What happened to the Friends Cast sixteen years after the last season of Friends? Having premiered in 1994, the hit show Friends of NBC focuses on the life of Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe. The show had a great run until it was ended in 2004. And since then, all of the Friends actors have taken their career in different directions. In this video, we’re going to take a look at what the stars of Friends have been up to since the show ended. Make sure to stick around until the end of the video to hear about Gunther the Barista, one of the most beloved recurring characters in the series!
Facts Verse Presents: Friends Cast Then And Now. If you are a fan of Friends, make sure to click the like button! And then click the subscribe button and the notification bell to get notified about future Facts Verse videos.
Ross Geller Played By David Schwimmer THEN:
A Museum of Natural History paleontologist and Monica Geller’s older brother, Ross Geller later became a New York University tenured paleontology professor. Throughout the series, the on and off relationship between Rachel and Ross recurs. During the series, Ross has three unsuccessful marriages, one of which was with a lesbian named Carol Willick, who is also his son Ben Geller’s mother. He also gets a divorce from second wife Emily Waltham after he says Rachel’s name by accident during the vows of their wedding. Later in Las Vegas, Ross also ends up marrying Rachel after a drunken spree. Within the series, his divorces become a running joke. He and Rachel later have a daughter named Emma following a one-night stand. In the finale of the series, the two finally make a love confession to each other.
David Schwimmer NOW
David Schwimmer landed TV roles and movies such as in the film The Laundromat, from 2019, and also TV roles in Will And Grace. In the movie Madagascar, Schwimmer was the voice of the giraffe named Melman. He starred in The People Versus OJ Simpson and played Robert Kardashian. As the lawyer in the show, his performance earned him a nomination for a primetime Emmy for a limited series outstanding supporting actor in the award shows of 2016. In the revival of Will And Grace, Schwimmer has a recurring role as the on-screen love interest of Debra Messing. In 2018, headlines were made by the actor for his uncanny resemblance to the criminal suspect in Blackpool, England. The star of Friends made a parody video after he noticed the news where he pleaded innocent after pretending to steal a crate of beers.
Chandler Bing played by Matthew Perry THEN
Chandler Bing hates his high-paying job as a statistical analysis executive and reconfiguring data for a multinational, large corporation. During the season, he attempts to quit but is lured back with a pay raise and a newer office. Later, in the ninth season, he quits his job and moves to become an ad agency copywriter in Tulsa. Chandler has a peculiar childhood history with his dad being a cross-dressing, gay star father in Las Vegas and his mom being an erotic novelist. Known for bad luck in relationships and a sarcastic sense of humor, Chandler later marries Monica in the 7th season and at the end of the series, adopts twins. Chandler dated Janis Hosenstein in the first season before his relationship with Monica and broke up with Janice subsequently many times.
Matthew Perry Now
Mainly, Matthew Perry has appeared continuously on television and has been open about his struggle with substance abuse. Perry in Friends lost a drastic amount of weight and became addicted to pain medications. In 1997, he checked into rehab and has made sobriety his focus since that time. Later, he revealed that in 2018, he was hospitalized for going through surgery in his gastrointestinal tract. Also, he alarmed Twitter fans by saying he got kicked out of therapy for 1 session but clarified later that he has resumed his sessions of therapy. He starred on The Kennedys After Camelot as Ted Kennedy. He also stars in Mr. Sunshine, Go On and The Odd Couple.
Joey Tribbiani Played By Matt LeBlanc
A food lover and struggling actor, Joey becomes a famous soap opera star for his Days Of Our Lives role as Dr. Drake Ramoray. He has many girlfriends he dates short term. Despite his lifestyle, Joey is a well-intentioned, caring, and innocent person. He often uses the pick-up catchphrase “How You Doin?” He tries to win over every woman he comes across. For years, his roommate was Chandler and later he becomes roommates with Rachel. In season eight, he begins falling in love with Rache until she politely tells him she does not feel the same way. Eventually, the briefly date in the tenth season but due to the complicated relationship Rachel has with Ross and due to their friendship as roommates, they finally admit it won’t work.
Matt LeBlanc NOW
LeBlanc landed Joey, a series spin-off after Friends. The series ended after two seasons and did not have the same success as friends. Later, LeBlanc landed roles in the show Episodes and Web Therapy. Episodes lasted from 2011 to 2017 and earned a winning Golden Globe for an actor’s performance in a musical television series or comedy. Since 2012, LeBlanc had been a presenter and cohost on Top Gear, a show in Britain.
Phoebe Buffay played by Lisa Kudrow THEN
A self-taught musician and masseuse, Phoebe lived in upstate NY as a child with her mom, until her mom committed suicide and Phoebe ended up living in the streets. She sings and writes her own unusual songs with a guitar as accompaniment. Ursula is her identical twin. There are three serious relationships that Phoebe has over the course of the show. In season one, she had a serious relationship with David who gets a research grant and moves to Minsk so she ends up breaking up with him. Her next serious relationship is with a police officer named Gary, whose badge she found. In the fifth season, she has an on and off relationship with Mike Hannigan. He desires not to marry in season nine so she breaks up with him. She gets back together with David who returns from Minsk. Eventually, she rejects David for Mark who proposed to her. In the tenth season, Mike and Phoebe get married.
