Ask any actor and they'll tell you that onscreen romantic scenes are not in any way sexy. After all, does dry-humping a colleague while being shouted at by a director sound fun to you? Don't forget that camera guy who is eating a sandwich in the background. Nonetheless, there must be something to this whole onscreen couple thing, given the fact that dozens of actors almost always end up getting together in real life too.
That's right, it seems that there's an important reason for any onscreen chemistry that we caught sight of - and it's normally that sparks are flying offscreen as well. Case in point: this whole list. It turns out that even more stars than initially thought have picked up the love bug on set and started dating their co-star. Who can blame them really? Those passionate onscreen embraces have got to count for something.
Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson (Joey and Pacey in Dawson's Creek)Weirdly enough, these two stars dated long before their characters Joey and Pacey got together on the show. In fact, Katie told People back in 1998 that Joshua was actually her first love, stating: "I'm just going to say that I met somebody last year. I fell in love. I had my first love, and it was something so incredible and indescribable."
Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson (Seth and Summer in The OC)
While Seth and Summer were fighting onscreen, these two were falling in love offscreen and were together for three years in real-life, before moving on. It seems there were no hard feelings though; when asked on a Reddit Q&A in 2014 about what it was like to kiss Rachel, Adam replied said: "One of the all-time greats!"
Jason Segel and Linda Cardellini (Nick and Lindsay in Freaks and Geeks)Jason and Linda's romance outlasted the series, with their relationship discreetly going on for years before they split in 2007. Rumour has it that Linda inspired the How I Met Your Mother star to write Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Alexis Bledel and Milo Ventimiglia (Rory and Jess in Gilmore Girls)Together from 2002 to 2006, these two were the epitome of cute and even reportedly talked about marriage. Alexis, who is now hitched to actor Vincent Kartheiser, said in 2005: "I think everybody who has been dating for more than a couple of years probably talks about it at some point. It's a fun thing for us to talk about, but that's it."
Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki (Penny and Leonard in The Big Bang Theory)After dating for two years in secret, Kaley Cuoco spoke about the relationship for the first time in 2010, saying "It was a wonderful relationship but we never spoke a word about it and never went anywhere together. We were so protective of ourselves and the show and didn't want anything to ruin that. But that also made it sad, too. That's not the kind of relationship I want – I don't want to be hiding. We couldn't do anything."
Blake Lively and Penn Badgley (Serena and Dan in Gossip Girl)While Serena and Dan were never sure if they were right for one another, offscreen Blake and Penn were pretty certain for a while. According to Vanity Fair, the couple initially kept their relationship a secret because they were anxious about their boss' reaction. They dated for three years before calling it quits in 2010.
Pretty cute, right? However, the one depressing thing about this list is that none of the couples are still together! If you want to see an onscreen couple who went the distance, take a look at Kit Harington and Rose Leslie's wedding photos.