Dr. Ross Eustace Geller, Ph.D. (born October 18, 1967), is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television series Friends, portrayed by David Schwimmer. Ross is noted for his geeky, lovable demeanor.^[1]

Background[link]

Overview[link]

Ross is a paleontologist and has a Ph.D. from Columbia, frequently referring to himself as "Dr. Ross Geller", though he states he gave up a career in basketball. Ross is noted for being geeky, charming, love lost, witty, and somewhat artistic, showing an interest in the Metropolitan Museum of Art when he coaches Joey Tribbiani on the works of Monet when Joey tries to impress current his girlfriend Charlie. Ross has had a crush on Rachel Green since high school, although he founded the "I Hate Rachel Green" club with his friend, Will Culvert, who hated Rachel as she used to pick on him, due to his inability to express himself, causing him to make poor choices about how to handle his feelings.

Family[link]

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Ross is the older brother of Monica Geller, and is frequently shown to be their parents' favorite. The two siblings are extremely competitive as they tell the others that, as children, they used to take part in a football match for the Geller Cup every Thanksgiving. This ended in its sixth year, after Monica "accidentally" broke Ross's nose. They also tell Rachel about how they used to wrestle as children and had various complications in their relationship, such as Ross having a recurring nightmare that the then-overweight Monica would eat him. Ross and Monica are half-Jewish, but see themselves as at least cultural Jews, with Ross taking a more active role in wanting to teach his son about the faith.

Friends[link]

Ross often came into conflict with his close friend, Phoebe Buffay. His rationality and Phoebe's eccentricity led to conflict over the theories of evolution, gravity, and whether or not Phoebe's dead mother was reincarnated as a cat. It was also revealed that Phoebe mugged Ross during her homeless years (stealing a copy of the comic book Science Boy that Ross had created) when they were teenagers, although Phoebe was slightly cheered about the discovery as she had always felt like an outsider to the group as she lacked the longer-term connections of the others. The two were also roommates for a few weeks when a fire forced Phoebe to move into Chandler and Monica's apartment as Phoebe wanted to give the newly-engaged couple some privacy. Also on a 'flash back' episode, they were alone and at the bar, and they ended up kissing, but things bumped into them, like light, and pool balls.

Ross's best friend since college is Chandler Bing. He is shown to have had some old memories such as a band with Chandler called Way/No Way and blamed him when he was caught smoking marijuana in college. Ross is also close friends with Joey Tribbiani and helps him with movie and stage auditions. He kisses Joey once in order to help him practice a role as a gay man only to find out that he had already done the audition and that he had not got the role. They also briefly try to cut Chandler out of their friendship group after he ignores them. Towards the end of the series, however, Ross and Joey are seen to become closer friends, often seen hanging out together after Chandler gets married. At one point, Ross tells Rachel Green that Joey is his best friend, to which Rachel replies, "I thought Chandler was your best friend?" Ross begins explaining, "Well, Chandler's my oldest friend", but refuses to discuss it further.

Karate[link]

Ross is said to be a former practitioner of karate and pronounces it "ka-raa-tay", for which the others make fun of him. He claims that Unagi is a state of total awareness, despite his friends repeatedly telling him (correctly) that unagi is Japanese freshwater eel. He ridicules Rachel and Phoebe's self-defense class and surprises them to demonstrate that they lack Unagi. Rachel and Phoebe later surprise Ross and overpower him, however (then Rachel mockingly implies that her practice is "Salmon Skinroll" as opposed to Unagi). In a flashback episode, Ross is practicing karate, claiming that it was his means of releasing his frustration at not having sex with his wife. Ross is however shown to be an at least adequate fighter after fighting with a mugger (off-screen) as he stole Ross, Chandler and two bullies' personal belongings. He also attempts to punch Joey after being given a "free shot" but Joey ducks and Ross hits a lamp post.

Apartment[link]

In seasons one-four, Ross lives in the same apartment. In Season 5, he moves into a new apartment that he and Emily are subletting from her cousin. However, when they separate, Emily's cousin evicts Ross so he moves in with Chandler and Joey before settling into Ugly Naked Guy's apartment, across from Monica's place. Ross got this apartment by meeting him naked, which is seen by all the other friends.

Relationships[link]

Ross's three divorces were a continuous joke throughout the show. He says that he loves "being so committed to someone like that", and is shown to have real unbounded enthusiasm for proposing.