Lisa Kudrow NOW
Currently, a writer, producer, and actor, Lisa Kudrow has also landed parts in movies such as The Girl On The Train, Easy A, Neighbors, and PS I Love You. She also starred on some of the ABC’s episodes of Scandal as Josephine Marcus, a congresswoman. She is also the voice of characters in The Boss Baby and BoJack Horseman. On the show The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, she plays Lori-Anne Schmidt. She also guest stars in The Good Place and Grace And Frankie plays Sheree. The actor also stars in Web Therapy, a series she created that got nominated for a Primetime Emmy and lasted for four seasons. She reveals her struggle with body image as beside Cox and Aniston, she felt like she was a mountain of a woman.
Monica Geller played by Courtney Cox THEN
A chef and the mother hen of the group. Courtney is competitive, bossy, and an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist. As a child she was overweight. She worked in a variety of restaurants as a chef in the course of the show. Her first real relationship is with Richard Burke a long-time friend of the family and older than her by 21 years. A strong relationship is maintained between the two and Richard later reveals he does not want kids. Chandler and Monica begin a relationship after one night in London in the fourth season which leads to their getting married in the seventh season and at the end of the series, adopting twins together.
Courtney Cox NOW
Courtney Cox starred in her own show called Cougar Town after Friends. Beginning on ABC and finishing in 2015 in TBS, Cougar Town went on for 6 seasons. Cox also made appearances on shows such as Drunk History, Modern Family, and Shameless. In the 2019 Ellen Degeneres shows, Cox said she had been engaged to Johnny McDaid, the guitarist of Snow Patrol but thought still together, are no longer engaged. She maintains good friendships with Kudrow and Aniston, her Friends costars and they occasionally still hang out together.
Rachel Green played by Jennifer Aniston THEN
Monica’s childhood best friend and a fashion enthusiast, Rachel moves in first with Monica in season one after almost getting married to Barry Farber. Ross and Rachel Geller are involved later through the course of the show in an on and off relationship. During the series, she dates other men including in season one, their Italian neighbor Paolo. In season four she dates a Bloomingdale’s client named Joshua Bergin. Later, she dates her assistant Tag Jones in the seventh season. In season five she dates a Ralph Lauren buyer. At season eight’s end, Rachel and Ross have a daughter named Emma, and later on, in the series, Rachel gives up a Paris job to be with Ross, and they confess their love for each other.
Jennifer Aniston NOW
For her role in The Morning Show as Alex Levy on Apple Plus TV, Aniston was the winner of the SAG Award for outstanding female actor performance in a dramatic series. On the show, Reese Witherspoon and Aniston serve as executive producers which include a second season. With tons of films during the years, Aniston continues to show off her comedic abilities. Shows she has starred in include We’re The Millers and Horrible Bosses as well as He’s Just Not That Into You. She has also gained recognition for her efforts of philanthropy in the Research Hospital of St. Jude. In 2016 she wrote a powerful essay about people who have speculated about whether or not she was pregnant and those who have body-shamed her. Her essay won the praise of Justin Theroux, her then-husband who she married in 2015 but divorced in 2018. In the Dumplin movie on Netflix, she plays Rosie, a beauty pageant former queen.
Gunther the barista played by James Michael Tyler THEN
In every season of the show, the barista at Central Perk is Gunther and is only credited as a starring guest of the show. Mostly, Gunther has a profound secret love for Rachel. Through the series, he even becomes the coffee house manager. In addition to English, Gunther speaks Dutch and it turns out he is a former actor for a soap opera as well.
James Michael Tyler NOW
Later, Gunther played by James Michael Tyler appeared on Episodes, a BBC/Showtime Sitcom playing an ice hockey coach as himself. Later in 2009, Tyler opened a replica of Central Perk in London’s Carnaby Street for two weeks in September and October to honor the 15th anniversary of Friends. He also made an appearance in Nobody’s Watching, a pilot unaired sitcom satire.
Friends Then And Now
You may be surprised to know the original title of the show was “Insomnia Cafe”. After several rewrites and changes, the show’s title went from Insomnia Cafe, to Six of One, to Friends Like Us, and then finally, just “Friends”.
When writing the show, creator David Crane wanted every actor to be equal in prominence. The series was praised for being the first show that was a “true ensemble.” The members of the cast made efforts to keep the format of the ensemble without any of the members dominating. They opted for collective negotiations for salary and entered themselves in the same awards categories. They asked to appear together on cover photos in magazines in season one. Off-screen, they became best friends. After the run of the series, the cast remained good friends particularly Aniston and Cox. In fact, Aniston became Coco Arquette’s godmother, who is the daughter of David Arquette and Courtney Cox. Each cast member acknowledged that in their commemorative Friends Till The End book, they admitted that the cast became their family.
Now that you know what the Friends cast is up to today, we’d like to hear from you. Leave us a comment telling us which character from friends is your favorite! And don’t forget to like this video and subscribe to Facts Verse for more videos.
