These Celebrities Have All Opened Up About Their Best On-Camera Kiss

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January 11, 2025 at 1:50pm EST

When it comes to locking lips onscreen, it’s all just a day-in-the-life thing for actors. It’s part of their job, so it’s no surprise you often read interviews in which they describe romantic moments as surprisingly clinical or awkward behind-the-scenes. But that’s precisely why it’s such a testament to their craft when actors pull off the kind of on-screen kisses that fans can’t stop talking about — and even they admit they enjoyed more than the average romantic scene.

Sometimes, our favorite actors share such intense onscreen chemistry that it spawns entire forums devoted to “shipping” them. Other times, an onscreen kiss may not seem like anything explosive from the outside looking in but ends up topping the entertainer’s list of best on-screen smooch. Either way, we can probably all agree that getting to make out with people and get paid millions for it falls under “major perk” in the job world.

So, it’s only natural to be curious about who — among Hollywood’s A-listers — stands out to their co-stars as being particularly talented. Like, if actors were handing out awards, who’d get the golden statuette for best kisser? Well, let’s see what the celebs had to say…

Glenn Close: Robert Redford

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Glenn Close revealed that her best on-screen kiss was with Robert Redford in The Natural. On a Jan. 9 interview with Andy Cohen, Cohen asked her, “Who has been your best onscreen kiss?”

She replied, “Robert Redford. In The Natural.” And she lamented, saying, “I only got to kiss him once.”
Sharon Stone: Robert De Niro

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For Sharon Stone, telling Andy Cohen about her best onscreen kiss was a no-brainer.

“Well, Robert De Niro was for sure the best kisser,” Stone said about her Casino co-star during Watch What Happens Live in 2020, per People. “Bob was far and away the best kisser.”
Stephen Dorff: Susan Sarandon

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Despite being a part of so many projects, Stephen Dorff says his best onscreen kiss is quite bit further back in his career. “Susan Sarandon was a good onscreen kiss,” he confessed on Watch What Happens Live, sharing that the two had filmed an HBO movie together called Earthly Possessions back in 1999.
Megan Fox: Shia LaBeouf

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Megan Fox may kiss and tell, but she doesn’t give up much. While promoting her 2014 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the actress was asked to reveal her best onscreen kiss. With a smile and zero hesitation, she told E! News, “Shia LaBeouf.” As fans know, the two played romantic interests in the Transformers franchise.
Shia LaBeouf: Dakota Johnson

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LaBeouf, however, didn’t necessarily reciprocate those feelings about Fox. In an appearance at The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2019, the actor revealed who was his favorite onscreen smooch.

“Dakota Johnson!” he said, per People. “She’s a sweetheart.”
Ethan Hawke: Angelina Jolie

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If you remember 2004’s Taking Lives, you know that things didn’t exactly end well between Ethan Hawke and Angelina Jolie’s characters. But that certainly didn’t diminish his opinion of the love scenes they shared together.

“Angelina Jolie was born to whittle men and to make them weak,” he waxed poetically on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “When she kisses you, you don’t know your name.” Wow!
Hugh Grant: Renée Zellweger

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In the ’90s, Hugh Grant was the guy rom-coms were built around. So, it’s fair to say he’s kissed his fair share of Hollywood A-listers. And among them, one stands out: his Bridget Jones’s Diary co-star Renée Zellweger.

According to Grant, she’s a “top snogger.” (He wasn’t nearly as complimentary about Notting Hill co-star Julia Roberts: “It’s a big mouth. I was aware of a faint echo when I was kissing her.”)
Jennifer Lopez: Josh Lucas

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In real life, Jennifer Lopez’s lips are reserved for her husband, Ben Affleck. But seeing as she’s the queen of our rom-com-loving hearts, we know she’s had the good fortune of locking lips with many of Hollywood’s most eligible actors.

If she had to single one out as the best kisser, she told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, it would have to be her 2005 An Unfinished Life co-star Josh Lucas. “We just jumped on each other when they said ‘action.'”

Right after, she dubbed her Boy Next Door co-star Ryan Guzman her second-best onscreen kiss.
Ryan Guzman: Jennifer Lopez

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Remember how Jennifer Lopez pinpointed her Boy Next Door co-star Ryan Guzman as her second-best kiss? Well, he doesn’t have any hard feelings.