Carol Willick[link]

Ross divorces his first wife of six years, Carol, when she reveals that she is a lesbian and is having an affair with Susan Bunch, whom she met at the gym. After the initial post-relationship complications had been overcome, however, they were generally able to get along, and shared custody of their son, Ben. Ross even achieved a certain reconciliation with Susan after Phoebe made them realise that they would all be parents to Carol and Ross's son. Ross later helped Carol and Susan reconcile when they had an argument about Carol's parents' disapproval of their marriage.

In an alternative reality storyline shown in flashbacks during the show, Ross is still married to Carol but their sex life is stagnant. Not realizing that she is a lesbian, Ross suggests to Carol that they have a threesome, which ends up involving Susan which ended as a twosome. Later on, Ross is forced to accept that his wife is a lesbian and ends up consoling Rachel after she discovered that her husband, Barry, is having an affair as well with the neighborhood dog walker.

Julie[link]

While in China, Ross meets Julie (played by Lauren Tom). When Rachel finds out about Ross's love for her, she goes to tell him she loves him too, but it was too late; Ross is now dating Julie. At first, Rachel tries to interfere with their relationship but when Rachel sees how much Ross and Julie love each other, she tries to accept it. When drunk later, she leaves a message on Ross's answering machine saying, "I'm over you." At first he asks, "When were you under me?" Upset, Rachel tells him the truth about her feelings for him. After much contemplating, and making a list of Pros and Cons, Ross realizes that he wants to be with Rachel.

Janice[link]

Ross has a brief fling with Janice in season 5. Phoebe said they would have very hairy children. Janice ended up dumping Ross because he was too annoying.

Mona[link]

For a few episodes he has a relationship with Mona, who wants the relationship to go forward. But he has issues and for example changes the locks to his apartment after giving Mona a set of keys and not telling her that Rachel moved in with him.

Rachel Green[link]

Rachel is Ross's most significant relationship in the series. For more information, go to Rachel Green.

Emily Waltham[link]

During Season Four, Ross falls in love with and marries his English girlfriend Emily Waltham (played by Helen Baxendale) in London. At the ceremony, however, Ross says Rachel's name during the vows. This leads to a breakdown of the relationship. Ross attempts to reconcile with Emily, but she insists that Ross cut off all contact with Rachel; when Ross is unable to comply, they get divorced. She later becomes engaged but calls Ross to say that she is having doubts about getting married. Rachel accidentally deletes the message and convinces Ross not to call her back.

Career[link]

Ross trained for a career in paleontology, completed his Ph.D. and later works at the New York Museum of Prehistoric History. In season six "the one on the last night", Ross claims to have "given up a career in basketball" to become a palaeontologist. At another point, however, he says that he picked palaeontology on a dare. He thinks that he would have been good at advertising and in "The One with the Mugging", Ross claims that he invented the phrase "Got Milk?". He also claims to have had the original idea for Jurassic Park. In high school, he got a 1250 on his SATs, although it's evident that he lies about his scores when he states "I got 1450 on the SATs" and Monica corrects him, to which he replies, "Damn, I forgot you were here."

Ross has always been obsessed with dinosaurs since he was a little kid, in season nine "The One with the Male Nanny", Ross tells a story about a time when he was playing and learning with dinosaurs toys in his room and how his father harshly didn't approve and told him to go outside and play like a real boy.

In season six, Ross begins to work as a professor at New York University and causes a stir among his colleagues by dating one of his students, Elizabeth. Eventually, he is given tenure, despite the fact that his papers (including a publication on sediment flow rates) are supposedly widely discredited, forgetting a class once, boring his students to sleep and occasionally giving grades without even looking at students' work.

Children[link]

Ross has two children. The elder, Ben, is Ross and Carol's son, conceived while the couple were married, and born at the end of season 1. Ben lives with Carol and Susan and his name came from a name tag on an overall seen in that episode. Ben is shy at first, but Rachel transforms him into a mischievous prankster. He was played by Cole Sprouse.

Ross's younger child (born in the series) is Emma. She is conceived during a one night stand and lives with Ross and Rachel until Rachel moves back in with Joey. She remains there until Ross and Rachel get back together in the series finale. Emma got her name because it was what Monica wanted her daughter to be named but she lets Rachel use it.

References[link]

Friends portal