Richard Burke

Ensemble cast

The main cast members of Friends were familiar to U.S. television viewers before their roles on the series, but were not considered to be stars. Series creator David Crane wanted all six characters to be equally prominent, and the series was lauded as being "the first true 'ensemble' show".

The cast members made efforts to keep the ensemble format and not allow one member to dominate; they entered themselves in the same acting categories for awards, opted for collective instead of individual salary negotiations, and asked to appear together on magazine cover photos in the first season. The cast members became best friends off screen, and one guest star, Tom Selleck, reported sometimes feeling left out. The cast remained good friends after the series' run, notably Cox and Aniston, with Aniston being godmother to Cox and David Arquette's daughter, Coco. In the official farewell commemorative book Friends 'Til the End, each separately acknowledged in their respective interview that the cast had become their family.

Salaries

In their original contracts for the first season, the main cast were paid $22,500 per episode. The cast members received different salaries in the second season, ranging from $25,000 to $40,000 per episode, with Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer being the highest paid. Prior to their salary negotiations for the third season, the cast decided to enter collective negotiations, despite Warner Bros.' preference for individual deals. The main cast were paid $75,000 per episode for the third season, $85,000 for the fourth, $100,000 for the fifth, and $125,000 for the sixth. They received $750,000 per episode for the seventh and eighth seasons, and $1 million per episode for the ninth and tenth seasons. The cast also receive syndication royalties beginning with the fifth season.

Main characters

Friends

All six main actors in Friends had prior experience in situation comedy, and, in some cases, improvisational comedy as well. All six actors appear in every episode.

Rachel Karen Green (Jennifer Aniston) is the spoiled but warm-hearted and likable daughter of Dr. Leonard Green (Ron Leibman), a rich, Long Island vascular surgeon, and Sandra Green (Marlo Thomas). She has two sisters, Jill (Reese Witherspoon) and Amy (Christina Applegate). Rachel is introduced into the series in the first episode after she leaves her fiancé, Barry Farber, at the altar, and attempts to live independently without financial support from her parents. She flees from her almost-wedding to New York City to find Monica Geller, her friend from high school. Rachel moves into Monica's apartment and meets Phoebe Buffay and Joey Tribbiani. Rachel already knows Ross Geller, Monica's brother, as all three attended Lincoln High School. In the first episode, she is also reacquainted with Chandler Bing, Ross's college roommate; however, later episodes retcon this, and she is shown to have met Chandler on Thanksgiving, whilst Ross was at college. Rachel's first job is as a waitress at Central Perk coffee house. She later begins to work in fashion, becoming an assistant buyer, and later a personal shopper, at Bloomingdale's. She eventually becomes a buyer at Polo Ralph Lauren.

A great deal of Rachel's life throughout the series revolves around her relationship with Ross Geller. At the end of season seven, during Monica's and Chandler's wedding, it is revealed that Rachel is pregnant from a one-night stand with Ross. Initially, Rachel is determined to raise the baby on her own, but later she realizes she needs Ross's help. She decides to move in with Ross, even though the two are not involved in an intimate relationship. Their daughter is born during the eighth-season finale. Her aunt Monica, 'gives' an indecisive Rachel the name Emma, which she had chosen for her own daughter, at age 14.

During the tenth season, Rachel is offered a job with Louis Vuitton in Paris. She accepts and prepares to move herself and Emma to France. However, in the series finale, she declines the job offer and famously "gets off the plane". Rachel and Ross get back together in the final episode of the series.

Monica Elizabeth Geller (Courteney Cox) is the younger sister of Ross and best friend of Rachel, the latter of whom she allows to live with her after Rachel forsakes her own wedding. She works primarily as a chef at a variety of restaurants. She is described as the mother hen of the group, and is known for her obsessive-compulsive and competitive nature. Monica is often jokingly teased by the others, especially Ross, for having been overweight as a teen.

Joey

Gina Tribbiani (Drea de Matteo) is Joey's attractive older sister, whom Joey comes to live with in Los Angeles during Joey. Temperamental, promiscuous and not particularly bright but very street-wise, Gina is a caring but over-protective and domineering mother. For years she convinced her genius son Michael that he was born when she was 22 instead of 16 years old, and always says he is the one thing she has done well. She and Joey are friends in addition to being siblings, both having the gift of being extremely appealing to the opposite sex, with numerous lovers. Initially working as a hairdresser, by season two she works as a secretary for Joey's agent Bobbie, having impressed Bobbie with her brash manner. Gina is shown to be jealous of her youngest sister, Mary-Therese, claiming that she always has got everything she wanted because she is the baby, but in the same episode proved she still cares for her sister.

