Friends - The One with Ross's Wedding - Part Two - 11:00 pm Sunday, January 11 on Comedy Central Extra

Jennifer Aniston (Actor) .. Rachel Green

Born: February 11, 1969 in Sherman Oaks, California

Best Known For: Playing Rachel in Friends.

Early-life: Jennifer Joanna Aniston was born on February 11, 1969, in Sherman Oaks, California, the daughter of actor John Aniston and his wife Nancy. Telly Savalas was her godfather. Her parents divorced when she was nine. Following a spell in her father's native Greece, she was raised in New York, where she joined a drama club. Despite being a talented artist, Aniston decided to concentrate on theatrical pursuits when she enrolled at the famous New York School of Performing Arts.

Career: On graduating, she appeared off-Broadway in various productions. In 1990 she made her TV debut in Molloy, following it up with a part in movie spin-off Ferris Bueller. Neither show, nor her first movie, Leprechaun, had much of an impact. She made various guest appearances in TV series until landing the part of poor little rich girl Rachel Green in Friends in 1994. The sitcom made her a household name across the globe. Since then, she's made several films, including The Good Girl, Bruce Almighty, and Along Came Polly. Other hits include Derailed, Rumor Has It, Horrible Bosses and Wanderlust.

Quote: "When somebody follows you 20 blocks to the pharmacy, where they watch you buy toilet paper, you know your life has changed."

Trivia: She has a fear of flying.

Courteney Cox (Actor) .. Monica Geller

Born: June 15, 1964 in Birmingham, Alabama

Best Known For: Being part of Friends.

Early-life: Courteney Bass Cox was born on June 15, 1964, in Birmingham, Alabama. She has two older sisters and an older brother. Her father was an affluent businessman. A daddy's girl, she was devastated by her parents' divorce in 1974. She was a cheerleader at Mountain Brook High School, and excelled at tennis and swimming. Cox began modelling during her final year at school. She later studied interior design at Mount Vernon College but dropped out a year into the course to concentrate on modelling.

Career: Cox appeared in numerous adverts and starred in Bruce Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark video. After studying acting she made her TV debut in a 1984 episode of soap As the World Turns. Her big break came when she was cast as Michael J Fox's girlfriend in the sitcom Family Ties. She landed a leading role in sitcom The Trouble with Larry, but it flopped. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective followed in 1994 - the year she joined sitcom Friends. Now a household name around the world, Cox has also appeared on the big screen in the Scream franchise, 3,000 Miles to Graceland, and Bedtime Stories. On the small screen, she starred in two seasons of drama Dirt, and has been playing the role of Jules Cobb in sitcom Cougar Town since 2009.

Quote: "I don't have time for superficial friends. I suppose if you're really lonely you can call a superficial friend, but otherwise, what's the point?"

Trivia: In 2012, Cox directed TV movie Talhotblond.

Lisa Kudrow (Actor) .. Phoebe Buffay

Born: July 30, 1963 in Encino, California

Best Known For: Playing Phoebe in Friends.

Early-life: Lisa Marie Diane Kudrow was born on July 30, 1963, in Encino, California, to Lee, a doctor, and Nedra, a travel agent. At school she was a talented tennis player, but decided to concentrate on more academic studies, and originally intended to become a scientist. She attended the famous Vassar College and graduated with a biology degree. However, the acting bug bit after Kudrow was inspired to perform by her brother's friend, comedian Jon Lovitz.

Career: Started out with Los Angeles improvisational theatre group The Groundlings, and her first big TV break came in the sitcom Mad About You, playing feisty waitress Ursula. Since then, Friends has made her a familiar face to millions across the globe. She has also appeared in several movies, including Analyze This, and the sequel Analyze That, with Billy Crystal and Robert De Niro, and The Opposite of Sex, which won her a prestigious New York Film Critics Award. In 2005, she appeared in short-lived sitcom The Comeback.

Quote: ""I think I'm still Phoebe to people and it would be hard to convince them otherwise."

Trivia: Kudrow was originally cast as Roz Doyle on Frasier, but the producers and writers decided they were changing the character too much to fit Kudrow's personality.

David Schwimmer (Actor) .. Ross Geller

Born: November 02, 1966 in New York

Best Known For: Playing Ross in Friends.

