Friends: How the Main 6 Got Their Roles (and Which Was the Hardest to Cast)
Friends may be based on a simple concept, but finding the perfect people to bring it to life proved to be quite a challenge.
The show's creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, searched all over Hollywood to find their matches made in heaven, and their efforts paid off.
Here is what the Main Six had to do to get the roles that made them famous.
Crane and Kauffman may have seen plenty of actors audition for Ross, but they wrote the part with Schwimmer in mind.
The showmakers had seen David for another show and couldn't let go of that hilariously sad demeanor he had going.
Getting him on board wasn't easy – by the time Friends went into production, Schwimmer had quit television and decided to focus on theater work. A few gift baskets and a lot of begging later, he finally signed on for Friends!
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2. Lisa Kudrow
A bunch of women read for Phoebe, but none had the right delivery. It wasn't until Crane's husband, Jeffrey Klarik, suggested inviting Lisa Kudrow to audition.
He was actually working on another NBC show, Mad About You, where the actress played waitress Ursula – a recurring role Kudrow would later reprise on Friends. Lisa nailed the audition, and the rest, as they say, is history.
3. Matt LeBlanc
After David and Lisa got cast in their respective roles, the creators went through a bit of a dry spell. They couldn't find the rest of the stars-to-be for two and a half months.
Many actors had Joey's good looks and charm, but lacked the comedic timing. Fortunately (for Friends), Matt LeBlanc only had $11 dollars to his name, so he stepped right in and absolutely killed it.
Crane and Kauffman were impressed, and the third part was cast.
Courteney was the most famous of the six at the time, and the showrunners even feared that Friends would become "a Courteney Cox show."
The actress was originally supposed to portray Rachel, but she thought that Monica would be a better role for her.
We are glad that Cox convinced Crane and Kauffman and got the part – she made Monica richer and more three-dimensional than she was ever intended to be.
The creators thought that Chandler would be the easiest part to cast since the jokes were literally in the script, they just needed a pretty face to say them.
However, they saw actor after actor, and none of them had what it took. Luckily, the duo had previously worked with Matthew Perry on Dream On and loved him so much that they invited him to audition for Friends.
There was an obstacle though – Perry had already signed on for another sitcom, L.A.X. 2194. Someone in charge saw the taping of the pilot and knew that the show would never be successful, so Matthew got cast in Friends instead.
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At the beginning of the series, Rachel is a bit of a spoiled brat, and the character might have remained unlikable if it weren't for Jennifer Aniston.
Crane and Kauffman wanted someone to make Rachel relatable, and it so turned out that only Jennifer could do it. Just like Perry, Aniston had a commitment to another show, Muddling Through (and it was more than a pilot).
The creators took a risk and started filming with Jennifer anyway. Fortunately, the other series was soon canceled, and Friends had Aniston all to itself.
The order in which the actors were cast is unexpected, to say the least, but the struggles, the countless auditions, the risks taken – it was all worth it.
Nearly 30 years later, Friends continues to set the standard for the sitcom genre.