Sure, Hollywood has always been criticized for having a nepotism problem, but it does admittedly give us a thrill when we see some real-life brothers and sisters appearing together on the big screen, whether they’re keeping with the theme and playing siblings or simply popping in for a quick cameo. From the Fannings to the Wilsons to the Murphys, here are 32 times celebrity siblings acted alongside each other in the same movie.
John, Joan, Ann and Bill Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank)
The Cusack clan is crammed with actors, from ’80s icon John Cusack to his Oscar-nominated sister Joan. And while those two have frequently featured together onscreen in films like Sixteen Candles, Broadcast News and High Fidelity, you can actually catch four out of the five Cusack siblings in the 1997 black comedy Grosse Point Blank.
Luke, Owen and Andrew Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums)
After Luke and Owen Wilson made their big screen acting debuts together in 1996’s Bottle Rocket alongside older brother Andrew, all three Wilson brothers reunited again in Wes Anderon’s 2001 family dramedy The Royal Tenenbaums.
Macaulay and Kieran Culkin (Home Alone)
Long before the former was a Party Monster and the latter was Succession‘s Roman Roy, Macaulay and Kieran Culkin were two young tikes starring as McCallister cousins in the classic 1990 Christmas comedy Home Alone. Several decades later, the famous bros—along with their acting siblings including Rory, Christian and Shane—reunited for voiceover work in the Prime Video animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy.
Elle and Dakota Fanning (I Am Sam)
Both Fanning girls began their acting careers when they were small, with four-years-junior Elle making her movie debut as a younger version of big sis Dakota’s character in 2001’s I Am Sam. As adults, the sisters play on-screen siblings in Mélanie Laurent’s film adaptation of the bestselling Kristin Hannah wartime novel, The Nightingale.
Ben And Casey Affleck (Good Will Hunting)
Three years younger than Ben, Casey Affleck memorably had a supporting role in Gus van Sant’s 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, which starred and was written by his brother and their childhood friend Matt Damon. Casey would later have the leading role in Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone.
Daniel, William and Stephen Baldwin (Born on the Fourth of July)
Despite working in Hollywood for decades, the four Baldwin brothers have only appeared on-screen together once: in the 2020 documentary, My Promise to PJ, which Daniel directed. However, you can catch three of the four lads—Daniel, William and Stephen—in the 1989 Oliver Stone film Born on the Fourth of July.
Marlon and Shawn Wayans (White Chicks)
The Wayans family tree is an extensive one, including show-business siblings Nadia, Shawn, Keenen Ivory, Dwayne, Kim, Damon and Marlon. The latter two brothers famously collaborated on the ’90s WB sitcom The Wayans Bros as well as comedy films including Don’t Be a Menace, the Scary Movie series, White Chicks, Little Man and Dance Flick.
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko)
Filmmaking runs in the Gyllenhaal family: Maggie and Jake’s parents are writer-directors Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs. And while the siblings have received critical acclaim for their own individual films—she for titles like Secretary and Crazy Heart; he for Brokeback Mountain, Zodiac and Nightcrawler—their collective effort, the 2001 psychological thriller Donnie Darko, might just be their most beloved.
Maude and Iris Apatow (Knocked Up)
The daughters of director Judd Apatow and comedic favorite Leslie Mann, Maude and Iris began their Hollywood careers as child actresses in their dad’s films, including 2007’s Knocked Up, ’09’s Funny People and 2012’s This Is 40. Both continued acting as adults: Maude is best known for her role as Lexi Howard in HBO’s Euphoria, while Iris has popped up in Netflix projects like Love and The Bubble.
Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estévez (Young Guns)
Following in dad’s footsteps, all four of Martin Sheen’s kids—sons Emilio, Ramón and Carlos (a.k.a. Charlie), and daughter Renée—became actors. Emilio and Charlie, in particular, each saw great Hollywood success and worked on numerous movies together, including Wisdom (1986), Young Guns (1988), Men at Work (1990) and Rated X (2000).
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (It Takes Two)
It’s rare to see the Olsens apart onscreen: as child stars, the twin sisters became a pop culture phenomenon starring opposite each other in movies like It Takes Two, Billboard Dad, Passport to Paris, Holiday in the Sun and New York Minute. The sisters even worked together when they were only a few months old, sharing acting duties as Michelle Tanner on the television sitcom Full House.
James, Dave and Tom Franco (The Disaster Artist)
All three Franco brothers had a role to play in The Disaster Artist, the 2017 bio-comedy about the making of the cult classic The Room: James directed the flick and portrayed its leading man, Tommy Wiseau; Dave played Wiseau’s costar, Greg Sestero; and older brother Tom popped up as one of the crew members of the movie-within-a-movie.
Dylan and Cole Sprouse (Big Daddy)
Before they were better known as Zack and Cody in The Disney Channel’s The Suite Life TV franchise, twin brothers Dylan and Cole Sprouse shared their first major theatrical film role in the 1999 comedy Big Daddy, in which they co-starred opposite Adam Sandler as five-year-old Julian McGrath.
Jeff and Beau Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys)
Real-life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges star as the eponymous Baker Boys, a pair of piano-playing siblings, in this 1989 musical dramedy written and directed by Steve Kloves. In one scene, a fraternal squabble between the bros was reportedly so realistic that Beau went to the hospital believing Jeff really broke his hand.
Luke and Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok)
Though there’s not one single movie starring all three Hemsworth brothers—Chris, Liam and Luke—there are several that feature at least two of the Aussie-born siblings. In 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, Luke showed up as a dramatized version of Chris’s God of Thunder; and seven years later, he joined Liam in the cast of the 2024 action thriller Land of Bad. Now we just have to get Chris and Liam onscreen together!
