- Some famous siblings have worked together on TV shows, in movies, or for musical collaborations.
- Brothers Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse grew up in the spotlight together with their roles on Disney Channel’s “Suite Life of Zack and Cody.”
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Growing up with a relative in the spotlight can lead some family members to follow in each other’s footsteps. While some family members try to avoid working together, like brothers Dave and James Franco for a while, others, like John and Joan Cusack, have teamed up multiple times.
Here are 20 sets of celebrity siblings who have worked together.
Anjelica Oswald contributed to a previous version of this article.
Twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse won teen hearts as the leads on Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and subsequent spin-off “The Suite Life on Deck.”
The twins started their acting careers as babies when the played the same character on “Grace Under Fire.” They made their film debuts as the same kid in “Big Daddy.” While the actors continued to play some of the same characters or star alongside each other throughout the years, they also pursued separate projects.
Both Sprouse brothers took a break from acting and attended New York University. Dylan studied video game design and opened All-Wise Meadery in Brooklyn, with two business partners, in 2018. Cole studied archaeology and went back into acting after graduating. He currently stars on "Riverdale."
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal have been in a couple of projects together since they were children.
As kids, the two siblings starred in "A Dangerous Woman," which was directed by their father. With their mom, the pair were on two episodes of "Molto Mario," an Italian cooking show on the Food Network.
But perhaps their best-known collaboration was in "Donnie Darko," where they play siblings. Director Richard Kelly told Vox they had to convince Maggie that the role was meant for her.
"Immediately, she was like, Richard, you're only offering this to me because I'm Jake's big sister. You should be finding the best actress for the role," Kelly said. "So she was already trying to talk me out of casting her, in a very selfless way. And I was just really impressed by that ... So I was really determined to convince her to do it after that."
He added that casting her helped cement the sibling dynamic on-screen.
"Maggie was really an essential piece of the puzzle that makes that family dynamic work in the film," he said. "I'm grateful that she agreed to do the role."
Twins Tia and Tamera Mowry starred on "Sister, Sister" together, but their brother Tahj appeared on a couple of episodes, too.
The sisters were in a singing group and have appeared in various projects together.
From playing long-lost twins on "Sister, Sister" to siblings in "Twitches" and "Twitches Too" to starring on their own reality show, these sisters have built up similar resumes. But they have also held pursued their individual careers.
Tamera is currently a host on the talk show "The Real" and Tia recently starred on "Mistresses" and "Me, Myself, and I."
After appearing on his sister's show, Tahj got his own show, "Smart Guy," in which he played a child genius. He recently starred on "Baby Daddy."
Twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have worked together since they were babies.
The twins made their acting debuts as infants playing Michelle Tanner on "Full House," switching the role between themselves. As children, they appeared in other TV and film roles together, which included short movies like "Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble," a musical mystery series called "The Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley," and a series called "You're Invited to Mary-Kate and Ashley's."
As their career continued to thrive, they made their feature film debut in "It Takes Two" and then started their own string of direct-to-video movies that included "Billboard Dad" and "Our Lips Are Sealed." They also had an animated series and starred on "So Little Time." Their final acting project together was 2004's "New York Minute." Mary-Kate continued to act a bit on her own.
But they didn't stop working together. They created a clothing line for Wal-Mart and launched their own couture label called "The Row."
Dave and James Franco played best friends in "The Disaster Artist."
Brothers Dave and James have worked together on a couple of films, like James' "The Broken Tower," a film he made for his master's thesis from New York University, but largely kept away from the same projects. All of that changed with "The Disaster Artist."
James and Dave play real-life friends Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero in the hilarious movie about the making of the "The Room," known now as the best-worst movie. James also produced and directed the film.
Dave told Variety that he avoided working with his older brother because he wanted to establish his career on his own.
"For a while, I made a conscious decision not to work with him, just because I wanted to pave my own path," he said. "I didn't want to be referred to as 'James Franco's little brother' for the rest of my life. But we have very similar sensibilities."
Julianne and Derek Hough are both professional dancers and have starred on "Dancing With the Stars" together. They have also toured together.
Their "Move Live" tour took them to 40 cities across the US and Canada in 2014 and was so successful that they did it again in 2015 and 2017. The two dance and sang on the tour.
The siblings were also both extras in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Derek made a quick cameo in "Rock of Ages," which starred Julianne in the lead role, during a scene in a strip club.
In 2019, they teamed up for a TV special called "Holidays With the Houghs."
Jussie Smollett made a guest appearance on "Underground," which starred his sister Jurnee Smollett-Bell.
"Empire" star Jussie first acted alongside his sister on "On Our Own." The sitcom actually starred all six real-life Smollett siblings as siblings on the show.
Jussie hadn't acted with his younger sister since then. But in a behind-the-scenes clip for "Underground," the actor spoke about how it felt working with his sibling again.
"To be able to be in not only a show with her, but a show that she's doing that really, really means something is awesome," he said.
Sisters Hilary and Haylie Duff have acted and sang alongside each other since they were teens.
Though Hilary was the lead character on Disney Channel's "Lizzie McGuire," her older sister Haylie appeared on a couple of episodes of the show as Kate Sanders' cousin.
The sisters have done a few other projects together, including the movie "Material Girls" and teaming up on songs like their remake of "Our Lips Are Sealed."
The Jonas Brothers — Nick, Joe, and Kevin — first started as a band and later had their own Disney show.
Their first acting gig was playing themselves on an episode of "Hannah Montana." The brothers then landed a role alongside Demi Lovato on "Camp Rock" and the subsequent sequel. But in between the two movies, they made some TV documentaries and had their own hilarious Disney Channel series, "Jonas LA."
They also voiced the cherubs in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."
Beyoncé and Solange Knowles are both musical royalty.
