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Jurnee Smollett’s first date was a family affair. At 18, she’d gotten someone’s number “randomly, on the street” and agreed to go out with him. Her four brothers didn’t love the idea, and literally tagged along, unbeknownst to the guy. “We went to a Johnny Rockets or something,” Smollett, now 37, tells Bustle, laughing at the memory. “And they were just over in the corner. I kid you not. Man, they wouldn’t let me go on this date without them!”

If it all sounds like the makings of a sitcom, well, in some ways it was. The six Smollett siblings — Jurnee lands in the middle — starred together on ABC’s 1994 series On Our Own and were especially close as their stay-at-home mother, Janet, homeschooled them together.

“We struggled growing up, but we had each other,” says the actor, who at 10 starred in the critically acclaimed Eve’s Bayou opposite Samuel L. Jackson, a job that followed roles on Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper and Full House. “There was that dynamic of ‘We’re all we’ve got, so we’re going to take care of each other.’”