Biography of the cast

Here you can find the biography of the cast.

Jennifer Aniston was born on February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California to Nancy and John Aniston (Victor Kiriakis on Days of Our Lives).Aniston, who is Greek, spent a year of her childhood living in Greece with her family but later, moved to New York when her father landed a role on the daytime drama, Love of Life.Aniston's parents separated when she was 9 years old. After the divorce, she was raised in New York City by her mother.Aniston was inspired to act after seeing the play Children of A Lesser God on Broadway. At 11, Aniston joined the Rudolf Steiner School's drama club. Aniston was, and still is, a very talented artist and at the young age of 11, one her paintings was displayed at an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.At 15, Aniston was accepted to New York's High School For The Performing Arts. In 1987, after graduating from high school, Aniston spent a year living at home with her mom. She did not want to go to college. Instead, she worked at a burger joint called Jackson Hole in Manhattan. During those burger-pushing days, Aniston won roles in the Off-Broadway productions of For Dear Life at New York's Public Theater and Dancing On Checkers Grave.

Looking for more of a challenge, Aniston moved west where she met soon-to-be friend, Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing).During 1989, Aniston was cast in a handful of television shows. In 1993, Aniston won a part in Leprechaun. In those years, Aniston made a name for herself as an actress who would take risks and graciously accept criticism of herself and her work.Then, a pilot of a show called Friends Like Us came along. Aniston was originally tested for the role of Monica, but she told the producers that she felt much more comfortable with the Rachel character and they agreed.Life wasn't all easy for Aniston though. Before getting the role of Rachel Green on Friends, Aniston was told to lose some weight and she did. She lost 30 pounds. Now, as the girl everyone wants to look like, fame has proven to be a bit daunting for Aniston. Now, her passions for things like antiquing, hiking, and travelling have been halted, for the time being. She can no longer go out into public without being stopped for autograph requests or photos and finds the worst part of her newfound celebrity status is meeting a man. However, that doesn't seem to be a problem anymore because Jennifer Aniston is currently going out with actor, Tate Donovan.

Courteney Cox - Monica Geller 

Cox was born in Birmingham, Alabama to an affluent Southern family; her late father, Richard L. Cox, was a businessman and her mother, also named Courteney, was a housewife. Cox has two older sisters (Dottie Pickett and Virginia Cox), one older brother (Richard, Jr.) and nine half-brothers and half-sisters. Her parents divorced in 1974, and her father moved to Florida, while Cox grew up with her mother and her stepfather, New York businessman Hunter Copeland.

Cox was raised in an exclusive society town, Mountain Brook, Alabama. She attended Mountain Brook High School, where she was a cheerleader, tennis player and swimmer. Upon graduation, Cox went to study architecture and interior design at Mount Vernon College. She dropped out after one year to pursue a modeling career, after being signed by the Ford modeling agency in New York City. While modeling, she also took acting classes, and lost her Southern accent.

Cox has dated agent Ian Copeland, singer Adam Duritz, and actor Michael Keaton. She met actor David Arquette on the set of Scream; the couple married on June 12, 1999 in an Episcopalian ceremony. While Cox has occasionally used her full married name, "Courteney Cox Arquette", professionally, she continues to be generally known simply as "Courteney Cox". On June 13, 2004, she gave birth to their first child, Coco Riley Arquette, a baby girl; her "Friends" co-star, Jennifer Aniston, is the baby's godmother. Reportedly, Cox initially wanted to name their child "Courteney," just as Cox herself was named after her mother; however, Arquette resisted this idea because his Jewish faith discourages naming children after living relatives. As a compromise, they agreed upon the name Coco, which was a nickname for Cox's mother. A second child for the couple is expected in fall 2006.

In 1999, Cox underwent laser eye surgery to correct her vision, which was at "20/40".

In 2005, she donated money to the Natalee Holloway investigation, having attended the same high school as Holloway

Lisa Kudrow was born on July 30, 1963 in Encino, California and raised in Tarzana. She is the daughter of headache specialist. Kudrow expected to follow in her father's footsteps when she graduated from Vassar College in New York State with a B.S. in biology and returned to California to work with him. However, Kudrow's career in research was cut short when a friend of her brother, Jon Lovitz (Saturday Night Live alum), suggested that she audition for the comedy troupe, The Groundlings. Kudrow was not accepted the first time because of her lack of experience but after working with Cynthia Szigeti, a well-known comedy teacher, she got in in 1989. During that time, Kudrow entered a romance which evolved into an enduring friendship with then-unknown late night host, Conan O'Brien.

