When two or more characters in a show are played by actors who have some form of real-life relationship, be it familial or romantic, off-screen. The relationship is likely to be replicated on-screen: the actual family resemblance between real-life blood relatives can go a long way toward convincing the audience that their characters are family, and love scenes may well be more convincing if the participants are married in real life (though this isn't guaranteed). Another use of this trope is flashback scenes, having the regular actor's child or sibling play a younger version of them, ensuring a level of resemblance.
Can lead to some very interesting scenarios, including Actor Allusions, or may lead to more Reality Subtext issues than the production was actually looking for. (In films, this element can often be played up by the promotional machine.) For a more Squick version, there is Cast Incest, in which characters who are blood-related are played by actors who are in a romantic relationship. The even squickier inversion is Incestuous Casting, in which characters who are romantically connected are played by actors who are blood-related. It is also not unheard of for a couple to be on opposite sides of an on-screen divide, making for some interesting Dating Catwoman scenes. Band of Relatives shows it's common for musicians.
Compare I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine, Couple Bomb, Actor Allusion, Historical Character's Fictional Relative (where a fictional character is related in-universe to a real person) and Romance on the Set (where actors start a real-life relationship after being cast as characters with an on-screen relationship). A Real Life Sibling Team, a Creator Couple, or someone in the Family Business will do this frequently. Contrast Separated-at-Birth Casting, where two or more actors seem like they're related because they share many similarities, but in reality they aren't.
For Professional Wrestling examples, see Wrestling Family.
Examples:
- In the classic "Mikey" commercial for Life cereal, the three little boys are real brothers: John Gilchrist as Mikey and his older brothers Michael and Tommy Gilchrist.
- In this commercial, Charlie Sheen is put through a series of steps in order to write a check. By the time they are done, he has aged into his father Martin Sheen.
- To celebrate their 60th anniversary, Sega introduced a new mascot: Sega Shiro, the son of Segata Sanshiro. Sega Shiro is portrayed by Maito Fujioka, the eldest son of Segata Sanshiro's actor Hiroshi Fujioka.
- In the English dub of AKB0048, the sisters Kanata and Sonata Shinonome are played by real-life sisters Juliet and Genevieve Simmons.
- Jill Harris broke news of her engagement to Dallas Reid in April 2019. Fans of Black Clover likely got a kick out of this, given their roles as Noelle and Asta. Ironically, in a later dub they worked on after tying the knot, Reign of the Seven Spellblades, their characters (Reid's Carlos Whitrow and Harris' Katie Aalto) have no scenes together.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub of Blood+, the antagonistic twins Saya and Diva are voiced by real-life sisters Xóchitl and Gabriela Ugarte, and their brother Víctor plays Solomon Goldsmith, one of Diva's Chevaliers.
- In the English dub of the Cardfight!! Vanguard G anime, Chrono Shindou and Tokoha Anjou are voiced by Sam Duke and Emma Duke who are brother and sister.
- Though they were not in a relationship when working on the series, Steve Blum and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn began dating in 2016, effectively mirroring their roles in Cowboy Bebop as Spike and Julia. Blum later announced their engagement in March 2018, referring to McGlynn as his fiancée during a post-series finale Q&A session for Star Wars Rebels.
- The Mexican Spanish dub of the Cyborg 009 series has Jet/002 and Albert/004, who in-story are Bash Brothers and part of a family-like True Companions group, played by the real-life brothers Luis Alfonso and Ricardo Mendoza.
- Voice actors Amanda Winn-Lee and Jason C. Lee are married, which makes their roles as the Bonnie & Clyde-esque protagonists of Dead Leaves amusing and Shigeru Aoba (Jason)'s tanging scene at the hands of Rei (Amanda) in The End of Evangelion hilarious.
- In the English dub of Di Gi Charat Theater - Leave it to Piyoko-pyo! by Synch-Point, Dejiko and Rik are played by the married couple of Jessica Gee-George and Grant George.
- When Brazil would broadcast unaired episodes of the original Dragon Ball, the whole thing was redubbed. This amusingly led to Goku being Úrsula Bezerra as a child and her brother Wendel as an adult. (Wendel, who also voiced Goku in Dragon Ball Z around roughly the same time, auditioned for the child version too, but was passed over.)
- Wendel Bezerra also voiced the final form of Father in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, who in his original form was his brother Ulisses.
- Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist) and Laura Bailey (Lust) are married, which renders the violent confrontation between Mustang and Lust in Episode 19 of Brotherhood Hilarious in Hindsight. While they weren't married yet at the time, they were in a relationship, and they find this just as funny as the rest of us do.
- Grand Blue's Iori Kitahara is voiced by Yūma Uchida. Nanaka Kotegawa, Iori's surrogate Cool Big Sis, is voiced by Yūma's older sister Maaya Uchida. They also voiced Akatsuki and Suzuran in Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits, who are brother and sister. Humorously, Yūma's character (Akatsuki) is the the older sibling of the pair.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub of Gunsmith Cats, the real-life couple Herman López and Norma Iturbe provide the voices for Roy Coleman and Becky Farrah, respectively.
- The English dub of Hensuki provides another retroactive example, as Clifford Chapin and Kristen McGuire (the voices of Keiki Kiryū and Mao Nanjō respectively) would announce their engagement in June 2021. Rather sweet (and hilarious), considering Mao hides her affection for Keiki and instead chooses to lend him a hand when he has to deal with the weirdness caused by his Unwanted Harem.
- In High School D×D, Issei Hyodo is an unabashed Harem Seeker and Cute Bruiser Koneko Toujou is one of the many members of his Battle Harem. (And, as revealed in the EX novel, they're married in the future.) In June of 2019, their voice actors Yūki Kaji and Ayana Taketatsu announced on their Twitter accounts that they tied the knot, leading to an influx of fan art depicting Issei and Koneko in wedding attire. Even Miyama-Zero, the illustrator for the light novels, congratulated the couple in the same manner.
