Running Point may be a love letter to the basketball business, but in real life, the stars of the sports comedy are dedicated to their significant others.
Co-created by Mindy Kaling, the 10-episode series, which premieres on Netflix on Feb. 27, doesn’t center its plot entirely around relationships.
“Romance is not even in the top five things that [the characters are most] worried about in their life,” she told PEOPLE, noting that it was a departure from her usual rom-com focused projects. “I’m used to writing characters who dream of having a boyfriend, getting married, then solving their problem.”
Still, the show has nods to love: Kate Hudson’s character Isla Gordon is engaged to Max Greenfield’s Lev Levenson, while actor Toby Sandman’s character Marcus Winfield has a storyline with Rihanna.
The cast had plenty of real-life inspiration to draw upon for its more romantic moments: Hudson is engaged to Danny Fujikawa; Brenda Song is planning a wedding with fellow actor Macaulay Culkin; and Justin Theroux proposed to his fiancé Nicole Brydon Bloom in 2024.
Meanwhile, Greenfield wed Tess Sanchez in 2008 and Jay Ellis has been married to his wife, Nina Senicar, since 2022.
Here’s everything to know about the real-life loves of the Running Point cast.
Kate Hudson and Danny Fujikawa
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Kate Hudson, who plays Isla Gordon, began dating her now-fiancé Danny Fujikawa in December 2016.
The couple’s love blossomed after 15 years of friendship. “Danny took me on a hike and what I thought was just a hike with a family friend turned very quickly into an unexpected first date,” Hudson wrote of their relationship’s first sparks on Instagram.
The pair went public in May 2017 after they were spotted kissing in Los Angeles. The actress and musician went on to welcome their daughter Rani Rose in October 2018.
The following year, Hudson expressed her gratitude for Fujikawa co-parenting with her. “I’ve got the best man. It’s the first time I feel like I have a real teammate in this,” she told Women’s Health in November 2019.
The couple has been engaged since 2021. While no wedding date has been announced, Hudson told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live in May 2024 that the wedding would be “soon.”
The How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days star also opened up about their relationship on Call Her Daddy podcast, noting that she took nearly four years off from dating before falling in love. “Danny, he’s just such a good man,” she said. “His values are very sturdy, and he’s such a lovely person.”
Brenda Song and Macaulay Culkin
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On Running Point, Brenda Song is Hudson’s “partner in crime” as the team’s chief of staff, but in real life, it’s Macaulay Culkin whom she plays the other half to.
The pair’s relationship began in Thailand in 2017 on the set of the movie Changeland, three years after they met their mutual friend Seth Green’s house. Culkin told Esquire that he thought things were too good to be true early on but later realized, “No—sometimes it’s just good.”
In August 2018, Culkin expressed his desire to start a family with The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star. Three years later, they welcomed their first child, son Dakota Song Culkin, whom they named after the Home Alone actor’s late sister Dakota.
A source revealed to PEOPLE in January 2022 that Culkin had popped the question, and Song later confirmed their engagement, telling PEOPLE, “Wedding planning is so expensive and it takes up so much time.”
The following year, their family grew with the arrival of their second child, Carson.
In January 2025, Song gave Cosmopolitan an update on their marriage plans, saying that she and Culkin had “talked about eloping.”
Justin Theroux and Nicole Brydon Bloom
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Justin Theroux, a.k.a. Running Point’s Cameron “Cam” Gordon, has found love with fiancée Nicole Brydon Bloom, whom PEOPLE exclusively confirmed that he popped the question to in Italy in August 2024.
Having met at a Netflix event in February 2023, their relationship ramped up in the following months. Still, the two have largely flown under the radar, with Thoreux telling Esquire that it was “much more fun” being in a non-public relationship.
More recently, they made their red carpet debut at the Vanity Fair Oscars party in March 2024.
Max Greenfield and Tess Sanchez
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Max Greenfield plays Hudson’s love interest and fiancé, Lev Levenson, on the show, but it’s his wife Tess Sanchez who has his heart in real life.
“Max always puts me first — smartly — which makes for a happy home,” Sanchez told PARENTS in August 2023. “We’re thoughtful with each other.”
According to Greenfield, their communication styles also mesh. “You’re better at voicing things, but I’m a great listener,” he added.
Their relationship began with drinks at a Hollywood bar. “Definitely chemistry at first sight,” the actor said. It quickly deepened with the New Girl actor making his future bride a mixtape of “Cool Jams” for their second date, per the outlet.
They eventually married on Aug. 9, 2008. “It was such a great moment for us,” Greenfield later shared with Vulture.
The couple started their family a few years later, welcoming daughter Lilly in January 2010, and their son Ozzie arrived in August 2015.
When Greenfield and Sanchez celebrated 21 years of marriage in 2024, they revealed the secret to making things work. “As long as he’s going to be away, he has to hire someone to help me with the dogs,” she quipped to PEOPLE. “Everyone else is in place.”
Jay Ellis and Nina Senicar
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On-screen, Insecure’s Jay Ellis is the Waves’ head coach, Jay Brown, but at home, he’s a husband to Nina Senicar and a father to their two children, Nora Grace and Noa Gray.
The couple met in a bar in Los Angeles in 2015, making their social media debut in October of that year.
Nearly two years later, Ellis gushed about his love in a February 2017 interview with The Breakfast Club, telling the radio hosts, “I’m in a very happy relationship. … I don’t really worry about anything else.”
The actors went on to marry on July 9, 2022, in Tuscany, Italy. Senicar revealed the sentimental reason for their location to Vogue, saying, “We always knew we wanted to get married in Italy because going there was the first trip we ever took together.”
Today, they’re parents to two kids: daughter Nora, born in November 2019, and son Noa, born in July 2024.
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