Felicity Huffman on her husband William H. Macy:
“I was working at the Atlantic Theater Company where Bill was also working. It was love for me at first sight. I think I had to talk him into it for a while. We just talked all the time. I went on a campaign because I knew this was the guy. It worked! And it was certainly worth it.”

LL Cool J on his wife Symone Smith:
“I met my wife when she was coming out of church and I was driving by. I leaned out the window of my car and said, ‘Do you have a phone?’ She looked at me like I was crazy and said, ‘Yes.’ Then I said, ‘If you have a phone, you must have a number! What is it?’ I know it was bold, but I had to meet her.”

Reese Witherspoon on her husband Ryan Phillippe:
“We had talked on the phone, and then I got on a plane to fly to meet him in another city. The entire ride there, I was thinking, ‘What are you doing? This is crazy! You should go home! What are you doing?’ But it was the best thing I ever did in my life. You have to take a chance.”

Stars whose mates put the moves on them:

Diane Lane on her husband Josh Brolin:
“Strangely enough, we met when I was pregnant with my daughter. He was making a film with my husband at the time. It was just ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ at the lunch table. Flash-forward nine years and we met again at a restaurant after a premiere. He said, ‘Remember me? I met you nine years ago.’ I was like, ‘Oh, yeah. How are you?’ We started talking about our kids because he has a daughter the same age. The rest is history.”

Catherine Keener on her husband Dermot Mulrooney:
“We were filming this Outward Bound type of movie in the woods. I had to do this scene in the lake, and the water was deep. I was flailing around, and it was really scary. Dermot jumped in to save me. It was hilarious because I was in trouble, but the crew thought I was just kidding, so they weren’t helping me. But Dermot knew something was wrong and jumped right in. After that I thought, this is an amazing guy.”

Stars who are together thanks to a third party:

Téa Leoni on her husband David Duchovny:
“It’s funny, but an agent knew both me and David. He kept saying, ‘You guys should really talk to each other. You would have so much fun.’ Well, I was nervous, but said, ‘Have him call me.’ It was one of those conversations where on my end, I just couldn’t stop talking. I was Chatty Cathy. By the end of the call, I thought, he must think I’m a total idiot. But later we met and it was clear that this wasn’t what he was thinking.”

Cindy Pearlman is an entertainment journalist and co-author of Love Notes: 101 Lessons From The Heart.