Friendship on the Set

"We get along so well, I love Jenna. She's one of my closest friends. I think we have a different dynamic off-screen, but I still don't think its any less important or deep or beautiful than Enid and Wednesday's."

—Emma Myers on her friendship with Jenna Ortega, formed during the filming of Wednesday

Being on the set of any film, television or cartoon production could have plenty of outcomes. On average, actors are simply associates who work together and then go their separate ways once the project ends with no ill will towards their coworkers. Of course, Romance on the Set may happen between coworkers and, on the opposite end, so does Hostility on the Set.

This trope lies in the middle, where someone becomes close to their coworker either as a good friend or even a best friend. Obviously, this can change the trajectory of their lives/careers, even to the point of making several projects together or later guest-starring on the costar's latest show. Also, while a friendship may develop between coworkers, it can still end through a non-death manner.

Compare with Heterosexual Life-Partners, Platonic Life-Partners, True Companions, Undying Loyalty, Best Friends-in-Law, Like Brother and Sister, Fire-Forged Friends and Bash Brothers. Contrast with The Rival, Vitriolic Best Buds, With Friends Like These... and All of the Other Reindeer.

Please remember when writing examples that Examples Are Not Recent.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Tomokazu Sugita and Yuichi Nakamura became best friends when they first worked together in Dennou Boukenki Webdiver due to their passion for video games. The duo created their own show entitled Tokyo Encounter where they would be playing video games.
• Nobutoshi Canna and Yoshiki Fukuyama of JAM Project became friends after working together in Macross 7 where Canna voiced the protagonist Basara Nekki while Fukuyama is his singing voice. During the Macross 25th-anniversary concert, the two formed a unit called Fukujin where they would sing together in concerts.
• Tohru Furuya, Shūichi Ikeda, and Hirotaka Suzuoki became good friends and drinking companions after working in Mobile Suit Gundam. When Suzuoki died in 2006 due to lung cancer, Furuya and Ikeda were devastated.
  • Ikeda and Furuya are also friends with their Gundam co-star Keiko Han who voiced their characters' love interest. Ikeda became a mentor to Keiko's daughter, Megumi Han, who was about to start her voice acting career.
• Moriarty the Patriot: Theo Devaney, the English voice of Sherlock Holmes, and Ryan Colt Levy, the voice of John Watson, became fast friends over the course of dubbing the series.
• YuYu Hakusho: The seiyuu of the four main characters, Nozomu Sasaki, Shigeru Chiba, Megumi Ogata, and Nobuyuki Hiyama became tight-knit lifelong friends thanks to their strong Senpai/Kōhai acting environment over the course of animation and live event productions.

