You may only know her as the neurotic neat freak Monica Geller on “Friends,” but even before Monica, Courteney Cox Arquette had already played countless other roles. With her beauty queen image and flair for romantic comedy, she had already made a name for herself in a handful of other sitcoms and films.
Raised in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Courteney is the youngest of four siblings. However, her parents divorced when she was ten, remarried, and provided her with a bunch of stepsiblings. She was raised as a proper Southern beauty queen, until she moved to Washington D.C. to study architecture. However, after only one year, she decided to move to New York to pursue her dreams of becoming a model.
Thanks to some help from a family friend, she signed on with the Ford modeling agency, and took acting and voice lessons to conquer her stage fright and get rid of that southern accent. She subsequently got her fist acting job on the soap opera “As the World Turns,” and was then cast in a handful of forgettable movies and TV movies. Next, she auditioned for a part in the Bruce Springsteen video “Dancing in the Dark,” in which she was the girl picked from a crowd to dance on stage with the rock star. Finally, in 1987 she was cast as Michael J. Fox’s girlfriend, in a recurring role on the hit sitcom “Family Ties.”
In 1994, she starred opposite Jim Carrey in the movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,” and then landed her role on “Friends.” When asked to audition for “Friends,” the producers first envisioned her in the part of Rachel (now played by Jennifer Aniston). Cox convinced them to give her a shot at Monica, the obsessive neat freak who is more like her. When she first got the part, she was the only well-known name on the show. Because of this, creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane originally planned for Cox to be one of the lead characters. However, when the rest of the cast joined, they decided to make it the ensemble of six that we now know and love.
When asked about her character on “Friends,” Courteney told E! Online that she is not bored with it because “There are still challenges, because Monica keeps growing. She's getting really quirky and weird, and I like that. It makes it interesting.” In addition, she and her co-stars truly are an ensemble, on-screen and off. The cast of “Friends” is known for their loyalty and friendship with each other. Her female co-stars even helped her plan her wedding and pick out her dress.
Aside from “Friends,” Courteney has also become well known for her role in the “Scream” movies. She says she enjoys doing them, because she likes to play parts that are different from what she does every day on TV. Right before shooting “Scream 2,” she told E! Online, “I really enjoy playing Gale Weathers. She's larger than life; she's a real witch. It's fun just creating the look--the lip-gloss, the blond hair, the clothes.” Since then, she has also starred in “Scream 3,” the last in the horror trilogy.
On a more personal note, Courteney married husband David Arquette, whom she met on the set of Scream, on June 12, 1999. She has said that her relationship with David grew because of the “Scream” movies, and recently told Entertainment Weekly, “…I was just flirting with David in the first one, I was sleeping with him in the second, and we shared a trailer in the third.” Additionally, their co-star Neve Campbell has said that she could feel the sparks between them while they were filming the first movie. Since then, Courteney has been happy in love, and just like her “Friends” co-stars, can’t wait to entertain us each week.