- Hunter × Hunter features Megumi Han (as the protagonist Gon) and her real-life mother Keiko Han (as Gon's aunt Mito).
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Stardust Crusaders: In addition to being married to Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Tom Fahn's real life brother Jonathan voices Wilson Philips.
- Stone Ocean: Anasui and Gwess, two characters who are psychotically obsessed with Jolyne, are voiced in English by Howard Wang and Amber Lee Connors respectively, who are husband and wife.
- Kageki Shoujo!! does this in both the Japanese and English language versions of the anime with the Sawada Twins, Chika and Chiaki. In Japanese, they're voiced by twin sisters Risae and Satsumi Matsuda, while in English, they're voiced by Monica Rial and her younger sister Natalie.
- In the English dub of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, ex-couple Ko Ogino and Kyoko Otomo are voiced by real-life husband and wife Matt Shipman and Brittany Lauda.
- Super HxEros, another Funimation dub from that same year (2020), would see the couple paired up as Retto Enjō and Kirara Hoshino, Childhood Friends with some friction between them who are (initially) unable to be honest about their true feelings for one another.
- Yuji Ueda and Omi Minami, who are married in Real Life, were cast in Martian Successor Nadesico as Akito Tenkawa and Ruri Hoshino. Despite hints of a Precocious Crush on Ruri's side, they're not a couple seeing as Ruri is a Little Miss Snarker and Akito's pretty much in his late teens; instead, he treats her more like a little sister especially in the episode about her Dark and Troubled Past.
- This gets a bit more awkward in Doki Doki School Hours (Sensei no Ojikan) where they play teacher and student.
- Japanese voice actors Kenichi Suzumura and Maaya Sakamoto are married, which makes their playing Shinn Asuka and Lunamaria Hawke in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny all the more interesting retroactively, considering the two characters end up in a relationship. They're also the voices of Haruhi and Hikaru from Ouran High School Host Club, along with Shiki and Mikiya in The Garden of Sinners.
- Also relating to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Brent Miller and Nicole Bouma, the English voices of Sting Oakley and Meyrin Hawke, are married in real life. They would both return for the dub of Mobile Suit Gundam 00, where they would voice Andrei Smirnov and Nena Trinity.
- Disney's English dub of My Neighbor Totoro has Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning play the Kusakabe sisters.
- The English dub of the original Oh My Goddess! OVA series cast Scott Simpson as Keiichi and Juliet Cesario as Belldandy. They were dating in real life at the time the show was being recorded, and that arguably helped with their vocal chemistry.
- One Piece:
- From the Funimation dub, Greg Ayres, who voiced Sentomaru and Cabaji, is the younger brother of Chris Ayres, the voice of Johnny and Mr. 11.
- Ryunosuke Yamaguchi (Ryunosuke) is the son of Usopp's voice actor Kappei Yamaguchi.
- From the Latin Spanish Netflix dub, Alejandro Orozco and his brother Luis Fernando voice Usopp and Hatchan, respectively, while their father José Luis Orozco voices Silvers Rayleigh and Toto. Likewise, Ricardo Mendoza voiced Pearl from the Krieg pirates, while his brother, the late Luis Alfonso Mendoza, voiced Higuma.
- In the German dub, Sanji and Pudding, whose whole plotline is about being forcibly married, are voiced by real-life married couple Hubertus and Stefanie von Lerchenfeld. We also have Chopper's first and second voice actors, Florian and Martin Halm, who are brothers.
- Episode 7 of Pokémon Generations features married couple Lex Lang and Sandy Fox as Team Magma Leader Maxie and Team Magma Admin Courtney. That the latter exhibits Undying Loyalty toward the former and doesn't quite have her head on straight can come across as both cute and comically disturbing.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, May and Max were voiced by siblings Tatiane and Thiago Keplmair.
- In the Hebrew dub, Ash was voiced by Yonatan Magon in Seasons 1-3, and by his younger brother Daniel since Season 4.
- In the Czech dub, Radek Škvor was the voice of Ash until XY, whereupon his older brother Jan took over the role.
- Powerpuff Girls Z featured Matt Hill as the voice of Poochi for the first 37½ episodes. His nephew Simon took over the rest of the series.
- Saint Seiya has a lot of cases in the Brazilian dub: Athena was Letícia Quinto in the original; her daughter Bruna in Legend of the Sanctuary; and stepsister Luciana Baroli in Lost Canvas — where the mother of both, Rosa Maria Baroli, voiced the future Athena; Legend of the Sanctuary has Hiram Baroli voicing child Seiya, while his uncle Hermes (brother of Luciana, stepbrother of Letícia) is the grown-up one; and Kiki was Fátima Noya in the original show and her son Gabriel in Omega.
- The Latin American Spanish dub of Saint Seiya Omega has two cases:
- Gerardo Alonso and Jahel Morga, the voice actors for Wolf Haruto and Aquila Yuna, are husband-and-wife.
- The real-life brothers Luis Fernando and Alejandro Orozco play Max Brilliant Methone and Soul Killer Cyllene, respectively.
- Chris and Greg Ayres. Speed Grapher, Full Metal Panic!, Initial D, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Sengoku Basara...
- Clearly done intentionally in Dragon Ball Super, where Chris plays Freeza and Greg plays his Alternate Universe counterpart Frost.
- When Spirited Away was released for the Brazilian region version of Netflix, the movie was redubbed with an almost completely new cast, but the original voice of Haku, Felipe Drummond, became the director for the new dub, and Haku was recast to Felipe's younger brother Eduardo.
- SSSS.DYNɅZENON: Yomogi and Chise are voiced by real-life cousins Jun'ya Enoki and Chika Anzai.
- In the English dub of Wicked City, Gregory Snegoff and Alexandra Kenworthy, who are son and mother, play Taki and Mackie (who are lovers).
- Also in the original 1989 Streamline dub of My Neighbor Totoro, Snegoff voiced Tatsuo Kusakabe, while his (now late) wife Lisa Michelson voiced his daughter Satsuki.