Film — Live Action

• Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. became close friends while making Air America. Gibson later insisted that Downey be cast in The Singing Detective despite his issues with drugs and alcohol. And Downey Jr. once stated before Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that the only reason why he'd do an Iron Man 4 is if Gibson was director.
• Almost Heroes: Chris Farley and Matthew Perry became such good friends while making the movie, to the point where Perry was so upset by the news of Farley's death in 1997 that he punched a hole through the wall of Jennifer Aniston's dressing room on the set of Friends.
• Sigourney Weaver and Carrie Henn became friends while making Aliens and stayed in touch.
• Val Kilmer befriended Jim Carrey while making Batman Forever. They bonded over the fact that they had both lost their fathers. Carrey also befriended Nicole Kidman, who considers him her best male friend.
• Wesley Snipes and Kris Kristofferson became good friends following the Blade Trilogy.
• Adčle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux developed a very close friendship during filming Blue Is The Warmest Color, which helped them get through the film's gruelling production.
• Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston became friends making The Bodyguard. They bonded over growing up in the Baptist Church and he told her a story about getting caught sneaking grape juice from the communion glasses. He later gave the eulogy at her funeral.
• Even though they had completely different acting styles, Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard became lifelong friends after making Breakfast at Tiffany's.
• Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger became friends while playing lovers in Brokeback Mountain. Gyllenhaal became the godfather of Ledger's daughter.
• Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, and Lucy Liu became good friends while starring together in Charlie's Angels (2000). Years later, when Drew started hosting her own daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, she invited Cameron and Lucy as her first guests, introducing them as her sisters.
• Dick Van Dyke brought Benny Hill onto Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and they quickly became friends, bonding over their mutual love of silent comedy. They both lamented that they weren't around during the silent era.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones became friends while making Conan the Barbarian. Jones gave Arnie acting tips, while Arnie gave Jones body-building advice.
• DC Extended Universe:
  • Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot became friends when filming Wonder Woman. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Jenkins was initially frustrated at the idea that Gadot, a model, was cast as Diana/Wonder Woman. She changed her mind when watching her in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and working with her, and the rest is history.
  • Zack Snyder, who's already known as one of the gentlest directors to work with, befriended both Jason Momoa and Ray Fisher when making Justice League. The two actors have defended the director afterward, crediting him for being an important step in their careers and being the first cast members to call for his version of the film to be released between 2017 and 2020.
• Sandra Bullock later said that Sylvester Stallone was like an older brother to her while making Demolition Man.
• Sean Connery and Ursula Andress remained good friends after making Dr. No together, with her even making him her son's godfather.
• Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans became good friends while working together in Earth Girls Are Easy. It was for this reason that when the Wayans siblings went on to create the sketch comedy series In Living Color!, Carey was invited to audition, and the show became his Starmaking Role.
• Vin Diesel and Paul Walker became close friends while making The Fast and the Furious series and Diesel was devastated by Walker's tragic death in 2013.
• From Here to Eternity: Montgomery Clift befriended Frank Sinatra and James Jones and they would go on drinking binges. Clift coached Sinatra on how to play Maggio during their more sober moments, for which Sinatra was eternally grateful. Sinatra also formed a lifelong friendship with Burt Lancaster, crediting both him and Clift with helping him find his feet as an actor.
• Much like their characters, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell became close friends while making Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. In fact, Russell was the only one who could entice Monroe out of her trailer.
• Giant: Elizabeth Taylor formed a lifelong friendship with Rock Hudson. She also befriended James Dean and was devastated by his tragic death in 1955. Some nights they would sit up late as he vented his frustrations with his life as an actor, the restrictions of Hollywood life, and past traumas. Dean also befriended Dennis Hopper on Rebel Without a Cause.
• Russell Crowe and Richard Harris became friends while making Gladiator, bonding over their mutual love of rugby.
• At least two of The Goonies, Ke Huy Quan and Jeff Cohen, formed a friendship that lasted into adulthood; solidified when Cohen agreed to become Quan's lawyer when Quan decided to begin acting again. When Quan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Everything Everywhere All at Once, he thanked Cohen for helping him get the part.
• John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John became close friends while making Grease.
• Steve McQueen and James Garner became friends while making The Great Escape, bonding over their mutual love of motor-racing.
• Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan became friends while making The Green Mile, to the point that Hanks would deliver the eulogy at Duncan's funeral in 2012.
• Rather fittingly, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson all grew to be close friends after their time as Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Harry Potter series. It actually got to the point where Watson described her Big Damn Kiss scene with Grint as being particularly tough to film because she thought of him as practically a brother by that point. Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) also has also enjoyed a close relationship with them as well, in stark contrast to his character who is a constant thorn in their characters' sides.
• Robert Mitchum was worried about working with Deborah Kerr on Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, fearing that she would be like the prim characters she frequently played. However, after she swore at John Huston during one take, Mitchum, who was in the water, almost drowned laughing. They would co-star in three more films and formed a lifelong friendship.
• Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery became such good friends while making Highlander that Lambert would only return for the sequel if Connery did.
• After Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin called Catherine O'Hara "mom".
• The cast of It very quickly became a close knit group of friends, especially the actors who played the Losers. There is plenty of behind-the-scenes video that show them hanging out together and having fun. There have also been many instances where the cast have posted their support for each other's projects outside of the film series. They write that they are "best friends", and encourage their followers to watch/support their work. Even years after filming they consistently stay connected through social media.
• Yul Brynner hand-picked Deborah Kerr to be his costar in The King and I after seeing her onstage. They became lifelong friends afterwards.
• While making The Klansman, Lee Marvin boasted to Richard Burton that he got top billing, to which Burton replied that he was being paid more. The pair often got drunk together to the point where Burton claimed that they met again at a party and couldn't remember making the film.
• Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif became fast friends while making Lawrence of Arabia. Upon learning his name, O'Toole declared, "You can't be called that, there isn't a movie star in the world named Omar Sharif. Your name must be Cairo Fred". They would often go out drinking together.
  • O'Toole also befriended Jack Hawkins, much to David Lean's annoyance, as their character are supposed to be enemies. They would annoy Lean by ad-libbing material.
• Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale became good friends while filming The Legend of Frenchie King, no doubt frustrating the paparazzi that had hoped their onscreen rivalry (which includes a pretty long Cat Fight) was fed by Reality Subtext.
• The four main actors of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels became friends.
• The cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings became this thanks to the three years they spent filming the movies back to back/concurrently in New Zealand. Also, while the entire cast became close, smaller groups of true companions formed between the actors playing the four hobbits (Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd), and between the trio who played Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and John Rhys-Davies).
• Corey Haim and Corey Feldman met and became best friends while making The Lost Boys. Precluded from the nightly parties held by the older actors, they stayed in the hotel watching movies and visited the local arcade.
• The Magnificent Seven (1960): Yul Brynner befriended Brad Dexter, while Steve McQueen (actor) befriended James Coburn, Robert Vaughn and Eli Wallach.
• Richard Harris and James Coburn got along very well while making Major Dundee and would often go out drinking together. Coburn recalled, "When he wanted to, he could hit the liquor like no one I knew."
• Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster became Platonic Life-Partners after appearing in the 1994 film version of Maverick. Even as his reputation entered a rut, Foster gave him the lead role in The Beaver.
• David Bowie became fast friends with James Malcolm during location filming in Auckland, New Zealand for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Bowie openly referred to Malcolm, who played his character's brother in the movie, as his "New Zealand brother," and when he revisited Auckland during the supporting tour for Let's Dance the following year, he invited him on-stage to release a peace dove together.
• Marilyn Monroe befriended Montgomery Clift while making The Misfits, saying "It's great to meet someone who's in worse shape than I am".
• The main cast of the Mission: Impossible Film Series (Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ving Rhames) seem to be quite close, especially Ferguson and Pegg, who have frequently posted pictures on social media of them goofing off on set, as well as her and Cruise, whose warm and loving real-life friendship has been largely credited for their characters' strong onscreen chemistry.
• Unlike their characters, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Freddie Boath got along with each other while making The Mummy Returns.
• Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson became friends when they first starred together in The Perfect Score.
• Sylvester Stallone and Richard Crenna became good friends following the first three Rambo films. So much that Stallone refused to recast the role of Col. Trautman following Crenna's death.
• James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo and Nick Adams were an inseparable foursome while making Rebel Without a Cause. Dean even encouraged Mineo to play his character as gay.
• The young cast of The Sandlot became fast friends, with many of them saying the filming was a lot like summer camp since they got to play baseball all the time.
• The School for Good and Evil (2022): In interviews to promote the film, Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington revealed that they became incredibly close friends while filming. Despite having never met before, both actresses have said that they had a instant chemistry and bond due to their shared experiences as mothers and spent a large part of the press for the film gushing about their friendship. Both actresses also became co-moms towards the younger cast of the film.
• Ted Levine and Brooke Smith respectively played Serial Killer Buffalo Bill and his victim Catherine Martin in The Silence of the Lambs, but became great friends on the set of the film, to the point where Jodie Foster jokingly nicknamed her Patty Hearst. They became so close that, when Smith improvised her I Want My Mommy! line as Catherine pleading with Buffalo Bill, Levine is visibly trying to hold back tears.
• Just like in their movie, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the four main actresses (America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Blake Lively, and Alexis Bledel) became best friends in real life. It helps that they also attended each other's weddings.
• The four main actors of Stand by Me, Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell became close friends, reflecting the camaraderie you see in the film.
• William Shatner and Patrick Stewart became friends while making Star Trek: Generations. Shatner, a passionate and world-class equestrian, advised him how to ride a horse properly.
• Star Wars:
  • During the production of the original trilogy, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who played Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa respectively, became friends in real life (fittingly as their characters ended up as siblings). Hamill often referred to her as his "Space Sister" and was absosutely devastated by Fisher's death.
  • Hamill also experienced this trope with, of all actors, Ian McDiarmid (who played the Big Bad, Emperor Palpatine, as they bonded over their appreciation of British comedy.
• The five female leads of Sucker Punch - Emily Browning, Jamie Chung, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens and Jena Malone - all became Fire-Forged Friends throughout the filming process, with Jamie Chung listing it as her favourite role in large part because of the friendships she made making it. Jena Malone declared during press junkets "I have four sisters right here".
• In Yuen Woo-Ping film Tiger Cage 2, real life Martial Artist Robin Shou befriended his fellow acting pal and known host of the show Go West David Wu while filming the fight scene between him and David. In an exerpt linked on Robin's page, Robin spoke about how spliced between the fight was a body double who would land punches onto Robin during the fight sequence and David taking Robin's punches and kicks. A example of this was Robin leaping up and kicking David in the jaw before the fight began. Despite David taking Robin's hits, they still remained as friends after filming finished.
• The two stars of Titanic (1997). Leonardo DiCaprio had to wear a long coat for most of his shoot. James Cameron recalled, "He would, like, fart in it and then sweep the coat over her face. I mean, if anybody else in the world did that, they'd get slapped, and the other person would walk away and not talk to them for a week. With Leo, Kate would just crack up."
• Gregory Peck and Mary Badham became lifelong friends while making To Kill a Mockingbird and kept in contact for the rest of his life. Peck always called her "Scout", while Badham called Peck "Atticus".
• Oliver Reed and Keith Moon became friends while making Tommy and engaged in numerous pranks, to the point where they were kept in a separate hotel from everyone else. They remained friends until Moon's death, which left Reed devastated.
• Speaking of Jim Carrey, his 1998 role in the ambitious dramedy The Truman Show, saw him costarring with Noah Emmerich, who plays an actor who plays Truman's best friend. Carrey hit it off with Emmerich very well.
• During production of Valley of the Dolls, the three stars, Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate, became exceptionally close to the point of both women serving as bridesmaids in Tate's wedding.
• The five child actors of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory became friends into adulthood, even recording the film's DVD Commentary.

