Looking back, one of the things that arguably made Friends so successful was the producers’ perfect job of casting. We’re not only talking about talent here, but also about age! The series was about a group of friends in their late 20s and early 30s who lived, laughed and loved each other in New York City, and the actors, who were also around the same age. Oftentimes, real events that happened to the actors — like Lisa Kudrow’s pregnancy — were incorporated into the show’s plot.
Also, the young cast spent a lot of time together and formed deep relationships. Their bond was still deeply evident during the 2021 “Friends” reunion. Matthew Perry, who played Chandler, also opened up about how he had crushes on all of his female co-stars during a previous interview with Diane Sawyer. He told Sawyer that he actually asked Jennifer Aniston out before filming, but she said no. Still, he longed for her on the set. “Well how can you not have a crush on Jenny? And in Courteney [Cox]? And Lisa [Kudrow]? So I kind of made it hard for myself to go to work because I had to pretend I didn’t have that crush,” he explained.
Before we start, we break down how old each “Friends” cast member was when the show premiered and some of the major life events they experienced during filming.