Actors Who Fell In Love On Set and Made It Real

Have you ever been watching a movie or TV show where you’ve noticed the romantic leads are a little too convincing with their on-screen chemistry? That’s because it’s fairly common for actors to develop feelings for their screen partners, even when the cameras stop rolling. All those long nights shooting, filming romantic scenes, and chemistry reads make it practically inevitable.

With this in mind, here are some of the most memorable pairs who played romantic leads on-screen, with their palpable chemistry traveling off-screen as well.

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling

One of the most romantic Hollywood duos who fell in love on set was between The Notebook stars, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Life truly imitated art in this case, because just like their characters in the romance film, McAdams and Gosling didn’t get along at first. In fact, the actors downright couldn’t stand each other.

“We inspired the worst in each other,” Gosling said in a 2007 interview. “It was a strange experience, making a love story and not getting along with your co-star in any way… I don’t know what happened.”

Yet as time went by, McAdams and Gosling morphed from sworn enemies to passionate lovers. As The Notebook itself showcases, there’s a thin line between love and hate, and no one embodies this more than these two. In fact, according to Gosling, his relationship with McAdams off-screen was “a hell of a lot more romantic” than The Notebook. He even went so far as to call his co-star “one of the great loves” of his life. (If you’re a bird, I’m a bird, right?)

Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson

Alexa, blast The O.C theme song!

In the early 2000s, fans couldn’t get enough of the on-screen romance between dorky Seth Cohen and his longtime dream girl, Summer Roberts. (Who could forget their iconic recreation of that upside down Spider-man kiss?)

The pair brought something super unique and eccentric to what could’ve been a forgettable CW soap. Their chemistry on-screen was so all-encompassing that fans were hardly surprised when the two became a couple off-screen as well. Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody dated for about three years, and although they’ve moved on since, the two have nothing but kind things to say to each other to this day. Brody even guest starred on Bilson’s podcast during the pandemic, and the pair had a sweet reunion where they reminisced on their time together while filming The OC.

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth

They were on again, they were off again. They were good for each other, they were bad for each other. They were constantly up and down, but there’s no denying one thing: Both Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus loved each other for many years.

The pair met back in 2010 while filming Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song. Together, they shared a passion-fueled relationship before deciding to officially tie the knot in 2018. As we all know from Cyrus’s top-charting song “Flowers,” it didn’t work out for the pair. But together, they shared a deep connection that fans have found difficult to ignore.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have been under the microscope lately amid the It Ends With Us drama that’s been taking the internet by storm. But before they were making headline news for their on-going legal battle with Justin Baldoni, the couple was the talk of the town for a very different reason.

Back in 2011, while filming The Green Lantern, fans couldn’t help but notice the palpable chemistry between the movie’s leading love interests. Lively and Reynolds seemed a little bit too convincing with their on-screen chemistry, and some fans began to speculate that the pair was catching feelings off screen as well.

This was controversial, since at the time, Reynolds was married to Scarlet Johanson. Meanwhile, Lively was in a relationship with her Gossip Girl co-star, Penn Badgley (whom she also fell for on set!)

Rose Leslie and Kit Harington

Game of Thrones fans couldn’t get enough of the steamy chemistry between soft-spoken Jon Snow and the fiery wildling, Ygrette. It was a true case of opposites attract, but the on-screen tension clearly rubbed off-screen as well, since actors Kit Harington and Rose Leslie are now happily married! *Swoons.*

The couple met while filming back in 2013, and tied the knot in 2018. Now, the pair share a happy family with two children together.

(Do you think when he forgets to take the trash out, she hits him with “You know nothing, Jon Snow?”)

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr.

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar pride themselves as one of the longer lasting couples in Hollywood. (They’ve been going strong since 2001!) The Scooby Doo cast members are proof that the best relationships start off as friendships, because the two were close pals for years before deciding to take their dynamic to the next level.

“We are each other’s best friend,” Gellar told People back in 2002, when they made their relationship official. “He is my first love.”

David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston

Speaking of *friends to lovers* David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston played one of the most iconic on-screen love interests in television history. (This is an objective fact.) But it turns out, they were each other’s “lobsters” in real life as well, after admitting in the recent Friends reunion that they developed feelings for each other on set.

Unfortunately, the pair could never get the timing right, since they were both in relationships throughout Friends- each at different points.

In fact, they even channeled their off-screen feelings for each other into their on-screen kiss. “Honestly, I remember saying one time to David, ‘It’s gonna be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is gonna be on national television,’” Aniston confessed at the reunion. “Sure enough, first time we kissed was in that coffee shop [Central Perk]. So we just channeled all our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel.”

Lea Michele and Cory Monteith

Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson are polar opposites on Glee. Yet despite their opposing personalities, they can’t help but feel drawn to each other throughout the FOX musical series. Life couldn’t help but imitate art, as it so often does, with Lea Michele and Cory Monteith falling for one another off-screen as well.

“From the minute I met Cory, I was like, This is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” Michele recalled of her late boyfriend in 2013. “One day we just looked at each other and we were like, ‘You wanna do this?’ We knew.”

Tragically, Monteith passed away in 2013. Yet Michele has continued to praise her past love years later, and even made an incredibly sweet Instagram post memoralizing him 10 years after he passed. “Hey you,” she wrote in her post. “It feels like only yesterday that you were here and yet a million years ago all at the same time. I hold all of our memories in my heart where they will stay safe and never forgotten. We miss you every day and will never forget the light you to brought to us all. I miss you big guy.”

Who’s your favorite pair of the bunch?