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All the Celebrity Relatives You Forgot (Or Didn't Know!) Worked Together On-Screen

Grab some popcorn and get ready to watch these must-see family collabs.

Headshot of Janaya WeckerBy Janaya Wecker
meryl streep

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Famous relatives — from siblings to spouses to parents — have been acting together for years. Sure, some are cast because of their special connection, but others have to go through the intense audition process just like anyone else. For a few of these award-winning actors, they even prefer to work with their own blood over anyone else. And while you'll definitely recognize some of these projects (like Dan and Eugene Levy's Schitt's Creek), others might be a bit more surprising.

Learn what these stars thought about working with their relatives, as well as behind-the-scenes facts about their most memorable collaborations. How did Luke Wilson take to his brother Owen directing him? What exactly made Sylvester Stallone's son so emotional about playing Rocky Balboa Jr.? Would Billy Ray Cyrus ever work with his daughter Miley on a Hannah Montana reboot? And was Meryl Streep's daughter intimidated to work with her iconic mom? Read on to find out and see which celebrities don't mind sharing the spotlight with family.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Blythe Danner

sylvia
Courtesy of Focus Features

The mother-daughter duo acted alongside one another in 2003's Sylvia, a biopic about poet Sylvia Plath. "She was so wonderful," Blythe, who played Sylvia's mother, fellow poet Aurelia Plath, told Reuters of her daughter's performance as Sylvia.

WATCH SYLVIA

Ben and Jerry Stiller

zoolander
Paramount Pictures

Jerry passed his love of comedy onto his son, who appeared opposite him in 2001's Zoolander. "Ben was acting with me, and also directing me—'Do it this way, Dad. No, this way.' He wanted perfection, and I was getting a little huffy. Ben was ahead of me, in a lot of ways. Everything I could never do, Ben could do," the late star shared, according to The New Yorker.

WATCH ZOOLANDER

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Henry and Jane Fonda

on golden pond
Universal Pictures

Filming 1981's On Golden Pond with her father was emotional, according to Jane. "Imagine a woman with a difficult relationship with her father finds a play in which the father and daughter so paralleled real life," Jane told The Hollywood Reporter. The actress later called the film one of her proudest career moments, saying, "Giving the Oscar to my father five months before he died was very special."

WATCH ON GOLDEN POND

Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer

meryl streep
TriStar Pictures/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

If your mom is a Hollywood legend, you're destined to inherit her acting bug. In 2015's Ricki and the Flash, they made a movie about an aging rocker and her recently divorced daughter. "It's only actors who are weaker or insecure or worried that show you their, you know, their anxiety about working with you," Meryl explained to CBS This Morning. "My daughter has no fear of Meryl Streep, like none."

WATCH RICKI AND THE FLASH

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Marlon and Shawn Wayans

wayans
Sony Pictures Entertainment

In their famous 2004 comedy White Chicks, the brothers play FBI agents who go undercover to protect two hotel heiresses. "[Shawn] wouldn't cut his goatee off because he was like, 'Look, when they take this makeup off, I'm going to be fly,'" Marlon recalled to Entertainment Weekly. "And so they would put the makeup over his goatee and it would make his mouth stick out that much more. He looked crazy," he joked.

WATCH WHITE CHICKS

Damon Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr.

happy together
CBS Photo Archive//Getty Images

Marlon and Shawn aren't the only Wayans to appear onscreen together. Their older brother, Damon, made a cameo on his son Damon Jr.'s 2018 sitcom, Happy Together. We guess show business runs in the family!

WATCH HAPPY TOGETHER

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Olivia Wilde and Daisy Josephine Sudeikis

dont worry darling
Warner Bros.

Olivia's daughter made her acting debut in the 2022 film Don't Worry Darling. Daisy was just five years old while filming. "I really loved that she was seeing me in that light," the actress told Stephen Colbert. "Like somewhere subconsciously this is seeping in, that her mother is in charge and is supported by this awesome crew."

WATCH DON'T WORRY DARLING

Casey and Ben Affleck

good will hunting
Miramax

Good Will Hunting, released in 1997, helped put both Affleck brothers on the map. "My brother's performance, in retrospect, I think can be seen as complete genius," Ben told Boston Magazine.

WATCH GOOD WILL HUNTING

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Bruce and Rumer Willis

bruce rumer willis
Miramax

In 2005's Hostage, the father and daughter play the Talleys — a family whose life is on the line after a kidnapping. "I think that acting with Rumer in this film allowed me to reach a much higher point of departure emotionally in this film than had I been working with an actress, a young actress, that I didn't know," the actor told The Oklahoman. "And just the idea alone of thinking that horrible thought of having your family stolen from you, just got me to a pretty, pretty vulnerable place."