- This was done on purpose in Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V with Yuto and Yugo, who are played by twin brothers Manpei Takagi and Shinpei Takagi respectively. The two are Identical Strangers, so they're supposed to sound very similar. It's especially apparent when they're both yelling, as it's very difficult to discern which voice is whose.
- Occasionally happens in other Funimation dubs. Jessica Dismuke played Yukina in YuYu Hakusho, while her brother Aaron played Shura, although the two never had a scene together. Meanwhile, their cousin Justin Cook played Yusuke, who, in a brief scene that showed him as a kid, was voiced by Aaron. Linda Young (Genkai) and John Burgmeier (Kurama) are also mother and son.
- In any cases an anime features a certain Honoka Inoue, you can be assured that she will have a mother voiced by her own mother, none other than Kikuko Inoue.
- Big Finish Doctor Who:
- In "An Earthly Child", Paul McGann's real-life son Jake guest-stars as the Doctor's great-grandson Alex Campbell.
- Wendy Padbury's daughter Charlie Hayes plays Jen, Zoe's interrogator in multiple Companion Chronicles audios.
- Marlène Jobert writes children's books and there are audio adaptations of them. Jobert and her daughter Eva Green voiced some of them together.
- In-universe example: In Muppet Classics: King Arthur, Kermit the Frog plays Arthur, and his nephew Robin plays Arthur's nephew Mordred.
- The Cars franchise stars renowned former NASCAR driver Richard Petty as the voice of Strip "The King" Weathers, an anthropomorphic version of Petty's aerodynamic 1970 Plymouth Superbird. In the first movie, Strip's wife is voiced by Richard's late wife Lynda, a station wagon that brought the Petty family to the races in the 1970s. In Cars 3, following Strip's retirement from racing, he has become crew chief to his nephew Cal, who is voiced by Richard Petty's son Kyle Petty.
- The Death of Superman and its sequel have Lois Lane voiced by Rebecca Romijn, the wife of Superman's voice actor, Jerry O'Connell.
- In the Icelandic dub of Hercules young Hercules was voiced by Ólafur Egilsson while his father, Egill Ólafsson, voiced Hades.
- In the first three Hotel Transylvania films, Adam Sandler voices Dracula. His wife Jackie voices Dracula's late wife Martha in a flashback. Their daughters, Sadie and Sunny, are also part of the cast. Sadie voiced a younger Mavis in the first film and played young werewolf Winnie throughout the films. Sunny voiced baby Dennis in the second movie and a baby werewolf with the same name in the third.
- Selena Gomez's younger sister Victoria took on the role of younger Mavis in the fourth film.
- The Hindi dub of The Incredibles had father and son duo Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan Khan dubbing Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible and Dash Parr. 15 years later, they would dub Mufasa and adult Simba in the remake of The Lion King (2019).
- The Brazilian dub of the first movie had aunt and nephew Márcia and Bernardo Coutinho as Helen Parr/Elastigirl and Dash Parr. Bernardo also debuted opposite father Marcelo Coutinho in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, which even had them singing together as Zephyr and Quasimodo.
- In the first Lady and the Tramp film, Lee Millar, who voices Jim Dear, is the son of Verna Felton, who voices Aunt Sarah.
- Hesham Noor and Amani Shawqi are cousins in real life and they both dubbed adults Simba and Nala in the Egyptian Arabic dubs of The Lion King.
- In the Latin American dub of The Lorax (2012), the Once-ler is voiced by Arturo Mercado, while in the flashbacks, the young Once-ler is voiced by his son Arturo Mercado Jr..
- In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa the younger versions of Alex and Gloria are voiced by the real-life children of Ben Stiller and Jada Pinkett respectively.
- The Italian dub of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has a father-son duo: Diego Suarez voices Puss, while his son Riccardo voices Perrito.
- The Latin American dub of Ratatouille has Remy and Django voiced by real-life son and father Sergio and Héctor Bonilla respectively.
- The Brazilian dub of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run had Spongebob himself, Wendel Bezerra, putting his son Enzo to voice the kid version of the character. Wendel’s daughter, Melissa, also voiced a younger version of Sandy in the same movie.
- The European Spanish dub of The Super Mario Bros. Movie features Mario and Luigi being voiced by real brothers, Guillmero and Rafa Romero, respectively.
- The German dub of Tom and Jerry: The Movie has Robyn Starling and her father voiced by real-life daughter and father Susanne and Joachim Kaps.
- For Turning Red, this applied quite a bit in the Latin American Spanish dub:
- Estefania Piedra voices Mei, while her cousin Jose Luis Piedra voices Tae Young.
- Liliana Barba voices Aunt Lily, while her son Oliver Diaz voices Tyler.
- Cristina Hernández and Ricardo Tejedo, both a real-life couple, voice Tyler's parents.
- AC/DC had Stevie Young replacing his uncle Malcolm Young as a rhythm guitar twice, first in the 1988 Blow Up You Video tour as Malcolm went to rehab, and then before Rock or Bust in 2014, given Malcolm's dementia forced him into retirement.
- Alien Weaponry's video for their song "Kai Tangata" depicts a Maori raiding party both fighting another New Zealand tribe and performing a traditional haka. These are actual Maori and mostly the band members' family members.
- Kate Bush's album Aerial has the song "Bertie", written for her son Bertie. He also makes a few appearances in the second half of the album, first in the track "Prelude" as a child, and in the 2018 remastered versions of the "An Architect's Dream" and "The Painter's Link" as an adult (replacing disgraced guest musician Rolf Harris).
- Eric Clapton wrote "Wonderful Tonight" based on a comment he made to his wife when she was taking too much time getting ready for a function. The song turns the comments on their heads and thus was born one of the all-time great romantic ballads. Also regarding Clapton, his smash hit "Layla" was an Anguished Declaration of Love toward his close friend George Harrison's then-wife Patti Boyd, who Clapton was infatuated with. They later got together, though the relationship didn't last.
