"We were going to do a glamorous shot, and we just kept going back to, 'We should do some bad characters.' We spent so much time with Groundlings [improv company] that this is our neutral," jokes McCarthy, hot off a monster opening for her latest film, Identity Thief. Instead, she and her Bridesmaid co-star husband requested wigs, costumes and a plethora of props.
The pair met in 1998, when he was an SNL writer and she was a writer’s assistant on the show. A year or so later, they were dating. “We kept it a secret, even though there was nothing scandalous about it,” she says. By 2005, the two were married and have since added two children and several series, including Parks and Recreation (him) and New Girl (her), to their résumés.
Photographed on Feb. 3 at their Hancock Park home.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
"At work, Bill is this really dynamic, talented guy. Whatever he says, he has my rapt attention,” Cougar Town star and music supervisor Miller says of her husband and longtime producer, Lawrence. “But at home,” she continues of the father of their three children, “I’ve never met anyone as dumb as Bill. I’ll come in, and it’ll be really hot, and I’m like, ‘Bill, why don’t you have the air conditioner on?’ Then I realize he doesn’t know how to work the air conditioner.”
Photographed on Jan. 20 at their Brentwood home.
(Hair by Michael Anton, makeup by Linda Choi.)
Although Wick first set eyes on a then-attached Fisher in a studio commissary years earlier, the duo didn’t begin dating until 1981. “I finally heard that she had broken up with her boyfriend, so I had a friend set us up,” recalls The Great Gatsby's Wick of the studio executive he had been pining after from a distance. For much of their marriage, the pair — who wed in 1986 — were nervous about mixing business with pleasure, with Fisher leaving the room any time Wick’s productions were discussed. But when she became vice chairman at Sony, his films (Stuart Little, Gladiator) were coming up too frequently to detach herself. By 2001, she left the studio world to join her husband full time.
Photographed on Feb. 8 at their Beverly Hills home.
(Hair and makeup by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
"This is my Pam,” Greg Daniels, 49, says of his MTV Programming chief wife, Susanne, 47, to whom he turns for inspiration when writing for Jenna Fischer’s character on The Office. "I'm always looking for little moments that might have happened between us," he adds, noting that before The Office, his wife of 21 years was his Peggy Hill (of King of the Hill).
Photographed on Feb. 1 at John O'Groats in West Los Angeles.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
Maria acknowledges that while such a close working relationship is ideal from a parenting perspective — “One of us is usually free to take the kids [ages 10 and 15] to the doctor” — it can lead to the occasional squabble. “We don’t fight in our marriage much, but there are disagreements about how a scene is supposed to be or when one of us deviates from the outline without telling the other one,” says Maria, turning her gaze to her Mad Men writer-producer husband. He shrugs then cracks a smile: “Guilty.”
Photographed on Jan. 2 at LA Center Studios in Los Angeles.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
The pair began dating as CAA assistants in 1986; not long after, they turned up at the company holiday party together. “We walked in, and everybody was like, ‘Oh, my God, Mike and Sonya are together,’ ” recalls Sonya of their “coming out” party. Two-and-a-half decades later, the Rosenfelds have two teenage sons, impressive talent rosters and a collaborative –if at times, differing– approach to work. "If there's a tornado going on, she knows how to let it pass," he says of his agent wife. "I need to get right in the middle of it."
Photographed on Jan. 17 at CAA in Century City.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
"We don't bring our sons to work too often. They think being in the office is 'boring,' " says UTA's Rice, who is as wryly funny as many of his clients, of his two young boys with his fellow UTA agent wife. Of the agency's managing director, he quips: "And [the boys] scream in terror whenever they see Jay Sures."
Photographed on Jan. 31 at UTA in Beverly Hills.
(Hair and makeup by Marissa Machado at Celestine Agency.)
Zavala and Self were colleagues well before they were a couple. “She didn’t like me,” says Zavala of their early days at Gersh, with his now-wife (and fellow WME agent) confirming: “He was aloof and abrupt,” she says, laughing. “But it turned out that’s what I was looking for in a soulmate.”
Photographed on Jan. 28 at WME in Beverly Hills.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
"It’s our take on life, and it consumes our lives,” says Klarik of Episodes, the Hollywood-centric Showtime comedy he created, writes and produces with his partner of 24 years, Crane (left). Without a writing staff, the duo spend nearly every minute of their day — and beyond — crafting stories. Adds Crane: "In the middle of the night, one of us will go: 'Are you up? What if…' "
Photographed on Feb. 3 at their Hancock Park home.
(Grooming by Erika Parsons for Chanel at Celestine Agency.)
"I'm literally the only husband who, for a couple hours a week, gets to tell their what what to say, what to wear and where to stand," jokes Cougar Town co-creator Lawrence of his actress wife. "And I say that wholeheartedly admitting that I'm not in control of my family or my home life."
While their comedic styles are not too dissimilar, their approach is vastly different. “Mike is unflappable, and I’m a ball of anxiety,” says New Girl writer/producer Philbin. Her husband –who counts The Office and Parks and Recreation among his credits– explains, “My firm belief is that the worst thing you can do in any situation is panic.” The comment has Philbin laughing: “And my firm belief is always panic.”
"We’re truly yin and yang,” Fox 21 Studio president Bert Salke says of his NBC Entertainment president wife of 15 years. “I’m bombastic, dramatic and excitable, and Jennifer is as peaceful a person as anyone I have ever met.”
Photographed on Feb. 7 at Madeo restaurant in Los Angeles.
(Jennifer's hair by Elizabeth Sustaita, makeup by Angela Alessi. On-set grooming by Christina Guerra at Celestine Agency.)