Who is Rachel Green in Friends?

Show

Friends

Played by

Jennifer Aniston

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired September 22, 1994

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Waitress, then fashion buyer and executive

Show run

1994 to 2004

Also known as

Rachel Karen Green, Rach

Rachel Green bursts into Central Perk in a soaking wet wedding dress in the very first scene of Friends, having just left her fiance at the altar. Played by Jennifer Aniston, she grows from a sheltered rich girl into an independent career woman, and her bond with Ross gives the show its biggest will-they-or-won't-they story.

On Friends, Rachel Green's story runs through Ross Geller (Ex-husband and true love), Monica Geller (Best Friend), Joey Tribbiani (Ex-boyfriend), Phoebe Buffay (Friend), Chandler Bing (Friend), and Gunther (Secret admirer).

Who is Rachel Green?

Rachel grew up wealthy on Long Island and went to high school with Monica Geller, who becomes her roommate after Rachel flees her wedding to orthodontist Barry Farber. Cutting herself off from her father's money, she takes her first real job as a waitress at Central Perk, where she is famously bad at it.

Across the series she finds her calling in fashion. She quits the coffee house in season three for an entry-level job at Fortunata Fashions, moves on to Bloomingdale's, and later becomes an executive at Ralph Lauren. By the final season she is good enough at her work to be offered a job in Paris.

Personality and comedy

Rachel is warm, a little vain, and often hilariously out of her depth with everyday tasks, from doing laundry to making a trifle. Much of her early comedy comes from a pampered woman learning to fend for herself, and the show lets her grow up without losing her spoiled streak entirely.

She can also be competitive and impulsive, especially where Ross is concerned. Jennifer Aniston gives her a quick, expressive timing that made Rachel the character many viewers identified with most, and her season one and two hairstyle became so popular that salons around the world simply called it "The Rachel."

Key storylines

Ross has loved Rachel since high school. She learns how he feels at the end of season one, and early in season two, after a tipsy voicemail of her own, they finally share their first kiss at Central Perk. Their relationship ends in season three when Ross sleeps with someone else the night they agree to take a break, a fight that runs for the rest of the series. Rachel later briefly marries Ross on a drunken night in Las Vegas, and they quietly divorce.

In season eight Rachel discovers she is pregnant with Ross's child after a one-night reunion, and she gives birth to their daughter, Emma. That season she also develops feelings for Joey, and the two briefly date in season ten. In the series finale she prepares to move to Paris for a job at Louis Vuitton, but after Ross races to the airport to confess his love, she gets off the plane and comes back to him.

Casting and legacy

Rachel was the hardest of the six roles to cast. Courteney Cox was considered for the part but preferred Monica, and Aniston, who had appeared in several short-lived sitcoms, nearly lost the role because she was still under contract to a CBS sitcom, Muddling Through.

Aniston won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2002 for "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby" and a Golden Globe the following year. Rachel and Ross are regularly ranked among the great TV couples, and "The Rachel" haircut remains one of the most copied hairstyles in pop culture history.

Rachel Green: frequently asked questions

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