- Dave Grohl had his sister Lisa play bass in "How I Missed You", featured later as a Foo Fighters B-side, and let his daughter Violet do backing vocals in a few 2019 Foo concerts and the 2021 album Medicine at Midnight. After drummer Taylor Hawkins died, the tribute concert to him had Violet singing lead in a few songs, and Taylor's son Oliver filling in for him as the Foos played "My Hero".
- The music video for How to Destroy Angels' "The Space In Between" has members and husband and wife Trent Reznor and Mariqueen Maandig as a newly-wed couple that are heavily implied to have killed each other while on their honeymoon.
- Billy Joel wrote "Uptown Girl" as an ode to Christie Brinkley, his soon-to-be wife, and she later starred in the song's music video.
- He also wrote "Just the Way You Are" for his earlier spouse Elizabeth.
- Led Zeppelin's reunion concert in 2007 famously had the drums taken by the late John Bonham's son Jason.
- When Madonna performed "Material Girl" during The Virgin Tour, the performance ended with an actor posing as her father dragging her offstage. When the show came to Madonna's hometown of Detroit, she got her actual father to play the part.
- There's a whole family network of European Symphonic Metal and Power Metal bands who often appear on the same bills. Nightwish keyboardist and composer Tuomas Holopainen is the second cousin of Leaves' Eyes vocalist Elina Siirala. Nightwish vocalist Floor Jansen is married to Sabaton drummer Hannes Van Dahl and is a former bandmate of Epica cofounder Mark Jansen, whose ex-girlfriend Simone Simons sings in the band and is married to Kamelot keyboardist Oliver Palotai. Kamelot singer Tommy Karevik married Kobra And The Lotus frontwoman Kobra Paige in 2020.
- In the Sakamichi Series franchise, Nogizaka46's Mao Ioki and Hinatazaka46's Yoko Shogenji are cousins.
- Within Temptation frontwoman Sharon den Adel and studio guitarist Robert Westerholt are a long-term Creator Couple. Robert's brother Martijn was also formerly in the band and founded Delain after leaving due to health problems, and Sharon had a guest appearance on Delain's debut album Lucidity.
- On Pink Floyd's The Wall, Roger Waters' son Harry voices young Pink at the beginning of 'Goodbye Blue Sky'. Harry would also be a part of his father's band since 2002.
- The Kids Rock coda of Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Aeroplane" features Flea's daughter Clara.
- The late Minnie Ripperton wrote her one big hit "Loving You" for her daughter Maya, who she never got to see grow up. Maya — as in the comedic actress Maya Rudolph — grew up to become famous in her own right.
- Animated band Savlonic's members Evangeline and Roscoe are often portrayed as a romantic couple in their songs and videos. Their real-world performers Sarah Darling and Weebl are married.
- Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band had for three years his son Zak Starkey, who is also a drummer.
- During The Who's tours in The New '10s, Pete Townshend's younger brother Simon was a second guitarist.
- The Soulfly song "Revengeance" has Max Cavalera's sons Richie Cavalera and Igor Cavalera Jr (named after Max's brother Igor, who himself has played with him on Sepultura and Cavalera Conspiracy) on vocals and Zyon Cavalera on drums. After David Kinkade left, Zyon became a permanent drummer for Soulfly. Igor Jr. is in another Max project, Go Ahead And Die.
- Wolfgang Van Halen first appeared in some 2004 dates helping play "316", a song written by father Eddie for him (the title is Wolfie's birthday), and two years later joined the band as a bassist.
- The McElroy Brothers' whole media empire is based on this. They are all brothers, leading to their flagship program My Brother, My Brother and Me. They also made a Dungeons & Dragons podcast with their father Clint, called The Adventure Zone. They each have separate podcasts with their wives as well.
- Husband-and-wife teams were remarkably common in The Golden Age Of Radio, probably due to the number of radio acts that originated on vaudeville where family acts were common. Notable husband-and-wife radio teams include:
- Jim and Marion Jordan (Fibber McGee and Molly)
- George Burns and Gracie Allen
- Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone
- Goodman and Jane Ace (the Easy Aces)
- Fred Allen and Portland Hoffa (Town Hall Tonight)
- Journey into Space:
- Bruce Beeby's wife Madi Hedd played Martha Bodie in The Red Planet.
- David Kossoff's brother Alan Keith (whose birth name was Alec Kossoff) played a London correspondent in Operation Luna.
- The writer Julian Simpson's wife Jana Carpenter played Edie Harper in The Host.
- Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels (Life With The Lyons) on The BBC at the same period.
- In the 1990s, Jeremy Hardy and his then-wife Kit Hollerbach in Unnatural Acts, later titled At Home With The Hardys in imitation of the above.
- Gamer and Meddler's players in We Are All Pokémon Trainers are RL siblings, as are Joseph and Emma's.
- Many high school musicals will use the younger siblings of cast members to fill children's parts, mostly because it cuts down on scheduling issues. If one child can make it to all of the rehearsals, chances are their sibling can as well. Of course, sometimes the younger child is very good in their own right, and may even have a substantially bigger part than their brother or sister.
- Adam Jacobs, who originated the role of Aladdin on Broadway, was absolutely delighted when his sister Arielle was cast as Jasmine in the Australian production. She did end up making the move to play the role on Broadway, though for obvious reasons not until Adam left the production (he and the original Jasmine, Courtney Reed, left at the same time).
- One memorable production of Don Giovanni cast identical twins as the title character and his manservant Leporello. Since there is a lengthy sequence in which Leporello disguises himself as the Don and fools everyone, this was a stroke of casting genius.
- In the 2005 Moon Troupe production of Takarazuka Revue's Elisabeth, sisters Ayaki Nao and Ayana Oto play Death and young Rudolf. This borders on Cast Incest, because Death pretends to be young Rudolf's friend, and successfully seduces/kisses adult Rudolf, played by Oozora Yuuhi. Death and young Rudolf's scenes can be interpreted in light of their future selves' relationship.