In season two Michael's father Jimmy comes back, and he and Gina begin dating again. At the end of season two, they get married. In the season 2 episode "Joey and the Holding Hands", it is implied that Gina may be bisexual.

Alexis "Alex" Garrett (Andrea Anders) is Joey's next-door neighbor, landlady and friend in Joey. She is an educated, but slightly ditzy, blonde lawyer who graduated from Northwestern University and Pepperdine University School of Law. Initially intimidated, but also intrigued by Joey's tough street-wise older sister Gina, the two women eventually become friends and she becomes more bold in the way she dresses and acts, thanks to Gina's influence. She is puzzled but impressed by Joey's intuitive gift at being able to know when she is wearing thong panties and spends most of her time hanging out at Joey and Michael's apartment. She and Joey bond and become close friends. Her husband is a professional orchestra musician and is away from home most of the time and she confides her problems with her marriage in Joey. At the end of season one, she and Joey become romantically involved during her separation from her husband.

In season two, Alex becomes romantically interested in Joey and has a crush on him for a long period. Gina tries to help her to get over Joey, but once Alex starts dating Joey's friend Dean, Joey soon realizes that he is also in love with Alex. Alex and Joey start dating in season 2 and shortly before the final episode they become engaged.

Matt LeBlanc and Andrea Anders dated in real life for several years after the cancellation of Joey.

Characters recurring throughout series

Each of the following characters of Friends may or may not be particularly significant to the story of the series; each was introduced in one season and would usually appear in subsequent seasons.

Introduced in Season 1

Gunther (James Michael Tyler): The manager of the Central Perk coffee house, who first appears as a background character in "The One with the Sonogram at the End". He is a former actor who once played Bryce on All My Children before that character was "killed in an avalanche." Gunther develops an unrequited crush on Rachel in the third season, which he keeps to himself until "The Last One". Apart from Ross, whom he dislikes, he is on reasonably good terms with the rest of the gang despite occasionally being annoyed by wacky antics or comments from them. His motivation for disliking Ross is jealousy (as he is aware of Ross's relationship with Rachel), which is made clear numerous times, most notably in "The One with the Morning After" when he reveals to Rachel that Ross slept with another woman while Rachel was on a break from their relationship. Gunther appears in a majority of the episodes, but only occasionally calls attention to himself and almost never has a large role in the plot of an episode. In "The One with The Stain", Gunther is shown to be fluent in Dutch (although with a strong American accent), calling Ross an "ezel" as he converses with him.

James Michael Tyler was cast as Gunther because he was the only extra who could competently work the cappuccino machine on the Central Perk set. Tyler appears as Gunther in a co-host voice-over in the Friends trivia game for PS2, PC and Xbox, and in the board game Friends: Scene It?. The Seattle Times ranked Gunther as the eighth best guest character of the series in 2004. When asked in 2009 by Heatworld.com what Gunther would be doing "now", Tyler joked, "He'd probably have a very traditional marriage, with lots of white-haired babies running around with hair brighter than the sun." Aside from the main cast, he appears in the most episodes.

Jack (Elliott Gould) and Judy Geller (Christina Pickles): Ross and Monica's parents. In early appearances, Jack frequently makes inappropriate comments, which he punctuates by exclaiming "I'm just saying...!", while Judy makes condescending remarks about Monica's lack of a love life and sometimes forgets her daughter even exists, while overtly favoring Ross. Jack is more balanced in his attention and care towards both Ross and Monica, though after the Gellers sell their house in season 7, it is revealed that Jack used boxes of Monica's old stuff to block rainwater from getting to his Porsche. As penance, Jack decides to gift Monica the Porsche.

Despite each of them having their own quirks, they are occasionally dumbfounded by the crazy antics of their son and daughter, such as Ross' disastrous wedding to Emily and Monica's ridiculous speech at their 35th anniversary party. They are also sometimes bemused by the antics of the other four friends, such as idiotic or crazy comments from Phoebe and Joey, a revolting trifle cooked by Rachel, and Chandler entering a coed whirlpool alongside Jack without wearing anything underneath the towel wrapped around his waist. In the season 10 episode The One with The Cake, the couple record a message for their granddaughter's 18th birthday in which they state they might not be around by then.

