The series featured six main cast members throughout its run, with numerous characters recurring throughout the ten seasons. The main cast members were familiar to television viewers before their roles on Friends, but were not considered to be stars. During the series' ten season run, the actors all achieved household name celebrity status.Jennifer Aniston portrays Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast and Monica Geller's best friend in high school. Rachel and Ross Geller are involved in an on-off relationship throughout the series. Rachel's first job is a waitress at the coffee shop Central Perk, but she later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's and a buyer at Ralph Lauren in season five. Aniston had already appeared in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast in Friends.
Courteney Cox Arquette portrays Monica Geller-Bing, the hen mother of the group,known for her obsessive-compulsive and competitive nature. Monica is often ridiculed for having been an extremely overweight child by the others, especially her brother Ross. Monica is a chef who changes jobs often throughout the show, and marries longtime friend Chandler Bing in season seven. Cox had the highest profile of the main actors when she was initially cast, having appeared in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Family Ties.
Friends' cast in the first season, from left to right, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica Geller, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing.Lisa Kudrow portrays Phoebe Buffay, an eccentric masseuse and musician. Phoebe became homeless at the age of 14, and is known for being ditzy and yet street-smart. Kudrow previously played Ursula Buffay on Mad About You, and reprised the dual role of twin sister Ursula as a recurring character during several episodes of Friends. Before her role on Friends, Kudrow was an office manager and researcher for her father, a headache specialist.
Matt LeBlanc portrays Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor and food lover who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey is a womanizer with many girlfriends throughout the series, and develops a crush on his friend Rachel in season eight. Before his role on Friends, LeBlanc appeared as a minor character in the sitcom Married... with Children, and as a main character in its spin-offs, Top of the Heap and Vinnie & Bobby.
Matthew Perry portrays Chandler Bing, an executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multi-national corporation. Chandler quits his job and becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising agency. Chandler is known for his sarcastic sense of humor, and marries longtime friend Monica. Like Aniston, Perry had already appeared in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast.
David Schwimmer portrays Ross Geller, a paleontologist working at a museum of Prehistoric History, and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. Ross has three unsuccessful marriages through the series, and is involved in an on-off relationship with Rachel. Before being cast in Friends, Schwimmer played minor characters in The Wonder Years and NYPD Blue.
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, most 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 interviews that the cast had become their family. In their original contracts for the first two seasons, each main cast member was paid $1,600 per episode. Before the third season, the cast threatened to go on strike unless they received pay increases, which resulted in each actor receiving $100,000 per episode. For the series' sixth season, the cast members were offered $250,000 to return. The cast members again entered negotiations before the sixth season, receiving $750,000 per episode, and during the eighth season, receiving $1 million per episode
