really good at pretending, but sometimes, they don't have to pretend so much, and their job gets a little bit easier. Sometimes, they get to work with their real-life husband or wife or sibling, and the chemistry is already there— it's ready-made.
Keep reading to find out which on-screen family members are actually related off-screen.
John Krasinski And Emily Blunt
Real-life husband and wife John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play a married couple in A Quiet Place. John Krasinski even directed this post-apocalyptic thriller. Kranski actually had his wife in mind for the lead female role as soon as he read the script, especially because her character is pregnant in the movie and Blunt had just given birth to the couple's second daughter.
At first, Emily wasn't sure if she wanted the part, but after she read the script on a plane, she was hooked.
Charlie Sheen And Martin Sheen
In the 1987 film Wall Street, real-life father and son Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen play father and son Carl Fox and Bud Fox. The movie was a huge success and Michael Douglas even won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko.
The movie is now seen as an archetypal representation of '80s wealth and greed. Apparently, a lot of people still come up to the Sheens on the street to tell them that Wall Street made them want to become stockbrokers.
Henry Fonda And Jane Fonda
Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda played father and daughter in the 1981 film, On Golden Pond. On Golden Pond was Henry Fonda's last movie, as he died just a year after the movie came out.
The film is based on a play of the same name by Ernest Thompson. The plot follows an older couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer, during the summer their adult daughter returns to their vacation home in New England along with her fiancé and his teenage son.
Elizabeth Taylor And Richard Burton
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's marriage was just as rocky and dramatic and the relationship between George and Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Their relationship started with an extramarital affair during the filming of Cleopatra, and it just got crazier from there.
These two got married and then divorced and then married again and then divorced again. George and Martha were living in a fantasy world, but Burton and Taylor hooked all of us into their drama.
Jake Gyllenhaal And Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal are brother and sister in real life, but they also played brother and sister in the cult hit, Donnie Darko. Jake Gyllenhaal stars in the film as Donnie, a young man experiencing daytime hallucinations who's told by a giant's creepy rabbit that he's going to die in 28 days.
The movie was released in 2001 just after 9/11. The film's trailer had a plane crash in it, so advertising for the movie became pretty limited and it was released straight to DVD. Later, Drew Barrymore's production company gave the movie a theatrical release.
Ryan O'Neal And Tatum O'Neal
Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal played a father and daughter con team in the 1973 film Paper Moon. Ryan and Tatum play Moze and Addie, characters who originally appeared in the Joe David Brown novel Addie Pray.
The film is shot in black and white and it's set in Kansas and Missouri during the Great Depression. Tatum O'Neal played 9-year-old Addie brilliantly, and she won an Academy Award for her performance. She became the youngest competitive winner in the history of the Academy Awards.
Humphrey Bogart And Lauren Bacall
Husband and wife team Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made four films together, and their onscreen chemistry was undeniable. Lauren Bacall was married to Humphrey Bogart from 1945 until his death in 1957.
Bogart was actually married to somebody else while they were shooting Bacall's first film, To Have and Have Not, but Bogart and Bacall began dating just two weeks into filming. Lauren was just 20 years old at the time and Humphrey Bogart was 45.
Will Smith And Willow Smith
The Smith family likes to stick together. In 2007, a young Willow Smith had a small part as Will Smith's onscreen daughter in I Am Legend. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic New York after what was supposed to be a cure for cancer wiped out most of the human race (and turned some people into dangerous mutants).
In the movie, flashbacks reveal that Will's character's wife and daughter died in a helicopter accident while trying to escape Manhattan.
Will Smith And Jaden Smith
Before Will and Willow ever appeared onscreen together (and before Willow was even born) Will and Jaden Smith starred in The Pursuit of Happyness together. The film is based on protagonist Chris Gardner's real-life story.
Gardner ended up homeless with his five-year-old son after his marriage dissolved and his work prospects didn't work out. He works hard and becomes a successful stockbroker in the end, but for a while there, Will and Jaden had us all weeping.
Angelina Jolie And Jon Voight
Angelina Jolie brought one of our favorite heroines to life in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider action movie franchise. Her real-life father, Jon Voight, plays Lara's father Richard in the series.
Voight married actress Marcheline Bertrand in 1971. They had two children together, James Haven and Angelina Jolie. Voight and Bertrand divorced in 1980, and Voight was estranged from his children for several years. Voight and his kids reconciled in 2007 after Marcheline died.