- Batman: The Telltale Series is, among other things, about Bruce Wayne's attempt to get his friend Harvey Dent elected to Mayor, and Harvey is dating Selina Kyle, unaware that she is Catwoman and that Bruce is Batman. Harvey Dent and Selina Kyle/Catwoman's voice actors are also a married couple in real life, and Bruce's voice actor is Willingham's best friend, and was their Best Man at the wedding.
- Binary Domain: Dan Marshall and his eventual love interest Faye are voiced by Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey.
- Black Mesa: Mike Hillard provided voice work for all of the game's male scientists, while his mother Lurana Hillard voiced the female scientists.
- Caligula Overdose has Miyuki Sawashiro and her brother, Chiharu Sawashiro, play the female and male protagonists of the game, respectively. As a result, some fans interpret the two of them as actually being related, despite there not being any canon relationship between the two.
- Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: Kenichi Suzumura and Maaya Sakamoto's marriage also retroactively applies to Zack Fair and Aerith Gainsborough. The Compilation shows how their relationship began with Crisis Core and confirms that the two are together in the Lifestream, as seen in Advent Children.
- Cyberpunk 2077: An ironic example in the Polish dub. The actors for male V and Judy, Kamil Kula and Marta Żmuda Trzebiatowska, are a married couple. Despite Judy being a romance option, the two characters can never get together due to Incompatible Orientation.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution: The voice actors for Adam Jensen and his girlfriend Megan Reed are real-life married couple Elias Toufexis and Michelle Boback.
- In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Morrigan's son, Kieran, is voiced by Odin Black, who is the son of Claudia Black, Morrigan's voice actress.
- In Fate/Grand Order, the dual character Brother–Sister Team the Dioscuri are voiced by real-life siblings Maaya and Yuma Uchida.
- Fire Emblem:
- In Fire Emblem: Awakening, Tara Platt is the Lady of Black Magic Miriel and one of her prospective husbands, the Child Mage Ricken, is voiced by Platt's husband Yuri Lowenthal.
- The above mention of Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham also counts here, with Bailey voicing Lucina and Willingham voicing Lon'qu (her potential uncle or father-in-law, or both if he fathers Owain and Owain dates Lucina) and Brady (who can be either her close friend, younger brother [if Chrom marries Maribelle] or Love Interest).
- Also from Awakening, should either Stahl or Donnel (both voiced by Sam Riegel) marry Nowi, they'll find that their Kid from the Future is as perfectly cast as can be; Nah is voiced by Eden Riegel, Sam's sister. (Eden also voices Sumia, but because of Sumia's limited pool of potential husbands, Incestuous Casting is not an issue.)
- In Fire Emblem Fates, Matthew Mercer voices both the Warrior Prince Ryoma, the Cultured Badass Shigure, and the White Mage Azama. His real-life wife (then girlfriend) Marisha Ray plays Ryoma's mother (or better said, Parental Substitute) Queen Mikoto (who is also Shigure's great-aunt), Ryoma and Azama's prospect love interest Oboro, and Azama's Golden Path-only possible lover Effie.
- In the original Japanese version of Fire Emblem Warriors, the siblings Yuuma and Maaya Uchida play the twins Rowan and Lianna.
- The King of Fighters XV:
- Chizuru Kagura is voiced by Sayaka Ohara, the older sister of Shun'ei's voice actor Takashi Ohara.
- B. Jenet is voiced by Mikako Komatsu, wife of Kyo Kusanagi's voice actor Tomoaki Maeno.
- Kingdom Hearts:
- The Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep uses son and father Akio Ōtsuka and Chikao Ohtsuka for plot relevance; with Akio having voiced Xehanort in the entire Kingdom Hearts series by that point, it was only natural to cast Chikao as Master Xehanort, who commits Grand Theft Me on Terra at the end of Terra's scenario, effectively becoming present-day Xehanort. Apparently, Akio represents a younger Chikao. Kingdom Hearts III would then see Akio taking up the role of the elder Master Xehanort in the stead of his late father.
- In the German dubs of the Kingdom Hearts games, Sora is voiced by Constantin von Jascheroff, the son of Mario von Jascheroff, who happens to be the German dub voice of Mickey Mouse, who appears in these games intermittently.
- League of Legends: From the Brazilian Portuguese version of the game, Fiona Laurent and Xayah are voiced by mother and daughter Marli and Letícia Bortoletto, respectively.
- The ending in the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid 4 featured Akio Ōtsuka as Solid Snake and Chikao Ohtsuka as Snake's father Big Boss. This was intentional on Hideo Kojima's part: Both men were estranged and had a distant relationship before MGS4 went into development, so Kojima cast Chikao as the older incarnation of Big Boss in order to help father and son reconnect. Just as Big Boss gives a Final First Hug to his cloned son as he and Solid Snake make peace after being bitter enemies for years, so too were Chikao and Akio able to reconcile while recording their lines.
- In Myst, the game's co-designers, brothers Rand and Robyn Miller, play the brothers Sirrus and Achenar. Rand also plays their father Atrus, though the Miller brothers' father Ron auditioned for the role.
- Persona:
- Persona 3 has two cases. Both of the Velvet Room attendants (Elizabeth and Theodore) are voiced by the main protagonist's wife/husband, with the Female Protagonist and Theodore combo in Portable likely being a Casting Gag referencing this. Mitsuru also shares a voice with Elizabeth and is a potential love interest for the Male Protagonist as well. Along with Ryoji (who shares his voice with the male MC) hitting on her being extra-humorous.
- In Persona 4 Golden, siblings Sam Riegel and Eden Riegel voice Teddie and Marie respectively.
- Samurai Warriors:
- Yukimura Sanada's voice actor, Takeshi Kusao, is married to Naotora Ii's voice actress, Yuka Saitou.
- Motochika Chousokabe's voice actor, Ryōtarō Okiayu, is married to Oichi's voice actress, Ai Maeda. This is actually his second marriage after he divorced fellow voice actress Nao Nagasawa.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Corey Bringas voiced Tails in Sonic Adventure, but since he was too old to sound convincing in the role by Sonic Adventure 2, his younger brother Connor replaced him in the role.