On Kudrow's road to success, she suffered a few disappointments before winning the role of Phoebe Buffay. Kudrow was originally cast as radio producer, Roz Doyle, on Frasier, but was replaced by Pery Gilpin before the pilot episode was filmed. Kudrow also had high hopes that her recurring role as waitress Ursula on Mad About You would turn into a steady gig. Fate, however, had other plans. The next pilot that Kudrow read for and cast in was Friends. The character of Phoebe was never written as a twin, but the producers of Friends found this as an opportunity to do a little crossover with Phoebe and Ursula. This can be seen in The One With The Two Parts - Part One And Two.

Kudrow earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her work during the show's debut season. She's been busy fighting off the advances of Hollywood movie-makers and advertising representatives ever since.

So far, Kudrow's extracurricular activities have included hosting the VH1 Honors Awards, a high profile milk print ad, both with Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), and the Friends infamous Diet Coke campaign.

Right now, Kudrow is enjoying life with her French husband, Michael Stern and her son, Julian Murray.

 Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani:

Born in July 25, 1967, Matt LeBlanc is very well known for his character Joey Tribbiani, in the series Friends and Joey.

Matt was born to an Italian mother and a father who is a mix of Irish, Dutch, English and French. That's why, his last name, LeBlanc, is French, and means, "The White", while his character Joey, has an Italian last name. When he was a kid, he was interested in motorcycling, more than in acting. At the age of 8 he got his first motorcycle, and stated to participate in competitions. But his mother didn't like the idea and forced him to find a better career. He learned carpentry.

He graduated from his local high - Newton North High School, in the year 1985. That's when he wanted to make himself a life in New York. Starting 1987, he began appearing on many commercials, making him famous. He managed to advertise many companies, and one commercial was even won the Gold Lion Award at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

In the year 1988 he started learning formal acting. Less than a year later, a got his first starring role as Chuck Bender in the TV series TV 101. By then, he moved to Los Angeles. He guest-starred on Red Shoe Diaries.

He also appeared on several movies, not being a real success comparing his Television career. Some of them were: The Killing Box (1993), Ed (1996), Lookin' Italian (1998), and All The Queen's Men (1999).

In the year 1994 he jumped into the knowledge on millions around the world in the award-winning comedy Friends. He starred there for 10 years, as Joey Tribbiani, the woman-chaser friend, who cares about his 5 friends as no-one else in the world.
Friends ended in 2004, and from there he continued to Joey, the only Friends's daughter series so far. He is again Joey Tribbiani, who went to Hollywood to succeed in the entertainment world. Joey currently airs its 2nd season.

He was nominated for innumerable awards for his roles in Friends and in Joey, and won 3 of them: Favorite Male Television Star in People's Choice Award (2005), TV - Choice Actor, Comedy in Teen Choice Awards (2002), and Editor's Choice (as part of Friends) in TV Guide Awards (2000).

Matt has married Melissa McKnight on May 3, 2003, after being engaged for 5 years. They have a shared daughter, Marina Pearl LeBlanc, who was born on February 8th, 2004. They also have two kids, Tyler and Jacquelyne, from Melissa's previous marriage.

Born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Matthew Perry was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, where he became a top-ranked junior tennis player in Canada. However, after moving to Los Angeles at the age of 15 to live with his father (actor John Bennett Perry), he became more interested in acting. In addition to performing in several high school stage productions, he remained an avid tennis player. Perry ranked 17th nationally in the junior singles category and third in the doubles category. Upon graduating from high school, Perry intended to enroll at the University of Southern California. However, when he was offered a leading role on the television series, "Second Chance" (1987), he seized the opportunity to begin his acting career.

David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

David Schwimmer was born on November 12, 1966 in Queens, New York and raised in Los Angeles. Schwimmer was first exposed acting when he enrolled in a high-school drama class on a whim. After he completed the course, an instructor encouraged him to attend a summer program in acting at Northwestern University in Chicago.

After his graduation from high school, Schwimmer returned to Northwestern, where he received a B.S. degree in speech/theater. Following his graduation in 1988, Schwimmer, along with seven other Northwestern graduates, founded the Lookingglass Theater Company in Chicago. The group is an ensemble of actors, directors, and writers.

Schwimmer's stage-acting credits with Lookingglass include "West," "The Odyssey," Of One Blood," "In the Eye of the Beholder" and "The Master and Margarita." His stage-directing credits include "The Jungle," which earned six Joseph Awards; "The Serpent"; and "Alice in Wonderland," which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.

In 1993, Schwimmer made his debut as a television-series regular on the comedy "Monty." He had recurring roles in a few other TV series. He also hosted Montreal's "13th Annual Just For Laughs Festival."

Schwimmer's next movie, Dogwater, in which he stars and directs will show us how well he is on camera and also behind the camera