Live-Action TV

• Patrick Macnee became friends with all his co-stars on The Avengers (1960s). Diana Rigg claimed that Macnee and her chauffeur were her only friends onset.
• The cast of Band of Brothers became just as close to each other during filming as the real men of Easy Company did during the war. They hold a cast reunion every year and frequently participate in USO tours and World War II historical events together.
• Barney & Friends: Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato befriended each other while acting in Season 7. They were best friends for many years afterwards, leading to other collaborative projects when they became Disney Channel stars. However, they eventually grew apart.
• Buffyverse:
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan were best friends, much like Buffy and Willow. Gellar is also friends with David Boreanaz, Emma Caulfield, Seth Green, James Marsters, Amber Benson, Charisma Carpenter and especially Michelle Trachtenberg.
  • Angel: Boreanez and Carpenter were close friends with Glenn Quinn, the former calling him "a dear friend" on the 20th anniversary reunion.
• Charmed (1998):
  • Shannen Doherty and Holly Marie Combs were already best friends when the show started, and the former had even fought for Holly to be cast as Piper when the network execs didn't think she had enough "star power". Shannen however admitted that they lost touch in the 2010s.
  • Holly Marie Combs and her on-screen husband Brian Krause are still close twenty years later, frequently doing panels together at conventions. They also bonded with Drew Fuller, who played their Kid from the Future, and eventually set up a podcast together called House of Halliwell.
  • Kaley Cuoco describes her first day on set as Alyssa Milano coming up to her with a hug and saying "welcome to our show". Notably, Billie was introduced as Paige's charge, but soon bonded more with Phoebe; reflecting the actresses' real-life connection.
• Quite a bit on The Cosby Show:
  • Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad became good friends while appearing on the show as husband and wife, so much that they reunited to play husband and wife again on his later series Cosby.
  • A behind-the-scenes version: Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Cosby's only son, Ennis (who Warner's character Theo Huxtable was based on) became best friends. After Ennis' tragic 1997 murder, Malcolm called him "[his] brother, and I love him". Warner also had this and a Romance on the Set with Michelle Thomas, who appeared as his date in one episode, and although they had broken up, he was ather side when she died from stomach cancer in 1998.
• Doctor Who:
  • William Hartnell got on with most of his regular co-stars and Verity Lambert and was upset at seeing them leave. William Russell recalled that the food at Lime Grove Studio was so bad the cast would have picnics together. Peter Purves recalled that while Hartnell could be difficult, he was never difficult with him.
  • In contrast to Hartnell's tetchy personality, Patrick Troughton was adored by nearly everyone who worked with him due to his upbeat, easy-going nature. He credited Michael Craze and Anneke Wills with helping him find his footing and was best friends with Frazer Hines, forming an infamous pair of pranksters.
  • Jon Pertwee became friends with Nicholas Courtney, Katy Manning and Roger Delgado. Manning described Pertwee and Delgado as her two fathers. It was Delgado's tragic death and Manning's departure that led to Pertwee leaving the series, as he felt that family atmosphere was disappearing, though he got on very well with Elisabeth Sladen, who considered him to be her Doctor.
  • Tom Baker got on famously with Sladen and Ian Marter, forming one of the best-loved line-ups. Baker and Marter even wrote the unmade film script Doctor Who Meets Scratchman together. Much as Baker hated K9, he got on very well with John Leeson and they would often do The Times crossword together.
  • Peter Davison is friends with Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding.
  • Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant became friends, as did Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred.
  • Christopher Eccleston speaks fondly of Billie Piper and credits her with the success of the show's relaunch. Piper was very close friends with David Tennant, while John Barrowman recalled that he and Tennant would attend Madonna concerts with their partners.
  • David Tennant was also good friends with Catherine Tate during her tenure on the show as Donna Noble. The two of them have since worked together on other projects, notably an RSC production of Much Ado About Nothing (as Benedick and Beatrice), and voicework on DuckTales (2017) (as Scrooge McDuck and Magica Despell)
  • Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill spent three years together on the show, and even participated in a virtual reunion during the Covid Pandemic in 2020.
• The majority of the cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air became close friends. In particular, Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro became best friends and their characters' relationship was rewritten to reflect that.