Hilary and Haylie Duff (Material Girls)
In the 2006 teen comedy Material Girls, famous sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff star as—you guessed it—famous sisters named Tanzie and Ava, two wealthy, spoiled Hollywood socialites whose multimillion-dollar cosmetics fortune is destroyed after a major media scandal.
Sunny and Sadie Sandler (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah)
The whole Sandler crew stars in the fresh and funny Netflix dramedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah—one of the best coming-of-age movies in recent memory—including Adam’s IRL daughters Sunny and Sadie, with the former as Stacy Friedman, a middle school student looking forward to her bat mitzvah, and Sadie playing her older sister Ronnie.
Sean and Chris Penn (At Close Range)
To portray the Whitewoods, a family gang of rural backwoods criminals, in 1986’s At Close Range, director James Foley turned to a pair of actual brothers: Sean and Chris Penn. The actors would later both cameo in the 2003 mockumentary film Pauly Shore Is Dead, with Sean appearing as himself and Chris playing “Half of Gay Couple in Jail.”
Tia, Tamera and Tahj Mowry (Seventeen Again)
After first gaining recognition as the leads of the TGIF sitcom Sister, Sister, twins Tia and Tamera Mowry expanded into films with the 2000 fantasy comedy Seventeen Again, which also starred another member of the Mowry family: their young brother Tahj, who you know from Smart Guy.
Brian And Domhnall Gleeson (Mother!)
Fittingly, Brian and Domhnall Gleason’s character names in Mother!—the 2017 psychological horror flick from Darren Aronofsky—are “younger bro” and “oldest son,” respectively. The Irish lads are real-life siblings, along with novelist-screenwriter Rory and fellow actor Fergus, and they call Oscar nominee Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) dad.
Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Zeppo Marx (Duck Soup)
The legendary comedy quartet The Marx Brothers started as a family vaudeville act, populated by elder brothers Groucho, Harpo and Chico and later including younger siblings Gummo and Zeppo. The siblings starred in 14 motion pictures together from 1905 to 1949, including classics like Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera and Horse Feathers.
Eddie And Charlie Murphy (Harlem Nights)
For his first and, thus far, only directorial effort, Eddie Murphy put together a stacked cast for his 1989 crime comedy Harlem Nights, including legendary performers Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx, as well as his own older brother, actor-comedian Charlie Murphy.
Nat And Alex Wolff (Stella’s Last Weekend)
The filmmaker behind the 2018 comedy Stella’s Last Weekend was certainly familiar to brother-stars Nat and Alex Wolff—it was directed by their own mother, Polly Draper. Of course, it was far from the first time the siblings worked together: they previously starred together in the Nickelodeon series The Naked Brothers Band, which was created—you guessed it—by their mother.
Rory And Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down)
Having a bunch of actors in the family is very convenient for the Culkin crew—anytime a filmmaker needed someone to play the younger version of older bros Macaulay or Kieran Culkin, all they had to do was call Rory. The actor played younger Macaulay in 1994’s Richie Rich and played the younger version of Kieran Culkin’s character in 2002’s Igby Goes Down.
Abigail and Spencer Breslin (Raising Helen)
Both starting out in Hollywood as wee child stars, Abigal Breslin and her older brother Spencer played on-screen siblings in the 2004 dramedy Raising Helen, starring Kate Hudson as their aunt and guardian. That same year, they would both pop up in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, in which Spencer portrayed a prince and Abigail a little girl at an orphanage.
Melvil and Yarol Poupaud (Broken English)
As New York singleton Nora Wilder, Parker Posey spends much of Zoe Cassavetes’s 2007 rom-com Broken English being charmed by a fetching Frenchman named Julian, played by Melvil Poupaud. But he’s not the only Poupaud that Nora encounters in the film: Melvil’s real-life rocker brother Yarol also cameos as Guillaume, a man Nora meets at an art gallery.
Ron And Clint Howard (Grand Theft Auto)
Ron and Clint Howard’s decades-long screen collaborations kicked off when Clint was just two, appearing on The Andy Griffith Show alongside his older brother in the 1960s. In the years since, Clint has appeared in seventeen films directed by his actor-filmmaker bro, joining Ron in the cast of his first full-length feature, Grand Theft Auto.
Chris And Scott Evans (Before We Go)
Scott Evans has appeared in two films alongside his big brother Chris, both of which dropped in 2014: the rom-com Playing It Cool and Chris’s directorial debut Before We Go. Alas, we didn’t get a brotherly reunion for 2023’s Barbie, though it would have been very fun to see Chris Evans as a Ken!
Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas (Camp Rock)
Obviously, the world knows the Jonas Brothers as a pop-rock band, but Kevin, Joe and Nick have also dabbled in acting over the years, appearing together in the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock as well as its 2010 sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.
Dennis and Randy Quaid (The Long Riders)
The Long Riders, a 1980s biographical Western directed by Walter Hill, stars four sets of actor brothers as the real-life siblings that made up the film’s robber gangs. That included both Dennis and Randy Quaid, who played Minnesota outlaws Ed and Clell Miller, respectively.
Nicholas and Christopher Guest (The Long Riders)
The Long Riders features a cast full of real-life siblings, including the Quaids, the Keaches, the Carradines. Brothers Christopher and Nicholas Guest also starred in the Western film as Robert Ford—the killer of Jesse James—and his outlaw bro Charles.
Julia and Eric Roberts (Blood Red)
Despite many respective decades in show business, siblings Eric and Julia Roberts have only appeared in one feature film together. The duo, who are the children of actor-playwrights Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts, played brother and sister in the 1989 Western Blood Red.
