Courteney Cox turned into a worldwide superstar overnight when she got part of Monica Geller on Friends. The Alabama native’s life changed drastically, as she not only became very famous but also extremely rich.
When Courteney Cox landed the role of Rachel on Friends, her career was flourishing. The now 57-year-old was one of the stars in a music video that turned legendary years earlier.
So how did Courteney Cox like the character of Monica? What is she doing right now? Here’s all you need to know about her.
Getting your big break and realizing you are on your way to something significant must be such a thrill for all actors and actresses. Some people experience this from their childhood, but others must battle and fight for many years before they finally succeed in your 30s or 40s.
However, once that significant development occurs, things typically continue to improve. And for Courteney Cox, one may readily argue such was the case.
The Alabama native was cast in Bruce Springsteen’s music video for “Dancing in the Dark,” which was the start of her career in Hollywood. Soon after, she earned the role of Monica Geller on the renowned sitcom Friends, and her life changed forever.
Courteney Cox has recently worked on a number of other projects, and over the years, she has welcomed her children into her loving family.
She has also been very outspoken about cosmetic procedures like facelifts, but she has since changed her mind completely.
You already know everything there is to know about Courteney “Monica Geller” Cox.
On June 15, 1964, in Birmingham, Alabama, Courteney Cox was born. the youngest of Courteney and Richard Lewis Cox’s four children. She used to get trolled at school for her last name when she was younger.
She admitted to Howard Stern that she loathed her last name but decided to keep it after her father passed away because no one else in the family was left to carry on the tradition.
Her parents separated when she was ten years old. Despite moving in with her mother and eventually her stepfather, Courteney Cox continued to carry the burden of her divorce.
In an interview, Cox said that the time of her parents’ divorce was one of her earliest memories, if not the first. When asked what she felt she owed her parents, the woman responded, “My mum wasn’t a go-getter therefore I am happy that I was able to witness that and be absolutely the opposite.”
From an early age, Courteney Cox had no intention of pursuing an acting profession. She preferred to pursue a career as an architect. She enrolled at Mount Vernon College to study architecture, but she ultimately opted to leave and come to New York City, where she began working as a model. She was employed by a music agency as well.
Although Courteney wasn’t particularly talented at modeling, her career didn’t continue very long. She soon applied her acting abilities.
Courteney Cox’s major break came in a music video rather than a movie or modeling gig when she was 21 years old in 1985.
The job of producing and directing Bruce Springsteen’s music video for the number-one song “Dancing In The Dark” had been given to director Brian De Palma.
Cox’s big break came when Brian De Palma cast her in the “Dancing in the Dark” music video. On June 29, 1984, Bruce Springsteen performed at the St. Paul Civic Center in Minnesota, and it was captured on camera. Courteney Cox played an adoring fan in the front row.
Near the end of the video, “The Boss,” who allegedly didn’t know Cox was a “fake” fan, invited Courteney up on stage. They began to dance to Clarence Clemons’ magnificent saxophone solo, a great musician.
Courteney Cox wasn’t quite pleased with her performance in the “Dancing in the Dark” video, though, looking back.
She admitted, “That was not good dancing on my part. I would only do that as a joke, I would say.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In The Dark” became his first video to receive a lot of MTV airtime. Cox had a lot of screen time as a result, which aided her in building a lucrative career. Even though she was only in the video for around 20 seconds, it helped her stand out. Courteney Cox starred in the movie Misfits of Science that same year, and two years later, she received her first significant part.
She co-starred with Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective at the beginning of the 1990s. She was best known for her role in the hit sitcom Family Ties.
Courteney Cox was undoubtedly headed for a successful acting career, but she could never have predicted what occurred in 1995.
At that time, Marta Kauffman and David Crane were developing a new show about six New York-based pals. Courteney Cox was cast as the somewhat neurotic and intensely competitive Monica Geller in the reality television series Friends.
Kauffman and Crane had begun developing the program in 1993. On September 22, it had its premiere, and it had already been predicted that it would be a hit.
Friends has been on television for 10 seasons and 236 episodes, making it one of the most popular comedies in history as of this writing.
More than 50 million American viewers watched the conclusion. With the help of her portrayal, Courteney Cox—along with Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe, Matt LeBlanc as Joey, Matthew Perry as Chandler, and David Schwimmer as Ross—became a household name.