• The cast of Friends all insisted on equal pay and if they were nominated for awards, you could not nominate one of the cast for Best Lead and another for Best Supporting Cast Member.
• The cast of Full House became close during the show's eight-year production and remained close years later. This is why they took Bob Saget's untimely passing in 2022 so hard. When Jodie Sweetin became addicted to meth, her fellow former cast members all helped intervene to get her into rehab.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, who played sisters Sansa and Arya Stark, developed a deep and abiding friendship which has lasted long after the end of the series. Williams describes Turner as her "favorite person" on the show and says that because they played sisters, they became like sisters.
  • Jason Momoa and Emilia Clarke - who played onscreen love interests Drogo and Daenerys - became friends after meeting on the show. Clarke mentioned that the more experienced Momoa looked out for her on-set and supported her during nude scenes, including demanding she be treated better and encouraging her to speak up if she was uncomfortable. Although the last time they appeared together on the show was in Season 2, they stayed in contact and remained friends long after the show ended.
• John Ritter and Billy Bob Thornton became good friends while shooting Hearts Afire. Ritter appeared in Thornton's riskier indie projects to support his friend's artistic ambitions and Thornton was devastated when Ritter died not long after they wrapped Bad Santa.
• The four main actors of The Inbetweeners became friends during the series.
• Interview with the Vampire (2022): By all accounts, Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid became very close during the production of the first season, and during the press tour spent time together as friends doing things like going to sticker shops and getting ice cream.
• The Last of Us (2023) co-stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey formed a friendship comparable to the surrogate father/daughter bond Joel and Ellie develop in the first season.
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Stars Vincent D'Onofrio and Kathryn Erbe became the Like Brother and Sister variety while working together in the show's ten-year production.
• Long Way Round: Discussed Trope. Ewan McGregor and his cohost Charley Boorman talk in the first episode about how they became best friends after both appearing in the same movie, and how it's unusual to make a friend for life on a film set.
• The cast of Married... with Children became very close to each other, with Ed O'Neill almost becoming a surrogate father to Christina Applegate, whose own parents were divorced. On one occassion, O'Neill surprised Applegate with a visit to her on an unrelated show while being in-character.
• On Martin, lead actresses Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold had previously worked together before (even appearing as the background singers in the film version of Little Shop of Horrors), but them playing Heterosexual Life Partners Gina and Pam respectively only deepened their existing friendship. Arnold also became close friends with Martin Lawrence and they remain good friends to this day, which is ironic given their characters' antagonistic relationship.
• Miami Vice: Much like their characters Switek and Zito, Michael Talbott and John Diehl became very good friends during production and remain so to this day.
• On Night Court, Harry Anderson and John Larroquette became good friends during production (as well as both men being born and raised in New Orleans).
• Once Upon a Time:
  • Jennifer Morrison became good friends with the people who played her parents on the show, Ginnifer Goodwin and Josh Dallas, to the point that the three even jointly dressed as the main trio from Harry Potter one Halloween. Jennifer also became incredibly close friends with Colin O'Donoghue, which helped their chemistry as lovers on-screen.
  • Lana Parrilla and Jared S. Gilmore became incredibly close during the filming of the show. Jared even once described their off-screen dynamic as very similar to their characters' on-screen one and said that Lana was a second mother to him. Lana also grew close to the actress who plays her sister, Rebecca Mader, and the two often call each other their best friend.
  • Sean Maguire and Robbie Kay ironically didn't appear on-screen together, but they ended up becoming close friends simply through doing convention panels together. At one point, the former announced that he was adopting him as a joke. He also became close with Rebecca Mader, and the two did a podcast together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The cast of Only Fools and Horses became close friends, particularly David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, who would often play pranks onset. Jason described them as "a pair of silly Buddhas" in his autobiography and would call his costar "Nick".
• Ronnie Barker and David Jason became close friends while making Open All Hours. Barker described making the show as one of the happiest times of his life and Jason considered Barker a mentor.
• Daniel Craig and Mark Strong became close friends while making Our Friends in the North, while Christopher Eccleston befriended Peter Vaughan.
• After Picket Fences, Costas Mandylor considered his costar Tom Skerritt to be his best friend.
