Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari-Parker talk about how they keep their family, careers, and love balanced in an interview with Rolling Out.

The couple met on the set of Showtime’s Soul Food and were married in 2005. Seven years is a long time for any pair, but for one in Hollywood? It might as well be a lifetime! Not only have they kept their relationship healthy, but they also had two children along the way. And even with their busy schedules, they tend to their kids first. When one is working, the other is at home taking care of their needs.

With Nicole’s recent stint on Broadway in New York, Boris dished about his stay at home dad duties, “We work really hard at making sure that our kids always have a sense of stability and routine, which means that when one of us is working, we try our best to make sure that the other is in place so that they can still go to school and do all of the things that they are accustomed to doing in their routine…I’ve been at home with the kids.  I’ve been driving them to surf camp, making sure that they are at ballet and karate, and just doing everything that I’m supposed to do as a father.”

So they do a balancing act of jobs, and that’s one of the reasons they’ve been able to make their marriage last so long. They admit to taking the time to visit one another as much as they can when one is away on a job. Nicole will soon be in the UK and to them that just means more planes to catch to spend time together.

All this wouldn’t be possible without their undeniable love and chemistry, which Nicole recounts of, “…from my side there was immediate chemistry, and that’s not necessarily sexual. It was just immediate understanding, flow of conversation, intellect, and an instant trust.  Soul Food made us make out all the time, so us wanting to kiss each other was handled on set … but that really wasn’t the crux of our relationship. There was an immediate deep trust and love there for me, and I knew that he was going to always be in my life somehow, I just didn’t know how.”

The two are inseparable, well unless they have a job to do, like Nicole’s play overseas or Boris’ upcoming Resident Evil commitment. See Hollywood, you can have a continuous career, loving family, and a successful marriage if you put effort into it.