Read more on buzzfeed.com

Look, it’s a small world, and sometimes you might find yourself working with someone you used to date. If you’re an actor, that might involve pretending you’re still dating your ex in front of a camera.

Here are some famous (former) couples who had to do just that:

1. Riverdale stars Lili Reinhart and Cole Sprouse started fueling dating rumors in 2017 and seemingly confirmed their relationship in 2018.

Katie Yu / CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection

2. Camila Mendes and Charles Melton play Veronica and Reggie on Riverdale, and their real-life relationship has somewhat reflected their characters’.

Amy Sussman / Getty Images

The two dated from 2018 to 2019 and reportedly got back together in 2021. Meanwhile, their fictional alter-egos dated during Season 3 and picked things back up at the end of Season 5.

Shane Harvey/CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection

3. Blake Lively and Penn Badgley dated in 2007 while they were playing love interests Serena and Dan on Gossip Girl.

Jamie Mccarthy / WireImage / Getty Images

The actors broke up in 2010, but their characters got back together during the show’s final season and even got married.

CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection

4. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst dated briefly in 2001, before Spider-Man (2002) had even premiered.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

They’d go on to star in two more movies together as Peter and MJ.

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

5. Sophia Bush and Chad Michael Murray starred on One Tree Hill together, where the on-again/off-again relationship between Brooke and Lucas made up a good chunk of the first three seasons.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

The pair dated, got married, separated, and got porced during this time. They’ve answered a few questions about their relationship over the years, but have both made it clear they’d rather not be asked about it.

Gregg Deguire / WireImage / Getty Images

Sophia in particular has said that she does not want to be asked anymore about a “dumb thing [she] did when [she was] 21.”

6. Alexis Bledel’s Rory and Milo Ventimiglia’s Jess dated during Season 3 of Gilmore Girls, but the actors themselves dated for three and a half years.

Jim Smeal / Ron Galella Collection / Getty Images

After breaking up in 2006, they reunited in Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Their scenes weren’t romantic, but it was heavily implied that Jess still had feelings for Rory.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

7. Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter — who played Dexter and his sister Debra on Dexter — got married during the show’s second season and made their first public appearance at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards.

Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

They got porced in 2011, but continued working together until the show ended in 2013. They even portrayed a storyline in which Deb realized she had romantic feelings for Dexter.

Seacia Pavao / Showtime / Courtesy Everett Collection

8. Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody played the iconic Summer and Seth on The O.C. and dated for most of the show’s run. In fact, one of the only things they had to film after their IRL breakup was their characters’ wedding.

Warner Bros / courtesy Everett Collection

The two have remained good friends over the years, and Rachel has said that she appreciates having had that support system while she worked on the show.

Rabbani And Solimene Photography / WireImage. / Getty Images

9. Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult met on the set of X-Men: First Class and dated from 2010 to 2014. After breaking up, they played Raven/Mystique and Hank/Beast for two more movies.

Dave M. Benett / Getty Images

“He has absolutely no idea how good-looking he is,” she told Vogue in 2012. “I think a lot of women and men hate me because of that.”

The romantic relationship between their characters was a running storyline throughout the movies, even though it wasn’t prominently featured.

20th Century Fox

Even though Hank and Raven didn’t get their happy ending, Jennifer and Nick are still friends. She even attended the premiere of The Favourite — which Nick starred in — with her now-husband Cooke Maroney. 

10. Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder started working together on The Vampire Diaries in 2009, and began dating in 2010 before breaking up three years later.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images for EJAF

They filmed two more seasons as Elena and Damon, who were the main couple on the show at the time. Nina has since talked about her friendship with Ian and his wife, Nikki Reed, so all seems to be well between them.

CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection

11. Joey King and Jacob Elordi dated after playing a couple in The Kissing Booth, but broke up before it was announced that they’d be starring together in the second and third installments.

Rachel Murray / Getty Images for Netflix

Regarding working with an ex, Joey admitted that it wasn’t easy, but ultimately necessary for her character’s arc.

Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection

“Elle Evans needs her Noah Flynn, and whatever that means for my personal life, I’ll do anything to make sure the story of my character who I care about so much is complete,” she told Cosmopolitan.

12. Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson dated early on during Dawson’s Creek‘s run. They broke up in 1999, about a year before their characters dated on the show.

Columbia TriStar Television / courtesy Everett Collection

Joey and Pacey dated and broke up a few times but ultimately stayed together in the series finale.

Columbia TriStar Television / courtesy Everett Collection

13. Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki secretly dated for two years while portraying Penny and Leonard’s will they/won’t they dynamic on The Big Bang Theory.

Charley Gallay / Getty Images

Penny and Leonard finally got together after the actors broke up, but it wasn’t awkward for them because they remained good friends.

CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

14. Sara Gilbert and Johnny Galecki played a couple on Roseanne and dated in the ’90s. Sara said that her relationship with Johnny helped her realize she was a lesbian.

Ron Galella / Getty Images

They’ve remained good friends over the years, so it was no sweat to play a couple again when Sara guest-starred on The Big Bang Theory and Johnny guest-starred on The Conners.

CBS/Courtesy Everett Collection

15. Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper played Sophie and Sky in Mamma Mia! and dated for some time afterward.

Bruce Glikas / FilmMagic / Getty Images

They returned to play Sophie and Sky (married by then) 10 years later, but according to Dominic, it wasn’t awkward to work together again.

Universal/courtesy Everett / Everett Collection

As for Amanda, she told Elle that the most important thing was to set boundaries, like not calling each other by any pet names. “You know, it’s very strange having to not be intimate with someone you’ve had an intimate relationship with,” she said. “It can be hard, but you have to step back and be professional. Dominic and I have such a good relationship that it was easy.”

16. Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan played the will-they-won’t-they dynamic between Sydney and Vaughn on Alias, but they also dated in real life as well.

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

Even though the actors broke up after a year or so, the relationship between their characters — who eventually got married and had kids — continued until the end of the series.

Craig Sjodin / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

17. Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, who play Nini and Ricky on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, were rumored to be dating at some point between the first and second season of the show. Most importantly, it’s widely believed that Olivia wrote “Drivers License” about Joshua.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

The romance between Nini and Ricky was a huge plotline in Season 2 of HSMTMTS, but as of the finale, it seems like they’ve parted ways for good, especially considering that Olivia is stepping down as a series regular.

Disney+ / courtesy Everett Collection

18. Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak have what appears to be a beautiful friendship these days, but they’ve both spoken about how the early years of their relationship mimicked the turbulent romance between their characters on The Office.

John Shearer / WireImage / Getty Images

Mindy herself said in 2015 that her relationship with B.J. was “weird as hell” and that she’d describe it as a “romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments.”

They dated on and off during the early seasons of the show, much like Kelly and Ryan. Their fictional alter egos eventually found their way back to each other in the series finale while Mindy and B.J. have remained best friends.

NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection

And B.J. is godfather to Mindy’s daughter!

19. Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz started dating in 2003 after meeting at the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards and broke up in 2006.

Vince Bucci / Getty Images

They were both in Shrek the Third during the time they were dating.

Less than four years later, the two starred in Bad Teacher, in which their characters shared an ~intense~ sex scene. Not to worry though; they both said there was no awkwardness between them.

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

20. Sophia Bush and Jesse Lee Soffer met on the set of Chicago P.D. in 2013, started dating in 2014, and broke up after a year.

Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly

They still had to play a couple on TV though, since their characters Erin and Jay dated from Seasons 2 through 4 of the show.

NBCUniversal via Getty Images

21. Alexis Bledel and Jared Padalecki dated for a year or so when they were first cast as Rory and Dean on Gilmore Girls.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

People wondered if there was ever a real-life love triangle between Jared, Alexis, and Milo Ventimiglia, but Jared cleared things right up. “When Alexis and I met, we were both 17 years old and were both Texans and kind of in this new, strange city, and I was like, ‘Hey, want to go out to dinner?'”

They kept working together for most of the show’s run, since Rory and Dean dated until Season 3 and then got back together in Season 5.