Though much of their careers have been built individually, these sisters have supported each other every step of the way. Solange is also credited as a songwriter on a few of Bey's songs, including "Why Don't You Love Me." Beyoncé joined Solange on stage to do a choreographed dance during Solange's set at Coachella in 2014.
Sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning haven't appeared directly on-screen at the same time yet, but Elle got her start playing younger versions of her sister's characters.
Both Dakota and Elle started acting when they were young. Elle's first role was playing a younger version of Dakota's character in the film "I Am Sam." Both sisters lent their voices to the 2005 English dubbing of "My Neighbor Totoro."
They're set to play siblings in a film adaptation of the novel "The Nightingale."
Abigail Breslin and her older brother Spencer have been acting since they were children, though Spencer hasn't been in anything since 2016.
Spencer and Abigail played siblings in "Raising Helen," and were both in "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement" that same year. Although, Abigail only had a small cameo as an orphan in that one. The brother and sister reunited on-screen in "The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause" and then again in "Perfect Sisters."
Willow Smith and her older brother Jaden have collaborated on a few projects over the years.
The two siblings have released music. Jaden featured Willow - and Ace - on his song "Find You Somewhere" in 2012. They were in the music video together. Willow also lent her voice to an episode of "Neo Yokio," an animated series which stars Jaden.
Jason and Justine Bateman got a chance to work together when Justine guest-starred on "Arrested Development."
Justine got a turn on the Fox comedy during season three. She played a prostitute who was believed to be the sister of Michael Bluth, played by her real-life brother Jason.
John and Joan Cusack have been in 10 movies together.
John and Joan Cusack aren't afraid to share a screen. The brother and sister have both appeared in "Class," "Sixteen Candles," Grandview, USA," "Broadcast News," "Say Anything...," "Grosse Pointe Blank," "Cradle Will Rock," "High Fidelity," "Martian Child," and "War, Inc."
Brothers Luke and Owen Wilson both made their film debuts in "Bottle Rocket," a film cowritten by Owen and Wes Anderson.
The brothers reunited on-screen for Wes Anderson's "The Royal Tenenbaums," also cowritten by Owen, and played the Wright brothers in "Around the World in 80 Days." Luke also had a role in "Rushmore," another Anderson film cowritten with Owen.
Brothers Matt, Joey, and Andrew Lawrence had their own sitcom in the '90s.
These three bros have acted together in numerous projects, including "Brotherly Love," a sitcom in which they played three brothers. Among their projects, the brothers were in some Disney Channel Original Movies: "Horse Sense," in which Matthew made an uncredited cameo, and "Jumping Ship." Matthew and Andrew both guest-starred on Joey's show "Melissa and Joey."
The trio formed a band in 2017 called Still Three and released a single.
Casey Affleck followed in his brother Ben's footsteps and has worked with his brother in different capacities.
One of Casey's earliest film roles was as a little kid in "Chasing Amy," which starred his older brother. He next acted alongside his brother in "Good Will Hunting." Ben cowrote the movie with his friend Matt Damon. The brothers were then part of the ensemble cast of "200 Cigarettes."
Ben made his feature film directorial debut with "Gone Baby Gone" years later, and he cast his brother in the film's lead role.
Brandy Norwood and younger brother Ray J Norwood have acted alongside each other and also had a reality show together.
Ray J first was a guest star on his older sister's show "Moesha" before joining the main cast for three seasons. The two of them both starred on "One on One." Later, the siblings got their own reality show on VH1, "Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business." Ray J and Brandy both competed on "My Kitchen Rules."
Both siblings are musicians and have recorded songs together.
The Culkin brothers — Macaulay, Kieran, and Rory — are all actors.
Kieran made his film debut in "Home Alone," alongside Macaulay, as one of the McCallister cousins and both returned for "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York." Both brothers were also in "Only the Lonely."
Rory made his film debut with a photo cameo in "The Good Son," which starred Macaulay. He also appeared in "Richie Rich," as a young version of Richie, a character played by Macaulay.
Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans teamed up for the comedy "White Chicks."
They played two FBI agent brothers who go undercover as two white chicks to protect two heiresses.
The brothers have also worked on other projects together including starring in "Little Man," "Scary Movie," and "Scary Movie 2."
Luke Hemsworth made a brief cameo in younger brother Chris Hemsworth's "Thor: Ragnarok."
While Chris plays the "God of Thunder," Luke played a fake version of Thor in a play put on by Loki in the "Thor" sequel.
Zooey Deschanel joined her sister Emily on an episode of "Bones."
Zooey played a distant cousin of her sister's character on the season five episode "The Goop on the Girl."
Fred and Ben Savage are siblings, and they play brothers in "Little Monsters."
Fred plays Brian, the older brother who becomes friends with a "monster" who is under his bed playing tricks.
Singing sisters Alyson and Amanda Michalka (better known by the duo name Aly and AJ) played siblings in Disney Channel's "Cow Belles."
AJ appeared on a few episodes of "Hellcats," which starred Aly. The sisters also released several albums together.
Kirk Cameron was a guest on one episode of "Full House," which starred his younger sister Candace.
Kirk was starring on "Growing Pains" when he popped onto a season one episode of "Full House" as cousin Steve. Candace played DJ Tanner on the hit show.
Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez starred together in "Young Guns."
Older brother Estevez played Billy the Kid while Sheen played Dick Brewer. The brothers have acted in a few other projects together including "Men at Work." Estevez also appeared as a guest on Sheen's "Two and a Half Men."
Twins Max and Charlie Carver have played on-screen siblings on three TV shows.
The Carvers first appeared on-screen together on ABC's hit drama "Desperate Housewives." They also played werewolves on MTV's supernatural series "Teen Wolf" and starred on the first season of HBO's "The Leftovers."