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Rachel Karen Green^[1][2] is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends, portrayed by Jennifer Aniston. Aniston received an Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe for her performances.^[3]

Background[link]

She grew up on Long Island with her parents, Leonard and Sandra, and her two sisters, Jill and Amy. Her father is a doctor and her family is shown to be incredibly wealthy; Rachel states that they owned a boat and that she had her own pony. She and her sisters are portrayed to be vain and spoiled. She is described as being the most popular girl in her high school and was a head cheerleader, as well as class president and prom queen. Despite her popularity, her best friend was the formerly fat and unpopular Monica Geller (Courteney Cox). Rachel was close to Monica's family when she was in high school, so she already knew Monica's older brother Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), who harbours a long unrequited love for her, and Ross's best friend from college, Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry).

Rachel first appears in the Pilot episode when she comes into Central Perk in a soaking wet wedding dress. Rachel had crawled out of a bathroom window before the ceremony as she had realized that she couldn't marry Barry Farber (Mitchell Whitfield) as she didn't really love him. Monica, whom she hasn't seen in years, invites her to stay with her at her apartment. She also meets Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) and Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), having already met Ross and Chandler while growing up. (Although Rachel is introduced to Chandler in this episode despite the fact that it is later revealed that they already knew each other).

Personality[link]

Rachel's personality evolves during the series. Early on, she is portrayed as a spoiled "daddy's girl" but later, especially after having Emma, becomes less self-absorbed. Image-conscious, Rachel had a nose job during college which, she claimed, was due to a deviated septum. Flashback episodes show her with a much larger nose and the insinuation is that the operation was for image, a fact confirmed by a flippant comment from her sister Amy, regarding Emma – "Do you ever worry that Emma's going to get your real nose?".

She can be arrogant – her involvement with her neighbor, Danny, shows Rachel has an inability to comprehend that he might not be interested in her. Rachel has also been described as being a "pushover" but frequently shows she can be independent and stubborn, especially where Ross is concerned.

After working as a waitress, she was encouraged to use her interest in fashion to get a job in that world. Her focus on this and image come at the expense of domestic skills or common knowledge, of which she was constantly mocked for having little of. She is also seen as a bit promiscuous over the series, and is heavily implied to have lost her virginity before tenth grade. Rachel implies that she lost her virginity in the back of a van, and even possibly (though unlikely) the van that Monica and Phoebe buy in the episode. However, she has developed a rule that she does not sleep with guys on the first date. It is also revealed in season 7 that Rachel developed very early, with her breasts being developed to the extent of a fourteen-year-old girl by the age of ten.

She is very caring and affectionate towards her friends, shown by how she leaves messages on the mirror for Monica when Monica's taking a shower, how she covers Monica up with a blanket if her friend has fallen asleep on the couch, and how concerned she was for Joey after she had turned him down. She also comforts Phoebe when Phoebe is miserable about her songs.

Relationships[link]

Ross[link]

Rachel's most prominent relationship throughout the series is with Monica's older brother, Ross. When she moves to the city in the pilot, Ross is still obsessed with her from high school. Although the rest of the gang are aware of this, Rachel is oblivious until Chandler inadvertently reveals it on her birthday in the season one finale. Ross tries several times in the first season to admit his feelings but is stopped by her ex-fiance Barry and Paolo (played by Cosimo Fusco), a man she met during an electrical blackout.

After Chandler's bombshell, Rachel decides to give Ross a chance but when she goes to meet him, he has a new girlfriend – Julie. Rachel then has to deal with seeing them together, until she leaves him a drunken voicemail telling him how she feels. Ross eventually breaks up with Julie to be with Rachel, but she finds a list of pros and cons he wrote in order to make his choice, and is deeply distressed at his assessment of her, so calls it off. They finally get together in "The One With the Prom Video" when Rachel realizes Ross would have taken her to the prom if her date hadn't made it. They date for about a year before Ross's jealousy of her colleague, Mark, and his obsessive behavior in general leads Rachel to suggest taking "a break". Ross assumes this means they have broken up and depressed, gets drunk and sleeps with the girl from a copy place that same night. When Rachel finds out, she ends things for good. From then on, the two share an on/off relationship and are usually jealous when the other dates someone else; such as when Ross dates Phoebe's friend, Bonnie, (resulting in a short reconciliation) and when Rachel dates her customer, Joshua.

Rachel's history of admitting her feelings for Ross when he is with another woman happen again when Ross meets Emily, niece of Rachel's boss at Bloomingdale's. Ross and Emily quickly become engaged and decide to get married in London. Rachel claims she cannot attend because she has too much work but later tells Monica and Phoebe that watching them marry would be too painful. However, she changed her mind and flew to London to tell Ross that she loved him but sees them kissing just before the ceremony. She gave them her blessing instead but Ross accidentally says Rachel's name at the altar.

