​There's Only A Tiny Age Gap Between Stars Who Played Sam And Juliet In 'Love Actually'

Richard Curtis' famed Christmas flick, Love Actually, has been the stuff of sentimental Christmas pap ever since its release in 2003 - you can almost hear the moment on 1 December when everyone dusts off their DVD, tuning in en masse for Hugh Grant to tell us that love's actually all around, or something.

Over the years people have begun to pick holes in the plot lines - which, actually, are sometimes a bit dodge. Take the 'romantic' gesture from Andrew Lincoln's character, Mark, who stands outside his best mate's house to hit on that very mate's wife with some pretty intense messages on a board. He also has a video tape from the wedding that solely consists of close-ups of the bride's face, which is NOT CREEPY AT ALL.

But now there's another revelation, which has not only taken a mind-boggling 14 years for anyone to notice, but is also a bloody good 'un.

Remember Sam, the little kid who's madly in love with a girl at school despite having never spoken to her - and, y'know, being about 10 or something? And do you remember Juliet, the object of Mark's creepy affections?

via GIPHY

Well, you'd have thought those two were poles apart - one being a wee tyke still at school, the other being a married woman with a fairly mature-looking husband. Turns out it's not so, and that the age difference between the two actors was just five years. Five years.

Thomas Sangster, the boy who played Sam, was just 13 when the film premiered in 2003, while Keira Knightley (the actress behind the 'I look quite pretty, don't I?' woman) was 18, meaning there's only a five-year age gap.

Universal Pictures

Now, of course, each of them has gone onto pretty high profile stuff, with Sangster recently taking on the role of Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones and as Whitey Winn in Netflix mini-series Godless.

Knightley carried on with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, while also cropping up in films like Atonement, The Duchess, The Edge of Love and The Imitation Game.

However, last year they reunited for a Red Nose Day short called Red Nose Day Actually. Knightley's Juliet was still rocking that smug look (though no terrible hats this time, thankfully), while little Sam was all grown up, sporting a bit of face fluff and everything.

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman