Favorite Actor Kissing Partners Revealed

As much as actors often love to remind the audience that onscreen kissing is just another part of their job, we know that some of those up-close-and-personal moments have to go better than others. Fortunately, some stars have kissed and told, and the results are revealing. 

As it turns out, having a romantic relationship offscreen can help your kissing scenes smolder — but it can also backfire if you break up before your characters do. Good breath is a must (hint: eat Starburst) and tuna sandwiches are a major no-no. Making your audience wait for the kiss leads to a big payoff, but so can a spontaneous — or even surprising — smooch. However, the number one ingredient is the kind of chemistry you can't study in a book beforehand, which actors and audiences remember forever.

From Hollywood A-listers to obscure talents, these are actors' favorite kissing partners — and some info as to whether the feeling was mutual.

At least one person thinks Chris Pratt comes out on top in something. Bryce Dallas Howard proved it when she told People that in the moment Pratt kissed her in "Jurassic World," "Chris' breath [was] like Starburst ... he's perfect in every way."

It's just as well she was impressed, since the co-stars' "Jurassic World" kiss wasn't even supposed to happen. Pratt and director Colin Trevorrow decided that after following the script and shooting a take with no kiss, Pratt would surprise Howard on the next take — in front of 800 extras. That look of surprise in the final version is real. Honestly, eating a few Starbursts beforehand is the least he could do.

Fortunately, Howard had only positive things to say about working with Pratt, and why anyone might want to stand in her character's impractical high heels. She told Out magazine, "He is a very attractive human being ... He's just, like, the best guy. There's nothing more handsome than a humble heart." She wasn't the only one who approved of the spontaneous kiss. Howard said that after Trevorrow ended that take, everyone in the background started cheering: "It was great!"

Loose lips sink ships, but in the World War II period piece "Atonement," one romantic scene also got audiences talking. In addition to lip-locking, it involves a green silk dress, a library, and a creative use for bookshelves. The chemistry between Keira Knightley's haughty Cecilia and her childhood friend (and the housekeeper's son) Robbie, played by James McAvoy, is palpable.

Knightley was feeling the heat with her co-star too. By the time she made "Atonement," she'd already shared onscreen kisses with such partners as Orlando Bloom ("Pirates of the Caribbean"), Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Love Actually"), Andrew Lincoln (also "Love Actually"), Clive Owen ("King Arthur"), and Matthew Macfadyen ("Pride and Prejudice"). But, while promoting "Atonement" at the Venice Film Festival, she told the Chicago Tribune, "James is the best kisser ever!"

To be fair to the others, McAvoy was there with her at the time, so it would have been extremely awkward if she'd named someone else. Previously, Knightley said that while filming the second "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, she'd asked to have her character kiss Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, as well as Bloom's Will Turner. Depp later said that kissing someone so much younger than him was "awkward," but he apparently got over it: His ex-wife Amber Heard is a year younger than Knightley.

Anyone who still hasn't found a love story to match "Titanic" will understand Leonardo DiCaprio's pick for the best onscreen kissing partner of his career.

When DiCaprio was asked which leading lady was his favorite to kiss on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2004, he said, "I'm just gonna go with Kate Winslet." The show played a 1998 clip of Winslet saying very nice things about DiCaprio, including how great he was to work with and how close they grew over the shoot.

DiCaprio agreed: "If it wasn't for her, making that film ... we would've been shrapnel by this point. It was just the toughest film we ever had to make and we were partners together, you know, we held each other's hand and supported each other."

However, Winslet herself let out the secret that DiCaprio wasn't always so happy about those "Titanic" kissing scenes. When Winslet crashed a red carpet interview DiCaprio was giving at the 2005 SAG Awards, she revealed, "I can tell you right now, he hated it!" DiCaprio denied this at first, but then explained that the main issue was something that had nothing to do with their chemistry: instead, it was really just that the pair's different-colored foundations would rub off on each other's faces.

Winslet and DiCaprio are famously still good friends, even reuniting in 2008 for a much less romantic movie, "Revolutionary Road." Even though DiCaprio has kissed many more leading ladies since that 2004 declaration, we all know he's never let go of his "Titanic" teammate.