Early-life: Born on November 2, 1966 (his mother's birthday), in Astoria, Queens, New York, he is the younger of two children - sister Ellie was born a year before. Raised in Los Angeles by his lawyer parents, he was apparently never tempted to follow in their footsteps. His first taste of acting was in high school, where he was encouraged to take it up seriously by a teacher. Graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Speech and Theatre and founded Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company with friends - it's still going strong today.

Career: He made his TV debut in The Wonder Years, and went on to appear in various TV shows and movies, including Blossom, LA Law and Wolf before landing the role of Ross Geller in Friends in 1994 - he was the first member of the cast to be picked. The comedy became a huge global success, making him a household name. Despite this, his big-screen career has struggled, with The Pallbearer, Kissing a Fool and Hotel all largely forgettable. He had success with small roles in Apt Pupil, Six Days and Seven Nights and TV's Band of Brothers, but has had arguably his biggest non-Friends success voicing Melman the giraffe in the animated Madagascar series of films. Schwimmer has also appeared on stage in various projects and directed two films, including the Simon Pegg vehicle Run Fatboy Run.

Quote: "The fame thing is like a jacket that doesn't quite fit. To go along with the metaphor, I'm still having it altered, mostly because the privacy issue is huge for me. I'm fiercely private."

Trivia: Schwimmer is a director of the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica.

Matthew Perry (Actor) .. Chandler Bing

Born: August 19, 1969 in Williamstown, Massachussetts

Best Known For: Playing Chandler in Friends.

Early-life: Matthew Langford Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachussetts, on August 19, 1969, but was raised in Ottawa, Canada. His father is actor John Bennett Perry, while his mother was the press agent for Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the 1970s and 1980s. His parents split when he was a baby, and his mother remarried a newsreader. He has several half-siblings. As a teenager he was ranked 17 in national junior tennis competitions. He moved to Los Angeles to live with his father at 15, and gave up sport for acting.

Career: Perry gave up a place at the University of Southern California when he took a leading role in short-lived TV series Second Chance in 1987. Early films included A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon and She's Out of Control. He didn't become a star until Friends in 1994. Since then, he's attempted to boost his movie career, but unfortunately has made mostly lacklustre films, such as Fools Rush In, Almost Heroes and Three to Tango. He returned to TV in 2006 in Aaron Sorkin's short-lived drama Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In 2011 he appeared in US sitcom Mr Sunshine, but it was cancelled after one series. The same thing happened to his latest TV project, Go On.

Quote: "I learned to fall down early in life - I was like six - because I realised it was a way to make girls laugh."

Trivia: Is the youngest cast member of Friends

Matt LeBlanc (Actor) .. Joey Tribbiani

Born: July 25, 1967 in Newton, Massachusetts

Best Known For: Playing Joey Tribbiani in Friends.

Early-life: Matthew Steven LeBlanc was born on July 25, 1967, in the working-class town of Newton, Massachusetts, and grew up in a small apartment with his single mother. After receiving his first motorcycle at eight, LeBlanc participated in various competitions with hopes of racing professionally until his mother persuaded him to find a different outlet for his talents. He trained as a carpenter, and after graduating from high school, moved to New York with $3,000 raised from selling his truck.

Career: LeBlanc tried modelling, but didn't enjoy it. Instead, he appeared in several adverts and, in 1988, began formal acting training. Within a year he had a starring role in the TV 101 series. He followed that with Top of the Heap and small-screen movie Anything to Survive. In 1994 he struck gold when he was cast as Joey Tribbiani in hit sitcom Friends. The same year, LeBlanc made his film debut in The Killing Box. He has also starred in Lost in Space, Charlie's Angels and All the Queen's Men. After Friends he played the title role in spin-off series, Joey, but it failed to resonate with audiences and was axed after two seasons. In 2011 he began playing a version of himself in the critically acclaimed Episodes.

Quote: "If I'm ever again involved in a project whose path is as golden as Friends is, it'll be a miracle."

Trivia: Is the only cast member of Friends not to have appeared on Saturday Night Live.

Elliott Gould (Actor) .. Jack Gellar

Born: August 29, 1938 in New York

Best Known For: MASH, being the ex-Mr Barbra Streisand and Friends.

