From On-Screen Siblings to Real-Life Family: Shailene Woodley Opens Up About Ansel Elgort

Some friendships are built on years of casual hangouts and text chains. Others are forged on a movie set, cemented by inside jokes between takes, and strengthened by the kind of connection that transcends the typical costar dynamic. For Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, it’s been both—and then some.

In a rare and candid moment, the 34-year-old actress opened up about her bond with Elgort in an interview shared Thursday, May 21.“Ansel Elgort is to this day one of my best friends,”she said.“I feel like he transcends the label of best friend. He is like family to me. I love him so, so deeply.”It’s the kind of statement that might seem hyperbolic in a typical celebrity friendship, but Woodley’s track record with Elgort suggests otherwise.

The two first connected on the set of the first Divergent film, which premiered in 2014. Playing siblings Tris and Caleb, they hit it off immediately.“When we were doing the first divergent movie, we really connected, and we became sort of instant siblings,”Woodley recalled. Their connection ran so deep that Woodley found herself cooking with Elgort after work, talking for hours about life and everything in between. That kind of chemistry doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built on genuine compatibility and mutual respect.

But here’s where the story gets interesting: instead of playing it safe and keeping their sibling dynamic intact, the two reunited for 2014’s The Fault in Our Stars, where they’d play love interests Hazel and Gus. On paper, it sounds risky. In reality, it became a masterclass in on-screen authenticity. Woodley admitted she was skeptical at first.“When I heard he was auditioning for Fault in Our Stars, I was like‘Oh that’s sweet, but like obviously it’s never gonna happen because he’s my brother in Divergent, like there’s no world where [that happens]…And then he was cast.'”

What made their romantic scenes work wasn’t the artificial chemistry that sometimes gets manufactured on screen—it was the genuine love already present between them. Woodley explained that their real-life affection created something rare and tender on film.“I think actually what made our relationship in that movie as tender as it was and as truly like unconditionally loving as it was [because] Ansel and I do genuinely love one another,”she said. That unconditional love translated into characters who were truly walking each other home, supporting one another through chaos and heartbreak.

The intimacy scenes came with their own awkwardness, naturally.“Of course it was awkward when we had to do intimacy scenes together, cause I remember [us] laughing in between takes a little bit together,”Woodley shared.“I know everything about you, that is so weird that we have to take our shirts off.”It’s a refreshingly honest take on what many actors gloss over, and it speaks to the ease between them—even discomfort can become funny when you trust someone completely.

Since their last collaboration in 2016 on the final Divergent installment, Woodley and Elgort have kept their bond alive. They even took a trip to Italy together in 2022, proof that their connection exists well beyond red carpets and promotional tours. In an industry where costar friendships often fade once production wraps, theirs has only deepened. That’s the kind of friendship worth talking about—rare, genuine, and built to last.