There are some actors who will always be remembered for one role and, when it comes to the cast of Friends, that’s true for all of them. But what if Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and the rest hadn’t gotten the job? Would the series have still gone on to be one of the best sitcoms of all time? I just learned that one recurring actor on the NBC comedy auditioned for the role of Monica, and she’s got a theory about why she didn’t get it.
Jessica Hecht is well-known to fans of Friends (streaming with a Max subscription) — her character, Susan Bunch, and partner Carol Willick (who was played by two actresses but primarily Jane Sibbett) are among the most beloved Friends side characters. Hecht told Parade she knew series casting director Ellie Kanner from the small Connecticut town of Bloomfield where she grew up, and that’s how she came to audition for the role of Monica Gellar. Hecht said:
I was out in Los Angeles, and my agent said, ‘Oh, I sent your picture into this casting director for Friends. There’s one part, they’re not sure if the actor will take. They want to still look at some other actors, and I think she knows you from high school.’ So I went in, mostly excited to see Ellie Kanner, and then they started to read me for Monica.
Of course, we all know by now that Courteney Cox ultimately landed the job and, apparently, it came at just the right time. Cox was nearly broke when the role of Monica came along, and legend has it that after filming the pilot, she was so confident Friends would be a hit that she went out and bought a Porsche!
Jessica Hecht, meanwhile, thinks she has an idea of why she was passed over, as she continued:
I think looking at me back then, I’m tall and I just had a bigger size than the rest. Now I look at it, and I think how perfect Courteney was, I would have been more of a Lisa, just physically and energetically.
Regardless of the reason, I think it’s safe to say that everything worked out the way it was supposed to, with Jessica Hecht making quite an impact for only appearing in 13 of more than 200 episodes over Friends’ 10 seasons. What makes the situation even funnier is that Jane Sibbett auditioned to play Rachel.
Over the years, fans have heard about some of the other actors who tried to earn a spot on the long-running sitcom. Leah Remini was asked to audition but she passed, saying she didn’t think those roles were meant for her.
Abbott Elementary’s William Stanford Davis reportedly had a bad experience, as he’s said that after his audition, the casting director told his agent that he should quit acting. I’m personally glad he didn’t, because Abbott’s Mr. Johnson is the best.
It’s funny to think about how different Friends could have been with different actors playing Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey and Phoebe. While Jessica Hecht proved she was a good fit for the show, I think the right call was made to cast her as Susan and not Monica.
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