Following the wedding, Emily stays in London and tells Ross she will only return if he promises never to see Rachel again. He agrees, initially, but then tells her that he can't and their marriage ends. When the gang head to Las Vegas to visit Joey on a movie shoot, Ross and Rachel get married when drunk but don't remember. Ross tells Rachel he has annulled the marriage but doesn't because he does not want to be divorced again. Rachel is furious when she finds out but forgives him when she realises his reasons for that decision. The two are friends during the next season except for a brief kiss on the night of Monica and Chandler's engagement. Rachel is revealed to be pregnant in the Season 8 premiere and Ross is revealed to be the father. Ross initially thinks he and Rachel should get married but eventually agree to remain friends and raise the baby together.

In Season 10, Rachel is fired by Ralph Lauren and gets a job in Paris. This news devastates Ross. At her going-away party, she says goodbye to everyone except Ross and they have a fight about why this happened. Rachel tells him that she can't say goodbye because if she thinks about leaving, then she'll want to stay because Ross is so important to her. After the fight, they sleep together. In the morning, Ross thinks they are back together and is stunned when Rachel says "It was the perfect way to say goodbye". Ross chases her to the airport and admits how he feels but Rachel still gets on the plane. When he returns home however, he finds a message from Rachel on his answering machine telling him that she loves him too. The line cuts off, leaving Ross wondering if she got off the plane when Rachel comes into the apartment saying, "I got off the plane". The two make up, and start dating again in the end of the series.

All of the Friends season finales, except season six, involve a significant Ross-and-Rachel storyline.

Emma Geller-Green[link]

Ross and Rachel's daughter is born at the end of Season 8. After struggling to find a name for their daughter, Rachel decides on Emma after Monica tells her that she wants to name her future daughter Emma but allows Rachel to use the name. Rachel proved to be a protective mother and was furious when Amy got Emma's ears pierced without permission. At first, Emma lives with Rachel and Ross in his apartment, but moved in with Joey after Rachel and Ross have a fight. In the series finale, Ross and Rachel reconcile meaning Emma will live with both her parents.

Joey[link]

Joey and Rachel are very good friends and shared an apartment after Phoebe's was destroyed in a fire. Joey develops romantic feelings for Rachel and Ross- despite Rachel currently being pregnant with his daughter- gives his blessing but Rachel unfortunately does not feel the same way. However, this changes a year later, with Rachel telling Phoebe about her feelings for Joey before telling him later. Initially, he tells her they cannot be together because of Ross but changes his mind when he sees Ross kissing Charlie, his ex-girlfriend. Ross later walks in on the two kissing and, although at first he has trouble accepting it, he tells Joey he is happy for them. The two date for a while but have trouble when it comes to consummating their relationship, unable to get past the knowledge that it is their close friend touching them, and a conversation with Chandler about how easy it was for him and Monica to become more than friends helped Joey and Rachel realize that they were better off as they were.

Monica[link]

Monica and Rachel have been friends since they were six years old. In their high school years, it is revealed that Rachel was a popular cheerleader with a string of boyfriends, whilst Monica was her less attractive, overweight best friend. After this, it is assumed they lost contact until they meet again in the pilot. A chance encounter, revealed in a flashback, shows that Monica didn't expect to become close friends with Rachel again, with her remarking: "Ten bucks says I'll never see that woman again in my life."

During the time they lived together, the pair coexist in relative harmony, despite their opposing personality types, most notably when concerned with household chores. Monica is portrayed to be extremely uptight and compulsive whereas Rachel is shown to never help out and be unaware of where items such as the Hoover is kept. Despite these tensions, the two display a true affinity for each other. As Monica tells Phoebe, Rachel has sweet little quirks, such as folding back the pages in catalogues of things she thinks Monica would like, leaving messages on the mirror when Monica takes a shower and letting Monica borrow her hundred-plus pairs of boots. Their living situation lasts until Chandler moves in with Monica and Rachel's moving out drew the two women to tears. Their relationship mirrors that of sisters, and the two grow even closer once Rachel has Emma as Monica becomes her aunt due to Ross being the father.

Phoebe[link]

Rachel's other best friend. Phoebe first met Rachel in the pilot episode when Rachel leaves Barry and comes to live with Monica.

