On screen pals Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway actually first met off screen – at an audition when they were both 12 years old. Later, recognising Maguire on the way home from school, DiCaprio “literally jumped out of his mother’s car” to talk with him because “when I wanted someone to be my friend, I just made them my friend”, he told Esquire.

Although DiCaprio beat out Maguire for leading roles in some films like Critters 3 and This Boy’s Life, they stayed friends rather than becoming rivals: they were neighbours, played basketball together, and went on to become part of a group of young Hollywood actors known for their shenanigans. Think sneaking into Victoria’s Secret events, playing pranks in fancy bars and taking impromptu trips to Vegas, according to Complex.

They also support each other’s work. “We’ve had endless conversations about certain projects and argued with one another and supported one another along the way,” DiCaprio told The Nation.

Maguire even named DiCaprio the godfather of his first child, and DiCaprio often hangs out and plays with Maguire’s kids, according to People.

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

Good Will Hunting’s best friends Will and Chuckie are close in real life too, having first met at ages 8 and 10. Their mothers, who both worked in kids’ education, brought them together, according to Interview Magazine.

As teenagers, the two were neighbours, schoolmates and something akin to business partners: they made plans together for their future in acting and filmmaking, even opening a joint account and regularly travelling into New York City together to audition for acting jobs, per International Business Times.

They reportedly lived together to co-write the screenplay for Good Will Hunting, which they won their first Oscar for in 1998. They worked together again to co-write The Last Duel, slated to release on October 15. Can we expect to see the duo honoured together on the Academy Awards stage again next year?

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Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling

Timberlake and Gosling became friends as kids too, when they were cast on The Mickey Mouse Club at age 12. In fact, they were even legally brothers at one point: Gosling’s mother had to work in Canada while he appeared in the show in the US, so Timberlake’s mother became his legal guardian for six months, according to People.

Just like DiCaprio and Maguire, the pair got up to their fair share of mischief too, talking like gangsters and even stealing a golf cart to try and look cool, reported Today.

These days, however, they have not been as close because of Gosling’s busy schedule, Timberlake said, while Gosling commented that it’s not easy to keep friends from junior school, per The Things.

Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts

The two Aussies first met at their high school in Sydney, but it wasn’t until they worked together in 1991 film Flirting that their friendship begin, reported New York Magazine. Their friendship has lasted for over 30 years – and the pair have gone through a lot together during that time.

Watts once revealed to CBS Sunday Morning that Kidman saved her acting dream when her career was failing in the late 1990s. Meanwhile, Watts was there for Kidman when she divorced Tom Cruise, according to The Things.

“That history binds you. We have a strong respect and love for one another,” Watts told People.

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Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson

Unlike the other pairs on this list, Anderson and Wilson met a little later – in a playwriting class at the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989 when they were 20. Soon after that, they became roommates and made plans to collaborate on a film. However, their first “co-screenplay” was to stage a break-in to their own flat to persuade their landlord to fix their broken window cranks, per Interview Magazine.

Although their landlord was unconvinced, the incident inspired their debut film Bottle Rocket, a 1996 heist drama about a staged break-in that morphs into a hilarious crime caper. The film features Anderson’s quirky directing style and was also Wilson’s first acting role. Since then, for over 30 years, Wilson has appeared in almost all of Anderson’s films. The French Dispatch, released last month, is their latest collaboration.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Maya Rudolph

The Saturday Night Live comedian and the Goop founder have been buddies since they were seven-year-old schoolmates thanks to their fathers. Bruce Paltrow and Richard Rudolph were university friends who moved to Los Angeles to launch showbiz careers, according to People.

In her Saturday Night Live monologue in 2001, Paltrow mentioned Rudolph, who ended up joining the cast later. They even shared their fifth grade photo and talked about their theatrical performance during that school year on national TV.

The Paltrows and the Rudolphs also made a film together called Duet. Bruce was the director with Gwyneth in the leading role, while Maya and Richard were the music supervisors.

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Adam Levine and Jonah Hill

When the Wolf of Wall Street star officiated the frontman of Maroon 5’s wedding, fans were surprised that they were such great friends. Not many knew that Levine and Hill grew up together in Southern California, thanks to their fathers being friends since junior high. They would visit each other’s houses and often carpooled together, News24 reported.

Hill still remembers how Levine had bad acne as a teenager and initially struggled to find a date because he was “nerdy”. “We’re not friends through some Hollywood prism … Levine is genuinely like family to me. We’re literally like brothers,” he once said on Howard Stern’s radio show.

Blackpink’s Lisa and Got7’s BamBam

The only Thai members in their respective K-pop groups, the duo first met in their native Thailand when they teamed up in We Za Cool, a dance group for kids, according to Kpop Star. Although both were 12, BamBam thought Lisa was older as she was taller than him, calling her “older sister”.

Their families have also been seen hanging out and celebrating their kids’ success together. Since entering the world of K-pop, the two idols live near to each other and meet up often, especially at events, according to Channel Korea. And in 2019, Lisa and BamBam finally shared a stage in celebration for AIS30th.

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Lee Min-ho and Jung Il-woo

These stars have also known each other since high school, although they didn’t attend the same one, meeting instead through mutual friends. According to Soompi, Jung once commented on their meeting during an appearance on SBS’ My Ugly Duckling, saying, “[Lee] was well-known for his good looks, so I heard about him before I ever met him. When we first met, it was like he was sparkling.”

They realised they had a lot in common – such as their acting dreams, love of meat and dislike of alcohol – and quickly became friends. Today, they often have coffee together when they meet up, according to Soompi. Once Jung even sent a coffee truck to the The King Eternal Monarch set while Lee was filming. Lee showed his appreciation by posing in front of the truck with a victory sign, posting the photo on his Instagram.

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