Friends - Characters

Characters

The series featured six main characters throughout its run, with many other characters recurring throughout all ten seasons.

• Jennifer Aniston portrays Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast and Monica Geller's best friend from high school. Rachel first moves in with Monica in season one after nearly marrying Barry Farber whom she realizes she does not love. Rachel and Ross Geller are later involved in an on-again-off-again relationship throughout the series. Rachel dates other men during the series, such as an Italian neighbor, Paolo in season one, and her client Joshua Bergin in season four. Rachel’s first job is as a waitress at the coffeehouse Central Perk, but she later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's in season three, and a buyer at Ralph Lauren in season five. Rachel and Ross have a daughter named Emma in "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two" at the end of season 8.

• Courteney Cox portrays Monica Geller, the mother hen of the group and a chef, known for her perfectionist, bossy and competitive nature. Monica is often jokingly teased by the others for having been extremely overweight as a child, especially by her brother Ross. Monica works as a chef in various restaurants throughout the show. Monica’s first serious relationship is with family friend Richard Burke who is 21 years her senior. The couple maintains a strong relationship until Richard expresses that he does not want to have children much to Monica’s dismay. Monica and Chandler Bing later start a relationship after spending a night with each other in the Season four finale, leading to their marriage in Season seven.

• Lisa Kudrow portrays Phoebe Buffay, an eccentric masseuse and self-taught musician. Phoebe lived in uptown New York with her mother until her mother killed herself and Phoebe took to the streets. Phoebe is ditsy but street smart and writes and sings (badly) her own quirky songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. She has an "evil" identical twin named Ursula who shares Phoebe’s quirkiness but unlike Phoebe seems to be cruel and uncaring. Phoebe is childlike and innocent in disposition. Phoebe tends to use her past misfortunes such as her mother’s suicide as sympathy ploys. In the last season, she marries Mike Hannigan played by Paul Rudd.

• Matt LeBlanc portrays Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor and food lover who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey is a simple-minded womanizer with many short-term girlfriends throughout the series. Despite his womanizing tendencies Joey is an innocent and caring character with good intentions. Joey often uses the catchphrase pick up line "How you doin'?" in his attempts to win over women. Joey rooms with his best friend Chandler for years and later a while with Rachel. He falls in love with Rachel in season eight. Rachel politely tells Joey that she does not share the same feelings and after a short period of awkwardness between the two, they return to being friends as before.

• Matthew Perry portrays Chandler Bing, an executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multi-national corporation. Chandler quits his job and becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising agency during season nine. Chandler has a peculiar family history being the son of an erotic novelist mother, and a cross-dressing Las Vegas star father. Chandler is known for his sarcastic sense of humor and bad luck in relationships. Chandler marries Monica in season seven, and they adopt twins at the end of the series. Before his relationship with Monica, Chandler dated Janice Hosenstein in season one and subsequently broke up with her many times. Matthew Perry has expressed his similarities to the character such as his need to break an awkward silence with a joke and difficulties with women when first joining the show.

• David Schwimmer portrays Ross Geller, Monica Geller's older brother, a paleontologist working at the Museum of Natural History, and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. Ross is sweet natured man of good humor, although he is often clumsy and socially awkward. Ross is involved in an on-again-off-again relationship with Rachel throughout the series. Ross has three failed marriages during the series: Rachel, Emily, and Carol, a lesbian who is also the mother of his son, Ben (Cole Sprouse). His failed love life is potentially due to his paranoia and jealousy in relationships and his divorces become a point of humor within the series. He and Rachel have a daughter by the end of season eight and they confess that they are in love with each other in the last episode of the last season.