Actors Who Farted On Set

A popular section in every issue of Us Weekly is the "Stars — They're Just Like Us!" segment. There, famous celebrities are photographed doing things everyday people might do, such as walking their dogs, waiting for luggage, shopping, or reading the news. It's a very humanizing feature, reminding us that even the most famous human beings can have average human traits. In fact, some of these traits aren't always all too flattering... like breaking wind at work!

Although it may shock you, it actually isn't all that uncommon for actors to pass gas while on set. Some even do it during live takes of shooting scenes, prompting genuine, oftentimes improvised responses from their fellow performers. Whether you do it to be funny or simply because you need to, the unavoidable fact is that farting is a natural bodily function that everyone does, from celebrities to average Joes. Need more proof? Here are some examples of famous actors who farted on set.

"Saturday Night Live" veteran Kate McKinnon has moved on to other things now, but she's best known for her long stint on the show. Her unforgettable portrayal of Hillary Clinton alongside Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump gave "SNL" a much-needed jolt of relevance, launching McKinnon's career to another level and landing her roles in big-time comedy movies. One of those comedies is the 2016 reboot of "Ghostbusters." Although the film failed to excel at the box office, reportedly losing $70 million for Sony, it still allowed McKinnon to humorously chew scenery with fellow "SNL" alums Leslie Jones and Kristen Wiig.

It should come as no surprise that the trio, along with Melissa McCarthy, brought a whole lot of laughs to the "Ghostbusters" set. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, McKinnon owned up to being a tad gassy while shooting. "Alright, whatever. I farted on camera," she said. "I'm starting to think something is wrong with me... I've never been to a gastroenterologist because to me it's always been normal, but I'm starting to feel like it's too much and I ought to get it checked out." Hey, at least she admitted it! Loud and proud!

Most actors who break wind on set do so by mistake. However, that wasn't the case when "Outer Banks" star Madelyn Cline (Sarah Cameron) let out a toot on the set of the hit show — believe it or not she was actually deliberate in her choice of air evacuation. That's because the actor and her co-star Austin North (Topper Thornton) were prepping for a sex scene. It was the first ever in Cline's career, and she thought that the best way to ease the palpable tension in the air was by letting one rip.

"We didn't really know each other that well at that point and we hadn't really spent too much time hanging out yet," Cline said in an interview with Vogue, where she detailed the incident. "To break the ice we were sitting in the green room, Austin and I, twiddling our thumbs and trying to make conversation and I could tell that he was nervous and I knew he could tell I was nervous, so I just farted in front of him." Unable to hold in their laughter, the two burst out in unison, which helped lighten the uncomfortable mood. North retreated to a corner of the room to escape the fart, but he apparently found the whole thing hilarious.

Kristen Schaal, the side-splitting Emmy nominee who voices Louise Belcher in "Bob's Burgers," is no stranger to funny business. With a resume chock full of small roles in some of the world's most prestigious comedies, including "30 Rock," "The Simpsons," "Archer," and "BoJack Horseman," Schaal has really made a name for herself in Hollywood over the past decade. In Fox's "The Last Man on Earth," Schaal (who plays Carol) and fellow comic Will Forte (who plays Phil) play two of the last humans in a post-apocalyptic world. Naturally, hilarity ensues.

It's not hard to imagine that if you're two of the last people on Earth, you might be inclined to... get familiar. While on the page, a sex scene between the two characters seemed logical, what happened while shooting was anything but. On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Schaal admitted that all the movement — coupled with a scene that required her to eat a copious amount of beans — had an unplanned result. "Carol is aggressively and sexually talking to Phil — that's a lot of diaphragm work, which is also in the danger zone of where the beans are," Schaal told VH1. "Finally I just looked at Will and I was like, 'I'm gonna fart on you.' And I did." Showing no shame whatsoever, Schaal only backed up her stinky action with pride: "If you fart on your scene partner it's the most intimate you can get."