WATCH HOSTAGE

Dominic and Senan West

70207843arw
Keith Bernstein/Netflix

The father-son duo took on the roles of Prince Charles and Prince William in season 5 of The Crown. "What was great [was the] shortcut to a sort of tactile intimacy that you have with your kids that no one else has," Dominic told Town & Country.

WATCH THE CROWN

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Sylvester and Sage Stallone

stallone
MGM/UA Distribution Company

In 1990's Rocky V, Sage played Rocky Balboa Jr. Filming was a much deeper experience than either of them anticipated. "When I was screaming: 'You never spent time with me! You never spent time with my mother!' that was true. I was looking into my father's face and really saying that," Sage told PEOPLE. "I got a lot of things out. We broke into tears a few times. After the film, everything changed. We'd do anything for each other."

WATCH ROCKY V

Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight

lara croft
Paramount Pictures

Angelina had a public falling out with her father shortly after they costarred in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. The following year, she dropped Voight from her last name, instead replacing it with her middle name — Jolie. However, they've since mended their relationship.

WATCH LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER

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Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal

donnie darko
Newmarket Films

The Gyllenhaal siblings both appeared in the 2001 cult classic Donnie Darko. Maggie, who is five years older than Jake, also played his older sister in the film. "Maggie was really an essential piece of the puzzle that makes that family dynamic work in the film," director Richard Kelly told Vox in 2017. "I'm grateful that she agreed to do the role."

WATCH DONNIE DARKO

John and Joan Cusack

joan john cusack
First Look International

While co-writing and producing the 2008 action comedy War Inc., John gave his sister a role. "We have a relationship, so I knew about the movie outside of just working on a movie," she told Rotten Tomatoes. "I knew about his passion for it; he's incredibly passionate about, and grateful to be able to make movies and do things that he loves and feels deeply about."

WATCH WAR, INC.

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Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow and Iris Apatow

knocked up
Universal Pictures

Years before Maude made her mark on HBO's Euphoria and Iris starred in Netflix's Love, both made a cameo in the 2007 film Knocked Up — with their real-life mom, Leslie Mann. It was a family affair, as Leslie's husband and the girls' dad, Judd Apatow, served as the director. The girls (and their mom and dad) reprised their roles in the 2012 "sort-of sequel," This Is 40.

WATCH KNOCKED UP

Eugene and Dan Levy

levys
CBC Television/Pop TV

Eugene passed along his comedy skills to his son, Dan, who created the 2015 award-winning show Schitt's Creek. Not only did Dan cast his real-life dad to play his father, but his sister, Sarah, plays recurring character Twyla Sands. "I have so long admired what my dad had done and … I think he really let me have space to find my own footing," Dan told TODAY.

WATCH SCHITT'S CREEK

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Dylan and Cole Sprouse

zack and cody
Disney

While the twins often played the same role during early childhood (like on Big Daddy and Friends), in 2005's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody they finally acted on-screen together. They went on to star in the show's sequel, 2008's Suite Life on Deck, before taking their careers in different directions.

WATCH THE SUITE LIFE OF ZACK & CODY

Tia and Tamera Mowry

tia and tamara
ABC

Speaking of twins, Tia and Tamera first found fame with 1994's hit sitcom Sister, Sister. They've continued to work together throughout their careers, starring in projects like Twitches (2005), Twitches Too (2007) and Tia & Tamera (2011). In 2000, their younger brother, Tahj, even joined them on-screen in the film Seventeen Again.

WATCH SISTER, SISTER

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Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

mary kate and ashley
Warner Bros.

We can't mention twins without talking about Mary-Kate and Ashley. While they both famously played Michelle Tanner on Full House, they went on to act side-by-side in countless other films — Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993), It Takes Two (1995), Holiday in the Sun (2001) and New York Minute (2004), to name a few.

WATCH IT TAKES TWO

Kirk and Candace Cameron

kirk cameroncandace cameron
ABC Photo Archives//Getty Images

Mary-Kate and Ashley weren't the only Full House siblings. Candace's older brother appeared on the show as Cousin Steve. "I don't know exactly how I got onto Full House," Kirk admitted to TODAY. "I'm sure Candace pulled a few strings and got me on somehow. I didn't even have to audition."

WATCH FULL HOUSE

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