Early-life: Born Elliott Goldstein on August 29, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York, the only child of overbearing, Eastern European immigrant parents. His father, Bernie, was a buyer for a textile company, his mother, Lucille, was a housewife. Although well-meaning, he claims they were manipulative, but admits that sending him to dancing lessons was a good idea. Gaining confidence through the classes, he studied at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan and worked during the summer at comedy clubs in the Catskills outside New York.

Career: Gould landed a role in musical Rumple, then met Barbra Streisand while starring alongside her on Broadway. His first film was 1964's The Confession. Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (for which he was Oscar nominated) was a hit in 1969. A year later the movie version of MASH was a blockbuster. He continued to make decent films throughout the 1970s, but fell out of favour in the 1980s. Playing Ross and Monica's father in Friends introduced him to a new generation of viewers in 1994. His most recent hits were the Ocean's films, alongside George Clooney and Brad Pitt. More recently, he has starred in the TV series Ray Donovan and Mulaney.

Quote: "Success didn't change me. I was already distorted before I became a star."

Trivia: He has voiced characters in a number of animated series, including Kim Possible.

Helen Baxendale (Actor) .. Emily Waltham

Born: February 14, 1969 in Lichfield, Staffordshire

Best Known For: Her roles in Friends and Cold Feet.

Early-life: Born February 14, 1969, in Lichfield, Staffordshire. She has a sister called Kate. Parents June and Bill were both teachers. Helen dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer when young and attended The Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey, but realised she would never reach the required standard. As a result, she put her back-up plan - to become an actress - into action, landing a place on the Bristol Old Vic's training scheme.

Career: Baxendale joined Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre and landed parts on TV in The Marshall, Casualty, and short film The Euphoric Scale. In 1994, she won the plum role of Claire Maitland in Cardiac Arrest which made her name. Two years later she was particularly busy, starring in Truth or Dare, In Suspicious Circumstances, Crossing the Floor and Cold Feet. The latter became a major success. She's also appeared in The Investigator, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, and played Ross's girlfriend in Friends.

Quote: "People are really stupid. They think you're serious and intelligent if you're a brunette with a pale complexion and a bit of hooked nose. If you're blonde and pretty, they don't give you that sort of part. It's short-sighted and stupid, but that's how it goes."

Trivia: She has a fear of flying.

Tom Conti (Actor) .. Stephen Waltham

Born: November 22, 1941 in Paisley

Best Known For: Playing love interest Costas in Shirley Valentine.

Early-life: Thomas Conti was born on November 22, 1941, in Paisley, Scotland, the only child of an Italian father and Irish mother. At the age of four he began taking piano lessons and was regarded in some quarters as a child prodigy. However, while studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama he auditioned for a part in a play and became instantly hooked on acting.

Career: Conti started out on the stage in the 1960s, making his London debut in 1973. A year later he made his first film, the Slade movie Flame. In 1979 he picked up a Tony award for his Broadway appearance in Whose Life Is It Anyway? This led to parts in such acclaimed movies as Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, Reuben Reuben (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and Shirley Valentine. He appeared in short-lived US TV series Wright Verdicts in 1995. Other productions include Don't Go Breaking My Heart, I Was a Rat, Dangerous Parking and Deeply Irresponsible. He divides his time between stage work, film and TV.

Quote: "A film set is just a never-ending hell."

Trivia: He published a book, The Doctor, in 2004.

Hugh Laurie (Actor) .. The gentleman on the plane

Born: June 11, 1959 in Oxford

Best Known For: His double-act with Stephen Fry

Early-life: Born James Hugh Calum Laurie on June 11, 1959, in Oxford, the youngest of a doctor's four children; his father was also a gold medal-winning rower at the 1948 Olympics. After attending Eton, Hugh followed him into the sport, competing for England and in the Boat Race while at Cambridge, where he studied archaeology and anthropology. While president of the university's Footlights entertainment group, he met Stephen Fry. After touring Australia with their revue The Cellar Tapes, they teamed up professionally.

