A classic scene from the comedy The Nanny has CC (Lauren Lane) entering a room talking of how she just saw a TV show where it was “so obvious” an actress was pregnant and “who are they fooling covering it up?” The joke was that Lane herself was pregnant and holding a huge bag over her belly. This led to a running joke of her entering rooms carrying larger and more ludicrous props from a potted plant to a baby poster. It was an obvious shot on how often on television, an actress is pregnant and they have to hide it. From Friends to Scandal to various other shows, it’s often quite obvious when it happens. Not only does a lady suddenly gain weight but she’s shot from behind tables and counters and in far-off shots a lot more. Some shows can play with it; when Jane Leeves was pregnant on Fraiser, they had her Daphne gain weight overeating. Most simply go to the idea of sending the character “on a trip” to hide it.

However, other times are interesting in how well they manage to hide the actress’ condition to the point it’s not obvious. In fact, a few times, it’s not until after filming that the actress reveals she was pregnant all along while handling the role. Today, filmmakers are able to use clever tricks like CGI and other bits to hide the bumps and in a few cases, some other smart moves. Thus, it can be very surprising just how far along some of these ladies were when making a movie or TV show. Here are 15 actresses you didn’t realize were pregnant when filming and how well they hid their conditions from fans.

Halle Berry - X-Men

Some criticize the casting of Halle Berry as Storm. The woman is a beautiful and very talented actress but just seemed to lack the power needed for the role, the fury of a woman controlling nature and a virtual goddess. But Berry kept it up in the first three X-Men movies and doing a decent job of it.

For Days of Future Past, Storm returns in the segments of the X-Men trying to stop a nightmare future and looked good in the uniform. Her role was actually smaller than expected but for a good reason. As shooting began, Berry was expecting and thus the costume designers had to redo her uniform to hide her growing belly. It also played into things as instead of majorly taking part in the fight against the Sentinels, Storm only did a few lightning bolt moves. But it worked out well as Berry still looked good enough to carry the part on.

Grey’s Anatomy Ladies

ABC’s long-running hit medical drama as boasted a fantastic female cast. Which quite often means that they’ve needed to work in some real-life pregnancies into their filming plans. The big one was Ellen Pompeo who plays Meredith Grey, becoming pregnant in season six. They thus worked around Meredith shot from the waist up, an operating table before her and a lot from the back. They also did the plotline of Meredith donating a kidney to her dad and thus an excuse for a bed-ridden Pompeo to be under covers but involved in scenes.

She wasn’t alone as the season before Chyler Leigh, who played Meredith’s half-sister, Lexi, was also pregnant. The solution was more creative with Lexi’s weight explained by her overeating due to anxiety and ordered to take a vacation to avoid a breakdown. Finally, Jessica Capshaw’s pregnancy was handled by having her Arizona do a months-long internship in Africa. Ironically, when Caterina Scorsone became pregnant in real-life, it was written into her Private Practice spin-off. Just shows how real life turns forced writers to doctor up some scenes.

Morena Baccarin - Homeland and Gotham

The alluring actress broke out majorly with her performance on the beloved cult sci-fi series Firefly. Numerous small TV roles followed before Morena Baccarin got huge attention on Homeland. The first season of the acclaimed drama featured her as a wife handling her supposedly long-dead husband returning when she’d been sleeping with his best friend. It showed great drive but good dramatic bits as well to elevate Baccarin more. Baccarin wasn’t worried when she learned at the end of season two she was pregnant as she figured her character wouldn’t be around for season three. As it happened, she was back and with some major material to boot. So not only did she need bulky clothes but the producers digitally erased her growing belly for some stand-offs with main character Carrie.

It’s continued as Baccarin is currently engaged to Gotham star Ben McKenzie and guest-stars on the show as his on-screen love Lee. In season 3, she was expecting, requiring some fancy camera work and a few digital bits to avoid showing off too much and Baccarin still looking great through it all.

Reese Witherspoon - Several Movies

One would think Reese Witherspoon’s biggest regret would be her infamous DUI arrest. However, Witherspoon has complained over the fact that she was busy filming during each of her three pregnancies and “I wish they would have let me be a mom more.” First, she was wrapping up Cruel Intentions as she was pregnant with her first child and then hid the bump under some sweaters for her acclaimed turn in Election. In 2003, Witherspoon was filming Legally Blonde 2 while pregnant, handling most of the filming okay but they required her to be shot from the waist up and some stand-ins for reshoots. Then, filming the 19^th century drama Vanity Fair, Witherspoon hid her growing belly under several large and lavish costumes, even during a dance number.

In 2012, it happened once more as Witherspoon had to hide her large belly for Devil’s Knot and then Mud, covering each with large sweaters and the director doing a lot of waist-up filming. She then shed her baby weight in time to bare all for Wild. Witherspoon may love her kids but she probably wishes she took a bit more time to handle the pregnancies.

