Best Kissers In Hollywood
Being a great kisser is a learned skill. You're not just innately born with it, and it's actually really daunting when you're doing in front of a camera. Talk about awkward! In the past, plenty of celebs have opened up about how awful it's been to kiss their co-stars — from Shailene Woodley to Rupert Grint to Matt Damon. Then again, maybe they're just not kissing the right person.
Like a middle school cafeteria, gossip tends to float around Hollywood about who's kissing who and who's the best kisser. Let's just say, a lot of A-listers kiss and tell, and we're going out on a limb to guess that some of that has to do with Bravo bigwig Andy Cohen and his unique ability to always bring up kissing when anyone is on his show. Seriously, the star has gotten dozens of A-listers to rate their on-screen kissing partners. He's running the market research, and we've finally got some answers.
These are the best kissers in Hollywood — and they come with a list of receipts that span tabloids, late-night TV interviews, and off-hand admissions.
Adam Sandler, the unexpected kissing king
Adam Sandler doesn't exactly ooze sex appeal, but the funnyman is actually one of Hollywood's most underrated kissers. Just ask the actresses who've had the pleasure of smooching the star. In an episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Sandler's Just Go With It co-star, Brooklyn Decker, revealed that she was "taken aback by how good of a kisser he was." "He's a great kisser, and he's also a gentleman, which I think makes the whole experience just nice," she said.
Decker also revealed that she's not the only actress who thinks so. Apparently, he's the talk of the town. Yes, we live in a timeline where hot A-list celebs are gossiping about Billie Madison's kissing skills. "Yes, Adam Sandler is a good kisser, and other actresses have said the same thing to me," Decker told Andy Cohen. "They've come up to me — other actresses who've kissed him — and said, 'Hey, so, good right?'"
This means a lot coming from Decker, who's also smooched New Girl's Max Greenfield, a bona fide sitcom stud. Apparently, Sandler is such a hot ticket that even Jennifer Aniston, his friend of 30 years, was counting down the days before they filmed their kissing scenes for Netflix's Murder Mystery. "She loves it," Sandler told The Associated Press. "She sends me texts, 'Nine days to kissing — here it comes."
Chace Crawford had an entire article dedicated to his kissing
Chace Crawford pretty much dropped out of the public eye when Gossip Girl wrapped in 2012. None of his projects have been anywhere near as successful, and frankly, it's a waste of kissing talent. When the actor embodied the sexy, troubled Nate Archibald, there was nary a teen girl who didn't want to take the bad boy to prom (or a bored housewife who didn't want to pull him into an affair, as we saw in the earlier seasons). Does the Upper East Side even do prom, or do they only do galas?
Regardless, Crawford is renowned as one of the best kissers in Hollywood, so much so that Intelligencer ran an entire article that waxed poetic about what it's like to make out with him. They fantasized, "His lips were succulent and sweet, like ... um ... ripe figs. I gasped with pleasure as his man-bangs caressed my cheek." Ugh, those bangs!
This came off the heels of Madchen Amick's admission that when it comes to kissing, her Gossip Girl co-star deserves the top spot on the Met stairs (sorry, Blair Waldorf). "He's a very good kisser," she told People. "If anyone gets the opportunity to kiss him, he will not disappoint." Katie Cassidy, who played Archibald's love interest Juliet Sharp, shared a similar sentiment two years later, telling E!, "Well, my boyfriend is a good kisser." She was talking about her on-screen boyfriend, right?
Heath Ledger was a 'gentle' kisser
Heath Ledger's legacy extends far beyond his posthumous Oscar for The Dark Knight. Today, he's partially remembered for his legendary kisses, one of which actually helped change history. In 2006, Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal won best kiss at the MTV Movie Awards for their make-out session in Brokeback Mountain. The film also won a smattering of Academy Awards, BAFTAs, and a Golden Globe — but it was the kiss that spoke volumes because it led the charge with LGBTQ visibility in mainstream media. Even Gyllenhaal has been vocal about how the kiss, however awkward, was one of the most truly meaningful.
"This has been hard for me to explain for years," he told NBC New York reporters in 2010. "It was about more than just kissing. We had very little to do with that scene being as powerful as it was. So we just basically went up and slammed our mouths together. We were the instruments for something that was much bigger than both of us."
Beyond that, in a 2014 episode of Watch What Happens Live, Kate Hudson revealed that Ledger was the man behind her favorite on-screen kiss. "That was pretty excellent," she told Andy Cohen. "He was just so beautiful and sweet and gentle. I would say that, I look back at all of the ...and that was really ...he was lovely." That speaks volumes considering she also had Matthew McConaughey, Billy Crudup, and Luke Wilson to choose from.
