12 Onscreen Romances That Turned Into Real Life Love
Life imitates art for these actors who performed as couples on camera and fell in love with each other in real life.
Newsweek looks back at how some of Hollywood's hottest couples became an item off-script and behind the scenes.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher
That '70s Show
Kunis (who played Jackie Burkhart) and Kutcher (Michael Kelso) first met aged 14 and 19 respectively, in 1998, when preparing for the TV show's pilot episode.
The actress, who reportedly lied about he age at the audition, even had her very first kiss at that age, while following the script's instructions with her co-star.
In 2017, Kutcher told Howard Stern on his radio show: ""It was really awkward because I'm like a 19-year-old kid." He had no physical attraction to her at the time. "She was 14! She was like my little sister. I wanted to make sure she was okay."
The pair eventually dated on set, then went their separate ways, with the actor marring the 16-year senior Demi Moore. Kunis later had a nine-year relationship with Macaulay Culkin.
However, Kunis and Kutcher reconnected at the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, married in 2015 and now have a daughter, Wyatt Isabelle, and a son, Dimitri Portwood.
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens
High School Musical
The popular Disney TV movie take on Romeo and Juliette sees Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the star athlete at a small-town high school, fall in love with new girl, Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens)
The actors reportedly began dating from 2006 after meeting on set, with both admitting each felt an instant attraction.
Their relationship blossomed and there were even rumors they were engaged, but the couple decided to go their separate ways in 2010.
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
The Last Song
Cyrus and Hemsworth met in 2009 when cast as teen lovers Ronnie and Will in the film adaption of romantic novel The Last Song.
The couple confirmed their relationship in March 2010, when they arrived looking loved-up at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party.
Cyrus and Hemsworth have since had a turbulent relationship, which has seen the pair engaged in 2012 and divorce in January 2020.
Kit Harington and Rose Leslie
Game of Thrones
The couple met on the set of the fantasy series' second season in 2011, while playing Jon Snow and Ygritte.
Rumors started circulating about a blossoming off-screen romance between Harington and Leslie when paparazzi photos of the couple leaving a restaurant holding hands were published in 2012.
However, it is not until Harington and Leslie step onto the red carpet together in April 2016 that the pair finally go public about their relationship.
Leslie reportedly gave birth to their first child over Valentine's Day weekend in 2021.
Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum
Step Up
The pair famously met on the set of romantic dance movie Step Up in 2006, with Tatum playing disadvantaged Tyler Gage and Dewan playing privileged modern dancer Nora Clark.
With photos of the pair looking close on the movie's publicity trail, few insiders were surprised when Tatum proposed to Dewan two years later, aged 28 and 27 respectively.
However, the Hollywood power couple announced their separation in April 2018, only two weeks after Tatum shared a selfie of Dewan and himself with their faces painted by their daughter Everly, born five years earlier.
Penn Badgley and Blake Lively
Gossip Girl
The actors first met while portraying privileged New York teenagers Serena and Dan in popular drama Gossip Girl.
Romance blossomed between Badgley and Lively, they were an item for the first three seasons of the TV show, between 2007 to 2010.
But unfortunately, although they decided to end their relationship in 2010, filming commitments meant they still had to continue working together.
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams
Brokeback Mountain
Williams and Heath first met playing lovers on the film set of Academy Awarding-winning romantic drama Brokeback Mountain in 2004.
Their co-star Jake Gyllenhaal recollects the couple's real life chemistry was immediate and the couple welcomed their daughter Matilda Rose into the world in 2005.
However, the couple began to drift apart and split in 2007 and Ledger died aged just 28 in New York City, after ingesting a fatal mix of prescription drugs.
Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell
The Americans
Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell first met while starring opposite each other as husband and wife in a KGB-orchestrated marriage in TV drama The Americans.
Rumors began circulating the couple were seeing each other off-camera soon after the show aired in 2013.
The couple's romance was confirmed in 2014 and the actors announced news of Russell's pregnancy in January 2016.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
This action movie depicts an apparently perfect husband and wife discovering each is a professional assassin hired to kill the other.
The movie's titular stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie met on set of the 2015 movie. They have always denied claims that they had a romance during filming, in a period when Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston.
The pair eventually married in 2014 in France and proceeded to have six children together: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne.
However, the fairytale "Brangelina" romance ended in 2016, when Jolie filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Anna Faris and Chris Pratt
Take Me Home Tonight
Although Anna Faris and Chris Pratt grew up only 20 minutes apart in Washington State, the pair first met playing lovers in the 2007 romantic comedy Take Me Home Tonight.
The couple married in a small ceremony in Bali in 2009 and their son Jack was born in August 2012.
However, Pratt and Faris announced their decision to split via matching social media posts in August 2017.
Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Garfield and Stone played onscreen love interests Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Each expressed feeling an instant connection with their co-star and the pair started dating after a year, in 2011.
However, the actors decided to amicably split in 2015, citing scheduling issues due to their demanding careers, but the pair reportedly remain friends.
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart
Twilight
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart famously met while playing lovers on the set of popular vampire-themed romance movie Twilight in 2007.
The couple started dating in 2009 and the actors swiftly became inseparable.
However, their relationship ended in 2012, after Stewart told the press about a "momentary indiscretion" with Snow White and the Huntsmen director Rupert Sanders.
