Friends: How Old Were The Cast Members In Season 1?
When "Friends" made its debut in 1994, viewers were introduced to a close-knit group of 20-somethings who were living, working, and drinking coffee in New York City. Early on, viewers learned that the characters Monica (Courteney Cox) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) were high school best friends, Ross (David Schwimmer) was Monica's not-much-older brother, and Chandler (Matthew Perry) was his college roommate. Rounding out the ensemble were pals Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc).
In a 1994 interview on "The Today Show," Schwimmer described the premise of the series. "This a show about a group of individuals who are in that phase of their lives where they're not relying on their parents anymore for financial stability and not yet settled... we're relying on our friends for kind of emotional support and spiritual support and trying to make it on our own in the big city," he told host Katie Couric.
When Couric called "Friends" a "hot show for Generation X" and added, "Twenty-somethings love this show," Cox admitted she didn't love that description. "It's very personal to me. I don't do Generation X," the then-30-year-old actor said.
Yep, when the show about twenty-somethings made its debut, Cox herself was already 30 years old. And she wasn't the oldest star in the cast. At the time, Schwimmer was 27, LeBlanc 26, Aniston 25, and Perry the youngest at age 24. Joining Cox in the tricenarian category was Kudrow, who was the oldest cast member at age 32.
So, while Monica and Rachel are high school besties, in real life, when Cox graduated from high school in 1982, Aniston hadn't even started yet.
The Friends characters' ages were all over the place
The "Friends" characters' specific ages are mentioned sporadically throughout the series, but they're not exactly consistent on the calendar. The first clue to the Monica character's age comes early on, in the Season 1 episode "The One With the Ick Factor." In the episode, Monica reveals she's 26 years old. Her age is significant, because she's just spent the night with a virginal high school senior she assumed was a college senior, so every year counts! Courteney Cox was 31 at the time.
But even the younger Jennifer Aniston's age didn't line up with her character's age. On February 8, 2001, when the episode "The One They All Turn Thirty" aired, Rachel turns 30, but in real life, Aniston was just three days away from her 32nd birthday. To make things even more confusing, Rachel's birthday is celebrated in February and in May in episodes of the decade-long sitcom, while Phoebe's birthday is mentioned to be in both February and October at various points in the series. Ross is also said to be "born" in both March and December.
One of the weirdest time jumps is saved for Matt LeBlanc's character, Joey Tribbiani. In the Season 1 episode "The One With The Birth," which aired in May 1995, Joey states that he is 25 years old. But less than a year later, in the February 1997 episode "The One Where Joey Moves Out," he claims he's 28. We know the "Friends" like birthdays, but this is ridiculous!