Heath Ledger earned a posthumous Oscar for his sinister portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight," but many fans will always remember him best as the lead in many of their favorite romantic movies.  They'll be pleased to know that his leading ladies in those cheerier pictures very much enjoyed working with him.

On "Watch What Happens Live" in 2014, Kate Hudson was asked which of her onscreen love interests (other than "Wish I Was Here" co-star Zach Braff, who was sitting right next to her) was the best kisser. Hudson replied that it was Ledger, whom she starred opposite in the 2002 war drama "The Four Feathers." "That was pretty excellent," she recalled. Pressed for more information by host Andy Cohen, Hudson explained her choice by saying, "He was just so beautiful and sweet and gentle ... he was lovely."

If you were expecting Hudson to choose frequent rom-com collaborator Matthew McConaughey, it might ease your disappointment to know that she had good reasons not to pick that particular leading man for this honor. She told Entertainment Tonight that she and McConaughey always find themselves in weird situations while shooting kissing scenes that make things a bit awkward: "We're [kissing] after a plane crash and, like, in the water. I have yet to have the kiss with Matthew that's just, like, kind of simple."

Meryl Streep is famous for getting completely absorbed in a role — and she brings that energetic enthusiasm to her kissing scenes, as Emma Thompson found out.

Asked who had been her best onscreen kiss, Thompson first named Robbie Coltrane. She kissed him in the 1987 BBC series "Tutti Frutti," in which they played rock stars in the fictional Scottish band The Majestics. That's right, kids: Hagrid and Professor Trelawney were once each other's love interests, and made out on stage for a TV show. "But it turned into a bit of a tooth kiss," Thompson admitted. Thompson also once played the love interest of her close friend Alan Rickman, aka Professor Snape, so the "Harry Potter" universe was already pretty awkward.

Thompson went on to add, "Meryl Streep's a very good snogger." The two actresses kissed in a 2003 HBO adaptation of the celebrated play "Angels in America." "She was method about it ... There was no stone unturned in my gob, that's for sure," Thompson remembered. "[I thought] Blimey, what's she doing here? Mining for jewels?"

In case you were wondering, Thompson's advice for preparing for a kissing scene is to avoid tuna sandwiches beforehand, and go easy on the teeth.

Will Ferrell isn't much known for being a romantic lead. But maybe he should be, given that two actresses who've been lucky enough to lock lips with him have attested to his kissing abilities.

In 2007, Amy Adams, who kissed Ferrell in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," managed to compliment and mildly insult Ferrell in one breath when she described him as "a fantastic kisser! I was not expecting that." Adams also complimented "Enchanted" co-star Patrick Dempsey, whom she described as "lovely," but it's clear Ferrell impressed her the most.

A couple of years later, Ferrell also got a vote of kissing confidence from "Land of the Lost" co-star Anna Friel. Like Adams, Friel delivered a backhanded compliment when she declared, "Will Ferrell is a really fantastic kisser. You wouldn't expect it from him." She went on to add, "he's got twinkly blue eyes and he was gentler than I thought that he perhaps might be."

Despite Ferrell's reputation for comedy over romance, he has had quite a few onscreen kisses. Ferrell himself noted in 2017 that someone had kindly counted 15 up to that point. But, he humbly added, " I don't know what that says." It says people listened to Adams and Friel!

Jennifer Lawrence is famously direct — and that extends to discussing her onscreen kissing partners. But her top choice isn't necessarily who you'd expect, based on her offscreen love life. In 2015, on "Watch What Happens Live," Lawrence confirmed that she and "Hunger Games" love interest Liam Hemsworth took their kissing chemistry offscreen at some point. As she explained, "Liam and I grew up together. Liam's real hot. What would you have done?"

