Rachel Green

Rachel Karen Green (born May 5th, 1970) is a fictional character on the popular US television sitcom Friends (1994-2004), played by Jennifer Aniston.

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. However, probably because of Gunther's crush on Rachel, she kept the job for some time. 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.

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.

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.

Trivia

• 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.