Paul Newman And Joanne Woodward
Mr. and Mrs. Bridge is a 1950 American drama film that stars real-life husband and wife Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward as a married couple (the titular Mr. and Mrs. Bridge). The film is based on novels of the same name by Evan S. Connell.
The movie is about changing times and changing conservative values, and what happens when two people who love each other don't see eye to eye. Sound familiar? I feel like this movie could have been today.
Goldie Hawn And Kurt Russell
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell stared in the 1987 romantic comedy Overboard about a rich woman who loses her memory, and a poor man who pretends to be her husband (and then actually becomes her husband.) The concept of this movie is a little weird, but at least we get to see Kurt and Goldie's onscreen chemistry.
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have been in a relationship since 1983. They have one son together, Wyatt, who was born in 1986.
Spencer Tracy And Katharine Hepburn
Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn starred in Adam's Rib together, a 1949 American romantic comedy film. Spencer and Katharine play married lawyers who come to oppose each other in court.
Tracy's character, Adam, represents a man who was shot in the shoulder by his wife (after she walked in on him cheating on her), and Hepburn's character, Amanda, represents the man's wife. Amanda believes that her client was forced into action by her husband's immoral behavior.
Sylvester Stallone And Sage Stallone
It took Sylvester Stallone a while to make it big in Hollywood, but when he finally made, boy did he ever make it. Stallone starred in four Rocky movies before his son, Sage Stallone, appeared with him in Rocky V. Sage played Rocky Balboa, Jr, and the film explores Rocky's relationship with his son.
Sage Stallone continued to work in the family business until his untimely death in 2012. Sage died of coronary artery disease caused by atherosclerosis.
Phyllida Law And Emma Thompson
Real-life mother and daughter duo Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson starred in The Winter Guest, a 1997 film directed by Alan Rickman. A Winter Guest was the first film that Alan Rickman ever directed.
The movie is set in Scotland on a winter day. It follows eight characters, a mother and a daughter, two young boys skipping school, two older women who go to strangers' funerals, and two teenagers. Each pair has their own storyline.
Tom Cruise And Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise played a married couple in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut while they were still very much a married couple in real life. A lot of people have speculated that the film itself caused Tom and Nicole's divorce.
Kidman put those rumors to rest when she told The Hollywood Reporter, "People thought that making the film was the beginning of the end of my marriage, but I don't really think it was. Tom and I were close then, and it was very much the three of us. On screen, the husband and wife are at odds, and Stanley wanted to use our marriage as a supposed reality."
John Wayne and Patrick Wayne
As far as Western stars go, it doesn't get more iconic than John Wayne. That man made American Western movies a thing. John Wayne's son, Patrick Wayne, acted alongside him in Big Jake, a 1971 Technicolor Western. It was director Geroge Sherman's final movie after a 30-year movie career. The movie made $7.5 million in the US.
Patrick Wayne played John Wayne's son in the movie. Wayne's youngest son Ethan Wayne is seen as his grandson, Little Jake.
John Mills and Hayley Mills
Hayley Mills plays Spring in The Truth About Spring alongside her real-life father (who plays her father in the film), John Mills. In the movie, Spring lives with her father aboard a run-down sailboat in Florida.
Her mundane life is interrupted when she goes on a crazy adventure to find some buried treasure. In the end, there is no physical treasure, but Spring does find a husband, which is apparently the greatest treasure of all.
Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor
Zoolander has become an American classic. This movie about male modeling stars Ben Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor. Christine also starred alongside her husband in DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.
Christine and Ben got married in 2000, one year before Zoolander came out. In 2017, they separated. They have two children together. They announced their separation in a joint statement: "With tremendous love and respect for each other, and the 18 years we spent together as a couple, we have made the decision to separate. Our priority will continue to be raising our children as devoted parents and the closest of friends."
Jennifer Connelly And Paul Bettany
Husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly both appeared in A Beautiful Mind together, but they didn't play husband and wife. Bettany played a hallucination and Jennifer Connelly played John Nash's wife.
They did get to play husband and wife in Creation, a 2009 film about the life of Charles Darwin. Bettany plays Charles Darwin and Connolly plays his wife, Emma Darwin. The film is based on Randal Keynes's Darwin biography Annie's Box.
