friends

FRIENDS:

• Jenifer Anniston as Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast who starts working at the coffee shop, but later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloodmignage´s and, subsequently, works at Ralf Lauren Jennifer Aniston had already appeared in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast in Friends.

• Courtney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller, a chef who changes jobs often throughout the show, ending up as head chef at Javu. Courteney Cox was already an accomplished TV and film actress when she was cast, having appeared in the likes of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and with several minor roles on sitcoms such as Seinfeld and Family Ties.

• Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, an eccentric masseuse and musician. Lisa Kudrow had previously played Ursula Buffay on Mad About You and would reprise the dual role of twin sister Ursula as a recurring character during several seasons of Friends. Kudrow was cast in the pilot of Frasier in the role of Roz, but the part was later re-cast with Peri Gilpin in the role.^[2]

• Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. LeBlanc had appeared as Vinnie Verducci in Married... with Children in the early 1990s and starred in that sitcom's short-lived spin-off, Top of the Heap, as well as in the unrelated Vinnie & Bobby, but before that had mainly been focusing on advertising and modeling work when he was cast as Joey Tribbiani. After the show ended, a spin-off, Joey was created focusing on Leblanc's character; it wasn't as successful, having been cancelled after two incomplete seasons.

• Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, an executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multi-national corporation. He is later a junior copywriter at an advertising agency and marries longtime friend Monica Geller. Like Aniston, Perry had already appeared in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast.

• David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, a paleontologist working at a museum of Prehistoric History and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. The character of Ross was written with David Schwimmer in mind; having auditioned for Crane and Kauffman in the past, Schwimmer was said to have a memorable voice and was mostly known for his Broadway work. He also appeared in The Wonder Years as the boyfriend and eventual husband of lead character Kevin Arnold's older sister Karen.