21 times real-life fathers and sons played family on-screen

Dominic replaced Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles in seasons five and six of Netflix’s royal drama “The Crown,” which concluded its run in 2023.

Charles, of course, has two sons: Prince William and Prince Harry. And there was no more perfect person to play Prince William than Dominic’s real-life son Senan, 14, who was in three episodes of season five, according to IMDb.

“It was very moving actually, he’d never acted before because COVID stopped any school plays or anything so I’d never seen him act,” Dominic told Yahoo UK in November 2022 of working with his son. “He had this amazing innocence to him that was extraordinary to watch as well as the fact that obviously he’s my boy. It’s very difficult when you act with children to have a physical intimacy, but with him that’s obviously not a question which made it much easier.”

In “The Pursuit of Happyness,” a true story, Smith starred as Chris Gardner, a homeless medical salesman turned wildly successful stockbroker. His son, Jaden, played Gardner’s son, Christopher Gardner Jr.

“Little Jaden is a chip off the old block, uncommonly at ease before the cameras. Their real-life bond is an inestimable asset to the onscreen characters’ relationship,” wrote Steve Persall of the St. Petersburg Times.

The Levys also co-created “Schitt’s Creek,” so it was a no-brainer that they would play two of the leads: patriarch Johnny, a former video store tycoon, and his spoiled (yet lovable) son, David.

By the end of the series’ six seasons, both Levys would take home Emmys for their acting and for producing, as the show won outstanding comedy series — they became the first father-son duo to win Emmys in the same year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“I think what I learned from [my dad], just from a comedy standpoint, is that … there’s so much generosity, I think, to great comedy,” Levy told the “Today” show in 2021. “You have to just give people space. There’s just such a joy in knowing that you have each other’s back.”

In “Hot Pursuit,” they played Victor and Chris Honeywell, two side characters in the film.

The Stillers also both appeared in “Zoolander” and “Heavyweights,” though not as father and son.

The Gleesons have acted together multiple times in various permutations — for example, Brian played the younger version of his father Brendan’s character in “Assassin’s Creed.”

But in “The Tiger’s Tail,” Brian plays the son of his father Brendan’s character Liam, as Liam deals with his life heading in a downward spiral.

Since Estevez wrote and directed the film, of course he’d make it a family affair by casting his Emmy-winning father.

In the film, Sheen’s character, Thomas, grieves the death of his son, Daniel, played by Estevez, in flashbacks and at the beginning of the film by continuing Daniel’s journey of walking the Camino de Santiago (or The Way) in Europe.

“I had to keep reminding [my dad] that his character was not a friendly man, that he was suspicious of people, because that is not his nature,” Estevez told The New York Times in 2011 when describing what it was like to work with his father.

In “No Code of Conduct,” the Sheens played Bill and Jake Peterson, a father-and-son duo who are both police officers. They uncover a huge drug-running operation from Mexico into Arizona while investigating the death of their coworker.

The two also acted together in “Hot Shots! Part Deux,” but not as father and son.

The younger Caan also wrote the film, in which he plays Johnny Ryan, a novelist who doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do with his life. James plays Johnny’s father, Gerry.

“You don’t want to fail for your kid. United Artists or Warner Bros. or Coppola, I can mess up. I don’t want to do it, but for your kid, that’s the worst thing,” James told the Los Angeles Times in 2010.

The two reunited on-screen for an episode of “Hawaii Five-O” in 2012, but James didn’t play Scott’s character’s father. This was their last on-screen collaboration before James’ death in 2022.

Sylvester cast his son Sage, who died in 2012, to play the son of his iconic boxing creation, Rocky Balboa, in the fifth film of the series.

For the 2006 film “Rocky Balboa” and the 2018 film “Creed II,” the character of Rocky Jr. was taken over by Milo Ventimiglia.

Daniel appeared in the first season of “Blunt Talk,” which saw his father star as Walter Blunt, a cable news journalist. Daniel played Walter’s son Rafe, a professional boxer.

“Daniel has a wonderful talent for comedy, particularly wacky comedy. So we shared an episode. Hopefully we’ll be sharing many more,” the “Star Trek” star told USA Today in 2015. “I think it’s a great thing that we’re both in the same profession. It has so brought so much into both our lives that we can share and enjoy talking about. It’s terrific.”

In “Straight Time,” Gary played Willy, a heroin addict and friend of the main character Max (Dustin Hoffman), who also acted as an accomplice to Max’s crimes. Jake had a small part as Willy’s son, Darin.