ENDED TV SERIES

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Spanning ten years, Friends follows the lives of six friends living in New York City. Supporting each other through whatever problems come their way, Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) are a modern urban family.

Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) – Ross is a paleontologist working at the Museum of Natural History and is recently divorced from his wife of three years, Carol (Jane Sibbett). He soon finds out that she is pregnant with his child, adding another layer of difficulty to an already complicated situation – Carol left Ross when she realized she was a lesbian. Socially awkward and often insecure in relationships, the very first episode sees Ross meeting Rachel Green, a woman with whom he’s been in love since they were just teenagers. Their developing relationship becomes a key element of the show.

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Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) – Monica is Ross’s younger sister. After her former roommate Phoebe moves out, she lives alone until her friend Rachel appears unexpectedly with no place to stay.  Monica is a talented chef who wants to run her own restaurant one day. Attractive, perfectionist, obsessive about cleaning, loyal to her friends and fiercely competitive, Monica was overweight in the past and remains sensitive about her friends’ jokey references to that time. She is the mother hen of the group, and desperately wants to get married and have children.

Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) – Rachel and Monica were best friends when they were younger but haven’t spoken in years until Rachel shows up on Monica’s doorstep in a wedding gown, having realized she didn’t love the man she was about to marry. Both Monica and Ross are stunned to see her, but Monica offers her a place to stay until she is able to get back on her feet. They soon rekindle their friendship and remain roommates throughout the ups and downs of Rachel’s relationship with Ross. An avid follower of fashion, Rachel has to settle for being a waitress before winning her dream job working for designer Ralph Lauren. She dates many men, and slowly overcomes her rich girl attitudes as she grows ever closer to the rest of the group.

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Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) – Chandler lives with his roommate Joey across the hall from Monica. At the beginning of the series he is working in statistical analysis for a multi-national corporation. He has a sarcastic sense of humor and an exotic family history: his mother, Nora (Morgan Fairchild), was an erotic novelist and his father, Charles (Kathleen Turner), a cross-dressing singer and dancer in Las Vegas. The nine-year old Chandler was told his parents were getting divorced over Thanksgiving dinner, a shock that has left him unable to tuck into turkey ever since. He attributes his bad luck with women to his bizarre upbringing, though having the middle name of Muriel can’t help.

Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) – Joey is Chandler’s roommate and close friend. A struggling actor who never seems to have any money, he has an enormous appetite but “Joey doesn’t share food!” An Italian American, Joey’s popularity with the ladies perhaps stems from his experience as one of a large family consisting almost entirely of women. On the other hand, maybe it’s his catchphrase, “How you doin?” which seems to work on women of any age, shape, size or status. Somewhat simple-minded Joey nevertheless hits on great ideas from time to time, and is sweet, loyal, loving and very protective of his friends.

Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) – Quirky Phoebe is a self-taught musician who makes her living as a masseuse. She sings and writes her own “unique” songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. Her step-mother’s suicide led to Phoebe living on the streets when she was younger, an experience which seems to have toughened her up in some ways and left her innocent and childlike in others. She has a twin sister named Ursula (also played by Kudrow) who is her exact opposite, cruel and uncaring where Phoebe is kind and loving. Until recently, Phoebe lived with Monica but was unable to handle her overbearing behavior and now resides with her grandmother in her apartment. While she can be ditzy, Phoebe is steadfast in her beliefs and a dedicated friend.

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Main Cast

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Additional Cast

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Trivia

Like his character Joey Tribbiani, Matt LeBlanc is of Italian descent.

Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green) and her mother stopped speaking to each other after Aniston took exception to comments her mother made about her to a tabloid. Her mother was not invited to Aniston’s wedding to actor Brad Pitt, from whom she is now divorced. Aniston’s mother also wrote a book titled From Mother and Daughter to Friends: A Memoir.

David Schwimmer shares his birthday, November 2nd, with his mother.

Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing) was a top junior tennis player in Canada. He ranked 17th nationally in the junior singles category and third in the doubles category.

Lisa Kudrow is nothing like the ditzy character of Phoebe. She graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychobiology and originally planned a career in research alongside her father, who is a physician. She changed course and ended up in show business after Jon Lovitz, a friend of her brother’s, encouraged her to act.

Each member of the cast was paid equally. “The six of us are far stronger than just one person,” said Lisa Kudrow. From the fifth season the cast also received syndication royalties, a step that broke the mold for television shows which had until then only shared such benefits with stars that had ownership rights, like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby.