- In Sonic Heroes, Espio, Charmy and Tails were voiced by Bill Corkery and his two children, Emily and William, respectively.
- From 2010 to 2019, Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham voiced Blaze the Cat and Knuckles the Echidna.
- Spider-Man (PS4):
- Another appearance of the husband-and-wife duo of Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt, this time the pair taking on the roles of the titular web-slinger and Capt. Yuri Watanabe.
- Also once again, Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham portraying Mary Jane Watson and The Kingpin respectively.
- Starting with the "fourth" entry in 2008note , and up until 2023's Street Fighter 6, Street Fighter (and its related spin-offs) featured the husband-and-wife team of Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey as Guile and Chun-Li, respectively. (Noticing a trend here with these two?)
- Kenichi Suzumura and Maaya Sakamoto were married during the development of Super Robot Wars Z2: Saisei-hen. In Super Robot Wars UX, Shinn and Lunamaria (see the Anime & Manga section above) get an exclusive Combination Attack.
- An interesting example in Tales of Luminaria, both the mobile game and its anime adaptation, The Fateful Crossroad. In the dub, Lucien Dufaure is voiced by two different VAs, one for his child self and one for his adult self. It just so happened that these VAs would be Apphia Yu and Micah Solusod, who are married.
- In the Warriors Orochi series, Gracia and Sima Yi are respectively voiced by real-life married couple Jun Shikano and the late Tsuyoshi Takishita, which makes the scenes they share both very heartwarming and hilarious. There is a scene in Warriors Orochi 3: Ultimate (released after Takishita's death) where Gracia talks about Sima Yi in an unusually melancholic way, which many fans have interpreted to be a tribute from Shikano to Takishita.
- Atop the Fourth Wall: Linkara does this a lot — not surprising since as an Internet reviewer he can't exactly afford to hire people on a regular basis. Thus far, he's utilized his parents, brother, former girlfriend, and fiancée at various points. (As examples: his father as an older version of him; his mother as a Starfleet commander; and his fiancée and former girlfriend as... themselves, more or less.)
- Economy Watch: Cousins Nico and Will Davis portray cousins Dennis and Tom Smith in the show, respectively.
- Eddsworld:
- Edd's Distaff Counterpart Ell is voiced by Vicky Gould, sister of the late series creator Edd Gould.
- In 2020, Edd's brother George Gould took over the role of Edd himself.
- Scott McClure, the aspiring filmmaker behind The Joker Blogs, also uses this, probably for the same reasons as Linkara.
- Brad Jones had featured his first wife Jillian in his shows, and now does so with his current one Laura, who even starred in his movie Disco.
- While The Nostalgia Chick and Todd in the Shadows both had their own web shows when they began dating, they started a Running Gag/subplot in both their shows, in which the Chick is terrifyingly obsessed with hooking up with Todd while he is callously indifferent to her. A similar joke was used in the massive review for the Les Miserables musical movie, in which Elise and Paw (who were engaged, and eventually married, in real life) fall in Love at First Sight and become Sickeningly Sweethearts as a result.
- Siblings Sean and Sinead Persaud are co-stars and writing and producing partners as half of Shipwrecked Comedy.
- The Spoony Experiment: Spoony has occasionally had his brother appear on his show. Things are sadly averted in the case of his then-girlfriend Scarlett, who made one appearance in a now-removed video. His Fan Dumb mocked her so much that he replaced the video with an article calling them out on it and never put her in another video again (though she was the webmistress of his site). His later girlfriend April has appeared in videos without the same issues.
- Doug Walker's brother is The Other Guy (Rob Walker), who mostly works behind the camera, but does appear on-screen as various characters on occasion, most notably as Santa Christ. Their father (who also does most of the show's original music) also had cameo appearances in Suburban Knights (News anchor Larry Prince and father of Doug's character Lori) and To Boldly Flee, as well as the review of the movie Devil. His mom also appeared at the end of his review of The Christmas Tree.
- Adventure Time:
- Marceline's father is voiced by her voice actor's (Olivia Olson) real father (Martin Olson).
- The voices of the younger Marceline and Bubblegum, Ava and Isabella Acres, are sisters.
- Alvin and the Chipmunks:
- Since reviving the franchise after his father's death, Ross Bagdasarian Jr. has voiced Dave Seville, as well as Alvin and Simon, while his wife Janice Karman voices Theodore and the Chipettes. Later, their kids Vanessa and Michael got involved, with the former voicing the Chipette Eleanor in the 2015 series.
- In the first Italian dub of the 1983 series, which covered the Ruby-Spears episodes, Vittorio Stagni (Dave Seville) is the real-life father of Ilaria Stagni (Alvin Seville since Season 2). Likewise, Barbara de Bortoli (Brittany Miller since Season 2) is the real-life sister of Federica De Bortoli (Eleanor Miller).
- On American Dad!, Rachael MacFarlane, voice actor for Stan's daughter Hayley, is the sister of series co-creator and voice actor for Stan and Roger, Seth MacFarlane.
- She's also done a number of additional voices on Family Guy, including Stewie's love interest Olivia (Stewie is voiced by Seth).
- In Archer, Malory Archer's husband Ron Cadillac (introduced in Season 4) is voiced by actor Ron Leibman, who was married to Malory's actress Jessica Walter in real life. The humor is compounded with a touch of Irony as She Is Cast: while Malory and Ron appear to have had a rush wedding within a few weeks of meeting, and are usually portrayed as woefully mismatched, Walter and Leibman were happily married for over three decades.
- There a few examples in Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- In the episode "Imprisoned", Haru's mother is voiced by Pat Musick, the mother of Mae Whitman, Katara's voice actress.
- In the episode "The Ember Island Players", the Zuko actor is voiced by Derek Basco, the older brother of the real Zuko's voice actor, Dante Basco.
- In the Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, the young Korra seen in the first episode is voiced by Cora Baker, the daughter of Dee Bradley Baker, a principle voice actor in the franchise.
