The Most Private Actors In Hollywood

Separating Work And Real Life

Living in the public eye can be extremely challenging, especially when every fan and the press wants a piece of you. It's no wonder some celebrities keep their lips sealed about the intimate details of their lives.

These are the most private actors in Hollywood.

Dakota Johnson 

Despite being in a relationship since 2018, Dakota Johnson and Chris Martin have never walked a red carpet event together. 

In an interview with ELLE UK, Johnson explained that she and Martin prefer to live a quiet life: "We've been together for quite a while, and we go out sometimes, but we both work so much that it’s nice to be at home and be cozy and private."

Kevin Kunze, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis

Ashton and Mila Kunis like to keep the details of their marriage as private as possible, and their children even moreso.

In 2013, he told Elle, "You know, I've learned the hard way how valuable privacy is. And I've learned that there are a lot of things in your life that really benefit from being private. And relationships are one of them. And I am going to do everything in my power to have this relationship be private."

Kathy Hutchins, Shutterstock

Cillian Murphy

Following his Oscar-winning performance in Oppenheimer—not to mention his beloved role of Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders—Cillian Murphy has become one of the hottest Hollywood actors. However, he has always kept his family life private.

Murphy has been with Yvonne Guinness for almost 20 years and they have two children together. He's been quoted saying, “Yvonne doesn’t talk about me, and I don’t talk about her.”

Tim Cornbill, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield has no problem doing press for the films he acts in—but when it comes to sharing his life online or having social media, he draws the line.

He's been quoted saying, “I think it’s because I give just what I feel comfortable giving. And it’s authentic. It’s me. But there’s parts of me that are mine and that I want—need to protect. And I am very, very happy with that."

Gerald Geronimo, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Frances McDormand 

Frances McDormand was never one to relish in the spotlight, and she demonstrated exactly this when she stepped away from the public eye in the late 90s. It was a strange move considering her successful role in 1996's Fargo.

McDormand later confessed, "I made a very conscious effort not to do press and publicity for 10 years in what other people would think would be a very dangerous moment in a female actor's career, but it paid off for exactly the reasons I wanted it to. It gave me a mystery back to who I was, and then in the roles I performed, I could take an audience to a place where someone who sold watches or perfume and magazines couldn't."

Red Carpet Report on Mingle Media TV, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Emma Watson

Emma Watson has been open about her struggle with fame and the attention that came along with it. She's always kept her personal life private. However, in 2020, rumors about her romantic life and career prompted her to make a series of posts on social media.

Watson wrote, "Dear Fans, Rumours about whether I’m engaged or not, or whether my career is 'dormant or not' are ways to create clicks each time they are revealed to be true or untrue. If I have news - I promise I’ll share it with you. In the mean time please assume no news from me just means I’m quietly spending the pandemic the way most people are - failing to make sourdough bread (!), caring for my loved ones and doing my best not to spread a virus that is still affecting so many people."

Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan married Marcus Mumford (from the popular band Mumford & Sons) in 2012. However, she has intentionally kept her family life and relationship out of the limelight.

In an interview, she explained, “Marcus is the only thing that’s mine that I can keep totally away, so I try to."

Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington has done an impressive job of not only keeping her personal life private, but also secret. She managed to conceal her fiancé's identity, as well as the details of her wedding.

Washington has been quoted saying, "Earlier in my career I was much more super-sharey. There were moments when I wanted to process things that were happening to me more privately, and I didn't have the space to do it, because once you let people in, they're in and you don't get to say, 'Oh, I want this for myself.'"

Daniel Benavides, CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Commons

Zoe Saldana

Zoe Saldana protects her children by not showing their faces on social media. In 2015, she shared with E! News, "I just don't want 16 years from now to get ‘You are so disrespectful. You invaded, you exposed me, and I wasn't ready.' Even though they're babies and they're under our care, it's still their face."

Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling

Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have always kept their romantic relationship close to their hearts. In fact, the couple almost never attend public events together. For red carpet occasions like The Academy Awards, Gosling often shows up alone—even when he's been nominated.

Robert Kamau, Getty Images

Nina Dobrev

Nina Dobrev—from the hit show The Vampire Diaries—began dating snowboarder Shaun White in 2020. Though they do feature each other on their social media, the couple keeps the details of their romantic relationship as private as possible.

MTV International, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie is one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood, but her personal life is something of a mystery. She married Tom Ackerley in 2016, but has expertly separated her love life from her work. Robbie rarely posts pictures of her husband on social media, and her life seems to be completely drama-free.

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz may be A-list actors, but they've always kept their relationship on the down low.

Weisz once shared with More, "He's just too famous. It would be a betrayal. You have to protect your marriage ... When you're young, you tell your girlfriends everything. One of the great pleasures of not being an adolescent is that you don't have to share everything. When you're married, that door closes. The audience goes, and you're in your own life."

Shelly Wall, Shutterstock

Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep may be the GOAT in Hollywood, but her personal life has never been a magnet for attention. Though she and her husband Don Gummer have been married for over four decades, the specifics of their relationship aren't public knowledge.

Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons met on the set of Fargo, where they played a married couple.

As a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Dunst shared, "I've got to keep things private a little bit. We got together a year after [meeting.] We became really good friends first." 

In 2022, Dunst and Plemons secretly married in Jamaica. They have two children together—Ennis and James.

Kathy Hutchins, Shutterstock

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Though Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen catapulted to fame as children, they've been incredibly private as adult businesswomen—so much so, that they didn't even want to be the faces of their fashion brand, The Row. 

Ashley confessed to i-D magazine, "We didn't want to be in front of it, we didn't necessarily even want to let people know it was us," she said. "It was really about the product, to the point where we were like: Who could we get to front this so that we don't have to?"

David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale

Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale are a very private celebrity couple, especially when it comes to their children, Rocco and Rafael.

Ron Adar, Shutterstock

Adam Driver

Adam Driver is one of Hollywood's leading men, but his extremely private lifestyle means that the actor is rarely caught by the paparazzi or featured in the tabloids. He and his wife even managed to keep the birth of their son a secret for two years.

Tabercil, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh

Phoebe Waller-Bridge had amazing chemistry with Andrew Scott in her hit show Fleabag—but she keeps her real-life romance very private. She's been linked to Martin McDonagh—director of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri—since 2017.

In a 2019 interview with Vogue, she expertly skirted around personal questions, saying, “I’m much braver in my writing life.”

Daniele Venturelli, Getty Images

Daniel Day-Lewis

Throughout his very successful career, Daniel Day-Lewis kept an incredibly low profile. But this has only increased since he announced his retirement, and has rarely been spotted in public.

The actor has been quoted explaining his way of life as a "lifelong study in evasion."

Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender

Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender have been together for almost a decade, but they rarely make public appearances together. It wasn't until March 2020 that the celebrity couple walked a red carpet together.

Andrea Raffin, Shutterstock

Sandra Bullock

Speaking with Glamour in 2015, Sandra Bullock explained why privacy is so important to her: “I’ve always been insanely private. When I [first] stepped into this, it was still loud. The tabloids were violating. I went, ‘How can people write that?’ I spent a year and a half, two years, distraught, saying, ‘You can’t say these lies.’ I spent years fighting battles you can’t win. As loud as it’s gotten now, it’s the same panic. As much as I profess to being able to shut it out, there are times I can’t, like when it’s hurtful to people I care about. Me, I get it. But when it hurts other people? Like, you come after my son, I’m gonna go postal. But they do.”

Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons