Friends Reunion: From race rows to leading roles – what the lesser-known characters have done since starring in the show
OH my God . . . can you remember this lot? While Joey, Monica, Ross, Chandler, Phoebe and Rachel dominated Friends, it was bit-part actors who added extra fun.
In tonight's reunion episode, producers say we will hear from some of the lesser-known characters too.
Read our Friends reunion live blog for the latest updates
But what have Janice and others in the support cast been up to since the sitcom ended in 2004?
From leading roles to race rows, we catch up with the friends of Friends.
- The Friends reunion episode airs today from 8am on Now TV and at 8pm on Sky One.
Janice – Maggie Wheeler
CHANDLER’S annoyingly nasal on/off girlfriend appeared in 19 episodes but felt like a much bigger presence.
At the same time as Friends, mum-of-two Maggie, 59, also had a recurring role on American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which also ended in 2004.
Maggie thought her part in Friends would be over after the first series, when she told creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman that she was pregnant.
She suggested Chandler and Janice could have a love-child, which never happened, but Maggie did appear when she was eight months pregnant in season two in The One Where Heckles Dies.
Since then, apart from one-off roles in various TV series including ER and How I Met Your Mother, Maggie’s biggest role has been a voice-over in US animated adult series Archer.
In 2019 she helped promote a pop-up exhibition in New York celebrating 25 years since the first episode.
Fans still shout out Janice’s “Oh my God” catchphrase on the street.
She said: “I’m never sick of hearing it. I love her. She lives on.”
Carol & Susan – Jane Sibbett & Jessica Hecht
CAROL was Ross’s first wife and mother of his son, Ben, who she brought up with her new wife, Susan.
When Carol and Susan married in 2006 they were not allowed to kiss on air and two conservative US cities refused to air the episode. Jane, 58, played Carol in all but one episode.
She filmed her first show just two days after giving birth.
Friends has been accused of homophobia in the way it portrayed Carol and Susan’s relationship, but Jane said: “We were never poking fun at being gay, we were poking fun at those who didn’t get it, who were uncomfortable with it.”
Jane, 58, stepped out of the limelight after her final show in 2001 and became a theatre director in Hawaii. She is married with three children.
Since Friends, Jessica, 55, who played Susan, has worked on Breaking Bad and 2016 US TV series Red Oaks.
She was nominated for a Tony stage award for her performance in A View From The Bridge.
She lives in New York with her husband and two children.
Mr Heckles – Larry Hankin
HE was the oddball who lived below Rachel and Monica and banged his ceiling with a broom when the Friends got too noisy.
Actor Larry, 80, has also worked on Breaking Bad and Seinfeld, but the New Yorker’s biggest role was in 1979 movie Escape From Alcatraz, with Clint Eastwood.
He has had more than 100 TV parts and 50 in films, including Home Alone, Pretty Woman, Planes, Trains And Automobiles and Annie.
In 2019, he appeared in Breaking Bad film spin-off El Camino.
He did just five Friends episodes but rates it his most famous role.
He said: “No comparison, it blows my mind.”
David the scientist – Hank Azaria
SCIENTIST David fell in love with Phoebe but was cruelly whisked away to Minsk on a research project, allowing Mike Hannigan to enter Phoebe’s life.
Hank, 57, is best known for voicing Simpsons characters including Moe the bartender and Chief Wiggum.
Last month he apologised for voicing Indian character Apu.
He was gutted that his geeky Friends character did not get the girl.
Hank said: “Whatever part of me is David the science guy, which admittedly is probably a small part, he wanted to end up with Phoebe.”
Hank has a son with his second wife, actress Katie Wright.
Emily – Helen Baxendale
ROSS’S second marriage, to irritating Brit Emily Waltham, was doomed from the moment he accidentally said ex-girlfriend Rachel’s name at the altar.
Helen, 50, appeared in 14 episodes between 1998 and 1999.
She was written out of Friends earlier than intended when she became pregnant with her first child with film producer David Williams.
She turned down the chance to appear in the final series in favour of doing a West End play.
As well as a key role as Rachel Bradley in five series of comedy-drama Cold Feet, the actress from Pontefract, West Yorks, has starred in Midsomer Murders, Law And Order, Death In Paradise and Cuckoo.
Mike Hannigan – Paul Rudd
JOEY found Mike in Central Perk, having forgotten to arrange a blind date for Phoebe, after randomly shouting the first name he could think of in the coffee shop.
He was only supposed to appear in a few episodes but he and Phoebe got married.
Comedy actor Paul said: “It was an incredible thing to be a part of but the experience seemed surreal.”
To fans’ dismay, he will not feature in the reunion.
The 52-year-old has appeared in hit comedy films Anchorman, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
He also plays Marvel superhero Ant-Man.
Gunther – James Michael Tyler
THE Central Perk manager had the biggest supporting role, notching up 148 episodes.
James was given the part of Gunther, who was in love with Rachel, because he was a real-life barista and knew how to work a coffee machine.
But his character was not given a name until the second series.
At first he earned just £40 a day as an extra, but he is thought to rake in £300,000 a year from Friends re-runs.
James, 58, from Mississippi, has also appeared in the Matt LeBlanc series Episodes, created by Friends producer David Crane, and Modern Music in 2013.
Frank Buffay Jr – Giovanni Ribisi
PHOEBE’S brother Frank, played by Giovanni, only came into her life as an adult and became a dad to triplets carried by his sister as a surrogate.
The actor appeared in Avatar and has signed up for the franchise’s four upcoming sequels.
His other film credits include Cold Mountain, Selma and Lost In Translation.
Giovanni, 46, also starred in US TV series Sneaky Pete.
The twice-wed Scientologist divorced model Agyness Deyn, his second wife, in 2015 after three years.
Based in LA, he has a daughter, Lucia, with his first wife, and twin daughters born last year to his girlfriend Emily Ward.
Paul Stevens – Bruce Willis
THE Die Hard actor had a three-episode stint playing Paul, the protective dad of Ross’s new girlfriend Elizabeth. The role was all down to a bet with Matthew Perry.
While filming The Whole Nine Yards together, Matthew proposed that if the 2000 movie topped the box office, Bruce would have to appear in Friends.
As part of his storyline, Paul voices his disapproval of Ross’s relationship with his much younger daughter, played by Alexandra Holden.
Paul goes on to date Rachel and is in tears after she urges the hardman to open up.
Bruce donated his fee for Friends to charity and the three-episode run saw him awarded an Emmy in 2001.
Since appearing in the hit sitcom, the father of five and one-time A-lister has starred in The Expendables films, Sin City and the Die Hard sequels.
Dr Richard Burke – Tom Selleck
BEST-known as detective Magnum in the hit Eighties TV series, Tom played handsome eye doctor Richard Burke, Monica’s first love.
The Three Men And A Baby movie star was advised not to appear on Friends as he was too high-profile.
Tom, 76, revealed: “They said, ‘You can’t guest on someone else’s TV show.
“They’ll say you’re crawling back to television’.”
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But the nine episodes he appeared in earned him a Primetime Emmy, and he said they were “a joy” to do.
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His biggest role since has been playing detective Jesse Stone in ten US TV movies of the same name and Amazon Prime cop show Blue Bloods.
He has an adopted son from his first marriage and a daughter, Hannah, with his second wife, Jillie.