She’s cute, smart, and really put together, let’s face it. Marta Kauffman referred to Courteney Cox’s responsible and obsessively neat Monica in 1995, saying, “She is Monica.
Cox said, “I adore Monica because I can bring more of my own personality to her, which I’ve never really been able to do before. Not only is she a grown-up, which is important for people to see. She has a tendency to be silly, irate, sarcastic, and a little bit mischievous. People often perceive her as the show’s prude and goody-goody, yet in my opinion, she engages in more sex than any of the others.
Funny enough, Courteney Cox saw a lot of aspects of herself in her iconic role. She actually describes herself as a “neat freak” in real life, exactly like Monica did in Friends.
“Even though I don’t iron or use a lint brush, I could easily pluck lint off of someone else. I was doing The John Stewart Show at the time, and as I was stealing ideas from him, I suddenly realized how much I resembled Monica. This is too frightful,” Cox threw in.
Friends was an international success, and Courteney and her co-stars received high salaries. According to reports, the Friends actors made an astounding $1 million each episode in the show’s final seasons.
The cast is believed to make roughly $20 million per year solely from the repeats even though it has been 17 years since the final episode aired. That’s because, according to The Independent, they receive 2% of the show’s syndication income. According to reports, Netflix spent between $80-$100 million merely to keep the program on their service through 2019.
Courteney Cox’s current net worth is estimated to be $150 million.
Of course, having money will simplify things. Courteney Cox, though, had something that truly wounded her around the time they shot Friends. During the run of the show, all the other cast members received Emmy nominations, but Courteney Cox did not.
“Sure. Yes, that always made me feel bad, Cox admitted. “It hurt my sentiments when every single cast member except for me was nominated. When it eventually hit me that I was the only one, I was initially thrilled for everyone. That hurt.
I never wanted to take anything away from anyone, so I just want to be a part of their winning, she continued. “I just want to be a part of some things occasionally. And both the men and the women on the show earned every nomination.
It’s possible that Courteney Cox didn’t win an Emmy for her work on Friends. But as time went on, she would win prizes for all of her outstanding performances.
Courteney Cox left her role on Friends and went on to work on various television shows, most notably the sitcom Cougar Town. Cox played Jules Cobb in 102 episodes between 2009 and 2015; this time, she would win an award for her work.
For her work on Cougar Town, Cox was nominated for a 2010 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Comedy or Musical. The actress received recognition from the Friends era in 2021 when the Friends reunion special earned them nominations for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded).
Courteney Cox is still employed in television as of right now. She is the lead actress in the current season of the television show Shining Vale.
Courteney Cox developed over time became not only a global superstar but also a wife and mother.
In 1999, she married actor David Arquette, with whom she had a daughter named Coco Arquette in 2004.
Nevertheless, their union ended in divorce in 2013, and since then, Cox has been romantically linked to Snow Patrol singer and musician Johnny McDaid.
Rumors regarding Courteney Cox getting botox and plastic surgery have surfaced throughout the years. She confirmed that it was true in 2017 as well.
Cox said that she had a lot of fillers but also added that the plastic surgery industry and the idea of improving your appearance through various surgical techniques are rather absurd.
You would visit a doctor, who would tell you, “You look wonderful, but what would help is a little injection here or filler there. So you leave and assume that you don’t look too horrible because nobody noticed, which is fine, said Courteney Cox.
Then someone mentions a different physician, saying, “This individual is fantastic. This individual, who seems so natural, is what they do. When you first meet them, they advise you to do this action. You are layered and layered and layered the next thing you know. You have no notion because it happens gradually until you realize that something is wrong. And it appears worse in photos than it does in person. One of my friends exclaimed, “Whoa, no more!” I reasoned, “I didn’t realize I hadn’t done anything in six months.”
But in the end, Courteney Cox came to the conclusion that being authentically yourself is the best course of action. She then proceeded to dissolve all of her fillings.
Due to her enormous celebrity, Cox may unknowingly serve as a role model for others. So seeing her Instagram, where she frequently posts photos sans makeup, is very motivating.
“I try to be as natural as I can. Because I look like myself, I feel better. I hope I do, but I think I now look more like the person I was,” Cox remarked.
“Things are about to alter. Everything will collapse. I tried to keep it from dropping, but that made me appear false. Particularly if you have thin skin like I do, you need motion in your face. Those are smiling lines, not wrinkles. I’ve had to get used to moving around and accept that fillers are not my friends.