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

Angelina Jolie is infamous for her fantastic beauty and mixing up roles ranging from seductress to hot action. Jolie is famous for adopting several children with husband Brad Pitt, seemingly unable to have some of her own. But while filming 2008’s Changeling, Jolie found she was not only expecting for the first time but with twins. It was a bit ironic as the movie has her as a mother whose child is kidnapped and she fights a massive legal battle to prove the child found by the police is not her own. The 1930s fashions helped cover up her growing bump and her breakdowns gave a good excuse for some of her weight shown off a bit more. Jolie also credited the pregnancy fueling her performance and understanding what being a mom was like.

Jolie was soon flaunting her growing belly at Cannes and other places to look gorgeous before giving birth to twins Vivienne and Knox. She also got an Oscar nomination out of the deal to prove how genius hiding this whole thing was to highlight her life.

Daniella Ruah - NCIS Los Angeles

The hit CBS spin-off focuses on a special military-cop unit handling dangerous crimes. It’s hardly the world for a child and thus when Daniella Ruah became pregnant, making her tough-as-nails operative Kensi a mom didn’t make sense. Ruah (who, in an ironic twist, is married to the brother of her on-screen love interest Eric Christan Olsen) found herself pregnant in 2013 just as production was about to begin on the fifth season. The producers thus came up with a clever idea. They had Kensi sent on a special operation in Afghanistan with Ruah able to hide her growing belly under some flak jackets. Ruah filmed her scenes in one big go but they were spread out over the next dozen episodes. Thus, combined with the show taking a month-long break over the winter, meant by the time the plot was wrapped up, Ruah was back at work.

It happened again with Ruah expecting in the eighth season. This time, Kensi was badly injured in a crash and had a few episodes of her in a coma, then in a wheelchair recovering. The lady is back kicking tail on the show regularly and showcasing how great she is at balancing the action with hiding her pregnancy.

Claire Danes - Homeland

After years as a TV favorite (including the beloved My So-Called Life), Claire Danes finally got the respect she deserved for Homeland. Her performance as Carrie Mathieson has won her two Emmys and massive hails for the hit spy thriller. Danes is known for her terrific skills on the show but in its second season, had to take on new challenges. Danes was pregnant as the season began and given it was more action-packed than the first had been, that meant a lot more challenge from the producers hiding it.

Aside from clothes, you had sequences like Carrie chained up in a basement and even a love scene while doing her best to hide the bump. It worked out as the show continued its hit status and Danes winning an Emmy for it but it makes sense that this spy drama was so expert concealing the truth from its viewers on the leading lady.

Lena Headey - Game of Thrones

Cersei Lannister is a woman who claims to love her children but is clearly a rather horrible mother. Given her kids are all the result of a relationship with her twin brother, that’s not surprising that she’s raised a bunch of brats and one certifiable sociopath. Yet Lena Headey has done a great job with Game of Thrones character, making Cersei a gal folks love to hate. Thus, it may be surprising to learn that for most of season 1 of the series, Headey was pregnant when filming. The producers loved her performance so much, they made room for it and lucked out with how Cersei is always in flowing gowns and thus able to hide it. Headey actually jokes that it probably “saved” her from baring all on the show and was happy about that.

Headey became pregnant again as season six was being made and once more, they went to the classic tricks of shooting her from the waist up and in flowing robes. Of course, this included the major scene where Cersei has to walk through the streets of Westeros before a mob. Obviously, Headey couldn’t do it herself so they had a body double and her face CGI’ed onto it later. It shows Headey’s great skills and how she rules on this show.

Alyson Hannigan and Cobie Smulders - How I Met Your Mother

What’s harder than having to hide that one of your only two female stars is pregnant? Having to hide both of them. As incredible as it sounds, the producers of How I Met Your Mother hit that scenario in 2008. Right as filming began for the fourth season, Alyson Hannigan, who played Lilly, announced she was pregnant. At the time, the writers didn’t think a child was right for Lilly and so had to hide it. But then just weeks later, Cobie Smulders announced she was expecting as well and pregnancy fit her Robin even less. Thus, the producers had to figure out how to hide it for both ladies.

They did do some “winking at the audience” with a plotline of Lilly becoming a competitive hot dog eater to excuse her belly. But there were other bits from larger outfits to having to shoot episodes out of order to accommodate the changes. They even joke on how Smulders went from rather flat to a large belly in just days, forcing a scenery change to fit it in. When you watch an episode on syndication, it’s hard to tell but incredibly, the show met this epic challenge.