It's got to be intimidating for a young, unproven actor to share the screen with one of the world's biggest stars. Such is the conundrum that James McAvoy found himself in 2008 while shooting the bullet-bending action flick "Wanted." His co-star, Angelina Jolie, had been named People Magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2005 and had already taken home an Oscar for her role in 2000's "Girl, Interrupted." By contrast, McAvoy had only a few memorable roles under his belt at that time, including 2006's "The Last King of Scotland" and 2007's "Atonement." 

In order to beef up and look the part of an action hero, producers had McAvoy take muscle gain supplements for "Wanted." Speaking to Cosmopolitan, the actor revealed that the supplements had quite a nasty downside. "To be fair, it really helped but it came with a massive side effect of me violently farting... It was so often and so vigorous, I couldn't stop. When I was filming I was by far the biggest farter in Hollywood." That's probably not the impression you want to make when shooting intimate scenes with one of the sexiest women alive.

A saga of films that changed the face of Hollywood, Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy took years to make, with the cast and crew relocating to New Zealand for most of it. Star Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins) spent 16 months in the scenic country during the filming of the hit trilogy. With all that time on the set, it's not a surprise that a toot was made by the actor at some point. But, according to Wood, his first fart came the first time that cameras rolled on the films.

"It was the first day of filming, day one," Wood said when he appeared on the popular YouTube series "Hot Ones" in 2023. "The scene is, we are rolling down the hill after Merry and Pippin run into us, running away from Farmer Maggot's field having stolen a bunch of vegetables. They bang into us. We roll down the hill." The hobbits end up in a heap at the bottom of the hill, piled on top of each other. It's a funny scene, but the biggest laugh that day didn't come from the comical tumble. "I had a — what is that, a concussion fart? A fart that is brought on by pressure," Wood recalled. "Everybody burst out laughing. It's a hell of a way to start filming 'Lord of the Rings.'"

Whoopi Goldberg's big break came in 1985 when she was cast in Steven Spielberg's period drama "The Color Purple." She was nominated for best actress in a leading role for her performance, and while she didn't win, she scooped the award for best actress in a supporting role a few years later for "Ghost." She's since become a rare EGOT winner, having also won a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy.

Her Daytime Emmy Award came in 2009 for co-hosting "The View," on which she's become a fixture. In 2023, Whoopi made waves when what sounded like a fart was heard on the set of the talk show, for which she apologized. Co-host Sunny Hostin later confirmed that this particular noise was actually made by someone's mug scraping against the table and Goldberg was just joking around when she said sorry, though Hostin did reveal that the Oscar winner drops the most on-set farts out of all the hosts. 

This probably won't come as much of a surprise if you know the story of how Whoopi Goldberg — whose real name is Caryn Johnson — got her stage name. "When you're performing on stage, you never really have time to go into the bathroom and close the door. So if you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go," Goldberg said in 2006 in a chat with The New York Times. "So people used to say to me, 'you are like a whoopee cushion.' And that's where the name came from."

These days, Sarah Chalke is best known for providing the voice of Beth Smith, Morty's perpetually annoyed mother in "Rick & Morty." In the 1990s, she was known as the second Becky Conner in "Roseanne." Between those two gigs, she starred in the hit medical comedy "Scrubs" as Dr. Elliot Reid, her most recognizable role. The Canadian actor was in the beloved show for almost a decade, so it's hardly surprising that she farted on set in that time, but it was still an embarrassing situation for her. In 2023, Chalke was a guest on Zach Braff and Donald Faison's podcast "Fake Doctors, Real Friends," where the three talked about what it was like on the set of "Scrubs." Chalke recalled how she once broke wind in front of Braff, and how he made sure everyone knew it.

Chalke and Braff (who starred as J.D., Elliot's love interest) were preparing for a kissing scene when the incident occurred, Chalke explained. "We're standing there, like, over in the corner, and they're about to say 'rolling' and I may or may not have farted," she said. The actor talked about how her initial instinct was to not say anything and just ignore it, but her co-star wasn't about to let it pass without comment. "Zach just made the biggest deal anyone could possibly make over somebody farting," she recalled. "I think [he] made a song and there was some clapping involved in it."