Warren Beatty And Annette Bening
Back in the day, Warren Beatty was known for being a player— by which I mean, he liked women and he didn't like the idea of settling down. In 1992, Beatty married Annette Bening, and the pair has been together ever since.
In 1994, they starred opposite each other in the film Love Affair. Katharine Hepburn was also featured in Love Affair, which became her final movie. Beatty and Bening's chemistry is palpable in this story about forbidden love.
Michael Douglas And Kirk Douglas
The 2003 film It Runs in the Family really does run in the family... The movie, which was directed by Fred Schepisi, stars three generations of the Douglas family: Kirk Douglas, his son Michael Douglas, and Michael's son Cameron Douglas. They play three generations of the fictional Gromberg family.
Diana Douglas, Michael Douglas' real-life mother and Kirk's ex-wife, plays Kirk's character's wife. The movie was not very well received and it got a score of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Lloyd Bridges And Beau Bridges
It's no secret that the Bridges know how to act. You probably know Jeff Bridges best, but his brother, Beau Bridges, and his father, Lloyd Bridges, have also made some pretty big movies. Meeting Daddy wasn't one of those big movies, but it was a movie.
It was a romantic film in which Lloyd Bridges and Beau Bridges played a father and son. In the movie, Lloyd's character's daughter brings home her new man to meet the family.
Susan Sarandon And Eva Amurri
The Banger Sisters is a 2002 American comedy movie starring Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon as two middle-aged women who used to be friends and groupies when they were young. Susan Sarandon's real-life daughter, Eva Amurri, plays Sarandon's character's daughter in the movie.
The Banger Sisters was Goldie Hawn's last film until she starred in Amy Schumer's movie, Snatched, fourteen and a half years later. Reviews of The Banger Sisters were mixed and the movie has a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Chyler Leigh And Christopher Lee
Chyler Leigh played the adorable Lexie Grey on Grey's Anatomy, and now she has a part in the hit show Supergirl. Before she gained all that Grey's Anatomy fame, she starred in the movie Teen Boxer opposite her brother, Christopher Lee.
The weird thing is, Chyler and Christopher didn't play a brother and a sister in the movie. They played a couple in a romantic relationship. I'm not sure who thought that would be a good idea.
Meryl Streep And Mamie Gummer
Meryl Streep and her eldest daughter Mamie Gummer portrayed a mother and daughter in Ricki and the Flash. Mamie said she was nervous to play a rebellious daughter because she didn't want to hurt her mom's feelings.
She said, "There's this one scene where I really was quite eviscerating and I was worried about if my words actually wounded her, but after the first take, I looked over and she just had this big grin on her face, so that was a pleasant surprise."
Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, And Iris Apatow
Maude and Iris may be all grown up now, but back in the day, they played Leslie Mann's character's children in Judd Apatow's films This Is 40, Knocked Up, and Funny People.
When asked about working with her daughters, Mann said, "With Maude and Iris, I just feel lucky that I get to be with them all day, but it's also hard, because I'm mom and I'm also working, so if they're having problems or they hurt themselves or they're fighting with each other, I have to deal with that and put out that fire and I have to work, so it's like double the amount of work."
John Cusack And Joan Cusack
Siblings John Cusack and Joan Cusack have been in a whole bunch of movies together, but they've never actually gotten to play brother and sister. Did you even know that these two actors were siblings? I don't think they look all that much alike.
They've played friends, enemies, acquaintances, classmates, hitmen, parents (but not together). I can't picture movies in the '80s without these two. I would love to see them play siblings one day, though.
Clint Eastwood And Kyle Eastwood
Honkytonk Man is a 1982 American musical drama film set in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Clint Eastwood produced, directed, and starred in the film. His son, Kyle Eastwood, plays Clint's character's son in the movie.
Actor Marty Robbins was also in the movie, making Honkytonk Man his last film appearance before he died. The story of Eastwood's character, Red Stovall, is loosely based on the life of country, blues, and folk singer Jimmie Rodgers.
Angelina Jolie And Vivienne Marcheline
Angelina Jolie's daughter, Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, plays a young Aurora in Maleficent because she wasn't afraid of her mother in costume.
Jolie explained that having her daughter in the film just made sense. She said, "We think it's fun for our kids to have cameos and join us on set, but not to be actors. That's not our goal for Brad and I at all. But the other 3 and 4-year-old [performers] wouldn't come near me. It had to be a child that liked me and wasn't afraid of my horns and my eyes and my claws. So it had to be Viv."