Introduced in season 2

Estelle Leonard (June Gable): Joey's talent agent. She is usually seen wearing colorful clothes, heavy make-up, and a bouffant. She chain smokes and has a strong New York accent. Gable's first appearance as Estelle, in "The One with the Butt", was cut for time, though the character appears off-screen when she signs Joey and lands him his first film role, playing Al Pacino's butt-double. The cut scene is included in the episode's DVD release. Her first on-screen appearance comes in season 2's "The One with Russ", where she gets Joey a recurring part in Days of Our Lives. Although she is shown to be supportive of Joey's career throughout the show, in "The One Where Joey Loses His Health Insurance" it is suggested she has instead been bad-mouthing him after mistakenly assuming he has found another agent. She dies in the final season, and Joey speaks at her memorial service, where it is revealed that by that point she represented only two clients — Joey and a man whose act is eating paper.

When Gable auditioned for the role, she played Estelle quite plainly and was encouraged to "go away and do something with her". She returned to the audition room wearing a "fat suit" and eating a sandwich from a delicatessen, which she stubbed out a cigarette on. The performance was used in the deleted scene of "The One with the Butt". Her age is never given but Gable believed that she was in her 80s. In 2004, The Seattle Times ranked Estelle as the sixth-best guest character of the series. Gable also plays the nurse who delivers Ben in "The One with the Birth".

Dr. Richard Burke (Tom Selleck): an ophthalmologist and close friend of Jack Geller. Richard is introduced when Monica caters an event for him in "The One Where Ross and Rachel … You Know"., and they begin dating despite their 21-year age difference. Ross is initially upset, but becomes supportive of their relationship, especially when Monica decides to tell their parents. This does not go well at first, but even Monica's parents have to admit that they've never seen Richard happier and that he's not just "fooling around" with a younger woman. He and Monica break up in "The One with Barry and Mindy's Wedding" when he tells her he does not want more children, his own having already grown up (and had children of their own). Despite the two still being in love, they cannot reconcile this difference, and are both devastated for months. He makes a brief voice cameo in "The One Where No One's Ready", and later they briefly attempt to rekindle their romance as "friends" before accepting that the reasons they broke up remain valid. In "The One in Vegas", Monica and Richard bump into each other off-screen and have lunch together. Monica does not feel anything for Richard but refrains from telling Chandler because of their upcoming anniversary. When he learns the truth, they fight for most of the episode until Monica assures Chandler that she will never see Richard again. In "The One with the Proposal", he runs into Monica and Chandler at dinner. While Chandler is planning to propose but pretends to be against marriage because he "wants it to be a surprise", Richard stuns Monica by telling her that he still loves her, and wants to marry her and have kids with her. Monica rejects him but later arrives at his apartment, frustrated with her own situation. She complains to him for a bit about how bad things are going in her love life before leaving to think things over. Eventually, Chandler comes to his apartment searching for Monica and tells Richard of his own proposal plan. Richard seems to lack sympathy for Chandler at first, responding to Chandler explaining away his plan to make her initially think he was against marriage by stating it had "worked very well" but when Chandler angrily tells him he has no right to ruin another man's relationship with her because he's already ruined his own, he realizes Chandler is right and tells him, "You go get her, Chandler. And can I give you a bit of advice? If you get her, don't let her go. Trust me" — noting that he hates the fact that he is a nice guy when Chandler thanks him. His apartment is put up for sale in season 9, in "The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song", but Richard is not seen. While there, Chandler finds out that Richard made a sex tape with Monica which he steals and watches, but he and Monica later discover that Richard taped over her, relieving Chandler but leaving Monica feeling insulted.

Introduced in season 4

Emily Waltham (Helen Baxendale): The English niece of Rachel's boss Mr. Waltham, who arrives for a two-week visit to New York in "The One with Joey's Dirty Day". She has a whirlwind romance with Ross and they decide to get married. Her friendly relationship with Rachel soon changes during the wedding. The friends fly to London for their wedding in "The One with Ross's Wedding" (airdate May 7, 1998; Season 4, No. 23 & 24), and Ross accidentally says Rachel's name at the altar, humiliating Emily in front of her friends and family. She aims to reconcile with him at the airport in "The One After Ross Says Rachel" (airdate September 24, 1998; Season 5, No. 1) but sees Rachel with him about to go on their honeymoon and storms out again. Ross tries to convince her to move to New York. She agrees but makes him promise to get rid of everything Rachel has ever come into physical contact with in the friends' apartments (which would be virtually impossible) and she demands that he never see Rachel again. When she learns that he's having dinner with the old gang—including Rachel—she tells him she cannot trust him and she decides to end the marriage. She makes a final voice cameo in "The One with the Ride Along", when she leaves a message on Ross's answering machine the night before her new wedding, telling him she is having second thoughts about it and is worried that they made a mistake splitting up. Rachel accidentally deletes the message, but tells Ross about it and convinces him not to respond to it. In a later episode Ross reveals Emily is getting married again. Emily's surname is that of the city where both creators of the show attended college.