Kirsten Dunst's kissing confidence is impressive
Kirsten Dunst has big kiss energy. The Virgin Suicides star actually helped create one of the most iconic movie kisses in pop culture history. The actress' upside-down lip-lock with Tobey Maguire in 2002's Spider-Man landed the pair an MTV Movie Award for best kiss. Since then, it's become so infamous that it's oft-parodied, including in 2008's Superhero Movie. Once you've been spoofed in one of those, you know you've made it.
Dunst's big kiss energy doesn't just extend to the Marvel Universe. She's got so much confidence that she had the audacity to call kissing Brad Pitt gross. To be fair, she was only 11 years old when she smooched People's sexiest man alive during a scene in 1994's Interview with the Vampire. In 2019, she was steadfast in her opinion, telling ET, "Yeah, it was gross! I stand by that. It would have been so much creepier if an 11-year-old was like, 'It was great.' You'd be like, 'There's something wrong with this child.'"
Beyond that, Dust's kisses are so top-notch that Star Trek actor Simon Pegg, who starred alongside the actress in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, admitted it was distracting. "I have to remind myself I'm married," he said (via Digital Spy).
Shia LaBeouf floored Megan Fox with his lip-locking skills
None of us expect the kid from Disney's Holes to be a primo kisser. Shia LaBeouf is much better known for bar brawls, the bizarre motivational YouTube video where he screams "Just Do It" over and over again, and live-streaming himself watching his entire filmography. We, apparently, have been missing out — at least according to Megan Fox, the resident bombshell who was rumored to have dated LaBeouf around the time they filmed Transformers.
In an interview with E!, Fox admitted that the former Disney Channel star gave her the absolute best on-screen kiss. That means that Fox ranks LaBeouf over Amanda Seyfried, who she kissed in Jennifers Body, and Adam Scott, who she kissed in Friends With Kids. LaBoeuf's kisses are even powerful enough to help ignite the passion in a dead romance, too.
In March 2020, Daily Mail spotted the star smooching his ex-wife Mia Goth a whopping two years after the pair separated. The following month, they still appeared to be going strong. Now, we can't say LaBeouf's kisses are emotionally healing, but we can't specifically say they aren't emotionally healing, either.
Keira Knightley begged to have an on-screen kiss with Johnny Depp
Considering the fact that Johnny Depp modeled Captain Jack Sparrow after Keith Richards, are we really surprised that so many celebrities report he's one of Hollywood's best kissers? The Rolling Stones were known for their ways with women. According to The Guardian, the group claimed to have collectively slept with 444 women during the first two years of being in a band, though Richards only accounted for six. You are the company you keep, though, right? Depp seems to possess these same sort of woo-ing skills as the rock stars that came before him.
In 2009, Depp's Public Enemies co-star Marion Cotillard gushed about kissing the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory star. "Johnny Depp is a very, very nice guy. I was very nervous but he was very protective of me and if you really want to know, he is a very, very good kisser," she said (via Cosmopolitan).
Keira Knightley, who smooched the actor during Pirates of the Caribbean, shared the same opinion. According to Cosmopolitan, she begged director Gore Verbinski to write in a kiss with Depp, even though her character was mostly lip-locking Orlando Bloom (excuse us, Orlando Bloom!!!). Verbinski relented, and the kiss was everything Knightley ever dreamed of. "I am glad I got it. It was good. Really good," she said.
Zendaya has one of the best kissing scenes in TV history
Disney Channel heartthrob Zac Efron has something to tell us about Zendaya. She's a really, really good kisser. In a Filmweb interview, the star actually revealed that his "favorite kiss, I think ever," came from the Euphoria actress on the set of The Greatest Showman. Zendaya even did a double-take because let's be real — Efron has kissed a lot of actresses. He's pretty much the authority on the subject. Someone put together a YouTube compilation of all the star's on-screen kisses, and it spans over six minutes. That's a lot when you consider that a kiss takes just a second. He even ranked Daya over his sprinkler soaked, High School Musical kiss with Vanessa Hudgens — and that one had literal fireworks.
The truth is that we don't need Efron to tell us that Zendaya is an excellent kisser. Her smooch with co-star Hunter Schafer in Season 1 of Euphoria tells us all we need to know. That kiss now rivals Spider-Man when it comes to fame. Refinery29 subsequently rated it as one of the best kissing scenes in TV history.
It's confirmed: Jennifer Aniston has soft lips
Like Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Aniston has some big kiss energy. According to the Los Angeles Times, the star didn't even show up to accept her prize when she won best kiss at the MTV Movie Awards in 2014 for her role in We're the Millers. To be fair, the scene was awkward, but that's what made it so great.
We do have some concrete evidence that Aniston would have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Kisses if such a thing were to exist. Again, we can thank Andy Cohen for this one. In an episode of Watch What Happens Live, Cohen got Gerard Butler to reveal that Jennifer Aniston is a better kisser than Brad Pitt's most recent ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, and Jolie isn't short on skills. In a different episode of Watch What Happens Live, Ethan Hawke claimed Jolie was "born to whittle men and make them weak. And when she kisses you, you don't know your name." That's powerful stuff. In other words: Aniston totally won the battle of Brad Pitt's exes.
