Meet the Real-Life Loves of Netflix’s “The Residence ”Cast

Shonda Rhimes’ new show The Residence may be a murder mystery, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of love.

The series, which premiered on Netflix on March 20, stars Orange Is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba as detective Cordelia Cupp, a top-tier investigator who’s been tasked with solving a murder at the White House.

With 157 potential suspects to grill and 132 rooms in which for Cupp to look for clues, it features plenty of suspense, but plenty of heart too, according to series producer Paul William Davies. “The Residence is honestly a lot of things. It’s funny, it’s suspenseful, it’s clever, it’s totally farcical in places, it’s genuinely romantic in others,” he told Tudum.

In real life, many of the show’s main cast members are coupled up, with Aduba having tied the knot with husband Robert Sweeting in 2020, and Randall Park, who plays special FBI agent Edwin Park, marrying wife Jae Suh Park two years after meeting her in 2007.

Keep reading to find out more about the real-life love lives of The Residence cast.

Uzo Aduba and Robert Sweeting

Much like her character of Cordelia Cupp, who believes she’s a solo act but winds up with a partner in FBI special agent Edwin Park, Aduba told PEOPLE in 2024 that she “was so sure [love] just wasn’t gonna happen” for her prior to meeting husband Robert Sweeting. “I had just accepted that that was my story.”

That all changed after meeting the filmmaker at a rooftop bar in New York City. “He made me feel safe,” Aduba said. “I felt safe to be all of myself around him — not the best of myself, all of myself, my frailties, my vulnerabilities, my weak, ugly parts. … And when he saw it, he still loved me.”

The couple made things official by getting married on Sept. 12, 2020, though they didn’t publicly reveal their marriage status for a full year following their celebrations.

Their first child, daughter Adaiba Lee Nonyem was born in November 2023.

Randall Park and Jae Suh Park

Comedian Randall Park, a.k.a. Aduba’s fictional work husband, met his real other half, Jae Suh Park, at a charity event in 2007.

Though Jae left the event before Randall could get her number, fate brought them together again several days later when they auditioned for the same role in a commercial.

They married on Aug. 29, 2009, and had their first child, daughter Ruby Louise, in 2012.

The duo has also collaborated on projects, such as their joint appearance on The Mindy Project in 2013.

Susan Kelechi Watson

Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays White House assistant usher Jasmine Haney, is seemingly single.

The This Is Us actor was most recently engaged to Jaime Lincoln Smith. She first shared news of their engagement in September 2019, though in November 2020 she confirmed she was single on Instagram.

Jason and Ceren Lee

Like Aduba, Jason Lee, who stars as President Morgan’s surly younger brother Tripp, has kept many elements of his love life close to his chest.

Lee tied the knot with Turkish and Australian actor Ceren Lee (née Alkac) in 2008, though The My Name Is Earl star kept his nuptials secret for months.

Jason and Ceren share three children: daughters Casper and Alberta “Birdy” and son Sonny. Jason also shares son son Pilot Inspektor with ex-fiancée Beth Jean Riesgraf.

Ken Marino and Erica Oyama

Ken Marino, who serves as President Morgan’s most trusted confidant Harry Hollinger on the show, met his wife Erica Oyama in 2003.

They wed two years later, welcomed children and have worked together since. Ken has starred on Erica’s Burning Love series, which ran for three seasons. They also co-wrote Me Time, a 2022 film that starred Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart, and teamed up for 2018’s Dog Days, starring Vanessa Hudgens, Nina Dobrev, Finn Wolfhard, Eva Longoria and more.

Ken and Erica have also welcomed children together.

Giancarlo Esposito

There’s no love lost between fictional White House chief usher A.B. Whynter (played by Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito), and one of the show’s 157 suspects, by whose hand he meets his untimely demise.

That’s not the case for Esposito and ex-wife Joy McManigal, to whom he was married from 1995 to 2015 and shares daughters Shayne, Kale Lyn, Ruby and Syr Lucia, with, however.

The actor spoke warmly of McManigal on The Jennifer Hudson Show April 2024. “They have a great Mama Joy,” he said of his children. “And she has [shown] up for them. In so many ways, we’ve raised them together.”

Esposito is not known to be in a relationship.

Edwina Findley and Kelvin Dickerson

The Wire’s Edwina Findley is a White House butler on The Residence, but she met husband Kelvin Dickerson in another hallowed building: church.

“Kelvin and I met at Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York … nine years ago,” she told Essence of their meet-cute in 2020.

Dickerson popped the question on Findley’s birthday, and they tied the knot on Nov. 17, 2012. Findley and Dickerson went on to welcome two daughters: Victoria Rose and London Joy.

Molly Griggs and Sam French

Playing President Morgan’s social secretary, Lilly Schumacher, Molly Griggs began dating her husband Sam French in 2014 while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

The twosome wed on July 3, 2021, in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

That same year, Molly and Sam began work on a short film called Static Night, Suddenly Noise, which French wrote and directed while Griggs produced and starred. The movie went on to become an official selection for the New York Shorts International Film Festival in 2024.

Al Mitchell and Lydia Abarca Mitchell

Show maître d’ Al Mitchell dotes on others in The Residence, but at home, he devotes his attention to his wife, Lydia Abarca Mitchell.

In April 2019 Al shared a sweet throwback photograph of the two of them for the couple’s anniversary, writing, “Happy Anniversary @queenlidea. How lucky am l to share this walk with this beautiful soul. #trulyblessed #lovingyoumadly #whoscountingtheyears #myrideordie”

The following year, the actor and director paid homage to his other half’s accomplishments with a throwback Instagram post of her performing. “In honor of Black History Month, l want to shout out to my wife Lydia Abarca Mitchell,” he wrote. “Harlem NY’s first Prima Ballerina and founding member of Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem. She was also the first woman of color featured on the cover of Dance magazine, May 1975!”

Jane Curtin and Patrick Lynch

Jane Curtin — who stars as the president’s mother-in-law Nan Cox — was in the early days of her marriage to husband Patrick Lynch when she became an original cast member on Saturday Night Live.

The couple went on to welcome daughter Tess Curtin Lynch.

Julian McMahon and Kelly Paniagua

The son of the late former Prime Minister Sir William McMahon, Julian McMahon plays the Prime Minister of Australia in The Residence. Off-screen, he’s been married to wife Kelly Paniagua for over a decade.

The actor, who was wed twice before to Dannii Minogue and Brooke Burns, said “I do” for the third time to his girlfriend of 11 years in Lake Tahoe in June 2014 per the Daily Telegraph.

According to the outlet, McMahon proposed in November 2013 while he and Paniagua were on vacation in Melbourne with his and Burns’ daughter Madison.

While the pair largely stays out of the limelight, Paniagua revealed to KTLA that she wrote her children’s book Bedtime for Sarah Sullivan based on Julian’s relationship with his daughter Madison in 2014.

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