Patsy Kensit was originally approached to play the role but she was removed from the role after early rehearsals. Emily and Ross's marriage was intended to last much longer in the series, but Helen Baxendale became pregnant prior to season 5 and was unable to travel for the show; hence, her limited appearances after season 4. Helen Baxendale was asked to reprise the role in season 10, but turned it down to star in the West End play After Miss Julie, and because she did not want the same level of tabloid attention she received in 1998.

Introduced in season 7

Tag Jones (Eddie Cahill): Rachel's inexperienced but attractive new assistant at Polo Ralph Lauren. She hires him after being promoted, not because he is the best choice for the job but because she is smitten with him. After he also becomes interested in her they try to keep their relationship a secret from her boss Zelner; otherwise Tag's employment would be a conflict of interest. In "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" Rachel breaks up with Tag when she realizes that their six-year age difference makes him too young and immature for her to be dating if she intends to follow her marriage schedule. He reappears in "The One with the Red Sweater" in season eight when Phoebe thinks he is the father of Rachel's unborn baby. He tells Rachel that he has matured a lot since their break-up and wants to resume their relationship, but backs off when he finds out she is pregnant by someone else. He later meets up with Ross—who is the real father and is wearing the same kind of red sweater.

Charles Bing/Helena Handbasket (Kathleen Turner): Chandler's father and Nora's ex-husband, regularly referred to as an unseen character in previous seasons. The character's gender identity is ambiguous within the series, but a later interview confirmed Charles was intended as a transgender woman. Determined to invite them to their wedding in "The One with Chandler's Dad", Monica drags Chandler to Helena's burlesque show in Las Vegas, where they are seen for the first time, performing under the name "Helena Handbasket". Chandler invites them to the wedding, and they and Nora walk Chandler down the aisle in "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding, Part 1". They do not appear at the reception in "The One After 'I Do'", though a deleted scene reveals they are upstairs crying after Joey accidentally ruined their dress.

Introduced in season 9

Mike Hannigan (Paul Rudd): a former lawyer who, after his divorce, decides to change his lifestyle and pursue his dreams of being a pianist. In "The One with the Pediatrician", Joey and Phoebe agreed to set each other up on a blind double date, but Joey forgets and shouts out the name Mike in Central Perk, to which Mike responds and agrees to go on the date. Despite Joey's lies being exposed, Phoebe and Mike end up connecting and dating. Phoebe meets his parents in "The One with Ross' Inappropriate Song" and discovers they are very wealthy; they disapprove of Phoebe, but Mike declares his love for her. They move in together during "The One with the Boob Job" but break up after Mike admits he does not want to get married again. However, after Monica discovers that David wants to propose to Phoebe, she convinces Mike to fly out to Barbados in "The One in Barbados" as she knows they still love each other. Mike and David both propose to Phoebe, and she chooses Mike but rejects the proposal, stating they are not ready and she just wants to assurance that they will be married one day.

Mike and Phoebe officially get back together and move in again. In "The One where Rachel's Sister Babysits", he attempts to propose on the big screen during a game, but panics after Phoebe mentions she hates when people propose this way; Phoebe attempts to fix this by proposing on the screen herself, but it again fails. The pair later get engaged at a restaurant and get married during "The One with Phoebe's Wedding", where a freak snowstorm leaves the venue in chaos and prevents guests from arriving, forcing them to be married by Joey in the street. Mike and Phoebe remain happily married for the rest of the series, with it being implied they will try for children in the show's final episode.

Charlie Wheeler (Aisha Tyler): an attractive paleontology professor (goes to Woodroffe school) whom Ross falls for in "The One with the Soap Opera Party" (airdate April 24, 2003; season 9, No. 20). He plans to ask her out, but is too late when she gets together with Joey instead. Initially angry, he eventually accepts Joey and Charlie's relationship and helps Joey come up with intelligent places to take her on dates in "The One with the Fertility Test". At Ross's conference in "The One in Barbados", Charlie tells Joey that they have nothing in common and breaks up with him. She and Ross then get together. In "The One with Ross's Grant" (airdate November 6, 2003; season 10, No. 6), she breaks up with Ross and gets back together with her old flame, Dr. Benjamin Hobart (Greg Kinnear).

