In case you hadn’t realised after the popularity of movies like The Idea Of You and Mother Of The Bride, we’re all about romance movies that put mums in the spotlight these days.
The latest addition to this emerging sub-genre is A Family Affair (which originally had a much more NSFW title) starring Zac Efron as movie star Chris Cole and Nicole Kidman as Brooke, a writer and widowed mum.
The new Netflix original sees the A-listers play a pair of passionate love interests, much to the horror of Joey King’s character Zara, who is both the daughter of Brooke and the downtrodden personal assistant of Chris.
Along with its leading Hollywood stars, the movie also features plenty of familiar faces you’ll have definitely watched on the big screen before.
Allow us to help jog your memory…
Joey King has been acting in huge Hollywood movies since she was a kid, appearing in modern horror classic The Conjuring and Crazy, Stupid, Love with Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and more.
But in recent years, she’s become best known for roles like The Kissing Booth movies (and even went on to date co-star Jacob Elordi) and action-thriller Bullet Train with Brad Pitt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
She also underwent a total physical transformation – including shaving her head – to play Gypsy Rose Blanchard in The Act alongside Patricia Arquette.
This year she starred as Halina Kurc in the eight-part historical drama We Were The Lucky Ones.
Kathy Bates, a total legend of the screen, plays Brooke’s mother-in-law and Zara’s wise grandmother in A Family Affair.
She’s most famous for her Oscar-winning role in the 1990 Stephen King adaptation Misery, in which she played an obsessive fan of an author who needs nursing back to health after a serious car crash.
However, she also delivered Oscar-nominated performances in Primary Colors, About Schmidt and Richard Jewell. Other roles you’ve probably seen her in include Titanic, Dolores Claiborne and Revolutionary Road.
The actor also has an impressive TV resume, having portrayed a host of American Horror Story characters from 2013 to 2018, along with guest appearances as Sabre boss Jo Bennett on the US remake of The Office and playing the role of Joan Blondell in Feud: Bette and Joan.
Long-time internet kids will remember that before Liza Koshy had a Hollywood acting career (which now includes playing best friend Eugenie in A Family Affair) she found fame on the short-form video platform Vine, along with launching a YouTube for vlog style videos and skits, where she’s since amassed 16.8 million subscribers.
Since then, she’s gone on land roles in the Netflix original Players and 2020 musical comedy Work It, alongside pop star of the moment Sabrina Carpenter.
She also starred in her own comedy series called Liza On Demand between 2018 and 2021, which followed a woman chaotically juggling various gig economy jobs.
Last year, you might have also heard her voice Arcee in Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts.
Ian Gregg plays Malcolm in the new Netflix movie, Eugenie’s boyfriend who she’s having relationship problems with.
Before A Family Affair, he had a string of minor roles in big projects including The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, Zombieland: Double Tap and Bad Neighbours 2.
He also had TV roles in Outer Banks, the medical series The Resident, season two of Ozark and the musical draa Nashville.
Sherry Cola plays an aspiring writer and another friend of Eugenie’s in A Family Affair called Stella Poms.
Before that, she was best known for playing Alice Kwan in the US drama Good Trouble, along with her role as Lola in the all-star 2023 comedy Joy Ride, which starred Emily In Paris’ Ashley Park and Everything Everywhere All At One star Stephanie Hsu.
Her other previous TV credits include Claws, Grey Area and We Need To Talk About America.
Olivia Macklin briefly plays Chris’ girlfriend Ashley at the beginning of A Family Affair (before she’s swiftly dumped).
You might recognise her for playing Madre in The Young Pope with Jude Law, along with roles in TV series like Pretty Smart, Filthy Rich and La To Vegas.
Zele Avradopoulos plays Chris’ weary maidMila in A Family Affair.
She was previously in one episode of the acclaimed A Man In Full starring Jeff Daniels, and her other TV credits include The Other Black Girl, Sweet Magnolias, NCIS: New Orleans, Ordinary Joe and even one episode of Stranger Things, in which she played a volunteer in the season four finale showdown.
Her brief roles in movies, meanwhile, include Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Hillbilly Elegy and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