Career: Fry and Laurie's stage success led to the TV sketch show Alfresco, which also featured Emma Thompson, Ben Elton and Robbie Coltrane. In 1987, Elton cast him in sitcom Blackadder the Third as amiable idiot George. A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and Jeeves and Wooster cemented his reputation as one of the UK's brightest comedy talents. He appeared with several celebrity pals in the movies Peter's Friends, Maybe Baby, and Sense and Sensibility. Other projects include 101 Dalmatians, The Man in the Iron Mask, Stuart Little and its sequel, the Flight of the Phoenix remake and TV series Fortysomething. His novel, The Gun Seller, was also a hit. His award-winning role in House turned him into an international star. Since it ended in 2012, Laurie has largely concentrated on music.

Quote: On his status as a sex symbol: "Even my wife doesn't think I'm sexy, it's a miracle we have children."

Trivia: Laurie has three children, loves motorbikes, is an atheist and has battled depression.

Jennifer Saunders (Actor) .. Andrea Waltham

Born: July 06, 1958 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire

Best Known For: Absolutely Fabulous.

Early-life: Born Jennifer Jane Saunders on July 6, 1958, in Sleaford, Lincolnshire. Her father was in the RAF and she briefly spent time on the same forces camp as her future comedy partner Dawn French, but the pair never met as children. Instead, they got to know each other while attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama in 1977, where they were both on a teaching training course. They later teamed up with Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Alexei Sayle and Peter Richardson to create the The Comic Strip Presents series.

Career: Appearances in The Young Ones, Girls on Top and Happy Families followed, but it was the sketch show French and Saunders that propelled her to fame. One short skit in the series became the basis for Absolutely Fabulous. The sitcom's phenomenal global success opened new doors, and helped land Jennifer roles in the movies In the Bleak Midwinter, Spice World and Fanny and Elvis. She also voiced a not-so-good fairy godmother in hit animation Shrek 2 and stars in the BBC's Blandings. As well as the film and TV work, she has long been an active participant in the charity Comic Relief, alongside her on-screen partner Dawn French, and regularly takes part in the telethon events. We've also seen her reunited with her old pal in Jam & Jerusalem, which she wrote.

Quote: "It seems you can take a picture on your mobile and it can be on the front page of a celebrity mag the next day. It's a kind of madness."

Trivia: Married fellow Comic Strip star Adrian Edmondson in 1985. They have three daughters - Beattie, Ella and Freya. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 and is now in remission. Her autobiography, Bonkers: My Life in Laughs, was published in 2013.

June Whitfield (Actor) .. Housekeeper

Born: November 11, 1925 in London

Best Known For: Terry and June, and Absolutely Fabulous.

Early-life: Born June Rosemary Whitfield in Streatham, London, on November 11, 1925. Her mother had hoped to become an actress, but was forbidden to do so by her father. Instead, she appeared in amateur dramatics and encouraged June to enter showbusiness by enrolling her in dance classes at the age of three. Her father was a company director. After the Second World War she moved to Huddersfield with her parents and trained to be a secretary before attending RADA, after which she landed her first professional role on the London stage.

Career: Whitfield became one of BBC Radio's most beloved stars - 22 million people regularly tuned in to her show Take It From Here during the 1950s - but is probably best known for her TV appearances, and has starred alongside Frankie Howerd, Peter Sellers and Tony Hancock. Among her many comedy programmes during the first half of her career were Steptoe and Son, Hancock's Half Hour and The Benny Hill Show. Her long professional relationship with Terry Scott resulted in such series as Happy Ever After and Terry and June. She has also appeared in several Carry On films. Since then Whitfield has won acclaim in Absolutely Fabulous, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, Jude and Mirrorball.

Quote: "I was never a great beauty. I think I amused more than I aroused. But at least that meant I didn't feel the pressures that many glamorous actresses do when they reach a certain age. Playing mums and grans never bothered me."

Trivia: She was awarded an OBE in 1985, and a CBE in 1998.

Olivia Williams (Actor) .. Felicity

Christina Pickles (Actor) .. Judy Geller

Kevin Bright (Director)

Shana Goldberg-Meehan (Writer)

Scott Silveri (Writer)

Jill Condon (Writer)

Amy Toomin (Writer)

Friends: The One with Ross's Wedding - Part Two

11:00 pm - 11:30 pm, Today on Comedy Central Extra (127)

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The One with Ross's Wedding - Part Two
Season 4, Episode 24

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