Characters appearing in only one season

Each of the following characters of Friends, portrayed by a celebrity, may or may not be particularly significant to the story

Only in season 2

Russ (David Schwimmer; credited as "Snaro") is the first man Rachel dates after Ross. A slightly-taller doppelgänger of Ross, Russ is a dentist. While both Ross and Rachel are initially oblivious to Russ' resemblance to Ross, Rachel finally notices after the duo get into an argument over what defines a "doctor". In the final scene of the episode, "The One with Russ", Russ reveals to Phoebe and Chandler that Rachel had broken up with him. As Russ wonders what he will do with his life, Ross' own ex-girlfriend Julie enters and meets eyes with Russ, the two instantly falling in love, and leaving Central Perk together. In 2019, Lauren Tom described the couple as still being together by that year.

Only in season 3

Pete Becker (Jon Favreau): a computer software genius and multi-millionaire, Pete is introduced when he tips Monica $20,000 at the Moondance diner in "The One with the Hypnosis Tape", which she assumes is a joke. He asks her out for a pizza, and takes her to Rome. Monica worries about the fact that she is not attracted to him and cannot figure out why. When Pete offers her a job in his restaurant, she turns him down, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but a goodbye kiss from Pete finally awakens her feelings. Monica thinks he is going to propose in "The One with Ross's Thing"; instead, he tells her he wants to become an Ultimate Fighting Champion. He gets badly beaten by Tank Abbott, and every other fighter he encounters, and Monica reluctantly ends their relationship after he refuses to quit despite his increasingly debilitating injuries.

The character of Pete was conceived as "a Bill Gates billionaire genius scientist-type" to whom Monica was not attracted. The producers and casting director had difficulty finding an actor to play Pete as they wanted, "someone who was appealing enough that we liked him, so we could root for him, but on the other hand, wasn't so drop-dead male model gorgeous that we would go, 'What's your problem?' to Monica when she didn't fall for him."

Only in season 4

Joshua Burgin (Tate Donovan): a recently divorced customer and millionaire business investor who regularly uses Rachel as a personal shopper at Bloomingdale's. Joshua first appears in "The One with Rachel's Crush" (airdate January 29, 1998; season 4, No. 13). They start dating, but break up in "The One with All the Wedding Dresses" (airdate April 16, 1998; season 4, No. 20) when Rachel, reeling from Ross' recent engagement to Emily, proposes to Joshua after just four dates. Joshua Burgin's parents, referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Burgin, are played by John Bennett Perry (Matthew Perry's real life father) and Pat Crowley. Joshua appeared after the time that Jennifer Aniston and Tate Donovan were dating each other in real life.

Only in season 6

Paul Stevens (Bruce Willis), Elizabeth's father, who takes an instant dislike to Ross; he threatens to have Ross fired from the university unless he ends his relationship with Elizabeth. After Rachel joins the three of them for dinner, Paul and Rachel start dating. The two couples end up at Paul's country cabin in "The One Where Paul's the Man", unbeknownst to each other. Ross hears Paul psyching himself up in the mirror and singing "Love Machine", and uses this knowledge to blackmail Paul into not revealing his relationship with Elizabeth to the university. After Ross and Elizabeth break up, Rachel continues to date Paul, but feels that he is too closed-off and attempts to get him to open up emotionally; she regrets this when he does open up, breaking down in tears and talking about his past for hours, and she breaks up with him.

Bruce Willis donated his appearance fee to five charities after losing a bet with his The Whole Nine Yards co-star Matthew Perry. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role.

Only in season 8

Eric (Sean Penn): Ursula Buffay's boyfriend, whom she brings to Monica's Halloween party in "The One with the Halloween Party" (airdate November 1, 2001; season 8, No. 6). Phoebe is attracted to him but learns that Ursula has lied about herself in order to marry him, and so promptly warns him about Ursula's lies. He dumps her and in "The One with the Stain" he tries to get together with Phoebe, but cannot stand to look at her as she reminds him of her sister. Phoebe is able to convince him to see past that, and after she leaves for a massage client after their make-out session, she comes back only to find that Eric had sex with Ursula thinking she was Phoebe. They awkwardly decide that it is too weird to pursue things any further. Penn got the role after he made several visits to the Friends set with his children, who were fans of the show.