Friends: What Each Main Character Has Done Since The Show Ended

The Friends reunion reignited fan passion in the iconic sitcom from the ’90s and early ’00s. For the first time in 17 years, the main cast members were all together in the same room to reminisce about their time on the show. Along with the main cast getting together with host James Corden to discuss the series, plenty of other supporting characters returned to participate.

The reunion had fans thinking: what have the cast members been up to since the series ended way back in 2004? Some have had some high-profile projects, including shows and movies, while others haven’t spent as much time in the spotlight.

10 Jennifer Aniston (Rachel)

Aniston has had one of the biggest upward rises in her career of all of the cast members since Friends ended. Following the end of the series, she appeared in a variety of movies like The Break-Up, Marley & Me, Just Go with It, Horrible Bosses, and We’re the Millers, before showing off more dramatic acting chops in Cake.

Most recently, she returned to television to star in the Apple TV+ original series The Morning Show. With a net worth of $300 million, Aniston is the most successful of the former cast.

9 Courteney Cox (Monica)

Cox went on to star in several projects, including the FX series Dirt and fantasy comedy Bedtime Stories opposite Adam Sandler. But her most successful TV role since Friends was starring in the ABC comedy Cougar Town.

She has shifted to working behind the scenes as well, executive producing the game show Celebrity Name Game from 2014 to 2017 and created and executive produced the documentary 9 Months with Courteney Cox on Facebook Watch. She was also notable for her role as Gale Weathers in the Scream horror films, which she is set to reprise for the fifth installment in 2022.

8 Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe)

Kudrow went on to work both in front of and behind the camera after Friends ended. She starred in a comedy series on HBO called The Comeback that she also wrote and produced. It aired in 2005 and was revived again in 2014, both seasons of which earned her Emmy nominations.

She then moved on to create another show, Web Therapy, which aired on Showtime for four years from 2011-2015 and received another Emmy nod. Her Emmy reign continued with Who Do You Think You Are, a TLC reality show that she produces. Along with plenty of movie appearances as well, she currently has a recurring role in the Netflix original series Space Force and does plenty of voice work, including the main character in the new animated series HouseBroken. Kudrow arguably has the most diverse and consistent resume of all of the former cast members since the series ended.

7 Matthew Perry (Chandler)

After Friends wrapped up, Perry continued to act in television and movies. He was a series regular on the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2006-2007 and in Mr. Sunshine in 2011. He had a recurring role on the popular drama The Good Wife in 2012-2013 while also being a regular on Go On during that same time period. In 2016, he also starred in the Off-Broadway play The End of Longing, which he wrote.

From 2015-2017, Perry starred in a remake of The Odd Couple as Oscar Madison and had recurring roles on The Good Light and The Kennedys: After Camelot, also serving as an executive producer of the latter.

6 David Schwimmer (Ross)

Schwimmer has been busy with lots of roles since Friends ended. He was cast as the voice of Melman the Giraffe in the animated Madagascar movies. He also appeared in films like Big Nothing and Nothing but the Truth; and on Broadway in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

In 2007, Schwimmer directed his first movie Run Fatboy Run, and in 2016, he starred as Robert Kardashian in The People v. O.J. Simpson, a role that earned him an Emmy nomination. Most recently, he has a seven-episode arc on the revival of the sitcom Will & Grace and stars in the Sky One British sitcom Intelligence, which will premiere its second season in June 2021.

5 Matt LeBlanc (Joey)

LeBlanc kept his popular character of Joey Tribbiani going with the spin-off series Joey, which lasted for two seasons. But his biggest success came from the British-American series Episodes, where he played a fictionalized version of himself from 2011-2017. The role earned him several Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe award.

He also served as co-host of the British motoring magazine TV series Top Gear from 2016-2019; and from 2016 to 2020, played a main character on the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan.

4 James Michael Tyler (Gunther)

He played the role of the long-time waiter at Central Perk, Gunther, who pined for Rachel the entire time she came into the coffee shop and worked there. He is actually the guest star who appeared the most often on the series.

Since Friends ended, Tyler opened a Central Perk pop-up replica shop in London for a two-week period in 2009 and made an appearance at the SoHo location in New York in 2014. He also appeared in one episode of LeBlanc’s series Episodes in 2014. But beyond that, Tyler has only had minor appearances in episodes of shows like Just Shoot Me!, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, and Scrubs.

3 Maggie Wheeler (Janice)

Wheeler hasn’t had many on-screen appearances since her role as Chandler’s girlfriend Janice, the overbearing woman with the thick New York accent and iconic laugh. In 2006, she voiced the character of Brown Hen/Fluffy Hen on Dr. Doolittle 3 and in 2019, the character of Trudy Pickering in The Addams Family. Her other film roles included Waking Dreams in 2007 and The 3 Tails: A Mermaid Adventure in 2015.

She had a number of other movie and voice acting roles through the early 2000s, most recently doing several voices for The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, including Lunch Lady, Mrs. Yewh, and T.P. Mummy.

2 Tom Selleck (Dr. Richard Burke)

Long-time actor and film producer Tom Selleck is, of course, best known for his role as Thomas Magnum in the ’80s series Magnum P.I. And while he had a recurring role as Monica’s boyfriend Dr. Richard Burke on Friends, he has had plenty of roles both before and since. In fact, Selleck has had so many acting roles that there’s a long list of credits even die-hard fans might have forgotten about.

Most recently, Selleck has been busy playing Frank Reagan in the series Blue Bloods since 2010. The show’s 12^th season is set to air in 2021-2022. He also played small-town police chief Jesse Stone in nine made-for-TV movies based on the novels by Robert B. Parker.

1 Cole Sprouse (Ben)

Ross’ son with his ex-wife Carol appeared sparingly on the series through its latter seasons, leaving many to speculate why he no longer saw him very often. The adorable young boy was, of course, played by Cole Sprouse, who went on to become a huge child star alongside his twin brother Dylan. Though he was one of a few notable characters who weren’t in the reunion.

The pair starred together in the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and its spin-off The Suite Life on Deck. Sprouse currently stars as Jughead Jones on The CW series Riverdale.

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