Lawrence also doesn't shy away from offering constructive feedback to her onscreen kissing partners. In 2013, her frequent collaborator Bradley Cooper told "The Graham Norton Show" that while shooting "Silver Linings Playbook," Lawrence told him he was "a wet kisser ... It was not a compliment." However, the pair still picked up an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, so it did something for someone. They also went on to kiss in 2014's "Serena." Cooper must have taken Lawrence's advice to heart, because in 2018, when Ellen DeGeneres asked Lawrence whether Hemsworth or Cooper was the better kisser, she said Cooper.

To be fair, Hemsworth didn't necessarily relish those kissing scenes either. He told Jimmy Fallon in 2014 that Lawrence — whom he described as "one of my best friends, I love her" — would deliberately eat garlic or tuna before they had to kiss.

If you feel that the most believable element of the "Transformers" franchise is the chemistry between Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf, Fox partially agrees. In 2014, she told E! News that LaBeouf was her best onscreen kiss.

That may be because the actors were diligently rehearsing their kissing scenes offscreen. In 2011, LaBeouf admitted to Details that he and Fox had a romantic relationship on the set of "Transformers" — although it's not clear if he means the first or second movie in the franchise, which came out in 2007 and 2009 respectively. LaBeouf put it down to a long shoot, "with someone who's rooting to be attracted to you, and you're rooting to be attracted to them."

Awkwardly, Fox was thought to have been in a relationship with actor Brian Austin Green from 2004 until February 2009. (They reconciled, marrying in June 2010, but officially split in May 2020.) Asked about their status at the time of his relationship with Fox, LaBeouf said, "I don't know, man." Also, awkwardly, he didn't return the compliment: He's said Dakota Johnson was his favorite kissing partner.

In 2018, Fox confirmed LaBeouf's claims, telling "Watch What Happens Live," "I would confirm it was romantic." When Andy Cohen suggested it had been "an on-set romance that didn't go anywhere afterwards," Fox said, "Yeah." They'll always have "Transformers."

Even better than hearing that you're someone's favorite onscreen kisser has to be hearing that multiple former co-stars were impressed with your smooching skills. You'd have to ask Tom Cruise for insight into this experience, as his kissing has been publicly acclaimed by at least three of his former leading ladies.

In 1996, Shelley Long of "Cheers" fame told Rosie O'Donnell that she and Cruise had kissed in a movie called "Losin' It," which came out right before "Risky Business" made him a star. Asked if Cruise was a good kisser, Long said, "I would rate him very highly." Long added that she doesn't typically rank her leading men's kissing abilities, but if she did, Cruise was "off the scale."

Fast-forward to 2013. Lea Thompson, aka Marty McFly's mom in "Back to the Future," recalled starring opposite Cruise in "All the Right Moves," which hit theaters just after "Risky Business" but before "Top Gun." Asked which of her former onscreen love interests was the best kisser, Thompson replied, "I might have to say Tom Cruise." She added, "There's something about the way he pays attention, the way he looks at you, like he's really looking at you."

Although Thompson pointed out that he might have gone downhill since 1983, evidence suggests otherwise. In 2011, Gwyneth Paltrow reminisced on "The Rachael Ray Show" about kissing Cruise in their cameo in 2002's "Austin Powers in Goldmember." "He was an amazing kisser!" the actress recalled.

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler have played a couple multiple times, and it may be true that he won her over on their very first movie together. In 2009, Barrymore told People magazine that her kiss with Sandler in "The Wedding Singer" was her favorite onscreen kiss. "It was really innocent and unsalacious [sic] ... really romantic and fun!," she said. "I think Adam is the greatest guy, so it's easy to be in love with him."

However, Barrymore isn't the only woman Sandler has had to impress with his romantic performances. In 2014, on a joint appearance on "Ellen," Sandler said that his wife Jackie, whom he married in 2003, is a big fan of Barrymore's, and will give him feedback if she feels that he's not being romantic enough towards her in a scene. Recalling shooting a particular scene for their 2014 comedy "Blended," Sandler said that he initially felt that he'd done a good job — until he walked off set to a frustrated Jackie, who told him, "For the sake of women, get in there, and just look a little more alive." It is, after all, your real-life partner whose approval you should be most interested in.