The Friends Cast: Who Had The Most Successful Film Career?

Scarily, it’s now 20 years since the first episode of ‘Friends’ aired. Over the next decade, the world became obsessed with the goings-on of those six funny New York types Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey – and made the stars who played them household names.

But what happened next for the cast of era’s most successful sitcom? How many used their ‘Friends’ profile to become major Hollywood stars? To find out, we dusted off our office calculator to tot up their box office success (or lack thereof) since the show’s teary finale aired in May 2004.

David Schwimmer

No, we didn’t expect David Schwimmer to be the most highest grossing main cast member either. His whopping post-‘Friends’ haul comes almost entirely from voicing Melman in the ‘Madagascar’ franchise, and puts him around £90 million ahead of Jennifer Aniston. Besides playing comedy giraffes, Schwimmer has dabbled in directing since the show finished, helming the Simon Pegg comedy ‘Run, Fat Boy, Run’ and his own Broadway play, ‘Fault Lines’.

Jennifer Aniston

Schwimmer may’ve grossed slightly more, but Jen is the clear winner in the Battle of the Friends – the series’ only main castmember to become a bona fide movie star since the end of the show. After starring in seemingly every rom-com made in the last decade, Aniston has dabbled in edgier material recently, playing a scary nymphomaniac in ‘Horrible Bosses’ and a woman living with chronic pain in the upcoming ‘Cake’. Many critics think the latter could land her an Oscar nomination.

Courteney Cox

Like her on-screen brother Ross, much of Monica’s movie success (over £200m of it) comes from lending her voice to kids’ films, such as the inexplicably high-grossing ‘Barnyard: The Original Party Animals’. The rest comes from the horror sequel ‘Scream 4’. She’s now concentrating her career on TV, appearing as a sexy older woman in the hit series ‘Cougar Town’ since 2009.