- On Avengers Assemble, Black Widow and Thor are voiced by Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham, who are married in real life. They've been in two other Disney shows together, those being Marvel's Spider-Man (with the former as Gwen Stacy, Crimson Dynamo, and again Black Widow, and the latter as Sandman) and Sofia the First (with the former as Stephanie and the latter as King Roland).
- Nick Offerman is the voice of Axe Cop and his wife Megan Mullally voices most of the female characters in the show.
- Alicia Keys and her niece played a mommy and baby Martian in an episode of The Backyardigans.
- The Batman:
- Daryl Sabara's brother, Evan, voiced Robin in the show. Two episodes had Daryl himself guest-star: "Riddler's Revenge" has him as one of Dick's classmates and "The End of the Batman" had Daryl as Dick's Evil Counterpart Scorn.
- Hector Indriago, the Latin Spanish voice of Batman in this series and several others, is the nephew of Frank Maneiro, who, in addition to voicing Mayor Marion Grange, was previously the voice of Batman in the DC Animated Universe.
- In the second to last scene of the episode "The Knights of Tomorrow!" from Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the future Batman Damian Wayne is voiced by Diedrich Bader (who voiced the current Batman) and his son Robin is voiced by Sebastian Bader (Diedrich's real son).
- Ben 10:
- The Alien Force episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" introduces viewers to Ben and Gwen's grandmother Verdona, an Anodite. For her elderly disguise, Verdona is voiced by Barbara Bain. In her true Anodite form and the flashback to Verdona's first meeting with Grandpa Max in "Moonstuck," her daughter Juliet Landau assumes the role. As such, Landau could be thought of as a younger representation of her mother (or Bain could be thought of as an older representation of her daughter. Or both).
- In Omniverse, Ester is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal's wife Tara Platt. The mutual interest between the two led to the Ben/Ester pairing becoming a Fan-Preferred Couple just after Ester's first appearance, with Ester herself becoming an overnight Ensemble Dark Horse.
- On Bob's Burgers, the Pesto Twins are voiced by sisters Sarah and Laura Silverman.
- BoJack Horseman: In flashbacks, David Sedaris voices the mother of his sister Amy Sedaris' character, Princess Carolyn.
- The boy and his little sister from Bump in the Night were played by real-life siblings Scott and Anndi McAfee.
- In the Latin-American Spanish dub of Daria, Daria and Quinn's parents Helen and Jake were dubbed by real-life spouses Rocío Garcel and Jorge Roig Sr. note
- In Dave the Barbarian, Dave's sometimes girlfriend Princess Irmoplotz and her mother Queen Zonthara are voiced by Melissa Rivers and Joan Rivers, respectively. This pair of characters was created specifically to allow this mother/daughter casting.
- On Dinosaur Train, Tiny is voiced by Claire Corlett while her father Ian James Corlett voices the conductor. The original voice for Tiny's brother Buddy was her real-life brother Philip.
- On Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Laura Silverman and H. Jon Benjamin (respectively, surly secretary Laura and Ben, the 24-year-old slacker son of Dr. Katz who repeatedly and unsuccessfully asks out Laura) were dating when the show started but broke up during the middle of the show's run.
- DuckTales (2017):
- Doofus Drake's parents are voiced by Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt, who are married in real life.
- In the Latin American dub, Alicia Velez, who plays Lena, is the daughter of Cony Madera, who plays Mrs. Beakley.
- On Elena of Avalor, Estrella (one of Migs' kids) is voiced by Gia Lopez, while her father Mario Lopez voices Cruz.
- Elinor Wonders Why: Mary and Lizzie the Goat Twins are voiced by real-life sisters, Abigail and Grace Oliver.
- In Inspector Gadget, whenever Frank Welker wasn't available Dr. Claw was instead voiced by Don Francks, father of Cree Summer who voiced Penny.
- In the French dub of Inspector Gadget (2015), Antoine Durand voices the Inspector, who was voiced by his father (Luc Durand) in the original series.
- Jackie Chan Adventures: Xu Lin from "The Lotus Temple" is voiced by Ashlie Chan, sister of Jade Chan's voice actress Stacie Chan. (They are of no relation to the real life Jackie Chan, however.)
- Justice League Action has Shazam/Billy Batson voiced by Sean Astin while his father John Astin voices his Uncle Dudley.
- In the Flemish version of the animated series Les Sisters, Wendy and Marine are voiced by two actual sisters, Marlies and Evelien Bosmans. Ironically, the younger sister voices Wendy,note while the older sister voices Marine.note
- The Legend of Vox Machina has Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey, the respective VAs for Grog and Vex, and a married couple in real life; as well as Marisha Ray and Matthew Mercer, another married couple, as Keyleth and Sylas et al., respectively. The first episode also features the two children from the Shalesteps voiced by Zoe O'Brien, daughter of Liam O'Brien (Vax); and Maximus Riegel, son of Sam Riegel (Scanlan).
- The Loud House has a few examples:
- Lori's boyfriend Bobby is voiced by Carlos PenaVega, while his cousin Carlota is voiced by his wife Alexa PenaVega.
- Liliana Mumy voices Leni, while her father Bill Mumy guest-starred as Timothy McCole.
- Lincoln was voiced from "Game Boys" to "Room and Hoard" by Tex Hammond, the son of series regular Grey Griffin.
- In live-action media, Luan and Lucy are played by sisters Catherine and Aubin Bradley, and Lana and Lola are played by twins Mia and Ella Allan, whose younger brother Justin also appears as a younger Lincoln.
- The late Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor, the voice actors of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse respectively, were married until Wayne's passing in 2009.
- In-universe example: In Mickey's Christmas Carol, Scrooge McDuck's nephew Donald Duck plays Fred, Ebenezer Scrooge's nephew.
- On Miles from Tomorrowland, Loretta is voiced by Fiona Bishop, while her sister Ivy voices her friend Mirandos.
- Rob Morrow and Debbon Ayer, who play a married couple, The Brulees, in an episode of Milo Murphy's Law, are married in real life.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Although the characters are not related, Claire Corlett voices Sweetie Belle, while her dad, Ian James Corlett, is the voice of Silver Shill.
