Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and other Friends stars continued their acting careers 20 years after the end of one of the greatest sitcoms of all time (some even appearing on TV in 2025) Despite the fact that there are, there are certain facts that cannot be denied. They will forever be remembered for that one role. It’s hard to imagine what would have happened if other actors had been hired to play Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey, and Ross, but Friends actress Jane Sibbett was almost cast to play Rachel. As it turned out, she revealed the timing of her role. All of that.
Although Jane Sibbett ultimately played Carol Willick on Friends, and was the second of two actresses to play Ross’ first ex-wife, she was initially cast in the role of Jennifer Aniston. It turned out that he had been auditioning. It was a bit of a difficult situation with Syvette being pregnant, but she explained what happened on British morning show Sunrise:
As I left the room after Rachel’s audition, my manager called me and said, “They love you!” They want you! They want you! You have to come back next week, but they want you! So I said, “Did you tell them I was pregnant?” And he said, “No, no, no, just keep testing and you’ll be fine.” That’s why when I actually told them I was pregnant, they said, “Oh, that won’t work.” I said, “Ask me if I can play a pregnant lesbian,” but I was told that the timing wasn’t right yet, and when I got home from the hospital after giving birth, I got a phone call.
It’s clear that the casting directors made the right choice with Rachel, but I love that the producers saw early on that Jane Sibbett would be a great fit for this show.
It may be hard to imagine anyone other than Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green (or is it Green?), but there’s no doubt that Sibbett and David Schwimmer had incredible chemistry on screen. do not have. Thanks to the interactions between Carol and Ross, Carol remains the most beloved of the side characters on Friends to this day. However, Jane Sibbett agreed that the right actor was chosen to play Ross’s on-off love interest, saying:
No one else could have played that role of Rachel other than Jennifer. no way.
You could definitely look no further than Rachel Karen Green, the spoiled older sister of Jill and Amy, the ambitious fashionista, and the Lobster of Los Angeles. That doesn’t mean there weren’t literally thousands of other actors trying to be on the show. Over the years, Saved by the Bell’s Tiffani Thiessen tested for the role of Rachel and Leah Remini was asked to audition, but she didn’t see herself as any of those characters. I learned that I passed because I didn’t think so. Even William Stanford Davis of Abbott Elementary School once auditioned for a small role.
But all that ended when Jennifer Aniston auditioned for Friends. The actress said it took her just a few hours to get the job. If you want to relive Rachel’s best moments, or Carol’s for that matter, you can stream all 10 seasons of Friends with a Max subscription.