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Matt LeBlanc’s daughter, Marina Pearl, has a rare brain disorder that affects her motor skills. She started having seizures at less than a year old, but by the age of two her condition had improved.

Courteney Cox (Monica Geller) and David Arquette divorced in 2013.

The “Rachel” haircut popularized by Jennifer Aniston in the series was copied by a multitude of women in the 90’s.

Terri Farr played Phoebe’s mother in both Friends and the movie Kabluey.

Series creator David Crane wanted all six actors to be equally prominent, and the series was lauded as being “the first true ‘ensemble’ show”. The cast went to great lengths to maintain the position, choosing to negotiate their salaries collectively, entering the same awards categories and in the first season even asking to be photographed as a group for magazine covers. They became best friends off-screen and Tom Selleck, who guest starred for several seasons, said he sometimes felt left out by the closeness of their bond. The official farewell commemorative book, Friends ‘Til the End, featured separate interviews with each of them, with everyone saying that the cast had become like family to them.

David Schwimmer turned down the role of Agent J in the movie Men In Black and the part was famously taken by Will Smith.

Matthew Perry is missing part of the middle finger on his right hand as a result of a door-shutting accident in nursery school.

Matt LeBlanc is fluent in French.

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Courteney Cox had a six-year relationship with actor Michael Keaton.

Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay) was terrified of “The Duck” who appeared on the show.

The cost of a 30 second advertising slot during the Friends finale was $2 million, topping the record set by the Jerry Seinfeld finale in which 30 seconds of advertising cost $1.7 million.

The Friends series finale was the most watched in history, beating the finales of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld.

David Schwimmer’s mother, Arlene Colman-Schwimmer, was the attorney for Elizabeth Taylor during her divorce from Larry Fortensky and for Roseanne Barr when she divorced Bill Pentland.

Friends appears on Time magazine’s list of “100 Best T.V. Shows of All Time”.

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Courteney Cox went into labor on her fifth wedding anniversary. She gave birth to her daughter, Coco, the next day, two days before her 40th birthday. Her daughter’s name was the result of a compromise between Courteney and her husband, David Arquette. Courteney had wanted to call her daughter by her own name, a name she also shared with her mother. David, however, is half-Jewish and it is against Jewish tradition to name a baby after a living person. Courteney’s friends had given her mother the nickname “Mama Coco” growing up, so this was chosen for the baby girl. Jennifer Aniston is Coco’s godmother.

Like her character Phoebe, Lisa Kudrow is a vegetarian.

After Friends ended Matt LeBlanc starred in the spin-off show Joey, which lasted for two seasons.

Matthew Perry turned down the role of Capt. Jimmy Wilder in the smash hit movie Independence Day. The part was eventually taken by Harry Connick, Jr.

Jennifer Aniston’s godfather was the late Telly Savalas.

“Central Perk Coffeehouse”, one of the main settings in the show, has been copied around the world, right down to its couches and neon lighting.

The readers of TV Guide voted Friends the “Best Comedy Cast of All Time”. It won 29% of the vote, beating Seinfeld into second place with 18%.

Courteney Cox went to the same high school as Natalee Holloway and donated reward money to the investigation into her disappearance.

Matthew Perry has worked with his father, actor John Bennett Perry, several times, including in Friends and the movie Fools Rush In where the two played father and son.

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All four of Lisa Kudrow’s grandparents were Jewish immigrants. Her maternal grandparents came from Germany and Hungary and in 2010, during a visit to the town of Ilya in Belarus, Kudrow was shocked to discover that her paternal great-grandmother, Mera Mordejovich, had been ‘killed and burned’ there by the Nazis alongside 900 other Jews during the Holocaust.

A keen motorcycle enthusiast, Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) hosted his own TV show called The Five Coolest Things which – as its title suggests – looked at the five coolest things in each of the motorcycle specialties.

In 2011 Jennifer Aniston was named “Hottest Woman of All Time” by Men’s Health magazine.

As of 2009, Courteney Cox holds a brown belt in karate.

At one time or another, all the show’s main characters have lived in both Monica’s and Joey’s apartments.

David Schwimmer’s family is Ashkenazi Jewish.

The keys laid down by each friend in the finale of the series coordinate with the red, yellow and blue dots in the letters between the Friends title.

Matt LeBlanc is the only member of the Friends cast not to have appeared on Saturday Night Live.

Jon Favreau was originally offered the part of Chandler Bing but later appeared as a guest star on the show. Courteney Cox was supposed to play Rachel, but asked to play Monica instead. Janeane Garofalo was offered the role of Monica but turned it down, as did Jamie Gertz.