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

22. Emily VanCamp and Dave Annable met on the set of Brothers and Sisters and dated for about a year. Their characters were originally half siblings, but the writers were forced to change that little detail after seeing the actors’ chemistry together.

John Shearer / WireImage / Getty Images

They might have broken up in real life, but their characters Rebecca and Justin had an up-and-down romance until Emily left the show after Season 5.

ABC

23. Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer met on the set of House in 2004 while playing doctors. They dated for three years and even got engaged, while their characters Allison and Robert got married at the end of Season 5.

Jeffrey Mayer / WireImage / Getty Images

“After much consideration, we have decided not to get married,” the couple said in a joint statement. “We are still very close, and we look forward to continuing to work together on House.”

Eventually art imitated life, and the characters got a porce when Jennifer left the show during the sixth season.

NBCUniversal via Getty Images

24. Jennifer Aniston and Tate Donovan didn’t meet on the set of Friends, but they had been dating for two years when Tate booked a guest role on the iconic sitcom. He played Rachel’s new love interest for six episodes, which was awkward considering that the actors were actually breaking up at the time.

Kevin Mazur / WireImage / Getty Images

It was a difficult experience for both of them, but Tate said that the whole cast was understanding and compassionate throughout the situation.

NBCUniversal via Getty Images

He added, “If you can go through a tough breakup, and still do your job, then you’re a pro. It was good. It was really ultimately a great experience of how people can treat you really well, and you still do your job even though you’re sort of dying inside.”

25. Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck dated from 1997 to 2000, but played a couple in Bounce after they were no longer together.

Kevin Mazur / WireImage / Getty Images

They met when they were both in Shakespeare in Love.

Gwyneth encouraged Ben to take the role despite their breakup (and despite her family’s advice) because it was a departure from what he’d done before.

Eric Lee/Miramax Films?Getty Images

“The irony, of course, is that it’s not what our relationship was like at all,” Ben said regarding the media’s fascination with the situation. 

26. Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern met while filming David Lynch’s Blue Velvet in 1985, and dated until 1989.

Barry King / WireImage / Getty Images

Lynch brought them back together for the Twin Peaks reboot in 2017, in which they had a romantic storyline which involved a sex scene.

Showtime

“Laura is just, as you know, just wonderful and very special person, so we had this scene that we had to do together, we both knew going in was going to require some nakedness on both our parts,” Kyle told Ellen. “We laughed, we did, we had a couple laughs for sure.”

27. Chase Stokes and Madelyn Cline met while filming Outer Banks and dated from 2020 to 2021.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS

They may not be together in real life, but their characters are still going strong on the show.

Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection

28. Now for some speculation because these two are very private about their real-life romance: Kit Harington and Rose Leslie met while working on Game of Thrones in 2011, and Kit has said several times that he fell in love with her while they were filming in Iceland.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

This would imply that their romance started at some point when they were filming Season 2 and 3, which mirrors Jon and Ygritte’s romance on the show. They were also spotted looking pretty cozy together out of character. 

HOWEVER, Kit was asked several times over the years and insisted that he and Rose were just friends, while other sources reported that they had broken up at some point in 2013. This would have been around the time they were shooting Season 4 of Game of Thrones, during which their characters were estranged but still very much in love.

HBO

Were they together the whole time? Did they break up and still play a couple on the show? We’ll never know for sure but the possibility is enough to put them on this list, and isn’t a little mystery fun? 

Regardless, these two had a happy ending. They finally confirmed their relationship with a red carpet appearance in 2016 and got married in 2018.

David M. Benett

29. And finally, Courteney Cox and David Arquette were married for 13 years after meeting on the set of Scream in 1996. They played onscreen love interests Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley.

Dan Macmedan / WireImage / Getty Images

Even though they porced in 2013, they have remained friends and reunited as Gale and Dewey in Scream 5 earlier this year. David called the experience “cathartic” given their 25-year history.

Paramount

Technically, Gale and Dewey are no longer a couple in the new movie, but they do have some lingering unresolved feelings.