In a season 5 episode "The One With The Kips", Phoebe and Rachel consider starting a new group of friends with Joey after Emily (Ross's current wife) demands that Ross doesn't see Rachel anymore. Rachel says "We can start a new group, you and me, we're the best ones," to which Phoebe responds "Okay. But let's try to get Joey." This never happened as Ross could not go without seeing Rachel and the group remained as it was.

From seasons 6–7, Rachel and Phoebe lived together after Chandler moved into Monica's apartment. In "The One Where Ross Dates A Student", Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches fire, causing Phoebe to temporarily live with Monica and Rachel to live with Joey. Later on, in "The One with the Holiday Armadillo", the apartment is fixed and Phoebe and Rachel decide to move back but the repair work left them with only one bedroom, so Phoebe lives there alone while Rachel stays living with Joey.

In an early episode, Phoebe and Rachel go to get tattoos together. Though Rachel ends up getting a heart tattooed on her hip, Phoebe does not get the intended lily (for her mother) on her shoulder because she 'didn't know they did it with needles'. Rachel tried to convince her to get the tattoo, but the artist barely touched her with the needle before she ran off screaming. She now has a 'blue freckle' which she claims is 'the earth as (her) mother sees it from heaven'.

Phoebe and Rachel have a very strong relationship throughout the series, despite occasional and humorous squabbles over things like jogging, massages, Pottery Barn furniture and an alleged lesbian encounter Rachel had in college (which Phoebe refused to believe). As with Rachel and Monica, their relationship is like that of close sisters.

Chandler[link]

Although it appeared that Rachel and Chandler met for the first time in the pilot episode, they had actually met before, in flashback episodes. They met for the first time in 1987 when Ross introduced them, initially at the Gellers' house and then again at a party at Ross and Chandler's college. At the party, Chandler and Rachel kissed briefly (but it was revealed that Chandler only kissed Rachel to get back at Ross).

In 1993, they met at a bar that was closed down to make room for Central Perk. Rachel hadn't seen Monica, Ross, or Chandler since high school and Chandler overhears Rachel talking to some friends about how she wants to have one last night of meaningless sex before she marries Barry and that she wants to have it with the first guy she lays her eyes on, which happens to be Chandler. They didn't hook up but Rachel did fantasize about him, regretting not sleeping with him but it was too late. This was shown in the Season 3 episode "The One With The Flashback."

At the start of the show, Rachel and Chandler crossed paths again in 1994, when Rachel, having just left Barry, goes to Central Perk, looking for Monica. During the series, Rachel and Chandler's relationship grows, and they are close friends, often consoling and confiding in one another. On one particular occasion, they share a stolen cheesecake and concealed it from the others. Particularly in earlier seasons, they go out to lunch together a few times. The two have also set each other up on dates, although the results were mixed; Chandler's brief relationship with Rachel's boss, Joanna, ended because she handcufffed him to a chair in her office, while his attempt to set her up on a date with a colleague went wrong when he claimed she only wanted a fling but later told the guy she was looking for a serious relationship. In Season 2, Chandler, being the child of divorced parents, is the only friend able to empathize with Rachel when her parents are unable to be in the same room on her birthday. Before Rachel leaves for Paris in season 10, they share a strong private moment and Chandler tells her that he loves her, will miss her and is sad that she's leaving, to which Rachel responds tearfully "I love you, too."

Family[link]

Like all the main characters, Rachel has slight problems within her family.

Sandra Green (Marlo Thomas), her mother, can be quite dominating and unpleasant without going overboard. She can also be quite harsh with her opinions (such as, for instance, when she suggested moving into Ross's apartment after Emma's birth and saying that his "dinosaur things" belonged in the garbage). It is implied that Rachel was very like Mrs. Green before she turned things around and started a life in the city, running away from her marriage, whereas Mrs. Green actually married "her Barry." During her first visit, she says that Rachel's life is what she wants.

Dr. Leonard Green (Ron Leibman), however, is quite a dominating and harsh man when it comes to speaking. He is very concerned about discipline. He has a striking sense of sarcasm and what he deems right or wrong, but he is not afraid of spoiling his daughters (as shown in one episode when Rachel reveals that her father bought her "her own boat" to cheer her up after her "pony was sick"). However, when disagreeing with them, he disables their unlimited use of money. However, despite being quite generous when it comes to his daughters, he shares very little of his wealth with others, as reflected when he leaves a 4% tip at a restaurant after eating out with Rachel and Ross. He was against Rachel leaving Barry at first, but her success in taking control of her life eventually made her, according to her sister in "The One With Rachel's Sister", the only daughter Dr. Green was proud of. He charges into Ross's apartment when hearing about the pregnancy demanding he marry Rachel and mostly destroys Ross and Mona's relationship himself.