- Brian Drummond, who voices Uncle Orange, Mr. Cake, Seabreeze, and others, is the father of Brynna Drummond, who voices Babs Seed.
- Quibble Pants, voiced by Patton Oswalt, returns in "Common Ground" with his newly-found wife Clear Sky and his step-daughter Wind Sprint (Clear Sky's biological daughter), voiced by Oswalt's real-life (second) wife and daughter (from his first wife). Turned out his daughter is quite a talented voice actress.
- In the Latin-American Spanish dub, Carla Castañeda voices Twilight Sparkle while her real-life parents, Mario Castañeda and Rommy Mendoza, voice Twilight's parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet.
- In the Italian dub:
- Discord's voice actor Mario Zucca is married to Marina Thovez, who voices Zecora and Queen Chrysalis.
- Pipsqueak is voiced by Nathan Favalli, nephew of Trixie and Princess Cadance's voice actress Marisa Della Pasqua.
- In the Hungarian dub of PAW Patrol, Chase and Zuma are played by a set of brothers, Roland and Ádám Czető.
- Happened a few times in the early Peanuts specials.
- In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Karen Mendelson (voice of Pattynote ) was the daughter of producer Lee Mendelson. She voiced Violet in the next special (Charlie Brown's All-Stars) while her brother Glenn voiced Schroeder in that and a few others. Their sister Lynda went onto voice Frieda in the early 70s.
- Also Lisa DeFaria voiced Patty in Great Pumpkin and a few others, while her sister Gail voiced Pig-Pen and later went on to be the original voice of Peppermint Patty. Their brother Christopher also voiced both roles after Gail's voice changed.
- Christopher Shea, the original voice of Linus, was replaced with his younger brother Stephen for a while after his voice broke.
- Also Robin Kohn voiced Lucy a few times in the 70s (notably in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), but her sister Melanie replaced her for a few years after.
- Brother and sister Dylan and Sarah Beach voiced respectively Charlie Brown and Lucy on It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.
- Another brother and sister, Jeremy and Tiffany Reinbolt were respectively Schroeder and Sally on You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
- Josh Keaton voiced Linus on Snoopy's Reunion while his sister Danielle voiced Sally on It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown!
- In the animated special Our Friend Martin, the grown up MLK was voiced by his second son Dexter while his daughter Yolanda portrayed his sister Christine.
- Puppy Dog Pals has ARF and Cupcake voiced by Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, who are married in real life.
- In Ready Jet Go!, Sean is voiced by two brothers: William and Grady Ainscough. William voiced him in Season 1 and half of Season 2, while Grady Darrined the role for the rest of Season 2.
- Recess:
- In the episode "The Dude", Mr. Dudikoff is played by Joey Lawrence, and his little brother, Andrew Lawrence, was the voice of T.J. from 1998 to 2001.
- In the Lilo & Stitch: The Series crossover episode (from 2005, four years after the show ended and two years after the Direct to Video movies), Gus was replaced by Zach Ewing, due to his previous voice actor, Courtland Mead, going through puberty. Zach's older brother, Blake Ewing, was the voice of Menlo in the show. (He also did the singing voices for Gus and T.J. in the credits of Recess: School's Out.)
- Rosie's Rules:
- Paloma Nunez, who plays Tia Margarita, is the mother of Oscar Whalen, who voices Iggy.
- Quinn and Jun are voiced by real life twins Emma and Ian Ho.
- In Ruby Gloom, Iris and Len are voiced by Stacey DePass and Jeremy Harris, who are married.
- The The Secret Show episode "Impostor Attack" featured a one-shot character, a little boy named Roy, who was voiced by co-creator Tony Collingwood's son Harry.
- The Brazilian dub of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has Grox, Glimmer and Catra voiced by Marlene Costa and her daughters Flávia Saddy and Fernanda Baronne. (Amusingly, Marlene was Catra in the 80s cartoon.)
- The Simpsons:
- Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau, the voice actors for Homer and Marge in the European French dub, are a married couple.
- In the Russian dub, Irina Savina, the voice actress for Marge and many female characters and children, is married to Boris Bystrov, Homer's voice actor since Season 9.
- Stan Lee plays himself in the final episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. His late wife, Joan Lee, already played the Recurring Character Madame Web (and there's a bit of mutual attraction between Stan-the-character and Madame Web).
- From 2015 onward, Kyle's little brother Ike Broflovski from South Park is now voiced by Betty Parker, the young daughter of series co-creator Trey Parker.
- Jerry O'Connell, who voices Commander Ransom on Star Trek: Lower Decks, is married to Rebecca Romijn, who plays Number One on the live-action show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
- In the Latin-American Spanish dub of Steven Universe, Valentina Toro, who voices Jasper and Alexandrite in her first appearance, is the sister of Antonia Toro, who voiced Alexandrite in her second appearance.
- Mike Farrell and Shelly Fabares, who play Superman's foster parents Jonathan and Martha Kent in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, are married in real life.
- In the Swedish dub of both Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, Robin and Starfire are voiced by siblings Anton Olofsson Raeder and Elina Raeder respectively.
- Wilykat and Wilykit's father in Thunder Cats 2011 is voiced by John Pirruccello, father of Wilkyat's voice Eamon Pirruccello.
- In the Italian dub of Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, twins Mickey and Jay were voiced by brothers Mattia and Alessio Nissolino.
- The T.O.T.S. episode "Mid Air Care/The Itsy Bitsy Baby" has Lily's parents, as well as Calvin's parents, voiced by Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, who are married in real life.
- On Vampirina, we have Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, a married couple, voiced by Skylar Astin and Anna Camp, who are married in real life.
- The four Real Life sons of the Kratt brothers have all appeared on Wild Kratts, although their characters aren't related to the brothers in-Verse.
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Brad Paisley, who are husband and wife in real life, played an armadillo mom and dad in an episode of Wonder Pets!.