Who is Ross Geller in Friends?

Show

Friends

Played by

David Schwimmer

First episode

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

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Paleontologist, later a university professor

Show run

1994 to 2004

Also known as

Dr. Geller, Professor Geller

Ross Geller is the brainy, easily flustered paleontologist of the group, newly divorced when Friends begins and still carrying a torch for Rachel from high school. Played by David Schwimmer, he is earnest, jealous, and endlessly awkward, and his love life is a ten-season roller coaster.

On Friends, Ross Geller's story runs through Rachel Green (Ex-wife and true love), Monica Geller (Sister), Chandler Bing (Best Friend), Carol Willick (First ex-wife), Joey Tribbiani (Friend), and Gunther (Rival).

Who is Ross Geller?

Ross is Monica's older brother and Chandler's college roommate and best friend. When the series opens, his wife, Carol, has just left him after realizing she is a lesbian, and she soon tells him she is pregnant with his son, Ben, whom she will raise with her partner, Susan.

He works at the Museum of Natural History as a paleontologist and holds a Ph.D., which the others never let him forget. Later in the series he becomes a professor at New York University, where he lectures with a sudden fake English accent out of sheer nerves.

Personality and comedy

Ross is the group's lovable know-it-all. He corrects people's grammar, gets genuinely excited about dinosaurs, and loses arguments to Phoebe about evolution and gravity. Much of his comedy comes from how quickly his calm, rational front collapses into panic, whether he is trying to carry a couch up a stairwell or whitening his teeth until they glow.

He also has a jealous, insecure side, especially around Rachel, that the show mines for both laughs and drama. David Schwimmer, who had worked with executive producer Kevin Bright before, was the first actor cast, and the writers developed Ross with his voice in mind.

Key storylines

Ross and Rachel finally get together in season two, and their breakup in season three, after he sleeps with someone the night they agree to take a break, becomes the series' longest-running argument. In season four he marries Emily, a British woman, but says Rachel's name at the altar, and the marriage soon falls apart.

In season five Ross and Rachel drunkenly marry in Las Vegas, and his reluctance to get a third divorce leads to more chaos before they split. In season eight Rachel has his daughter, Emma, and they raise her together while trying to stay just friends. In the finale he chases Rachel to the airport to stop her from moving to Paris, and she comes back to him.

Behind the scenes and legacy

Ross and Rachel were named to TV Guide's list of the best TV couples of all time and to Entertainment Weekly's list of the best will-they-or-won't-they couples. His catchphrases, from the defensive cry about being on a break to his frantic shouting while moving a couch, are still quoted constantly.

Schwimmer played Ross for all ten seasons and was one of the five Friends stars to receive Emmy nominations during the run. The character's marriage count became a joke of its own: Ross ends the series with three divorces, from Carol, Emily, and Rachel.

Ross Geller: frequently asked questions

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