When asked to rank his onscreen lip-locks, he didn’t hesitate to give credit where credit was due. “I gotta say number one! Even though she gave me number two!” he said, playfully alluding to losing out J.Lo’s top lip-lock spot to Josh Lucas.
Lady Gaga: Alexander Skarsgard

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We’ve resigned to the fate that we’ll likely never personally wind up in a love scene with Alexander Skarsgard, so we’ll just have to live vicariously through Lady Gaga’s recollection of hers. “He was very good. He is very good at kissing,” she said of smooching the Big Little Lies star in her “Paparazzi” video. “Onscreen kisses are real kisses. I don’t know how other people do it but we were kissing for real.”
Anna Friel: Will Ferrell

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It isn’t just the fact that he’s hilarious that Will Ferrell has going for him. According to British actress Anna Friel, who locked lips with him in 2009’s Land of the Lost, Ferrell is impressive in the smooching department, too.

“Will Ferrell is a really fantastic kisser. You wouldn’t expect it from him, but he is a really, really good kisser,” she insisted, noting that Ferrell’s delivery is particularly appealing. “And he’s got twinkly blue eyes and he was gentler than I thought that he perhaps might be. So if anyone needs a good kiss they should just get on the phone and ask Will.”
Bryce Dallas Howard: Chris Pratt

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Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt have gotten close while filming the Jurassic World franchise, and that includes sharing some pretty epic kisses (you know, when they aren’t dodging dinosaurs).

As Howard tells it, she’d happily sign up for more of that. Not only does she wish that her first kissing scene with Pratt was “10 frames longer,” but she says his breath is “like Starburst” and he’s “perfect in every way.” If that isn’t a ringing endorsement, we don’t know what is.
Kate Hudson: Heath Ledger

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During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, a caller asked Hudson to get candid about her all-time favorite onscreen smooch. Her response? Well, it’ll tug at your heartstrings.

“I would say my favorite one was Heath,” she said, referring to late actor Heath Ledger, who she starred with in the 2002 war drama Four Feathers. “That was pretty excellent… he was just so beautiful and sweet and gentle.”
Keira Knightley: James McAvoy

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As far as romantic films go, 2007’s Atonement was pretty damn sad. But filming sounds pretty fun, judging by Keira Knightley’s comments.

During press interviews for the film, she admitted (reportedly giggling while doing so), “James [McAvoy] is the best kisser ever!” It sounds as though McAvoy has similary flattering feelings about Knightley as well. “I was blown away by Keira,” he said. “The amount of poise and grace she has is just incredible.”
Liz Hurley: Matthew McConaughey

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In news that will likely surprise no one, Matthew McConaughey is apparently a top-tier kisser.

When asked about her best onscreen smooch during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Hurley singled out the Texan. “Best? So many,” she said with a laugh before sharing, “Maybe Matthew McConaughey. It was a movie called EDtv, which was by Ron Howard. We did a lot of kissing in it.”
Penn Badgley: Blake Lively

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Before he was breaking hearts (and, sometimes, skulls) as Joe Goldberg in the dark Netflix series You, Penn Badgley was Gossip Girl‘s eternal Lonely Boy, Dan Humphrey. During that series, he dated Blake Lively on and off the screen.

So, when asked on Watch What Happens Live about his best and worst kiss, he said they were essentially one and the same. “I’ll say Blake because we actually had a relationship at the time,” he recalled. And worst? “Maybe Blake after we broke up.” Fair enough!
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Selma Blair

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Freddie Prinze Jr. may have Sarah Michelle Gellar’s heart, but Selma Blair edged him out in the best onscreen kissing department. Yep, we’re talking about that infamous scene between the women in the 1999 high school drama Cruel Intentions.

Chatting with Kyle and Jackie O on Australia’s KIIS-FM, Gellar didn’t have to think twice about her favorite on-screen smooch. “That’s easy!” she exclaimed, quickly singling out her kissing scene with Blair. No wonder the two become besties since!
Ryan Reynolds: Anna Kendrick

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When two people as funny and beautiful as Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick join forces, you know magic will follow. And that’s basically how Reynolds described kissing Anna Kendrick in 2014’s The Voices.

When asked by a fan, he tweeted that the smooch was “like taking your face to Awesometown.” Hilariously, Kendrick replied, “That IS the Kendrick-train guarantee. With local stops in Awkwardville and Tolerableshire.”
Zac Efron: Zendaya

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Hollywood hearthrob Zac Efron has kissed many a starlet throughout the course of his acting career, but he cites one particular kiss as his favorite.

Speaking of his onscreen romance with Zendaya in The Greatest Showman, Efron said, “This might be my favorite kiss, I think ever… Just because at this point for these characters, it’s so built up, the tension between them is so strong, and literally, just a glance between them is electric.”