Amy Jo Johnson - Flashpoint

Best known as the first Pink Power Ranger, Amy Jo Johnson has carved a good career for herself with numerous TV series. One of the biggest was Flashpoint, a hit Canadian cop drama where she’s Jules, the one woman on a special police unit handling hostage situations. Johnson was eager for the part with its stunt work. When filming the first season, she figured her sickness was just nerves and the stunts but soon discovered she was expecting her first child. She caught a break in that the first season of the show was split up with only nine episodes and then a long break before more. Thus, after doing well in the first part of the season, she could hide the pregnancy more under the large tactical uniform.

Finally, they had the plotline of Jules shot by a sniper and thus needing time away for recovery, giving the perfect excuse for Johnson to not be on the show. She would return to showcase her great work and the final episodes had Jules and teammate Sam expecting a kid, a nice “full circle” bit for Johnson.

Julie Bowen, Modern Family

Even many fans of ABC’s long-running hit comedy may be surprised by this. It’s well known that pilots are shot on their own and thus a long break between the first episode and the rest of the series to follow. Thus, the first Modern Family episode was made in early 2009. At the time, Julie Bowen, a popular TV actress from Ed and Boston Legal was eight and a half months pregnant with twins. She had been the first choice for the uptight Claire and a fantastic audition with the assumption filming would be a bit delayed. But Bowen simply loved the part and begged the producers not to waste time. Thus, much of the pilot was reworked to hide her huge belly as much as possible behind some convenient props and tables.

After she gave birth and the show was picked up, Bowen did some reshoots to fill the part out more before it aired. Thus, if you watch the pilot today, just now that Bowen was carrying her own family around along with her TV one.

Emily Blunt - THREE Films

The gorgeous British actress has shown a great ability to move from drama to action movies nicely. She should also be impressive due to the fact that not once but three times, she’s managed to continue filming while hiding a pregnancy. It began in 2013 when she showed up with the rest of the cast of the sci-fi action film Edge of Tomorrow for some reshoots. Tom Cruise noted how Blunt wasn’t doing stunts like the rest of them and she confirmed that she was in fact pregnant, thus had to adjust some of her filming. Blunt went right from there to filming Into the Woods where, ironically, her character can’t have a child and goes on a magical journey. Thus, they had to hide it with some large dresses and upper body shots.

Then when shooting The Girl on the Train, Blunt was a bit late coming to set, making some believe she was a diva. But co-star Justin Theroux figured it out when she was groaning over her stunts and pain in her hips. Blunt did confirm it. It was impressive she managed to hide it so well for her great talent.

Penelope Cruz - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

With her gorgeous looks and amazing body, it’s no surprise Penelope Cruz can lend herself to exotic movies. In 2010, the actress was cast in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in the hit series. As the daughter of Blackbeard, she gets involved in the plot majorly, including sword battles and races through the jungle. However, as filming continued, Cruz revealed she was pregnant and thus had to handle it differently. So we got a few more close-ups but that still didn’t solve the main problem of hiding her pregnancy, including in fight scenes.

The solution was truly inspired: Having Cruz’s sister, Monica, pose as her for some shots. The two bear a great resemblance to each other and thus from a distance, Monica can easily pass for Penelope. They used that for several scenes, including a duel and it saved the CGI guys some work to show how the Cruzs really do have a great sisterly bond.

Sarah Shahi - Person of Interest

A popular TV actress, Sarah Shahi popped up in a second season episode of the CBS series Person of Interest as Shaw, a rough secret agent. Her cool performance and style won over viewers and the third season had her becoming a regular on the show. As season 4 began, Shaw was still popular with her cool fighting and her great banter with crazy hacker Root (Amy Acker) that clearly had subtext. Which was why it was shocking when she seemingly sacrificed herself to stop an attack. But before fans got too outraged, a post-episode interview revealed that right before the season began, Shahi had told producers she was pregnant with twins. Thus, they’d had to hide it for a while before writing her out.

It was a shock to Shahi too as she and her husband “weren’t even trying” and was unprepared for it. In fact, the producers had been planning to kill off Jim Caviezel’s main character and have Shaw take over but her pregnancy changed that. Shahi would return for the final season of the show and showcased how much a pregnancy can change things.

Gal Gadot - Wonder Woman and Justice League

It’s pretty common for major blockbusters to call the cast back for some reshoots a few months after regular production wraps. That’s common for comic book movies as well. Unlike other DC Movies that may have been hurt by reshoot, Wonder Woman was pretty straightforward and they just needed a few bits for some pick-up shots and redo fight scenes. However, this was a little tricky given how Gal Gadot was pregnant when the reshoots began. Thus, she wore a special version of the costume that not only fit her belly but a large green portion over her mid-section so the CGI guys could remove the bump. Patty Jenkins says that should be even more impressive for Gadot to put up with all that in a cold field and such.

Gadot was also pregnant for some early filming of Justice League so they altered production to fit her in and waited until she was ready for some major action scenes. It just goes to show the woman really is an Amazon in many ways.