Rachel's parents have had barely any love life, as they married for the sake of money; according to Rachel, they barely even spoke (except when they argued) and divorced in Season 2. They could not be in the same room together, as shown when the Friends throw Rachel two birthday parties; one with Rachel's mother in Monica's apartment and one with her father in Joey and Chandler's. Rachel also has two sisters, Jill, (Reese Witherspoon) and Amy (Christina Applegate), with whom she has a typical sibling-rivalry relationship; when they were younger, they would constantly pull pranks on each other. Jill is supposedly her "favorite" sister, despite being extremely spoiled, and during her visit when their father decides to financially cut her off, Jill starts dating Ross, but does it to get back at Rachel (only for Ross to end it because he wanted to be with Rachel). Unlike Jill, who at least found Ross "cute, but nerdy," Amy does not even recognize him and believes he is a falafel-seller. In spite of her tactless nature, it is also revealed that Amy is the "one who bit [Rachel]" as questioned by Phoebe in the Thanksgiving episode in which Amy comes to spend the holidays with the Friends. Rachel isn't as close to Amy as she is to Jill. When Amy visits during Emma's first Thanksgiving, she only says Hi and tells her she came by to borrow a hair-straightener. She says how "Emmett" is cute and then realizes the baby is a girl. Amy also believes that she is Rachel's "favorite" sister and revealed she never liked Jill when saying "Sisters talking about real stuff, just like when we were kids, except without that stupid Jill!"

In "The One with Rachel's Phone Number," some guys in a bar live in her grandmother's building. Her grandma's name is Ida Green, and the men's affectionate nickname for her is "Spuds". Rachel says that she has "no sense of personal space, kinda smells like chicken, looks like a potato – that's my bubbe!" This is another indication that the character is of Jewish descent; the word "bubbe" means "grandmother" in Yiddish.

Career[link]

Rachel gets a job as a waitress at Central Perk but is shown not to be very good as she is careless, takes long breaks to sit with her friends and regularly gets orders confused. In the third season, with encouragement from Joey and Chandler she quits her job as a waitress to pursue a career in fashion. Joey is able to get her a job with Fortunata Fashions as a personal assistant. Later on, she gets a job as an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's with the help of colleague Mark, but after Mark leaves and her boss Joanna dies, she is demoted to personal shopper. She then begins a job at Ralph Lauren in "The One With Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss" where she is the coordinator of the women's collection. Ralph Lauren is impressed by her work and in "The One With Rachel's Assistant" she is promoted to merchandising manager where she memorably has an affair with her assistant, Tag Jones (although she can't recall his last name).

In the final episodes of the last season, Rachel is fired from Ralph Lauren when her boss overhears her job interview with Gucci, but is offered a lucrative job in Paris with Louis Vuitton by her ex-colleague, Mark. Upset by Rachel's impending move to Paris, Ross, through bribery, manages to convince Rachel's old boss at Ralph Lauren to give Rachel her job back for more money than the offer in Paris. Initially, Rachel declines this offer and decides to accept the job with Louis Vuitton. However, she cancels her plans after realizing she is still in love with Ross.

Surname[link]

Some inconsistency in the spelling of the surname has led to confusion as to the correct spelling. The credits of any episode where her parents appeared list their last name as "Green" and on the Warner Bros. Friends Official Website the biography on Jennifer Aniston states her character's name as Rachel Green. However, in certain episodes it is seen to be spelled "Greene" such as when her name was written on an invitation sent out by Ross and a subsequent RSVP. Finally, Jennifer Aniston confirmed that the name Green was spelled: G-R-E-E-N. ^[4]

Birthday[link]

In the episode "The One With Joey's New Girlfriend", Rachel tells Gunther that her birthday is May 5 (her birthday is celebrated in various episodes in May). Rachel says she is a 28-year-old cheerleader, which would make her birth year 1969, the same year as Monica's, and one year younger than Ross and Chandler, coinciding with several flashback episodes throughout the series. That also makes the May 5 date more plausible, as she would turn 29 on May 5, 1998. Her real birthdays were shown in the season 1 episode "The One Where Rachel Finds Out", the season 2 episode "The One With The Two Parties" and in the season 9 episode "The One With The Rats".

There are some further inconsistencies. In 2001 ("The One Where They All Turn Thirty"), she celebrates her 30th birthday, implying a birth year of 1971. It is revealed in that episode that she is the youngest of the six friends, as the others had already turned 30 and were relating their birthdays. In the episode, she is wearing a shirt that has her supposed birthday on it (12–4), which is also inconsistent with the dates above.

Notes and references[link]

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