Furthermore, Ellen DeGeneres gave the Friends actress a little peck on the lips during a 2019 episode of her talk show and concluded that Aniston's lips were indeed soft. Case closed.
Leonardo DiCaprio built his career on smooches
Leonardo DiCaprio is a man whose career exists purely because of romance. We'll never let go of Jack or that scene in Titanic, which launched thousands of parents' arms fly across the couch and directly over their children's eyes. 1997 was quite a year for millennials.
Since then, DiCaprio has become so infamous for his way with the ladies that his Saint-Tropez outings (which typically involve a small army of models) made it into a Taylor Swift song. Let's not forget the Wolf Pack (née The P***y Posse), though we can't possibly go by titles people give themselves. Thankfully, there's enough third party evidence that DiCaprio is, indeed, one of Hollywood's best kissers.
In an interview with E!, DiCaprio's Django Unchained co-star Nichole Galicia claimed that kissing the Hollywood heartthrob was "everything you would imagine it to be. It was perfect." Similarly, Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith told NPR (via Vanity Fair) that her kiss with DiCaprio at the BAFTA Awards was "a real thrill." Last but not least, Margot Robbie, who played DiCaprio's wife in The Wolf of Wall Street, also raved about smooching the star. "All of my girlfriends interrogated me and asked, 'Is he an amazing kisser?' I'd sit them down and say, 'All I know is his screen kissing is great,'" she told People. Uhm, when's our turn?
Tom Cruise has 'amazing breath'
Tom Cruise has a series of highly public, well-documented, excruciatingly awkward kisses with his ex-wife Katie Holmes. It's enough that even TV Guide made a best-of list, which we never want to see again as long as we live. Does anyone have bleach that doesn't ruin your vision? The whole thing is enough to have us imagine that a real-life War of the Worlds would be more pleasant than planting a peck on the dude who jumped all over Oprah's couch, but we'd be totally wrong. Tom Cruise is apparently one of the best kissers in all of Hollywood if you ask some of his co-stars.
In a 2011 episode of The Rachael Ray Show (via People), Gwyneth Paltrow raved about her kiss with Tom Cruise at the start of Austin Powers 3. The Goopstress gushed, "He was an amazing kisser!" Paula Patton, who also kissed the Scientologist in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, told Live with Kelly and Ryan that their kiss was "great." Per usual, it was Andy Cohen who dragged the information out of her. "I will tell you that the kiss from Tom Cruise was a surprise," she said, adding, "He had amazing breath. It wasn't minty. It was just perfect." "That looks very hot," Cohen concurred.
John Mayer has had a lot of kissing practice
John Mayer has a bad track record, if only because he was absolutely eviscerated by Taylor Swift when he broke her heart. The musician has fully owned up to his playboy ways, telling CBS News in 2013 that he'd been a "jerk" while talking about his past relationships. Obviously, but that doesn't mean he's a lousy kisser. In fact, the star is one of the best. That may just be the only reason he's managed to reel in so many bombshells despite his poor reputation — but we can only speculate.
There are only a handful of stars who've kissed and told after making out with the blues singer. At one point in the early aughts, he was rumored to be dating Vanderpump Rules' resident serial dater, Scheana Shay. Anyone who's watched the show knows that she's utterly boy crazy (or, at least, producers paint her that way). Basically, she's a trusted authority on kissing hot guys, and she reportedly told Just Jared, "John Mayer has. F**k. He has really nice lips" when asked about the singer's kissing skills.
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton also locked lips with the bad boy. According to ExtraTV, there were rumors that the pair played tonsil hockey in a club. Hilton put them to rest when he boldly admitted that Mayer is "a really good kisser and that really happened."
Jessica Simpson has quietly become the best A-list kisser
Poor Jessica Simpson. Though the star has racked up a reported $200 million net worth and her shoe line regularly pulls in about $1 billion a year in retail sales, her pop culture legacy involves some confusion about tuna fish and rude comments by John Mayer. As vulgar as Mayer's past indiscretions are, they pretty much prove that Simpson is the best kisser in all of LaLa Land.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mayer raved about Simpson's skills in the bedroom. His comments were so explicit that the singer dumped him shortly after, according to her memoir (via People). So, what else did he say? "Sexually it was crazy," he told Playboy (via Page Six) in 2010. "It was like napalm, sexual napalm. Did you ever say, 'I want to quit my life and just f***ing snort you? If you charged me $10,000 to f*** you, I would start selling all my s*** just to keep f***ing you.'"
Rumor has it that Mayer supposedly wrote his hit "Your Body Is a Wonderland" about Simpson. While we can't confirm or deny that gossip, the star has had romantic links to Vanessa Carlton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Katy Perry, according to the Evening Standard. All we can say is that he's not talking about those stars like he talked about Simpson.