Before events like San Diego Comic-Con became popular, "Star Trek" held its own conventions so fans could interact with the stars of the franchise. It's one of the few fandoms that continues to have its own dedicated gatherings all around the world, and at an appearance celebrating their years on "Star Trek: Voyager," Garrett Wang (Ensign Kim), Tim Russ (Lieutenant Commander Tuvok), and Robert Picardo (The Doctor) discussed farts in the final frontier.

"Fart Wars went on on the 'Voyager' set," said Wang when asked to give a flatus report on the story, which he compared to a global conflict. "We talked about how the different countries involved were the country of Tuvok, the country of Neelix, and the country of Paris," referring to three characters in the series. "There were other innocent bystanders," Wang continued, putting a hand on the shoulder of co-star Robert Picardo, "like The Doctor, and Ensign Kim."

Picardo chimed in to let everyone know who he felt posed the biggest threat during the so-called Fart Wars. "I used to refer to Tim [Russ] as 'The man, the myth, the methane,'" he said to widespread laughter from the crowd of Trekkies. According to Russ, he was simply countering other people's farts with his own. "I had to defend myself," he said. "I am the tactical officer after all."

Ricky Gervais is one of the most celebrated comedians of his generation. The Brit has been awarded a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmys, a few BAFTAs, and a couple of British Comedy Awards, not to mention the countless other nominations garnered throughout his storied career. It's good to hear that even with such a lofty resume, Gervais is a still a childish jokester behind the scenes.

During an episode of his award-winning series "Extras," Gervais shared screen time with Kate Winslet. According to Winslet, Gervais did his best to make her break character by breaking wind. "Ricky Gervais is dreadful because he tries to f*** you up," she revealed. "He'll fart in the middle of a scene and he won't crack a smile." The gas must not have been too bad, however, because Winslet still looks back at her time on "Extras" with high regard. "I don't think I ever got through a take without peeing myself laughing."

Following Marion Cotillard's memorable Hollywood performance in Christopher Nolan's "Inception," the French actor reunited with the director for "The Dark Knight Rises." She has since starred in a number of big English language movies, including the WWII romantic drama "Allied." One film that she starred in that isn't so well-loved, however, is the critically-panned video game adaptation "Assassin's Creed." According to Michael Fassbender (who stars as Callum "Cal" Lynch and his ancestor Aguilar de Nerha), the French beauty broke wind more than once during the making of the movie.

When the pair sat down with Yahoo! to promote the movie, they were asked about any "shameful secrets" from the set. Fassbender was quick to respond. "Your flatulence," the actor said (via Daily Mail), turning to Cotillard. "But we're not going to talk about that. That wouldn't be right." Cotillard laughed and playfully scolded her co-star for his oversharing, saying, "Please, let me be a glamorous actress." Fassbender then defended her with a shrug, pointing out that it's a perfectly normal bodily function. "We all fart, let's face it," he said.

There's something inherently childish about farts. Let's face it: Even when adults rip one, knowing it's a normal bodily function, it will often bring about an irresistible urge to giggle like a child. So it should come as no surprise that when filming "Stranger Things" — with a cast made up almost entirely of kids — farts were pretty regular on set. According to the show's creators, it was mostly the boys who wouldn't stop farting, so much so that it caused real problems during filming.

As revealed in an article in Entertainment Weekly written by the Duffer brothers, the behavior of the boys began to dip a little as they got toward the latter stages of the first season, much to the frustration of Millie Bobby Brown, the only girl in the main cast at the time. "We're shooting a scene in the abandoned bus, and one of the boys decides to fart. More than once," the brothers recalled. "It became so toxic in the bus that the crew had to temporarily evacuate."

Following numerous delays, the Duffer brothers released a cast-wide memo that urged everyone to get on the ball so they could finish what they started. "After our little talk, the boys rallied together," the op-ed reveals. "[They] did some of their best, most emotional work on the show. We're proud of them for so many reasons, and this is one of them. It's such a great group of future stars. Farting aside." It's possible the boys have grown out of it by this point, but, as this list proves, grown-ups are just as likely to let rip on set.