• James Roday Rodriguez and Dulé Hill who lead Psych have become close friends like their characters Shawn and Gus.
• The Real World: During the third season in San Francisco, Judd Winick, Pam Ling and Pedro Zamora all became good friends before his passing. While the former two also fell in love and married, they went to say their goodbyes when the latter passed away.
• RuPaul's Drag Race: While most examples of contestants working together outside the show are queens that were already friends beforehand, there are a few that bonded during their season and became good friends afterwards. One of the most notable examples are the Season 6 finalists Adore Delano, Bianca Del Rio, Courtney Act, and Darienne Lake.^note Darienne was actually the last queen eliminated before the finale, but close enough Not only was this the first season to lack any sort of rivalry among the finalists as they all had nothing but love and respect for each other, but a few years after the season, the four queens embarked on the "ABCD" Tour.
• Sabrina the Teenage Witch's three lead actresses - Melissa Joan Hart, Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick - are still close friends twenty years later, with Melissa and Beth guest-starring on Caroline's talk show, and doing many convention panels together. They've described themselves as essentially like family in real life.
• Saturday Night Live:
  • One of the first (and possibly the strongest) close friendships was between John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd was devastated after the frmer's 1982 death (and he was initially to play Venkman in Ghostbusters (1984)).
  • Similarly, there was David Spade and Chris Farley who also went on to star in Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. Notably, Spade was not at Farley's funeral since, as he put it, he didn't want "to be in a room where Chris was in a box".
  • Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have remained close friends, even creating the hit film Mean Girls together.
• Saved by the Bell: While their characters were initially written as rivals, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez became good friends during production to the point that their characters were rewritten as being close friends.
• Zach Braff and Donald Faison became best friends when they starred in Scrubs. They even made a podcast entitled, "Fake Doctors, Real Friends With Zach and Donald"
• David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser became best friends while making Starsky & Hutch.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series:
    • William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley became best friends onset, much like their characters.
    • George Takei and Walter Koenig became friends, to the point that Takei asked Koenig to serve as the best man at his wedding to Brad Altman. They were also very close with Nichelle Nichols, who was in the wedding party.
  • The entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation became as close as their characters.
    • Wil Wheaton, who was later estranged from his strict Stage Mom, refers to his onscreen mother, Gates McFadden, as "Space Mom".
    • While shooting Tasha Yar's memorial service in "Skin Of Evil", Marina Sirtis (Troi) was actually weeping because she and Denise Crosby (Tasha) had become good friends and she was saddened to see her go.
    • Jonathan Frakes still refers to his onscreen love interest Marina Sirtis as "Imzadi" — a Betazed word for "beloved" which had special meaning to their characters, Will Riker and Deanna Troi.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had René Auberjonois (Odo) and Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), whose warm and affectionate friendship lasted for the rest of their lives. Auberjonois passed away in late 2019, leaving Visitor devastated and lost for words.
  • Star Trek: Voyager:
    • Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) and Robert Picardo (the EMH) became best friends on the set, and are still very close today.
    • Mulgrew also became very close with Ethan Phillips, who played Neelix.
• Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp became friends during season 1 of Stranger Things.
• Supernatural: While playing brothers Sam and Dean Winchester throughout the long-running series, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki became so close that they've both stated they regard themselves as brothers.
• The cast of Torchwood became close friends, with all of them and Russell T. Davies attending John Barrowman's wedding.
• Dan Castellaneta and Tracey Ullman became good friends while appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show and it was her who was able to get him the role of Homer Simpson.
• Wednesday: Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers became incredibly close friends while filming the show. Even after the show's production ended, Ortega and Myers continued to regularly comment on each other's Instagram posts.
• On the set of The Witcher (2019), Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Joey Batey (Jaskier) describe themselves as best friends both on and off the set, having grown very close during filming. They frequently give interviews together and have a lot of fun.