When only sixteen years old, Lisa Kudrow underwent rhinoplasty to make her nose smaller.

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Although all the main cast were good friends, Jennifer Aniston was particularly close to Matthew Perry and Courteney Cox.

Matthew Perry did not need a copy of the script when he auditioned for the part of Chandler Bing, as he had been assisting a friend to prepare for the role and already knew the pilot by heart.

Courteney Cox has suffered eight miscarriages, seven of which took place after her daughter Coco was born.

When Matthew Perry won a bet he had made with Bruce Willis on the set of The Whole Nine Yards Willis had to guest star for free in two episodes of Friends.

When Matt LeBlanc auditioned for the role of Joey he had only $11 in his pocket. After the cast received their very first paychecks Courteney Cox purchased a car but LeBlanc bought a hot meal.

Joey’s pick-up line, “How you doin’?” was ranked at #4 in T.V. Guide’s list of “T.V.’s Top 20 Catchphrases”.

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Jennifer Aniston supports many different charities and issues. They include: St. Jude’s Research Hospital, which promotes better understanding of the gay, lesbian and transgender community; “The Cove PSA: My Friend Is…”, a campaign to stop the slaughter of dolphins and protect the people of Japan from toxic levels of mercury often found in dolphin meat; Clothes Off Our Back; the EB Medical Research Foundation; AmeriCares; Project A.L.S.; and the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. She has also donated $500,000 to Doctors Without Borders, AmeriCares and Haitian healthcare provider, Partners in Health. In 2013, Aniston was named Entertainment Industry Foundation ambassador for the Saks Fifth Avenue campaign “Key to the Cure”, which raises money for research into the detection, treatment and cure of women’s cancers.

Courteney Cox’s wedding band is engraved with the words “A deal is a deal”.

David Schwimmer is allergic to cats.

Lisa Kudrow was the first of the six cast members to win an Emmy award.

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Directors often used Matthew Perry’s jokes and suggestions in the series.

The word “friends” is said at least once in every single episode.

Matt LeBlanc’s character Joey Tribbiani plays Dr. Drake Ramoray in a fictional version of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. Jennifer Aniston’s father plays Victor Kiriakis in the real version of the soap.

In 2004 Jennifer Aniston topped People magazine’s “The Most Beautiful List” and the following year she became GQ magazine’s first ever “Woman of the Year”.

The six main characters of the show were all named after characters on the daytime soap opera All My Children.

Whilst married to Melissa McKnight, Matt LeBlanc admitted to “careless and irresponsible behavior” with a stripper. He and his wife divorced soon afterwards.

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David Schwimmer missed the wedding of fellow co-star Lisa Kudrow as he was filming the movie The Pallbearer.

Lisa Kudrow’s real-life pregnancy was written into the show, with the storyline that she was a surrogate for her brother and his wife.

When Matthew Perry first appeared on the cover of People magazine, he sent a copy to one of his former teachers, Dr. Web, who had warned him that he would never amount to anything if he kept joking around all the time.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Courteney Cox told Jay Leno about a bet she’d made with Matthew Perry. One day during filming, Cox had kept repeating a line she remembered from a movie. The line was “Chicks cannot hold their smoke, dat’s what it is”. She thought it was from The Breakfast Club, whilst Perry thought it was from Weird Science. They began betting with each other with the amount starting at $20, but as the day wore on it kept getting higher. At one point, they heard that Judd Nelson was shooting his show Suddenly Susan on a nearby stage, so they went to him to find out the answer. Cox was proved right, and when Leno asked her what the bet had ended up being she sneezed and rang a bell. Moments later, Perry walked out onto the stage with a tissue in his hand and Cox told Leno, “He’s going to be my man slave for the next five months”.

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Courtney Cox has smoked since she was thirteen years old. She and her husband David Arquette gave up the habit just before their wedding in 1999.

Matt LeBlanc has been in a relationship with his former co-star on Joey since 2005.

In 2007 Forbes magazine rated Jennifer Aniston one of the top 10 richest women in the entertainment industry, estimating her net worth at around $110 million dollars.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the last two seasons of Friends saw all its female co-stars became the highest paid television actresses of all time earning $1,000,000 per episode.

David Schwimmer is an active director of The Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica, California. The Center assists victims of date and child rape.

Matthew Perry has twice entered into rehab, once for an addiction to Vicodin and the second time for opioids (including Vicodin), amphetamines and alcohol. To his credit, he has since overcome his addictions.