9 Actors Who Adopted Animals They Worked with On-Screen

Chris Evans, Taylor Swift and Elizabeth Taylor are among the stars who fell so in love with the animals they met at work that they took them home

Costars have long fallen for each other on set — and some of those loves have been animals.

While it's not uncommon for celebrities to adopt pets, it's rarer for them to do so after filming with them. Take Chris Evans, who adopted his canine best friend Dodger after filming 2017's Gifted. While sharing photos of his pup for National Dog Day 2022, Evans said, "In my house, every day is #internationaldogday."

Taylor Swift is among those who brought home a cat she met on set, while some actors have taken in much larger animals, like Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Taylor, who bonded with horses while filming.

Here are some of the stars who've adopted animals straight from movie, TV and music video sets.

01 of 09

Sarah Jessica Parker

As season 2 of And Just Like That... finished its run, Sarah Jessica Parker shared the sweet news that she'd adopted the cat that played Carrie's feline friend, Shoe.

"His off-camera name is Lotus," Parker captioned a series of photos and videos on Instagram in August 2023 about her new addition. "He and his siblings were all given botanical names when they were rescued as newborns by the @cthumanesociety."

The Sex and the City alum added, "Adopted officially by the Parker/Broderick family in April 2023. He joins Rémy and Smila who we adopted in May 2022. If he looks familiar, that's because he is."

Lotus was brought to the And Just Like That… set from the Connecticut Humane Society.

02 of 09

Chris Evans

Evans famously adopted his dog Dodger from the set of his 2017 film Gifted.

"One of the last scenes we were filming was in a pound, a kennel," Evans told PEOPLE shortly after adopting the pup. "I foolishly walked in, and I thought, 'Are these actor dogs or are these real up-for-adoption dogs?' And sure enough, they were, so I was walking up and down the aisles and saw this one dude, and he didn't belong there. I snagged him, and he's such a good dog."

Dodger was officially adopted in April 2017, and he and Evans have been inseparable ever since — they've even donned matching shirts.

While chatting with PEOPLE in July 2022 about partnering with the dog food company Jinx, the Materialists star deemed his then-7-year-old boxer mix "such a good friend."

He also noted that Dodger had all the important qualities of a good pet, including "companionship," as well as being "loyal," "fun" and "honest."

"I'm probably biased, but I would say that Dodger is a cut above the average dog," Evans said, adding, "He's just a really happy guy. [Dodger] makes everyone around him so happy."

03 of 09

Taylor Swift

Naturally, Swift fans were the first to notice that the singer's new addition in 2019 resembled the cat featured in her "ME!" music video. The Grammy-winning singer eventually confirmed the news in an Instagram Live with collaborator Brendon Urie that April.

"He was just a cute kitten who didn't have a home," Swift said of Benjamin Button, adding that he was part of a program that "tries to get cute kittens adopted by putting them in commercials and stuff."

The handler asked Swift if she wanted to hold the cat before they shot their scene together.

"She handed me this tiny cat, and he just starts purring and … he looks at me like, 'You're my mom, and we're going to live together." I fell in love. I looked at Brendon, and he's like, 'You're going to get the cat, aren't you?' "

Urie added, "It was truly love at first sight, love at first purr. You did not stop. It was just adorable."

Swift was already mom to two cats, Olivia Benson and Meredith Grey, before Benjamin Button came into her life, but the classic ragdoll was the one who earned a spot with the superstar for her TIME 2023 Person of the Year photo shoot.

04 of 09

Yvette Nicole Brown

When filming the live-action remake of Disney+'s Lady and the Tramp in 2019, an on-set animal trainer handpicked the dog, a cocker spaniel, that Yvette Nicole Brown would come to adopt.

"[The trainer] didn't just let people grab a dog," Brown told PEOPLE at the time. "She watched you the entire run of the show, and at the end, she goes, 'I think I have your dog.' I said 'Oh! Who is it?' and she says, 'Harley is your dog.' "

"She was 100% right," she continued. "Harley is my dog. I love him. He's a maniac, but I love him."

Mister Harley Brown even has his own Instagram account with over 4,000 followers, though there hasn't been a post since November 2021.

05 of 09

Tiffany Haddish

Remember the adorable cat from the 2016 film Keanu? Tiffany Haddish took her home.

"She was a rescue cat that they trained and were looking for a home for," Haddish told Hollywood Outbreak of Catonic in June 2019.

A trainer noticed that every time the actress held the cat, Catonic cozied up and fell asleep. Haddish already had two dogs at home, so she was hesitant to add the cat into the mix, but the on-set trainers promised to help her train all three to co-exist.

The result? "For the first year, the cat, I swear, she thought she was a dog," Haddish said.

06 of 09

Sophie Turner

Sophie Turner kept one special memento from the Game of Thrones set: her dog!

It took a little convincing, but Zunni — the Northern Inuit who played her character, Sansa Stark, dire wolf on the hit HBO series — became part of the family.

"Growing up, I always wanted a dog, but my parents never wanted one," Turner told Coventry Live in August 2013. "We kind of fell in love with my character's dire wolf, Lady, on set. We knew Lady died [on the show], and they wanted to re-home her. My mum persuaded them to let us adopt her."

07 of 09

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone blew some fans' minds when he revealed he'd adopted turtles Cuff and Link off the set of 1976's Rocky. What's more: They had cameos in 2018's Creed II.

"In CREED 2 with my original buddies from the first Rocky … CUFF and LINK, now about 44 years old!" Stallone captioned a selfie on Instagram with his turtles in May 2018.

The turtles aren't the only animals who've been Stallone's side on set. He also had a bull mastiff named Butkus, who appeared in Rocky and the 1979 sequel.

08 of 09

Brendan Fraser

While filming the 2015 miniseries Texas Rising in Mexico, Fraser noticed a horse being picked on by other equines.

"Without doing too much — what's the word? Anthropomorphic … anthropomorphizing … Without pretending that the animal is a human, he looked like he needed help. Like, 'Get me out of here, man,' " the Mummy star told GQ in February 2018.

The horse was named Pecas, which is Spanish for Freckles, and Fraser took him back to Bedford, N.Y., where he had rented a stable near his home. Not long after, Fraser and Pecas joined Martha Stewart, who also lives in the upstate New York town, for a stroll with her horses (the lifestyle icon took a photo of the moment and shared it on Instagram).

At the 2024 Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, Fraser paid tribute to Pecas, who had since died, and shared that the horse helped him get through some of the most difficult times of his professional life.

"I had a horse for a while there. He's not with us anymore, I'm sad to say. He's in horsey heaven," the Oscar-winning actor said, per Variety. "He saved … not my life, but he certainly saved an emotional part of me."

09 of 09

Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor once joked, "Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses."

That certainly seemed to be the case with King Charles — the horse, that is.

She selected King Charles, a then-7-year-old thoroughbred that she rode at her country club, to portray The Pie in the 1944 film National Velvet.

The tween actress was the only person King Charles, a relative of Seabiscuit, responded well to, and throughout filming, she asked the studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, if she could keep the horse she was bonding with, per Horse & Hound.

Studio head Louis B. Mayer granted Taylor's wish, gifting her King Charles for her 13th birthday.

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