Kate Mara tried to serve as matchmaker for Jamie Bell before they started dating

Kate Mara tried to set up "biggest catch" Jamie Bell on dates with other women before they became an item.

The House of Cards actress and Billy Elliot actor met on the set of the 2015 superhero movie Fantastic Four and announced they had married in July 2017.

During an appearance on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast on Wednesday, Kate recalled how she and Jamie were just friends for a long time.

"We were friends but not - we didn't really know each other. And then we made the Fantastic Four movie together, which was a really interesting experience," she told host Ted Danson, describing the film shoot as "rough" and a "mess".

But despite thinking Jamie was "so great" and the "best", Kate tried to match the English actor up with other women.

"He was single and I was trying to set him up with all these people," the 42-year-old remembered. "'Cause I thought, 'Oh God, I've (got to) set him up with someone. He's the biggest catch. How is he not with someone amazing?'"

It wasn't until the press tour for Fantastic Four that Kate realised Jamie was the "person I was looking for".

"We were friends for so long that we were both just in our minds, like, 'This is the relationship,'" she smiled. "And then, yeah, we fell in love on the press tour of that movie 'cause it was trauma bonding."

And once they were a couple, there was no turning back.

"He blinked, and that was it. Insane. We're like, 'Oh, I guess we're getting married,'" the A Teacher star joked. "We just thought, 'Oh, this is gonna be forever. Wonderful.' And here we are, a bunch of kids later and it's the best."

Kate and Jamie are parents to a six-year-old daughter and two-year-old son.

The 39-year-old also shares a son with his ex-wife Evan Rachel Wood.