Music

• During the Troubled Production of The Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon, Charlie Watts went through by bonding with percussionist Jim Keltner (a veteran who recorded with among other artists three of the Beatles), and they even recorded an album together a few years later.

Professional Wrestling

• A.J. Lee and Kaitlyn's friendship off-screen was just as real as it was on screen, having been close ever since their days on NXT Season 3. Kaitlyn even spoke about how delighted she was that AJ got to win her first WWE title by defeating her, and her last match was against AJ for these reasons.
• Bella Twins:
  • They described Melina as like a sister to them, and they pitched for her to be placed in a stable with them called 'Latina Heat'. They also say she was a locker room leader.
  • Maryse - who Brie describes as "our little Momo" - lived on their couch for several months while they were all in developmental, and even learned some of her English from them (she is a native French speaker). They joke that, since she had two siblings who were twins, she understood their constant bickering.
  • They became very close with Natalya, crediting her with helping them learn more about wrestling, and they in turn taught her how to do the "Diva thing".
  • Nikki said that Kelly Kelly was her best friend, and loved the 2011 period when they were all feuding together.
  • Nikki also loved working with Paige, and named her as one of her favourite people to wrestle.
• Trish Stratus and Lita quickly became best friends, which was eventually reflected in the 2003 period when Lita returned from injury and the two appeared frequently as a tag team together. Even after retiring from WWE, they would tour conventions together as 'Team Bestie'.
• Michelle McCool and Layla became very close when they were paired together as LayCool.
• Lisa Marie Varon is known for being one of those WWE employees that other former Divas have nothing but praise for, and many of the Diva Search girls she had to help put over credit her with helping them out in their early days. Michelle McCool had such great respect for her that she begged the bookers to let her put her over in her 2009 retirement match.

Theatre

• Oscar Isaac and Pedro Pascal formed a long-lasting friendship when both appeared in the 2006 Off-Broadway production of Beauty of the Father.

Western Animation

• In spite of playing rivals on Jem, Samantha Newark (Jem/Jerrica's speaking voice) and the late Patricia Alice Albrecht (Pizzazz's speaking voice) became good friends. Newark even said that she and the other voice actors were mentors to her, as she was only a teenager when she first portrayed the title character.
• The child voice actors of Ready Jet Go! became friends during the show's run, since they tended to record in the same room. Jaeda Lily Miller (Mindy) and Vienna Leacock (the second Sydney) have posted pics of them hanging out, and they have also starred on When Calls the Heart together.
• Andrea Libman and Tabitha St. Germain became good friends through working together on many shows, to the point where Andrea joked that she normally relied on Tabitha for food at work; as she would frequently bring snacks to the studio from all the best bakeries in the area.
• Depsite voicing archenemies in Batman: The Animated Series, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were ironically friends in real life, with Hamill even stating he often agreed to return as the Joker in several projects Conroy returned as Batman in because he enjoyed working with Conroy — and like with the death of his Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher, Hamill was devastated by Conroy's passing. In fact, it get to the point where Hamill retired from his long-time role as the Joker, feeling that he could not play the role without Conroy's Batman.

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