Rachel Green
Rachel Karen Green (born
May 5,
1970) is a
fictional character on the popular
U.S. television sitcom Friends (
1994-
2004), played by
Jennifer Aniston.
Some inconsistency in the spelling of the surname has led to confusion as to the correct spelling. In the credits it is always spelled as "Green", particularly when refering to the surnames of her parents. However, within the show itself it has been spelt "Greene", including when her name was written on an invitation and subsequent RSVP. [
1]
Rachel appeared in the Pilot episode running into
Central Perk in a rain-soaked wedding dress, in search of her old friend
Monica Geller, with whom she had had little or no contact since high school. Rachel, unlike Monica, was popular during high school, and had always been
promiscuous, which is steadily reflected in a comical sort of way throughout the series until the last couple of seasons. Rachel had fled her
wedding to Barry Farber having discovered she desired the gravy boat that she had been given as a wedding gift more than she desired Barry (she also claimed it was at this moment she became aware of his resemblance to
Mr. Potato Head). It emerged that Rachel never had a job and had always lived on her father's money. After her father refused to pay for her credit cards unless she went through with the marriage, Monica and the rest of the Friends encouraged Rachel to start a new life in
New York City. Like the other characters, Rachel was stuck in a state of
arrested development, an adult woman who emotionally had not outgrown adolescence, and, specifically, her personality often cast her as an example of the spoiled daddy's girl stereotype, although later in the series, Rachel became less self absorbed.
Rachel got her first job as a
waitress at
Central Perk. She turned out to be hopeless, taking long breaks to sit with her friends and getting orders mixed up regularly. In the third season, after encouragement from
Joey and
Chandler she quit to enter a career in fashion.
She lands her first job in fashion at Fortunata Fashions, where she gets an interview through Joey's father. This eventually led to a job as a personal shopper at
Bloomingdale's. She later became a buyer for
Ralph Lauren, but was fired when she was caught interviewing for
Gucci. She was then offered a job at
Louis Vuitton's
Paris office by a former co-worker.
Rachel is perhaps most famous for her turbulent relationship with Monica's brother
Ross Geller. Ross had apparently harboured a crush for Rachel since their school days. When Rachel moved to the city, Ross tried to re-kindle his affection, and after a rocky start the two finally got together in
The One With the Prom Video. The relationship ended when a blazing row over Rachel's friendship with a male co-worker led Ross to sleep with "the cute girl from the copy place" (Chloe) (the object of Joey and Chandler's affections). When Rachel found out, she broke up with Ross in a famous scene that involves Ross and Rachel arguing in Monica's living room whilst the other four Friends are trapped in Monica's bedroom, afraid of interrupting the argument. From then on, the two shared an almost on again-almost off again relationship. Rachel declared that she was still in love with Ross even though he was still married to his British wife Emily in a disastrous wedding ceremony. Ross did not reciprocate her feelings though he acknowledged "It's nice to know someone loves you". On a trip to Las Vegas, the two were married while drunk. Ross planned to remain secretly married to Rachel despite putative assurances to her that he would seek a dissolution of the union. The reason for doing so was that Ross could not suffer the ignominy of three divorces: the first to his lesbian ex-wife Carol, the second to Emily, and the third to Rachel. During the seventh season, they slept together, after which Rachel became pregnant, and later gave birth to Ross's second child, Emma, and around the same time, their friend Joey Tribbiani genuinely fell in love with Rachel. In the final episode, Ross was encouraged by Joey and Phoebe to declare his love to Rachel before she left to pursue her career in Paris. His plea was successful and the two once again entered into a relationship.
Shortly after moving to the city, and before dating Ross, Rachel engaged in a purely sex-based relationship with an
Italian named Paolo. In the seventh season, she moved in with Joey and he fell in love with her during the eighth season (when she was pregnant with Ross's child.) At the end of the ninth season, Rachel began to reciprocate Joey's feelings. However, despite some close encounters, the relationship came to nothing.
For most of the series, Rachel lived in
Monica's apartment. They had a likeable, enduring chemistry which was to become one of the main elements of the show. However, when Chandler moved in with Monica, Rachel moved out to give them some privacy. From there she moved in with
Phoebe Buffay. The two got on just as well but, when Rachel accidentally caused a fire in Phoebe's apartment, she spent some time living with Joey. By the time Phoebe's apartment was repaired, Rachel was enjoying living with Joey so much that she decided to stay. This decision was actually initiated by Phoebe, who realised that she could now have a bedroom twice as large as before, as the fire had destroyed a false wall which had separated their rooms. When Rachel became pregnant with Ross' child, she moved in with him. However, things became awkward after the birth, and she soon moved back in with Joey.
*Rachel claims her favorite film is
Dangerous Liaisons, but it is actually
Weekend at Bernie's.
*It was revealed that she had a very large nose when younger, but it was reduced by
rhinoplasty.
*Rachel's parents went through an acrimonious
divorce beginning in Season 2. Rachel is the middle of their three daughters: her older sister is Amy Green, played by
Christina Applegate, and her younger sister is Jill Green, played by
Reese Witherspoon.
*Rachel's zodiac sign is
Taurus, although in the Season 7 she is said to be an
Aquarius. (Her birthday is the 5th of May)
*In the final episode of the series, Rachel's bra size (at that time) was revealed to be 32C. She said even though she had forgotten her ticket, she said that she remembered she was in 32C, as it was her bra size. Upon being refused access to the aeroplane, she said "Alright, but if I were in seat 36D, we would not be having this problem!"
*An identical sounding name was used for a character on a series that aired on the same night and network as
Friends. Rachel Greene, the daughter of
Dr. Mark Greene on
ER, was played by
Yvonne Zima. Also, Zima's sister
Madeline played a character named Rachel Green in the film
The Sandy Bottom Orchestra.
*Her hairstyle in season 2 was widely copied and became known as "
the Rachel"
*Although it is often said that Ross and Rachel had their first kiss in "
The One Where Ross Finds Out", much earlier in the first season they actually shared their first kiss in "
The One With the East German Laundry Detergent". Although it could be argued that this was not a "Proper" kiss, seeing as it was a peck in gratitude from Rachel to Ross, rather than a passionate embrace.
*Rachel has kissed all five characters. She dated Ross on-and-off during the show, and she dated Joey for a time (though they broke it off when they realized they couldn't bring themselves to do anything but kiss, as they were too good of friends.) Chandler kissed her when she and Phoebe walked in on him and Monica kissing to make it seem that he was greeting all his friends that way. She kissed Monica to get their apartment back from the boys (though this was off-screen), and Phoebe kissed her to "see what the fuss was about" when Winona Ryder's character confessed her love for Rachel after having drunkenly kissed her after a luau in college.
